Earls of Antrim, still in residence
The McDonnells
John Mór MacDonnell came across from Scotland in the late 14th century and married Marjory Bisset, heiress to the Glens of Antrim. The family has been here ever since. Sir Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim, built the present castle in 1636. The current incumbent is Randal McDonnell, 10th Earl. Six hundred years in one place is the kind of continuity that's hard to imagine until you stand at the Barbican Gate and realise the family on the other side of it is the same family who built the gate.
The Walled Garden won the country
Glenarm Castle
The Walled Garden was laid out in the 1820s and had gone to sleep for most of the 20th century. Lord and Lady Antrim redesigned and restored it in stages over the last two decades. In 2023 a national public vote named it Historic Houses Garden of the Year. It's open May to September. The Antrim McDonnell Heritage Centre on the estate tells the longer story.
Five miles of water, well stocked
The salmon river
The Glenarm River runs out of the hills, through the forest, under the village and into the bay. About five miles in total. Salmon, sea trout, brown trout — the Glenarm Angling Club has rights on two of those miles, a private syndicate the rest. Access from the bank is restricted, so it's a river you mostly admire from the forest path. Watch for otter and kingfisher; the river still holds both.
Why everything still looks like itself
Conservation village
Glenarm has been a designated conservation village for decades. That's why the 19th-century shopfronts on the main street have not been replaced with uPVC, why the Barbican Gate still terminates the view, why the harbour wall is the harbour wall and not a car park. It's also why a place this small still feels like the same place it was when the limestone boats were loading.