2 Guide to Belfast. 



mountain (1,273 feet), with Divis (1,507 feet) rising 

 behind it, and overlooking the city ; while the range of the 

 Castlereagh hills appears on the southern or County Down 

 side of the valley. 



One of the first places of importance that meet the eye 

 on entering the lough is Carrickfergus Castle, the great 

 military stronghold of the Anglo-Norman invasion, built by 

 John de Courci in 11 77, standing conspicuously on the 



CAKMlCKFliKOUS CAbll.^. 



northern shore. It still remains in perfect condition, 

 notwithstanding the many sieges and captures it has under- 

 gone in troublous times ; it can only now be viewed as a 

 picturesque relic, and quite useless as a place of defence. 

 On the southern or County Down side, at the entrance of 

 the lough, is the ancient monastic town of Bangor, a 

 favourite place of resort for summer visitors at the sea-side. 

 Not far from Bangor is Clandeboye, the ancestral home of 

 the late Marquess of Dufferin and Ava ; upon the 

 wooded hill behind stands Helen's Tower, erected by 

 Lord Dufferin in 1847, on his coming of age, as a 

 token of love for his mother, Helen, Lady Dufferin. 

 Tennyson and Browning, Haughton and Kipling, have, 

 in immortal verse, made the tower for ever memorable. 

 HoLvwooD, a pleasant sea-side village of some 4,000 

 inhabitants, four miles from Belfast, on the road to Bangor, 

 was also an ancient ecclesiastical seat of importance. 



