placenamesGarronpoint
An Gearrán
Above the Antrim Coast Road, Garron Tower passed from a summer residence to a hotel and then a school.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- An Gearrán · Irish · main form · validated name
- Garronpoint · English · main form
Place & story
A coastal summer residence
Frances Anne, Marchioness of Londonderry, began Garron Tower as a summer residence, laying its foundation stone in 1848. The principal building was completed in 1850, with an extension following in 1852–53. The Dictionary of Irish Architects records John Millar’s involvement in the building work and surviving designs by Lewis Vulliamy for additions, while treating Vulliamy’s authorship of the original design as unproven. [2] [3]
Hotel and school
The tower later accommodated coastal tourists under Larne hotelier Henry McNeill. During the Second World War it sheltered older residents evacuated from Clifton House in Belfast. Purchased for the Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor in 1947, it opened as a boys’ boarding and day school in September 1951. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Antrim
- Barony
- Glenarm Lower
- Civil parish
- Ardclinis
- Within
- Galboly Lower
- Coordinates
- 55.04634, -5.96587 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 135775 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Garronpoint. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Garron Tower — 23 November 2020 · Glens of Antrim Historical Society
- CO. ANTRIM, GARRON TOWER · Dictionary of Irish Architects, Irish Architectural Archive
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.