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The middle-ward curtain wall was later reduced to ground level in the eighteenth century, save along the seaward side, where it survives with a postern gate and the east tower, notable for a fine array of cross-bow loops at basement level.
A chamber on the first floor of the east tower is believed to have been the castle's chapel on account of its fine Romanesque -style double window surround, though the original chapel must have been in the inner ward. The ribbed vault over the entrance passage, the murder hole and the massive portcullis at either end of the gatehouse are later insertions started by Hugh de Lacey who died in and did not live to see its completion in around After the collapse of the Earldom of Ulster in , the castle remained the Crown 's principal residential and administrative centre in the north of Ireland.
During the early stages of the Nine Years War — , when English influence in the north became tenuous, crown forces were supplied and maintained through the town's port. And in , the surrounding country was the scene for the Battle of Carrickfergus.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries improvements were made to accommodate artillery , including externally splayed gunports and embrasures for cannon , though these improvements did not prevent the castle from being attacked and captured on many occasions during this time. Marshal Schomberg besieged and took the castle in the week-long Siege of Carrickfergus in In , after fierce fighting in the town , it was surrendered to French invaders under the command of Francois Thurot.
They looted the castle and town and then left, only to be caught by the Royal Navy. In , a small but significant event in the American War of Independence began at Carrickfergus, when John Paul Jones , in the face of reluctance by his crew to approach too close to the Castle, lured a Royal Navy vessel from its moorings into the North Channel , and won an hour-long battle.
In the Castle, which had on various occasions been used to house prisoners of war, became a prison and it was heavily defended during the Napoleonic Wars ; six guns on the east battery remain of the twenty-two that were used in For a century it remained a magazine and armoury. Singles in Carrickfergus Adams Carrickfergus Dating Sites feelyou Singles in Carrickfergus IcebergGlaceon.
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