The story of Audley's Castle
The tower house was raised in the 15th century, in the late medieval period when small fortified towers were going up across the east of Ireland. Its early builders are unrecorded, but it takes its name from the Audleys, an Anglo-Norman family who held land here, and specifically from a 16th-century owner, John Audley.
In 1646 the castle and its surrounding land were bought by the Ward family, who would go on to build the great Castle Ward mansion nearby. The old tower kept its name and survived as a feature of their estate. By the 18th century it had become an eye-catcher in the designed grounds, framing the long view along Temple Water, the estate's artificial lake.
What stands today is the three-storey tower, one principal room per floor, distinguished by twin turrets joined by an arch over the entrance — a form unique to County Down. The tower sits within a bawn, a thin enclosing wall with a simple gate. The National Trust acquired Castle Ward and its demesne in 1953, and the castle is now a State Care Historic Monument in the townland of Castleward.
In recent years the site found a new audience through Game of Thrones. Audley's Field served as the ground King Robert's party crossed on the way to Winterfell in Season 1 and as Robb Stark's camp in Season 2, and the tower was used, with CGI, to create the Twins for the Red Wedding.