Castle Upton

Originally the site of a 13th-century fortified priory of the Knights of St John, the present building was constructed around 1610 by the Norton family who settled here during the Plantation of Ulster.

Upton was purchased in 1963 by Sir Robin Kinahan and Coralie de Burgh, by which time it was in a poor state of repair.

[2] This work was completed by Sir Humphrey Norton in the first part of the 17th century, and like many castles of the Plantation period was surrounded by a bawn wall.

Lord Templetown commissioned Scottish architect Robert Adam to remodel Castle Upton in a castellated style.

[citation needed] In 1963 the semi-ruined house was purchased by Sir Robin Kinahan, a prominent businessman and former Lord Mayor of Belfast, for £53,000.

The stable block was built from exact architectural copies of the now demolished old Fish Market of Leith, near Edinburgh, Scotland.

The surrounding graveyard contains the graves of such notables as William Orr (United Irishmens' Rebellion), and Josias Walsh, grandson of John Knox, the Scottish Reformer.