Game of Thrones Door Number 3: The Percy French Inn, Newcastle

Article Summary

What this article covers: The true story behind Game of Thrones Door Number 3 at the Percy French Inn in Newcastle, County Down, including which episode it actually depicts, how to visit it, and the wider “Journey of Doors” trail.

Who this is for: Game of Thrones fans planning a Northern Ireland trip, and travellers exploring County Down’s filming locations.

Key takeaway: Game of Thrones Door Number 3 depicts Season 6, Episode 3 (“Oathbreaker”), not the more famous “Hold the Door” scene from Episode 5, a mix-up that appears across several older guides to the door.

Expert insight: “The first time I stood in front of Game of Thrones Door Number 3, I nearly repeated the same mistake as everyone else and assumed it was ‘Hold the Door’. Once you look closely at the carving, the Greyjoy longships and the Bolton sigil make it obvious this is a different story entirely.” , Ciaran Connolly, Founder of ConnollyCove

Quick facts:

• Game of Thrones Door Number 3 hangs inside the Percy French Inn, on the grounds of the Slieve Donard hotel in Newcastle, County Down
• It was carved from beech timber felled at the Dark Hedges during Storm Gertrude in January 2016
• The door depicts Season 6, Episode 3 (“Oathbreaker”), not Episode 5 (“The Door”)

Game of Thrones Door Number 3 is one of the ten carved doors created from Northern Ireland’s storm-felled Dark Hedges timber, and it hangs quietly inside a working pub at the foot of the Mourne Mountains. Several existing guides to Game of Thrones Door Number 3 repeat two mistakes: they attribute the carving to the wrong episode, and they mix up the pub’s namesake, the Irish songwriter Percy French, with the imagery on the door itself. Neither is true, and getting it right matters if you are planning a visit around it.

This guide sets out what Game of Thrones Door Number 3 actually depicts, why the pub is called the Percy French Inn, and how to combine a visit with the rest of County Down’s filming locations. For wider background on the show’s Northern Ireland footprint, ConnollyCove’s guide to Game of Thrones filming history in Ireland covers the production’s history in more depth.

What Is Game of Thrones Door Number 3?

Game of Thrones Door Number 3 is a hand-carved wooden door, one of ten commissioned as part of Tourism Northern Ireland’s “Journey of Doors” trail, and it hangs inside the Percy French Inn in Newcastle, County Down. The trail was created to mark the final seasons of the HBO series and to send fans travelling between the pubs and hotels that sit closest to the show’s Northern Ireland filming locations.

The Journey of Doors Campaign

Tourism Northern Ireland launched the Journey of Doors as a fan trail rather than a museum exhibit. Each of the ten doors was placed inside a real, working venue, not behind glass, so visitors handle the same door frame that other patrons walk through every day. Fans carry a passport booklet and collect a stamp at each stop, and Game of Thrones Door Number 3 is stop three on that trail.

Where to Find It in Newcastle

The Percy French Inn sits on the grounds of the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa, at the southern end of Newcastle’s promenade, with the Mourne Mountains rising directly behind it. Game of Thrones Door Number 3 is mounted as a working interior door near the dining area, so it is there to be touched and photographed rather than viewed from a distance.

The Story Behind Game of Thrones Door Number 3’s Timber

Game of Thrones Door Number 3 exists because of a storm, not a studio prop department. In January 2016, Storm Gertrude brought down several of the two-hundred-year-old beech trees along Bregagh Road in County Antrim, better known to fans as the Dark Hedges and recognisable from the show as the Kingsroad. Rather than let the timber go to waste, Tourism Northern Ireland worked with HBO to turn it into something fans could visit in person.

Storm Gertrude and the Dark Hedges

The Dark Hedges had already become a landmark in their own right by the time the storm hit, having appeared in the first season’s opening episodes. Losing several trees was a genuine loss for the site, and salvaging the fallen beech gave the wood a second life rather than letting it rot where it fell or be cleared away.

How the Carvers Worked the Wood

Woodcarvers took the felled, waterlogged beech and worked it into ten separate doors, each one carved to represent a different episode from the sixth season, which was airing at the time the doors were unveiled. The natural grain, knots and live edges of the storm-damaged timber were kept rather than smoothed away, so every door, including Game of Thrones Door Number 3, still shows the texture of the tree it came from.

Which Episode Does Game of Thrones Door Number 3 Actually Show?

This is the point where most existing guides to Game of Thrones Door Number 3 go wrong. A number of articles state that the door commemorates the Season 6, Episode 5 scene widely known as “Hold the Door”, in which Hodor holds a door shut while sacrificing himself. That is not this door. Game of Thrones Door Number 3 depicts Season 6, Episode 3, titled “Oathbreaker”, which aired several weeks earlier in the same season.

Why the Mix-Up Happens

The confusion is understandable. Both episodes deal with doors, both sit in the same season, and “Hold the Door” is by far the more famous of the two, so it is an easy detail to misremember when writing about the wider trail. But the carving on Game of Thrones Door Number 3 has nothing to do with Hodor, Bran, or the cave beyond the Wall. Its imagery matches a different set of storylines entirely, and those storylines belong to “Oathbreaker”.

What “Oathbreaker” Actually Covers

“Oathbreaker” follows three separate threads that all deal with broken loyalties: the Kingsmoot on the Iron Islands, where Euron Greyjoy seizes power and Yara and Theon flee by sea; the tense stand-off at Winterfell, where Stark loyalty is tested under Bolton occupation; and the fallout from Rickon Stark’s capture at the hands of House Bolton. Once you know the episode, the carving on Game of Thrones Door Number 3 reads far more clearly.

Decoding the Carvings on Game of Thrones Door Number 3

The panels on Game of Thrones Door Number 3 run from top to bottom, and each register corresponds to one of the three storylines from “Oathbreaker”. Reading the door this way, rather than hunting for a single scene, is the easiest way to make sense of the carving in person.

The Greyjoy Fleet Panel

The upper section shows longships cutting through carved wave patterns, a direct reference to Yara and Theon’s escape from Pyke after Euron’s coronation at the Kingsmoot. It is the most literal of the three panels and the easiest to spot at a glance.

The Stark Direwolf Over Winterfell

The centre of Game of Thrones Door Number 3 is dominated by a direwolf head set above battlements, representing House Stark’s presence at an occupied Winterfell. The carvers worked with the timber’s natural grain here to suggest stonework, which gives this panel more depth than the others. Readers curious about the animal behind the sigil can find more in ConnollyCove’s piece on the real direwolves behind House Stark’s sigil.

The Bolton Sigil and the Flayed Man

The lower register carries House Bolton’s flayed man motif, tied to Smalljon Umber’s delivery of Rickon Stark to Ramsay Bolton in the same episode. It is the darkest of the three panels and the one most directly tied to the season’s escalating power struggle in the North.

Percy French: Why the Pub, Not the Door, Carries His Name

The Percy French Inn takes its name from a historical figure who has no connection to Game of Thrones Door Number 3’s carving or storyline. Several guides blur this distinction, implying the door itself somehow depicts or honours Percy French. It doesn’t. The name belongs to the building, not the artwork inside it.

Who Was Percy French?

Percy French was an Irish songwriter, poet and engineer, born in County Roscommon in 1854, best remembered for comic and sentimental songs about Irish life, including “The Mountains of Mourne” and “Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff”. He died in 1920, long before Newcastle became a Game of Thrones filming hub, and the pub’s name is simply a nod to a well-loved local cultural figure.

The Mountains of Mourne Connection

French’s best-known song describes the Mourne Mountains sweeping down to the sea, the same landscape that surrounds Newcastle today and that doubled for parts of Westeros during filming. It is a pleasant coincidence that a pub named for a songwriter who celebrated this exact coastline now also houses Game of Thrones Door Number 3, but the two stories run in parallel rather than overlapping.

Visiting Game of Thrones Door Number 3 at the Percy French Inn

Game of Thrones Door Number 3 is easy to combine with a wider day out in Newcastle, since the Percy French Inn sits within walking distance of the promenade and the foothills of the Mournes. A short visit to see the door can easily stretch into a full afternoon.

Getting the Journey of Doors Stamp

Ask at the bar for the Journey of Doors stamp for Door Number 3. Staff keep the stamp behind the counter and will mark your passport booklet free of charge; if you don’t have the official booklet, most venues on the trail are happy to stamp a printed page or notebook instead.

Opening Times and Practical Tips

The Percy French Inn operates as a normal working pub attached to the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa, so treat it as you would any hotel bar: quieter mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and busiest around Sunday lunch. Confirm current opening hours directly with the venue before travelling, since these can shift seasonally.

Photography Advice

Because Game of Thrones Door Number 3 is an active interior door rather than a museum piece, natural light through nearby windows tends to give the clearest photos during the middle of the day. Avoid photographing during service if the bar area is busy, out of courtesy to other patrons and staff.

“Standing that close to a piece of storm-felled Dark Hedges timber, with the Mournes visible through the window behind it, tells you more about this trail than any description could. Game of Thrones Door Number 3 works because you can touch it, not because it sits behind rope.” , Ciaran Connolly, Founder of ConnollyCove

Getting to Game of Thrones Door Number 3: Travel and Timing

Newcastle sits close enough to both Belfast and Dublin that a visit to Game of Thrones Door Number 3 can work as a day trip from either city, or as one stop on a longer Northern Ireland coastal route. Getting the timing right makes a real difference to how much of the wider area you can fit in around the door itself.

Getting There from Belfast and Dublin

From Belfast, Newcastle is roughly an hour’s drive south along the A24, with regular Translink coach services also running direct to the town. From Dublin, the journey takes around two hours by car via the M1 and A2, crossing into County Down along the coast road, which gives good early views of the Mournes before you arrive. There is no train station in Newcastle itself, so a car or coach is the most practical way to reach Game of Thrones Door Number 3 directly.

Best Time to Visit

Late spring through early autumn gives the most reliable weather for combining Game of Thrones Door Number 3 with an outdoor stop at Tollymore Forest Park or a walk along the promenade, though the pub itself is open, and the door visible, all year round. Weekday mornings tend to be quietest at the Percy French Inn, while weekend lunchtimes bring more foot traffic from both hotel guests and passing visitors.

Beyond Game of Thrones Door Number 3: A County Down Day Trip

Newcastle sits close enough to several other Northern Ireland filming locations that a visit to Game of Thrones Door Number 3 can anchor a full day of exploring rather than a quick stop. County Down offers more Thrones-adjacent scenery within a short drive than most visitors expect.

Tollymore Forest Park

Tollymore Forest Park, a few miles from Newcastle, doubled as the haunted forest beyond Winterfell in the show’s earliest episodes and remains a working public forest with waymarked trails. Its stone bridges, tree tunnels and river walks make it a natural pairing with a stop at Game of Thrones Door Number 3. Nearby Leitrim Lodge, covered in ConnollyCove’s guide to the Leitrim Lodge Game of Thrones filming location, is another Mourne foothills stop worth adding to the same day.

Castle Ward and Door Number 1

Castle Ward, a National Trust property on the shores of Strangford Lough, served as Winterfell itself and hosts Journey of Doors stop number one at the nearby Cuan pub. The National Trust’s own Castle Ward visitor information page covers current opening times and its costumed Winterfell tours, both worth checking before you go. Combining Castle Ward with Game of Thrones Door Number 3 makes for a coherent day covering both a major filming estate and part of the doors trail.

Other Doors Nearby

Game of Thrones Door Number 4 at Blake’s of the Hollow in Enniskillen, and Door Number 6, at the Fullerton Arms in Ballintoy, sit further afield but can be worked into a longer Northern Ireland itinerary alongside Game of Thrones Door Number 3 for travellers with more time to cover the full Journey of Doors trail across Northern Ireland.

How Game of Thrones Door Number 3 Fits the Full Journey of Doors Trail

Ten doors make up the full Journey of Doors trail, and Game of Thrones Door Number 3 is one of three sitting within reasonable reach of each other in County Down and County Antrim. Seeing where it sits on the list helps with planning a wider trip.

Door	Venue	Location	Episode Represented
Door 1	The Cuan	Strangford	Season 6, Episode 1
Door 3	Percy French Inn	Newcastle	Season 6, Episode 3, “Oathbreaker”
Door 4	Blake’s of the Hollow	Enniskillen	Season 6, Episode 4
Door 6	Fullerton Arms	Ballintoy	Season 6, Episode 6
Door 9	Ballygally Castle Hotel	Ballygally	Season 6, Episode 9
Door 10	The Dark Horse	Belfast	Season 6, Episode 10

Most doors correspond directly to the episode number in their position on the trail, which is a useful memory aid: Game of Thrones Door Number 3 depicts episode three, in the same way Door 1 depicts episode one.

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