Stormont Castle is situated near Belfast in Northern Ireland and was built in 1830 by Rev John Cleland. The original house was a plain late Georgian rectangle building and the grounds were very modest. However in 1858 the Cleland family commissioned the architect Thomas Turner to develop the house into a baronial castle with battlements, turrets, iron cresting and weather vanes and it is this structure that can be seen today.

In 1921 Stormont was put up for auction and was purchased as the Parliament Buildings for the new Northern Ireland state. Parliament stated that "Stormont Castle demesne shall be the place where the new Parliament House and Ministerial Buildings shall be erected, and as the place to be determined as the seat of the Government of Northern Ireland as and when suitable provision has been made therefore." The castle's life then began as a government building and has been home to the Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Ministry of Public Security and today it's role is the Belfast Headquarters of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.