the northern outskirts of Belfast, just off the Antrim Road. The 'castle' (in reality a Victorian country house) was mainly constructed between 1867 and 1870, and was built using pink Scrabo sandstone from the north of County Down, along with Giffnock sandstone dressings imported from Renfrewshire, all on a rock-faced basalt plinth. This Victorian castle, which has been described by Sir Charles Brett as 'a rugged and determined exercise in the fullness of the Scottish Baronial style, perched on a highly romantic site with a superb view', remains standing and in use to the present day. Construction cost well over the £11,000 set aside to pay for the project, forcing Lord Donegall to seek financial assistance from Baron Ashley (1831-1886), his son-in-law, in order to complete the new castle. Lord Ashley (who later became The 8th Earl of Shaftesbury) had married Lady Harriet Chichester (1836-1898), the only surviving child of Lord Donegall, in August 1857. Of Lord Donegall's three children, all by his first wife - two sons and one daughter - Lady Harriet was the only one to have had children of her own and to have outlived her father. Thus, she and her husband eventually inherited the castle and the rest of the Donegall family's vast estates in October 1883, upon the death of her father, the 3rd Marquess, while the marquessate was inherited by her elderly uncle, the former Church of Ireland Dean of Raphoe, who became The 4th Marquess of Donegall. Lord Shaftesbury, his wife Harriet, Countess of Shaftesbury, and her Chichester ancestors are commemorated in the form of Belfast street names, much like how the original castles are remembered. The 8th Earl of Shaftesbury died in April 1886, only two and a half years after he and his wife had inherited Belfast Castle. He had only succeeded his famous father in the earldom in October 1885. Upon his death, the 8th Earl was succeeded by his then sixteen-year-old son, who now became The 9th Earl of Shaftesbury (1869-1961). Of all the private owners of the new Belfast Castle, the 9th Earl was to own it the longest, presiding over the castle until January 1934. A prominent Unionist, the 9th Earl was to involve himself very much in local affairs, going on to become Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1907. He also served as: Lord Lieutenant of Belfast from 1904 to 1911; Lord Lieutenant of Antrim