This is the proper White House.
Few people know that the White House dates from 1569 and is thought to be the oldest house in Ireland. It’s a plantation bawn, a fortified house, given to a Mr Brunker in 1574 by Elizabeth I in recognition of his military service in the Spanish Wars. It was included in the area granted to Sir Arthur Chichester by the Queen in 1604 and was occupied by George Martin, Sovereign of Belfast, in 1649.
It was said that William III met General Schomberg at the White House at the start of the Williamite Wars in Ireland. The remains of an ancient quay at Whitehouse point are described in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, 1839. William landed a portion of his army here, or nearby on an artificial island known as ‘Donald’s Island’, in June 1690.
The quay was destroyed in the late 1970s when the M5 motorway was built.
