m
HISTORY OF BELFAST
A HISTORY
WILLIAM & MARV ORRLINGTON
MEMORIAl. LIBRARY UNIVEnSlTY OF PITTSSUR6H
THE TOWN OF BELFAST
THE EARLIEST TIMES
THE CLOSE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Wtiilx Paj?s and JHustpti^ns
BY
GEORGE BENN
MAECUS WAED & CO., 67 & 68, CHANDOS STREET And royal ULSTER WORKS, BELFAST
1877
4
PREFACE,
YV AVING in early life turned my attention to historical and topographical matters connected with Belfast and its neighbourhood, my inquiries resulting in a publication relative thereto, without my name, so long back as 1823, it was sug- gested to me, a few years ago, that the time had arrived when it would be desirable to resume the subject with more matured experience and greater knowledge. I declined then to do so, but mentioned to those who were taking an interest in it that Mr. William Pinkerton was the only person whom I knew who was qualified to take it up with effect, and that I would communicate with him on the subject. I accordingly did so, and, after some correspondence, he consented to compile a full history of Belfast. He proceeded to collect materials for the purpose, but unfortunately died in 1871, leaving the docu- ments which he had gathered unarranged, and the history unwritten. This caused great regret and disappointment. Mr. Pinkerton's writings in several high-class publications were much esteemed ; he was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and his general qualifications for the task he had undertaken were admitted by all who knew him. Some time after his decease his papers were given to me. I voluntarily undertook, before examining them, to publish those parts which related to Belfast, under the impression that such would merely require
VI. PREFACE.
some connecting observations, and not entail any great amount of labour. The examination of the papers proved such a scheme to be impracticable. They consisted to some extent of general literary matter having no connection with Belfast; in other cases, of information more relating to North of Ireland history than to that of this town ; and in nearly all instances they were disjoined and unconnected. The writing of the history was not even begun, nor any of it put in form except a few detached portions which Mr. Pinkerton most favoured. Under these circumstances, no alternative seemed to be left to me but to write the history myself in my own way. I have therefore done so ; it is all my own work from beginning to end, using, of course, such selections from the papers that were given to me as I thought suitable for my purpose, in the same manner which I adopted with the far greater number obtained by myself and procured from others during the last five years, equally acknowledging in all cases the sources of the informa- tion used.
I am conscious of the great defects of my labours, of wants not in my power to fill up, possibly of many errors, and of having been forced for want of space to pass too lightly over important subjects. It was impossible for me to extend the history into the present century, except in a few instances as continuations or completions of articles begun in the previous one. But the history of Belfast from the beginning of the nineteenth century to this time would probably be more acceptable to the present inhabitants than the older subjects to which I was led by inclination, by the want of know- ledge which generally appeared to prevail regarding the
PEEFACE. VH.
ancient annals of the town, and by the apprehension that, if not published now, they might be difficult ever again to gather. If Mr. Pinkerton had lived to write what he appears to have contemplated, a publication of higher general historic value would possibly have been the result ; but the history being with me confined to Belfast and its more immediate relations, my subject, of necessity, is more local and contracted. Some of it, at least, should interest the descendants of the old inhabi- tants, and perhaps also in some measure the infinitely greater number of persons who have in recent years made Belfast their home.
It is needless to mention here the names of the many kind friends who have given me valuable papers or general assist- ance. Their contributions are acknowledged in the work itself where the subjects to which they refer arise, and should any have been omitted, I know I will be excused for the unin- tentional forgetfuluess.
GEOEGE BENK
Belfast, June, 1877.
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
I.-X. XL
XII.
XIII
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
— General History till the Revolution
— The Old Town Book, or Seventeenth Century Eb CORDS OF Belfast
— Observations on some J^oted Inhabitants of Belfast mentioned in the Records of the Seventeenth Century
, — Seventeenth Century and old Topography of Belfast - . - . -
— Early Population of Belfast
—Early Trade of Belfast
— Extinct and Early Manufactures
— Ecclesiastical History of Belfast
— Miscellaneous, consisting of — Early Printing in Belfast Early Educational Establishments - The Seventeenth Century Tokens of Belfast Early Banks ....
The Old or Original Dock - The First Water Supply - The Early Post Office
Early Travelling - - - -
Watching and Lighting
Original Theatres - - - -
The Old Poorhouse or Charitable Society Literary Persons of the Eighteenth Century The Old Streets - - . .
—The Topography of the Eighteenth Century -
—The Eighteenth Century in Belfast -
—The Eighteenth Century, Continued - Appendixes . . . . .
Index - - - -
PAGE
1-187 188-235
236-269
270-294 295-300 301-331 332-365 366-423
424-445 445-454 455-465 465-469 470-484 485-491 491-496 497-500 500-507 507-509 510-518 519-526 527-532 533-564 565-610 611-668 669-755 756-770
Si^t 0| Utitp and Jtlii^tptiaits.
Carrickfergas Bay, or Belfast and its Neighbourhood in
1570 - - - - - - facing 273
Plan of Belfast of 1660 - - - - - „ 277
Plan of Belfast of 1685 - - - - - „ 283
Sir William Petty's Map of the Barony of Belfast - „ 289
Plan of the Harbour of Belfast, with a sketch of the
proposed Improvements in 1785 - - - „ 484
Belfast Volunteer Ground and its Vicinity in 1783, being
a Topographical Map - - - - „ 562
Plan of the Town of Belfast, from an actual survey, taken
A.D. 1790 - - - - - - „ 564
Plan of the Volunteer Attack and Defence of Belfast in
July, 1781 - - - - - „ 631
Imperfect Sketch of the Genealogy of the O'l^eills, drawn
on the back of a letter by Lord Burghley, Appendix
m. I. - „ 670
Pedigree of the Chichester Family - - - „ 680
Portrait of Arthur Chichester, Lord Baron of Belfast and
Lord Deputy of Ireland - - - - ,, 682
Portrait of Arthur Chichester, First Earl of Donegall,
Appendix No. X. - - - - - „ 718
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
CHAPTER I .
GENEKAL HISTORY.
BELFAST, as a town, has no ancient history. The Ford, the Castle, the Church, were the three distinguishing objects which made the locality known in early days.
The territory in which these places were situated was called in most remote times Dalaradia.^ This part of Ulster was also named Uladh, and the numerous battles and events which occurred from the very dawn of Irish history in the districts
1 Dalaradia was the undoubted name of the territory in which the modern Belfast is situated. The distinction between it and Dah'iada is clearly proved by Dr. Reeves in his Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down and Oonnor, particularly at pp. 318 and 334. Elsewhere he says — " DaMada, in the interior of the County of Antrim, never came as far south as Ballymena nor along the coast beyond Larne ; it was the northern half of the county," and the name con- tractedly written Ruta is still called the Route (p. 318) ; but Dalaradia stretched in its most extended meaning from Newry, in the County of Down, to the mountain Mis (Slemish), in the County of Antrim (p. 335), including in that wide scope the site of Belfast.
The late Dr. O'Donovan, in the Dublin Penny Journal, p. 362, proves with equal clearness, from documentary evidence and the topography of the country, that the Buas is the Bush of modern days, and not the Lagan, as has been advocated by O'Conor, O'Flaherty, Archdall, and others.
Inquiries connected with this subject are extremely curious and interesting, more particularly when documents descriptive of unchanging topographical features render the conclusions undoubted. The rivers that flowed more than a thousand years ago still flow on ; the promontories and other natural objects still stand unchanged, except by the rude assaults of time, and remain the boundaries and landmarks which the old writers describe. On these foundations the learn- ing of Dr. Reeves and Dr. O'Donovan alone of those who have written on the subject have placed the boundaries and dividing lines of Dalaradia and Dalriada on an indisputable basis. B
2 THE HISTORY OF BELFAST.
SO called are circumstantially recorded, and the site or neigh- bourhood of the future Belfast was doubtless the scene of many of them.
The Lough or Bay of Belfast was known as Loch Laoigh, or as Lacus Vituli according to Adamnan, and was the frequent resort of the roving Danes in the early centuries of our era. It was safe and accessible, and the country around, even then, must have presented many inducements for settlement or plunder. Trade in some form was also probably introduced by the North- men; and the minute history of those times, if recoverable, would explain many difficulties in connection with the material antiquities found in Eastern Ulster, and be in every respect highly valuable.^
Some of the early battles recorded give faint indications of the state of the country at the time, and two events with distinct dates are noticed, having special reference to Belfast. The Ford, or rather the Fearsat — which, under the name then given to it, runs through the modern town — was the scene of a battle in the year 666. It is thus mentioned —
" The battle of Fearsat, between the Ulidians^ aud the Cruithni, where Cathasach, son of Laircine, was slain. The Fearsat here alluded to was evidently at Bel-Feirste, now Belfast, on the river Lagan, in the county of Antrim."'^
The other notice, nearly identical in point of date, is still more interesting, showing that in the neighbourhood of Belfast was a royal residence in the old days.
" In A.D. 080, as mentioned in O'Conor's Dissertations, Cathasach
^ Danish names in near connection with this locality can be traced. Thus, Crookmouth, the original harbour ol Belfast ; hence probably Cromaek ; — Cope- laud Islands, Olderfleet, Portavo, Dunsford, Strangford, and many more.
In a letter from the late Dr. O'Douovan, relating to this subject, he says — " I have no doubt that the Danes and Norwegians imposed many names upon localities on our coasts. I am also persuaded that wherever we have loop and crook on the coast, they are of Norse origin.
^ Uladh, Ulidia, Dalaradia, Dalriada were all contemporary names, the two first meaning Ulster, or Eastern Ulster only, or Down and Antrim.
' Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i., p. 279 and note.
JOHN DE CUECI. 6
and TJltan, princes of the Cruithnians of Dalaradia, leagued with the Britains to invade Ireland, and united their forces at Eathmore, in Magh Line. .. . . This Eathmore was a royal residence of the kings of Dalaradia ; it was situated in the parish now called Donegore, in the county of Antrim."^
Such, it may be said, are examples of the public transactions which continued for centuries among the chiefs of Dalaradia, or Dalriada. Wars among themselves and their kindred in Scot- land or the Isles were the pastimes of their lives. Their domestic history would be much more attractive, but no chronicler has preserved it with that accuracy or fulness of detail which modern curiosity requires. The great change which interfered with those relations was the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1171. Some years after that event — namely, in 1177 — one of the most distinguished of the foreign adventurers, accompanied by many knightly followers and a small army of English and Irish, gained power in the counties of Down and Antrim, form- ing at that time, as they do still, the most important district in the province. This was John De Curci of famous memory. He was nearly related to the King of Man ; he was created Earl of Ulster by Henry the Second, and is called by a monkish chronicler " Prince of Ulidia," meaning here the two counties of Down and Antrim, He lived in almost regal magnificence at Downpatrick, which was the place of his first conquest ; and finally coined money, specimens of which have been but recently discovered. He founded churches, and erected castles commanding the bays and mountain passes."^ It is true, De Curci had fixed his chief residence at Downpatrick, but there can be no doubt that the situation of what is now Belfast, and the ford or fords there forming the connecting link between his possessions in Down and Antrim, must have soon attracted his attention, as it did
1 Annals of the Four Masters, p. 20, Connellan's translation. It is certain that about ten miles from Belfast a very extensive fort, called Eathmore, in the parish named, still exists ; and, in comparison with many others in its neigh- bourhood, was fit to be a royal residence, as kings' palaces were in the year 680 ; and a king's residence it traditionally was.
2 Gilbert's History of the Irish Viceroys, p. 60.
4 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
that of other adventurers in after days; and that lie must have looked upon it as a suitable site for a castle to command the bay, the river pass, and the surrounding country. Whether the Castle of Belfast was built by De Curci or some of his followers, no means now exist to prove ; but there is every probability that, either by his direction or that of his immediate successor, the next Earl of Ulster, the Castle of Belfast was first erected, and its importance speedily established. De Curci ruled over Down and Antrim for a considerable time, with some of those vicis- situdes of fortune common to all who live in warlike times. He was the first Anglo-Norman or English possessor of the site of Belfast and the surrounding country. The opposition of the original owners may have made it but a nominal sovereignty, though the circumstance that he coined money both in Down- patrick and Carrickfergus'^ would warrant the assumption that he held sway over the land from one point to the other.
The Church was about a mile and a-half distant from the Castle of Belfast. It is not necessary in this place to enter into any ecclesiastical details, but merely to record, as the third distinctive mark of the locality, that, some centuries before the modern town had existence, there was standing in the present Shankhill graveyard a church called the White Church, after- wards Shankhill, or the Old Church. AYhether this church was erected by De Curci or one of his immediate successors, or whether it was the work of some Irish chief before the invaders set foot in Dalaradia, it is now impossible to ascertain. To it were attached several subordinate churches or alterages, one of which, the Chapel of the Eord, stood where St. George's Church,
1 The great discovery of coins, proving this fact, is related at full length by Dr. Aciuilla Smith in a communication to the Numismatic Society of London, and also in pamphlet form. The coins, 1115 in number, were found in County Down in 1858, but the exact locality is not known. Dr. Smith satisfactorily proves that among them are silver farthings coined by John De Curci, and in his most interesting pamphlet truly says — " The discovery, after the lapse of nearly seven centuries, of so large a number of coins, presenting five different coinages and three distinct types— two of towns not previously known to have coined silver money, and one with the name of a subject on the reverse — is a very I'eniarkable fact."
THE ANGLO-NORMANS. 0
in High Street, Belfast, has since "been built. Its existence at that place, and its name, indicate the ford or passage near it to have been important and in frequent use. .Both these buildings, surrounded with all the accessories of their sacred character, were standing at or in what was to be our town so early as the year 1306,^ and it is probable, or rather it is certain, long before that remote era.
King John came to Ireland in 1210. On this occasion he travelled by known routes to the North, and was ten days in Carrickfergus. He returned to Dublin, as recorded, " by way of Holywood^ and Bcdlimore," the former i)lace being the nearest to the Ford of Belfast mentioned as in his course ; the second was Ballymorran, in Killinchy. For more than a century after this time, the Anglo-JSTormans increased and consolidated their power in JSTorth-Eastern Ulster. Castles were built, the sites of many of which are yet known ; and improvements, after the fashion of the day, spread over the country. This progressive civilisation received a rude check from the invasion of EdM'ard Bruce in 1315. The account of that invasion, how it originated, its success for a time, the occupation of Carrickfergus by Bruce for a considerable period, the visit of King Robert his brother to that town, and the utter devastation which accompanied and
^ Reeves' Ecclesiastical Antiquities, p. 6.
^ John must either have crossed to Holywood by water, or else passed \>y the Foi'd. There is an old bridge still known by the name of the King's Bridge, said, traditionally, to be so called because King John passed over it. It is across a small stream near Con's Water Bridge ; has one arch about four feet wide, but is not likely to be that which existed in the days of King John. The route was the direct one from the Ford to Holywood. It is, however, a singular-looking structure, and of some antiquity : but how varying and uncertain is tradition ! King John has not the undisputed honour of association with this small bridge. A person living near it said he had heard it called King Con's Bridge, meaning Con O'Neill of Castlereagh, from whom the adjoining river, Con's Water, derives its name. Another said he had known it called King William's Bridge, because King William, when in Belfast, had passed over it on his way to Orangefield, not very far distant, and where he had passed a night. Of the three kings, King Con was the most likely to have given his name to this bridge, even if so old as his time. There is no proof whatever that King William was ever at the place now called Orangefield.
0 HISTOEY OF BELFAST.
followed the invasion — belong to the general history of Ireland, and are among the most romantic and eventful incidents which that history contains. The connection of this locality with it is briefly told. " The country," says Spenser, " had become a Avell inhabited and prosperous district, having in the midst Knockfergus, Belfast, Armagh, and Carlingford. . . . Bruce wasted Belfast, Greencastle, Kells, Bellturbet, Castletown, New- ton, and many other very good towns and strongholds."^ The great poet has here twice introduced the name of Belfast, and if he included it and some others among good towns he must have written on very imperfect information. He lived two hundred and fifty years after the events,^ and even during that long interval Belfast had only reached the position of a castle of in- considerable pretensions. It was held by De Mauudeville, which name appears a few years later so conspicuously in con- nection with it ; was certainly destroyed in those disastrous wars, and its owner, the Llaundeville of that day, slain in Car- rickfergus by Edward Bruce himself Previously to these events, the ancient names, Dalaradia and Dalriada, had probably disap- peared ; the territory had been divided by the Anglo-ISTormans into the three counties of " Cragfergus, Antrum, and Newtown of Bloethwyc." The two first names are obvious ; the third is the modern Xewtownards, the term Bloethwyc referring to the ecclesiastical title of the district in which it lay. In which of the three divisions the site of Belfast Avas situated is nowhere stated, but there is little doubt that it was in the first named, and that it was a small auxiliary to the great fortress of Carrickfergus.
Through all these disastrous circumstances the Anglo-iSTorman power was not extinguished. An Earl of Ulster still ruled, though with diminished influence. In 1333 that Earl was William
1 Spencer's View of the Slate of Ireland, vol. i., p. 27.
* For a lengtheued account of Bruce's invasion — its motives, progress, and results under all the light of modern investigation— see the papers by Mr. Hore, called the Bruces in Ireland, beginning at vol. v., p. 1, in the Ulster Journal of Arclumlocj]].
WILLIAM DE BUEGO. 7
De Burgo, then in his early youth. His possessions were great in the West of Ireland, but his residence, and that of some of his predecessors, was chiefly in Ulster, most probably at Carrick- fer^us. The fate and history of William De Burgo, so far as they are connected with our locality, will best be disclosed by extracts from the Irish annalists. He had been at strife with John De Logan, one of his own original blood and nation; dissensions had sprung up with his near relations also ; and, finally, it is related "that he was murdered on Sunday, the 6th of June, 1333, by Eobert Fitzrichard Mandeville (who gave him the first wound) and others, his servants, near to the Fords in going towards Carrickfergus."^ Another annalist distinctly relates that this event took place between Cragfergus and Newtown, language which points to the same spot — the ford across the Lagan, the site of the future Belfast. More explicitly still is the fatal story told at greater length by Grace, whose narrative, somewhat abridged, is thus translated —
" William De Burgh, Earl of Ulster, was slain by his own relations between tlie camp at Shankhill and Carrickfergns.'^ . . He had
■^ Lodge's Peerage, vol. i., p. 124.
^ The proper language by some is said to be inter castra in cle Sandcs. By others the Latin is inter castrum de Sancles et Gregfergus, which is probably that intended by the original writer, Castrum de Sancles being the Castle of Belfast ; at least no other meaning can well be taken out of it, though it is an ex- ample of looseness of phraseology to be condemned, and it never ap})ears to have acq^uired permanency. Mr. Hore states that the Maundeville here so inauspiciously introduced, though one of the name held lands in the Dufferin shortly after the first invasion, was owner, of course under De Burgo, of the Castle of Belfast. He gives no authority for this, but further inquiry may fully establish it. De Burgo himself is distinctly said to have owned at the time of his death '■'a'pud Le Ford, inanium in quo est unum castritm prostratum per guerram Johannis de Logan." — Eeeves' Ecclesiastical Antiquities, p. 6. This was certainly the Castle of Belfast, and is a very distinct and interesting notice of it. It is also thought, on good grounds, that the word Fogan in the text should be Logan, referring to one of the persons whose wars and rebellion, together with the unhappy results of Edward Bruce's invasion, had uprooted the castles of De Burgo, deteriorated his lauds, and greatly reduced the value of his earldom.
There is nothing in the Inquisition 2)ost mortem giving any information as to the manner or place of De Burgo's death. The consequences of it were impor-
8 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
maltreated^ his uncle, Eichard de Burgh, partly for outrageously insulting his wife, and partly for other reasons. A sister of this Richard had married Lord John Maundeville of Donnahir, and she ceased not to urge her husband to avenge her brother. Accordingly, one Sunday, when he was riding to church from the camp of Shank- hill, towards Carrickfergus, the earl (INIaundeville^) noticing that more of his servants Avere of the Fogan family (Logan 1) than were with the Earl (of Ulster 1) on the high road, while saying morning prayers with him, he cleft his skull with a sword-stroke behind. "^
Several other annalists relate the event much in the same
taut, beyond the interruption to the advance of the immediate neighbourhood where it happened. The annalists state that his wife, struck with fear, fled with her infant daughter to England. That infant daughter afterwards married the Duke of Clarence, son of Edward the Third, and was ancestress of Edward the Fourth, by which the Earldom of Ulster became a Crown possession in name, and the English monarchs Earls of Ulster. Queen Elizabeth .spoke of her Earldom of Ulster, and claimed the right of disposing of it ; and it is to this day a regal title attached to the Crown of England. Lionel, Duke of Clarence, became Earl of Ulster in right of his wife, and the descent and connections are fully traced in Lodge's Peerage by Archdall, vol. i., p. 125.
1 The maltreatment inflicted by the young earl on his kinsman for alleged in.sults to his wife was rather a serious one, and is succinctly related in these words by one of the chroniclers— "1332. Walter, sou of Sir William Burk, was taken prisoner by the Brown Earl, who afterwards took him with him to the new castle of Inis-Eoghain ; and he died of hunger in the prison of that castle." Note. — "Neiv CasLle, Green Castle, near the mouth of Lough Foyle, in the Barony of Lmishowen and County of Donegal." — Annals of Loch Ce, vol. i., p. 617.
2 Jac. Grace Annales Hibernice, p. 126.
Another chronicler, in the Annales of Ireland, thus describes the death of De Burgo : —
"1333. Also, William Burk, Earle of Ulster, between the New Towne and Cragfergus in Vlster, was traitorously (the more pitty) slaine by his owne company in the twentieth yeere of his age, on the sixt day of the moneth June. Eobert, the son of Mauriton Maundevil, was he that gave him his first wound."
The treacherous murder of the young De Burgo excited the rage of the country against all, directly or indirectly, implicated in it. They were pursued and punished ; and long after, in pardons granted to criminals, it was usual to except those who had aided or abetted, or been any way concerned in, the muider of William De Burgo. So strong was this feeling, that in the curious chronicle of Irish affairs from 1014 to 1590, called the Annals of Loch Ce, recently trans- lated from the original Irish by W. M. Henness}% confirmation of it appears in these words — "William Burk, i.e., the Earl of Ulster, was slain by the foreigners of Ulster ; and all these foreigners fell in return, having been either hanged, slain, or torn asunder by the king of the Saxons' people." — Vol. i., p. 617.
THE 0 NEILLS. 9
manner. This catastrophe, coming so soon after Brace's invasion, completed the confusion and misery of the country. The Irish chiefs soon took advantage of the weakness and dissensions of their enemies. Their rule became once more predominant ; the descendants of the early Anglo-Norman settlers sank in power and influence, and it is stated on sufficient authority that these two events — Bruce's invasion and the murder of William De Burgo — led in the end, if not to the extinction of English power for three centuries in this part of Ulster, at least, with occasional brighter glimpses and formal acknowledgments of sovereignty, to the loss, for that lengthened time, of all supreme and sustained authority.
The O'lsTeills, beyond the influence of the ISTorman settlers, had for some years been gaining strength, and a sept which was not a remote branch of that princely house became influential in what were probably the old possessions of their ancestors. They were called the family or tribe of Aodh Buidhe O'Neill, that is, Hugh Boy, or the Yellow. This clan name, in a kind of Anglicised form, extended itself to the broad lands of the dis- trict, which became Clannaboye, a name not unknown even at the present day. Two distinct districts in Antrim and Down were called North and South — sometimes Upper and Lower — Clannaboye ; in the former of which the Castle and the Churches of Shankhill or Belfast were situated. The Castle passed into the hands of the O'Neills, or at least was in their possession, on early subsequent occasions. The presumed right to it and other places and castles around was not abandoned by the disorganised colony or by the Government, but acted on when occasion arose, and apparently acquiesced in or' resisted by the native chiefs, as English or Irish power predominated. From tKis circumstance, from this disputed or divided power, and from the obscurity and insignificance of the place itself, the notices of Belfast for many ages are few and unsatisfactory. The petty wars of the time — of the Irish with the colonists, with the marauding Scots, or among themselves — if they could be detailed, would occupy a formidable space. Some notices of the participation which
10 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
Belfast had in the events of this long period are here introduced, and may throiv a faint light on the state of society in an un- settled age.
In 1476, it is related that "a great army, led by O'J^eill against the son of Hugh Boy O'JSTeill, attacked the Castle of Bel-feirste, which he took and demolished, and then returned to his house."
"A.D. 1489. O'Donnell— z.e., Hugh Eoe, the son of mal Garv— proceeded with an army into Trian-Chongail, in harvest-time. He committed great depredations and devastations in the Eoute upon MacQuillin, without receiving any injury, except that his son Con was wounded. He went from thence to Belfast, and took and demolished the Castle of Belfast ; and lie then returned safe to his house, loaded with immense spoils."
"A.D. 1503. A hosting by the Earl of Kiklare in this year to Magh Line and Carrickfergus, attended by the English and Irish of Leinster. He demolished the Castle of Belfast. . . . "
"A.D. 1512. An army was led by Garrett, Earl of Kildare, Lord Justice of Ireland, into Trian Chongail (Clannaboy) ; and he took the Castle of Belfast .... and led the son of E"iall, son of Con O'lN'eill, away into captivity."
"A.D. 1537. An army was led by O'Xeill (Con) into Trian Chongail (Clannaboy). He spoiled and plundered a great part of the country. The son of O'jSTeill, however, was taken prisoner in the rear of the army at Belfast. . . . NiaU Oge, the son of Niall, son of Con 0'E"eLll, Lord of Clannaboye, died suddenly at that time, and 0'jS"eill returned again to Trian Chongail (Clannaboy), and obtained his son who was in captivity. Dissensions and contentions afterwards arose in Clannaboy concerning the lordship."
"A.D. 1552. A hosting was made by the Lord Justice again into Ulster against the son of Niall Oge (i.e., O'JSTeill) and the Scots. A party of the English and Mac an tSabhaoisigh^ preceded them with a force in quest of preys ; but the son of A''iaU Oge met these at Belfast, and he rflshed on and defeated them, and slew Mac an tSab- haoisigh, together with forty or sixty others. The other troops, however, went across [the Eiver Lagan], and proceeded to erect a castle at Belfast ;2 but they gained no victory, and obtained no
^ The name Mac an tSabhaoisigh was Savage, of the Ards, in a very Irish form.
^ Was the castle referred to in this extract a new erection ? It is said there really was at one time a second castle at Belfast. No account of it, if it ever
CLANNABOYE. 11
hostages or spoils, and their spirits were greatly damped, on this occasion."^
The condition and as]3ect of the country at the time these last- named wars were in progress are further exhibited in the letter of an eye-witness. In 1553, Lord Chancellor Cusacke writes thus —
" The country of Clanneboye is in woods and bogs for the greatest part, wherein lieth Knockfergus, and so to the Glynnes where the Scots do inhabit. As much of this country as is near the sea is a champain country, of 20 miles in length, and not over 4 miles in breadth, or little more. The same Hugh (O'lS'eill) hath 2 castles, one called Bealefarst, an old castle standing upon a ford that leadeth from Arde to Clanneboye, which being well repaired, being now broken, would be a good defence between the woods and Knockfergus. The other, called Castellrioughe (Castlereagh), is four miles from Beale- farst, and standeth upon the plain in the midst of the woods of the Dufterin."
This descriptive document concludes with the following words : —
" I pray you to take this my poor information in good part, which I have studied in hope that the same taking place I might serve in some stead, whereas now I serve in danger of my life, my fellow in commission, the Baron of Bruntchurch, being lately slain only for doing justice."
Another much more interesting paper, three years later in date than the preceding, is the Journey of the Earl of Sussex,
existed, has been preserved. The site of The Castle of Belfast, where it was first chosen, was, and is still, well known. If anything of the kind occurred, it may have been like one of those castles described by a chronicler as "Piles of small reckoning, the which be no more but Towres with narrow Loopholes, unto which adjoin Hauls (?) made of Turfes, and roufed over head with Thatch, having unto them belonging large Courtes, fenced round with Ditches and Hedges or rough Bushes for defense of their Cataille against Cowstealers. " Such is the description of a Pile. The Castle of Belfast was not of this character, but it has been alleged that where St. George's Church now is there was a castle in the early Norman times, and that the first church on the spot was built from its ruins. Any proof of such statement is unknown.
1 These six extracts are all from the Annals of the Four Masters (O'Douo- van's translation), aud will be found at the years noted at the beginning of each.
12 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
Lord Deputy, to the North of Ireland. In its enttreness, it throws light on the state of the country in 1556; but no part of it can be judiciously introduced, except the following extracts, which describe well-known places in our own immediate neighbourhood : —
" On Tuesday, 7th July, my Lord Deputy removed from Lisen Lie, and camped at Mahere Elarras, by a river called Venelaggan, and a church on a hill, called the Church of Blarras. And this day we came through a great pass, called Kelleultahe, being the space of two miles of length ; through which pass my Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sydney, Sir Henry Wm. Fitz Williams, with the rest of the army, marched on foot, all in armour. On Wednesday, the 8th, my Lord Deputy removed from Mahere Blarras, and camped that night under- neath Banne Vadegane, by Lissetolloh Arde, beyond Kellefarst. And this day we came through a pass, called Ballahlisle Clehan, a little
from the church of Dromme, by a river called , On the hill of
Banne Vadegane is a great cave, wherein is the treasure of the country of Clanneaboy, being the country of Phelim Doehe. On Thursday, the 9th, my Lord Deputy came to Knockfargiis, and there he Avas received by tlie IMayor and the Bishop of Doune in the church, and service done as aforesaid. From thence he went to the Castle, and there was received with shot of guns. Then he went and camped at the hill of Aullfconnocrowhe, two miles from Knockfargus, by an abbey called the Abbey of Connocroughe, and there remained Friday and Saturday, in the country of McJS^elle Oge."
The Deputy next travelled northward with his force, and the paper describes with considerable vividness his encounters with enemies, principally the Scottish M'Connells, his attempts at restoring proper peace regulations, and the general appearance of the country. After having occupied thirty-nine days in the journey, his scribe, Philip Butler, Athlone Pursuivant, whose orthography of proper names and frequent omissions are to be deplored, brings him, near its end, to our own neighbourhood again.
" On Monday night, 27th July, he removed to Banne Yaddegan, by a town called Coille, in a plain betwixt two hills, where he re-
EARL OF SUSSEX NEAR BELFAST. 13
mained till the Monday following, taking order with the gentlemen of the country, and expecting further news."^
These extracts exhibit a curious state of society. Subjects, if they could be so called, were in unrestrained conflict with one another. The representative of the nominal Government had to appear armed to ensure any respect or act with any power ;
^ These extracts would afford ample notes of explanation.
The first is but a brief extract from a most valuable paper. The part referring to Belfast has alone been copied. The whole occupies no less than thirteen pages of one of the large volumes of State Paper Calendars {Carew MSS., 1515-1574, p. 235). It is entitled, "The Copy of the Book sent from Sir Thomas Cusake, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, to the Duke of Northumberland's Grace for the ])re- sent state of Ireland." The paper describes the condition and appearance of Ireland, and enters more at large into the state of Ulster than its then importance would seem to have demanded.
The second is also a most interesting and striking narrative, and contained in the same volume as the preceeding, p. 257. It is an account of one of several progresses of the Earl of Sussex, the I^ord Deputy in the reign of Philip and Mary, relating his journey from its commencement at Dublin until his return. Much of it refers specially to the county of Antrim, and the identification of the numerous places named would test the ingenuity of those best acquainted with the several localities. Most of those close to Belfast can be traced. Blarras, it may be persumed, is Blaris of modern days ; Venelaggan is probably the Lagan, but, if so, what the prefix means is difficult to guess ; Kelleultaghe is Killultagh ; Banne Vadegan is the Cave Hill, almost close to the town of Belfast. There is no modern townland name in the same place called Lissetolloh Arde, but in the Chichester Patent there is Tollard and BallylistytoUard, one of which was the place referred to. Kellefarst, of course, means Belfast — an orthographical error of the scribe — but no further mention is made of the place throughout the docu- ment, an evidence that it was not a very lively or attractive spot. The notice of the well-known cave on Banne Vadegane, with the relation accompanying it, cannot but interest. Did the O'Neill keep any treasure in this place, or did the scribe relate the idle tales he heard ? This spot, in the old time, was noted and remarkable — the fort constructed by an O'Neill, named, it is likely, Brian Mac Art ; the cave, a secure place for treasure, if need were, or more probably for property of bulky character ; the peaceful scenery around in 1556 ; the noble prospect, when no smoke, either on land or water, darkened the sky — when no town lay on the level plain beneath — when the thousand marks of modern civilisation were all unknown, made it, there is every reason to think, a favourite resort of O'Neill, the lord and owner, either in his own person or that of his relatives, of all within sight, and miles beyond and around on every side.
The conclusion of the paper is probably the most remarkable part of it all. The Earl of Sussex was accompanied on this occasion, not only by Sir Henry Sydney, but by the Earl of Ormond, the Lord Delven, Lord Howth, the Baron of "Dounkenan," Sir George Stanley, and other persons of distinction. In fact, the head of the State, with his captains, his advisers, and a considerable force.
14 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
and when the pressure was removed, "war and making preys" again became the customary rule. Still, the Government must have been, in a reluctant and independent kind of way, more or less recognised ; tribute, if not given, was at least said to be due ; territories in actual possession of others were still treated as Crown possessions. The Government, however weak and dis- tant, and to a great extent powerless, so far as Ulster was concerned, was frequently appealed to for grants and privileges. Thus, in 1542, the Lord Deputy advised a grant of Clannaboye to JSTeill Connelagh O'Neill,^ reserving only for the Crown Carrickfergus, Olderfleet, and Coleraine; and yet so valueless w^ere such recommendations that in the very next year the same Lord Deputy granted it to Sir John Travers,^ who, in the con- fusion and disputed claims around, had no power to take posses- sion of the country or to derive any benefit from it. Belfast is not mentioned as a reserved place or otherwise in this grant, beinf too insignificant to be worthy of notice, and was still but
established the Government for a week, betwixt two hills, by a town called Cuille, taking order with the gentlemen of the country, and transacting the ordinary business devolving i;pon hiin and his council. This took place at Coille (Coole), the modern Carnmoney ; the two hills were Banne Vadegan and Carnmoney Hill ; and the army was encamped, the councils held, probably above Greeneastle, about three miles from Belfast.
An addition to the part of this note referring to the Cave Hill is necessary here. So recently as March 7, 1874, in the Belfast Netvs-Letter of that date, there is a most interesting account of two more caves, besides the three generally described as the full complement which the hill contained. These newly-dis- covered caves are extremely difficult of access, and are larger than any of the others, one of them being no less than thirty feet long by twenty broad, ten feet hifh, and perfectly dry. On the wall or rock of the other a name is cut, but strangely omitted, proving that it had been visited before ; and both the explora- tion and the account of it are very creditable to the performer of both. The discovery of these caves opens up the question, whether the O'Neills in the old days might not also have been aware of their existence, and have actually used them for some such purpose as the chronicler of Lord Sussex records.
1 This O'Neill was nephew of the Earl of Tyrone, and father of Turlough Ijynnagh, who was, in the next generation, a powerful opponent of the English Government, and became or claimed to be considered " The O'Neill " after the death of Shane.
'^ Sir John Travers was Master-General of the Ordnance in Ireland. His name often appears subsequently in the State Papers, but not in connection with Clannaboye, which must have been to him a useless gift.
THE CASTLE OF BELFAST. 15
" an old castle on the ford leading from Arde to Clauneboye," as Cusacke described it. It was possessed by Sir James Croft, the Lord Deputy, in 1551 ; and it is mentioned, as one of his special services, that he repaired it and placed a garrison in it.^ It was re-granted to O'lSTeill, probably in tenan table condition, by Edward the Sixth, in 1552, on the submission of Hugh, son of Nelan Juvenis, in these words- — " We grant his petition for the Castle of Belferside, to be restored to him in the same state as when he first possessed it." Thus was Hugh O'lSTeill formally made chief of the Castle and country by a grant from the King of England.
The Castle would appear to have had hitherto no long-con- tinued ownership, nor did disruptions cease with Hugh O'Neill's possession. The troubled times forbade ; and though many wise suggestions were made by different chief governors as to the better administration of justice, the making of Clannaboye and other places into shire ground, the curbing of the Scots, even the introduction of schools — these, and other propositions, were necessarily suspended till a future day, the materials for such purposes being as yet too discordant and intractable.
1 This information regarding Sir James Croft's laying hold of the Castle of Belfast will be found in Notes and Queries, May 16th, 1868, p. 457, from a manuscript History of the Chief Governors of Ireland. The same is mentioned elsewhere.
2 State Papers, Carew, 1515-1574, p. 234. The article is entitled, "The Submission of Hugh, son of ISTelan Juvenis. " He submits to the clemency of the king, repenting of the war he had waged against him, and supplicates pardon, which was granted. The devastated monasteries within his country were granted to him with their lands at rents. He undertakes to forfeit his captaincy, his lands, flocks, goods, and farms, if he ever rebels again ; and having entered into all these obligations, and received all these favours, the Castle of Belfast is restored to him by the Crown, as mentioned in the text, " as when he first
it."
16 THE HISTORY OF BELFAST.
CHAPTER II
GENERAL HISTORY. — CONTINUED.
A POPULAR historian has said that with the reign of ^ ^ Elizabeth commences the true era of modern Irish history. The materials certainly increase with the advance of time, and the interest which the narrative excites should be greater to ordinary investigators than at any earlier period. We have seen in the preceding chapter what imperfect relations subsisted between the governing body and the presumed owners or pos- sessors of the country. Such relations, involving a condition of doubt and uncertainty, could not but lead to constant difficulties. Even in that comparatively rude age, this absence of undisputed ownership must have forcibly occurred to all the parties in- terested ; and nearly at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, a discussion or argument appears in the State Papers trying to disentangle it.^ Shane O'lSTeill or his representative is one of the reasoners. The line of argument adopted cannot be followed ; but, singularly enough, Belfast is introduced in illustration of this national, or at least provincial controversy, the statement being that, though 0'N"eill claimed supremacy over the subordinate chiefs of his name, yet the castles of Car- rickfergus and Belfast were at that very time in quiet possession of the Queen, though in " Clandebuy," which O'lSTeill declared to be subject unto him. The semi-legal arguments between O'Neill and Sir George Carew are rather interesting. It is sufficient to say that the Queen claimed, in right of her Earldom of Ulster, the power of granting the lands comprised witliin it to whom she liked ; and the controversy proves this point, that the ownership of the Castle of Belfast had passed at this very
1 Carew Papers, 1515-1574, p. 304.
BRIAN M'PHELIM O'NEILL. 17
time into her hands. The power so expressed had not yet been practically exercised ; the lands, at least of Clannaboye, were still the lands of an O'JSTeill, and of one whose fate and fortunes are so connected with the early years of the great queen's reign in this locality, and whose career is so entwined with our subject, that it must be entered into at some length, being, indeed, the history of Belfast for several years. This was Brian M'Phelim O'J^eill, who found himself, or deemed himself, owner thereof and of Clannaboye when Elizabeth ascended the throne.
If a settled Government had existed at that time, he would have been acknowledged the true owner of Belfast and all its surroundings ; owner, possibly, in right of his very remote ancestors, and certainly in right of conquest by his more imme- diate predecessors after the death of William De Burgo more than two hundred years before.^ His position the Government of the day fully acknowledged. He often professed fealty and subordination to it, and it is said, on fair evidence, that such was caused on account of the support he received from the nominal ruling powers in opposition to those of his elder brother and his uncle, whose claims were superior, accord- ing, at least, to English law. Brian had possibly been elected by Tanistry, by the choice of the O'Neills, seated on his regal chair at Castlereagh. At any rate, he was for the time the head of the Clannaboy O'Neills, and possessed 30,000 beeves, and other flocks and herds innumerable. In 1563 he visited or joined the Earl of Sussex, the Lord Deputy, at Armagh, with a train of thirty horsemen and one hundred footmen;'^ he was knighted by Sir Henry Sidney, at Carrickfergus, in 1567,
^ ' ' Camden asserts that Sir Brian usurped Clannaboy ; but this, which is a mere fiction of the English law, is not true, for his ancestors had possession of it for at least two centuties, and Brian was the true heir.." — Note by Dr. 0' Donovan in Annals of the Four Masters, vol. v., p. 1676. ■ Camden, notwithstanding this positive contradiction on the part of a writer so well acquainted with the subject, is, as will appear in the sequel, partly right ; but the usurpation was more in the way of a family quarrel than a forcible detention of the territory by another not connected with the race. It does not affect the general statement of Sir Brian being the public and recognised owner of Clannaboy at this time.
2 Careio MSS., 1515-1574, p. 350. G
18 HISTOEY OF BELFAST.
and must have maintained frequent intercourse with that eminent man ; one of his ancestors was described long before as ahnost as great a man of strength as the Tyrone O'Neill himself; and it is not probable that Clannaboy lost any of its influence or power in the person of the present lord. In spite of all this fair seem- ing, jealousies, doubts, and disputes, both with relatives and the Government, were not extinguished. In the interesting record^ wliich Sir Plenry Sidney has left behind him of his proceedings in Ireland during the several times in which he held the office of chief governor, he informs us how he endeavoured to allay the dissensions which prevailed, and, among his other services, that he had placed a garrison in Belfast under that renowned soldier. Captain Malbie. This is either like a joint possession with Sir Brian,- or possibly a protective proceeding in his favour on the part of Sidney. It proves, however, a degree of nnsettledness ; and with the view of placing their relations on a more fixed footing, and at the same time of increasing the security and improvement of the country, a meeting was held at Belfast, in October, I068, between the parties whose names are introduced in the following agreement. Sir Henry Sidney, as Lord Deputy, must have been frequently in Belfast and have
^ Ulster Juurnal of Archccologij, vol. iii., p. 33.
" The connection seems rather difficult of explanation, as tlie following ex- tracts, all referring to the mouth of Februarj', 1568, will show : — "We have fortified Belfast, and have placed there XV horsemen, so that in this town (Carrickfergns) we live as qnietly as in Dublin." — Hamilton's Calendar of State Fcqjcrs; 1509-1573, p. 363. This is in a letter from Carrickfergns, sent by Captain Pers (sic) and Captain Malbie to the Lords Justices. Malbie's position was not a very enviable one. They write on : " Belfast. Malbie is impoverished by this service ; his soldiers are in misery ; they cannot live on their entertain- ment ; Brian Carragh keeps aloof, and is ruled by Sir Brian M'Phelim; his Kyriats be much come over this side the Bann. I mind to talk with him in that your Honours commanded us, and will plead possession, and that shortly ■which your Honours shall hear of." There was, from this, a dispute about the Castle of Belfast. Further on, Malbie says of it, — "Bellfarste, which also cost me dear the building." This last remark refers to his fortifying of Belfast, probably nothing more than repairing or strengthening the castle for the fifteen horsemen. His pleading of possession indicates the unsettled times, and the whole shadows forth the impending agreement between Sir Henry Sidney and O'Neill which took effect a few months after.
FIRST NOTICE OF A BFJDGE AT BELFAST. 19
known the place, but he now visited it apparently with every inclination to come to a final arrangement, and be at friendship with Sir Brian O'Neill.
"Articles betwixt the Eight Honourable Sir Henry Sidney, Knight of the most noble order, Lord President of the Marches of Wales, and Lord Deputy of Ireland, on the one part, and Sir Brian M'Phelim Bacco and Brian Caro on the other part, to be observed and performed on [by] the parties and behalf of the said Sir Brian and Brian [C!aro\ covenanted and agreed upon the 8th day of October in the year of the reign of our most dread Sovereign Lady Elizabeth the Tenth ; and the same articles to take effect upon the delivery of the Castle or Manor of Belfast out of their hands and possession.
" Imprimis. The said Sir Brian M'Phelim and Brian Caro do covenant, grant, condescend, and agree upon ; and either of them covenanteth and granteth to and with the said Sir Henry Sidney, Knight, that they forthwith shall make, or cause to be made, a good and sufficient bridge, that men, horse, drag, cart, and wayne, with all manner of carriage, may safely pass and repass over and through the same in some convenient place over the Ford at Belfast, with causes, and erclie (arch) end of the said bridge.
" Item. They do further covenant to cut, or cause to be cut and hewn down, the passes and highway in and through the wood as far as Kilwarlin, containing in breadth one hundred feet.
" Item. That they shall harbour and lodge with meat and drink, for one night, any soldier or messenger, for his horse and himself, hav- ing occasion to travel by them ; and that they shall, with aid, conduct any messenger, carriage, and soldier from Belfast to Dromore, and from Belfast to Knockfergus.
"Item. They and either of them do farther covenant and grant to defend all artificers working or framing of Timber in any of the Woods there, and any other that shall be appointed to furnish the Town of Knockfergus, the Surveyor of the Victuals, the Surveyor of the Works, and all other the Queen's Majesty's Officers from time to time with wood.
" Item. They do further covenant to cut, or cause to be cut, so much wood for the burning of the brick at Knockfergus as shall be appointed by John Bedowe, and the same to bring or cause to be brought to the water-side in a readiness to be put into the Boat or Boats prepared for carriages thereof, taking for the cutting and carrying of the same woods the accustomed rates and prices.
20 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
" Item. They do likewise covenant and agree that they and either of them shall defend from spoil and burning all ships, boats, and other vessels which shall be from time to time sent thither to be builded, mored (moored'?), or rigged, or that for any other purpose shall be remaining there.
" Item. They do covenant that before they enter into the posses- sion of the said Castle or Manor of Uelfast, they shall enter into suffi- cient band or bandes to Captain Malbie that they shall satisfy him for all such sums as he hath disbursed there, and for such hay and other provisions as he hath there, according as the same shall be affirmed by the now Constable of Belfast aforesaid.
"This is Brian's Mark in the Presence of William Peers. Copia vera Exaiuinata — Ed. Waterhonse. per me, Ed. Molenaux.
(In Dorso. ) The Copy of Sir Brian M'Phelyrn's Indenture touching Belfast."
This agreement indicates friendship and a good understanding on both sides. Sir Brian is reinstated in the castle of his an- cestors on a firmer tenure than bis former uncertain ownership. For this he covenants to protect the Queen's soldiers in their progress through the country, and to facilitate all the measures that might be thought desirable for its peace and progress. He became the Queen's captain, paying some tribute in acknowledg- ment of her sovereignty. He had received letters of thanks a short time before, " acknowledging his loyalty in the advance- ment of the service against Shane O'lSTeilL"^ "Hugh MTelim and Con M'Xeill Oge," his uncle and his brother, " were in ward at Knockfergus," while " countenance was to be given to Sir Brian M'Felim, a true subject." Such is the language of the State Papers, proving the position which the owner of Belfast
1 Calendar of Slate PcqKTS, Hamilton's, 1509-1573, p. 340.
This original document, above quoted, is in the Pinkcrton MSS., and is marked S.P.O. Ireland, vol. xxvi., art. 5 ; but no comment or remark is made on it. It cannot but cause much inquiry and speculation, and the most promi- nent points requiring explanation are here noticed.
Bacco should be Backagh, i.e., lame, or halting. Kot that the person so calh d was either, but that an ancestor had received that cognomen, possibly from the
SIR BRIAN O'NEILL POSSESSOR OF BELFAST. 21
now occupied. The castle, as has been shown, liad been fortified while in Malbie's possession. All difficulties were now, apparently, settled by this fixed and amicable agreement with O'lSTeill. The suspicions against Mm of a few months before were at an end, and he was at this date the friend of the English Grovernment, and possessing his estates, Belfast included, some- thing after the manner of a perpetual grant.
To decide with which party lay the fault which disturbed these happy relations may depend on individual prepossessions. The Englishman may have thought that something better might be done than have the country occupied by the " 60,000 horns" of Sir Brian O'lSTeill, and by wandering ''creaghts" living, Arab fashion, among the beautiful glens and plains of Clannaboye. It was seen to be the germ of a goodly territory, in an unsettled state, or owned by those who M'^ere in their estimation improvi- dent, and never to be gained over to settled and industrious habits. The Queen's double right, first to the sovereignty of all
fact, and that it was continued to his descendants, a practice still common among the Irish.
Caro should be Carragh, or speckled, probably derived in a similar manner from a distant source.
The notice of the building of a bridge over the Lagan at this distant time, more than a century before it took effect, is noteworthy. The expressions would appear to favour the idea that arches at the ends only were to be made, with an intervening connection proliably of wood. The word " causes" refers to " cause- \va3's" covering the whole bridge or the approaches to it. The language, how- ever, is obscure. It was not a bridge in the modern meaning of the term, but rather an improvement, enlargement, or strengthening of the ford, or the con- struction of a new one.
The clause representing protection to be given to all ships or boats to be "builded" or repaired thnrc indicates Belfast, or some other spot on the Lagan suitable for such purpose.
It is worth observing the proof which this document affords of the fact that Sir Brian O'Neill, the most important man in the country, a knight of high degree, dealing on the spot with the Lord Deputy, could not write his name. A curious contradiction to this is afforded by one of the many valuable contribu- tions of the late Mr. Hore to the Uldcr Journal of Archceology, vol. ii., p. 1 ; in Avhich, referring to 1572 — four years after the above agi'eement — he gives a fac- simile copy of Sir Brian's signature among those of many other famous Irish chiefs, and it seems to be nearly about the best of the entire. Mr. Hore must have been mistaken, as there are numerous paper's and letters of Sir Brian extant in which his mark occurs.
22
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
the country, and then to the Earldom of Ulster, as a kind of individual possession, must have entered into the calculations of the adventurers wlio were now coming here, and promulgating their "devices" and "plotts" for Irish reformation. Thus, besides Sir John Travers, who had disappeared, Sir Thomas Gerrard and companions, in 1570, offered to plant the Glynues and Clannaboye if they were granted 100 horse and 400 foot till the three lirst crops would be gathered ; to have, besides, some of the Queen's ships for defence against the Scots, and a commission to raise soldiers, labourers, and artificers in England in further- ance of their scheme. Then, again, two English captains. Brown and Borrowe, modestly petitioned the Queen " for the Arde, from the mouth of the river of Strangford to tlie river of Belfast."^ This proposal gave rise to considerable correspon- dence, of which the following are examples, signed by Brown
1 State Peepers, 1509-1573, p. i62.
These two captains, Browne and Borrowe, were very pertinacious men, and the unconcerned manner in which they speak of disposing of Sir Brian O'Neill's territory is very characteristic of the period. They had a great desire to get hold of Castlereagli, and, as an additional reason for dispossessing O'Neill, write — "But further to the matter, it is most necessary to have Castle Rewghe out of his hands, and so to put him over the water into Clandeboye, and to make head within the woods if it were possible at the first, or at the least at the skirt of the wood, because within tliese woods the (are ?) harboured the Slott Neiles, the Mack Neale Oges, the henry highs, and Mack brian Carto, & 1111 Septes of -the Kellys, as Patrick M'Neill O'Kelly, M'Morito ne Kelly, Gildough M'Donough O'Kelly, and Neil M 'Patrick O'Kelly, all which are Wood Kerne and outlaws, and do foster Scotts ; and besides this, necessity enforceth to require to have the woods, because without we shall have no timber to build withal nor wood to burn. Pteasonable for some orders for a Seneschall of Down to inhabit the country." Tliis last sentence is somewhat unintelligible. The Irish names sadly puzzled the English captains, their orthography thereof being of the worst. They must have had other matters on hand likewise, as they say in a detached letter, nearly devoid of meaning, but containing an Elizabethan proverb — "And touching the license for wool and tallow, it is but, as it were, to take out the ladle and put into the pot, as it will not bear the charge of building." — Broxcnc and Borrowe, 1571.
These adventurous captains may really have got hold, for a time at least, of Castlereagh, as in Thomas Smith's arguments in Aivour of his bold exploit for conquering Clannaboye and the Ards, and to prove how easy it would be for a small body of resolute soldiers to defend themselves against a host, he writes — "And the Ards itself, where Goodrich, Capteine Barrow's Lieutenant, Avith
PLOTS TO SUPPLANT SIR BRL\X. '16
and BoiTOwe in their joint capacity. They state, to show the necessity of a new system being introduced —
"That the Castle of Carrickfergus cost <£20,000, and now your Majesty hath not a penny rent without the tOAvn, nor they of the town assurance of their lives a good mile without the town, nor the people of that country assurance of their goods from spoiling, if any enemies shall arise against them ; neither has your Majesty's Deputy, at his coming into the country, any relief of house or harbour, but only the grass on the ground, saving only the town of Knockfergus ; and the reason is because no civil man do sit down in the country."
Of Sir Brian they write thus —
" And if it shall be said that if Castlereagh were taken from Sir Brian M'Phelim it would perhaps offend him, and be an occasion to make him rebel, it is to be answered, that the oflfending of him in this case is not to be respected, for neither he nor any other Irishman but will be offended to see an Englishman in his country, much more to see him sit down there ; but yet to answer it more fully, the custody of Castlereagh was put into his hands but since the captivity of Con M']N"eile Oge, and was never before in any of the Mack Phelim's hands, but always in Mack Neale Oge's hands ; neither had they ever any Pile on that side the water, and therefore it may with more reason be taken from him."
While these speculators were making such proposals,^ desiring to send Sir Brian to the Belfast or County Antrim side and to despoil him of his possessions, the ink, as we say in modern parlance, was yet scarcely dry on the formal agreement, made between the great Irish chief, of whom they write so disrespect- fully, and Sir Henry Sidney, the Queen's Lord Deputy, one ol the most able and upright of his class. •
Sir Brian had done nothing to lessen his estimation with the Government, or to break the engagement which he had
fourteen men, kept and defended the castle called Castle Eeau, and went daily one quarter of a mile to fetch his water, against five hundred that lay dayly upon him." Borrowe is the spelling of the name in the original, but Barrowe is that used by Smith, so that it may reasonably be thought that they were identical.
1 Their letters are among the Pinkcrton MSS., but are all extracted from the State Papers.
24 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
entered into in October, 1568. So far from that, for the two or three years following, his name frequently occurs in favourable colours.
In March, 15G9, it is stated—
"A piece of great good service done by Capt. Pers, Capt. Clieston, Eobert Hohiies, and the horse under Capt. Basenett, in overthrowing 400 Scots with certain Irish near to a castle in Claneboy of Sir Brian MTelim's, called Castlereagh, being from Ivnockfergus in the way towards Dublin about ten miles, and three miles or thereabouts from Belfast."!
This only exhibits Sir Brian's inability, alone, to maintain the quiet of the country. Shane O'JSTeill had passed away, but another O'i^eill reigned in his stead, to whom the co-operation of Sir Brian would have been acceptable, if he could have obtained it ; and in August of this same year, while other Irish chiefs are mentioned as participating or sympathising with Turlough Lynuagh, it is said, " he threatens Sir Brian," leaving it to be inferred that the fealty of the latter was still un- tarnished.^
But the toils were gathering around him. jSTone of the offers of the projectors wdio had cast wistful eyes on his inheritance were accepted ; at last they finally took effect in favour of Sir Thomas Smith and his son Thomas, to whom— by strict inden- ture, bearing date IGth ISTovember, 1571 — Queen Elizabeth granted the Castle of Belfast, other castles, and dissolved abbeys and great lands in Antrim and Down. Sir Thomas Smith was Secretary of State, scholar, author, of great learning, and of high
^Calendar State Papers, 1509-1573, p. 403.
- In addition to tliese proofs of Sir Brian's intsgrity, he had himself stated that Turlough Lynnagh had oftered to cede to him the half of his possessions if he would unite with him against the English ; and in that recapitulation of the great losses "the poor inhabitants of Knockfergus " had suffered from the time of Henry the Eighth, they mention, as one of the number of their casualties, that "Con M'Neyle Oge placed 200 men by night in the middle of the Town to kill Sir Brian M'Fellomy and then to win the town." This is a farther evidence of Sir Brian's position, and of his intimate union with Carrickfergus and the English Government. For this most curious narrative from Carrick- fergus see State Papers, Carew, 1575-1588, p. 146.
SIR BRIAN WRITES TO QUEEN ELIZABETH. 25
repute. His motive for taking part in an enterprise so foreign to all his previous pursuits was to provide for Thomas, his natural son, who, instead of going with Drake to the Spanish main to seek for gold, thought he might find it nearer home in the unknown regions of Clannaboye and the Ards. The letters patent were passed.^ The Smiths, on 'parcliment, became now the owners of Belfast, and for some time events occurred of great interest, and closely interwoven with the history of this immediate locality. These things could not happen without coming to the knowledge of Sir Brian, whom they so nearly concerned. Accordingly, from Belfast he addressed the follow- ing letter to the Queen. It does not mention Smith's name. It was before any overt act had taken place on the part of the latter, and was written by O'Neill, in consequence of the rumours which he had heard, to obtain a fixed security of his great possessions. Smith's project was rather discountenanced by persons of influence in Ireland, or, at least, considered of doubt- ful ef&cacy, so far as such could be done without giving offence to the Queen, or running counter to any of her favourite projects, of which this was one. The letter begins —
"Most Gracious Prinob,
" Although I am one of the meanest of your Highnesses subjects, yet the great favour of your Majesty to all men, and especially the most excellent and princelike bounty to me extended as well by divers and sundry benefits as the present sent from your Grace unto me by Captain Piers, Seneschal in these parts, so em- boldeneth my debility that I presume to beseech your Highness as well to consider of mine estate, as also the bounden duty and faithful loyalty the which to your Highness I have always performed. And there withal the weakness of the country and double strengtli of the enemy, which happening as well by the malicious minded of your Grace's disloyal subjects (who®''® at what time for the lessening of the great charges Avherewith your Majesty is here burdened, your Grace
^ Smith went to the expense of having the grant illuminated in colours, with a miniature of Queen Elizabeth in the letter E of her name. It was sold by- auction a few years ago in London, and by reason of the illumination fetched a high price. — Pinkerton 3ISS.
26 HISTOEY OF BELFAST.
doth maintain the garrison of soldiers here lying) do take present opportunity of their pretured (^) malice to rebel, and so work out all that hath been established before to your Grace's great expenses. And also through the intrusion of the Irish Scots into these parts, "what are cause of the chief disquiet and disturbance in the same. For redress whereof, if it may please your Majesty to confirm the lands of old belonging to mine ancestors Lords of Clandeboye, as well on the other side the river of Bann as on this side, unto me and mine heirs as your Grace's gift, I will not only pay unto your highness all such rents or other rights as it shall please your Majesty to impose upon me, but also take upon me by the said serviceable device and counsel, that whereas your Highnesses predecessors, as also your Majesty, have been continually burdened with excessive charges for the reducing of these parts to due subjection, in a short time not only lessen the said expenses, but also utterly to disburden your Majesty of the same for the accomplishment whereof as I am most willing to follow the said serviceable devise and counsel, so if it may please your Grace to accept the same I trust to do such service to your highness as your Grace shall not have cause to think the gift of these lands evil bestowed on me, whereof I trust your majesty may be void of suspicion, consider- ing hoAv from my youth hitherto I have always continued loyal and faithful, what time I have been both banished the country by the reliels and driven to great misery, as those as Avere your Grace's deputies here I trust can declare. Thus I am bold to write to your highness remaining a daily orator for your Grace's pleasure. "From Belfast, this 6th July, 1571,
" Your Majesty's humble subject,
" Briax — — M'Phelim." 1
^ This long letter is copied exactly as it is in the Pinkerton MSS. The sen- tences are very unconnected, and the language inaccurate or incoherent, though the general meaning is easily enough understood. It might be made the subject of very lengthened comments. The Captain Piers mentioned in it was a person of very considerable importance in the country for several years. He favoured Sir Brian, and was connected with him by some tie, either of relationship or otherwise. He was Seneschal "in these parts," according to Sir Brian; Governor of Carrickfergus, according to the history of that town, of which his son, William Piers, jun., was mayor in 1574 and 1575. The elder Piers had done good service during the early part of the Queen's reign, and was thought to be high in her favour. His motive for befriending Sir Brian, if pure and disin- terested, is creditable to him ; but it is conjectured he had an eye to the grazing of his own flocks, on easy terms, on Sir Brian's lands around Carrickfergus and Belfast, and was rather ruffled at tlie thoughts of Smith and his followers
LETTEE TO THE QUEEN IN FAVOUR OF SIR BRIAN. 27
To befriend Sir Brian, Captain William Piers writes the fol- lowing letter to his " Most Soverayne Prince " : —
"Although nature bindeth me to believe in your service here as a true and faithful subject to your Majesty, yet the princely liberality and favourable countenance used towards me divers times, and especially at my last repair to your Grace, doth much more embolden me for want of power or ability to recompense the least of your Highnesses benefit bestowed on me. May it please your Highness, that I have conferred with Sir Brian M'Phelim, Knight, who is captain of this country, appointed by the Lord Deputy, and as yet hath continued at all times a loyal and true subject, and is conformable to do any thing wherein he is or shall be advised for your Grace's service. And therefore, if it might seem good to your Majesty to send hither 250 footmen and 50 horsemen over and above those which are already here, and to be at charge with them but for one year, I have taken order with the gentlemen of these parts, that one year being expired, they shall at their own cost bear the one-half of the charge belonging to the said soldiers, and after three years that they shall continue here, disburthen your Grace of any manner of charge for them; and, besides, to plant the said soldiers or others that shall be here in this country, and to furnish them with kine at a reasonable price, as they shall be well able to manure and inhabit the country, whereby your Majesty will be not only greatly strengthened, but also the people reduced to civility, the Irish Scots, who are the greatest destroyers of this commonwealth, and the encouragers of the chief rebels in this realm, banished.
depriving liim of these advantages. Another part of the letter represents Piers in rather an unfavourable light in one particular. He was, however, the chosen bearer of a present from the Queen herself to Sir Brian. It is a pity he or Sir Brian did not mention what this present was. Gifts to Irish chiefs are frequentlj' alluded to in the State Papers : in one place £100 to buy- cups for that purpose, a favourite kind of gift to the present day ; scarlet cloth and rings are. also presented, and several other articles ; while hawks, hounds, horses (hobbeys, sometimes called), &c., for which Ireland was presumed to be famous, are frequently sent by persons of station here to friends in England.
The involved sentence within brackets in the letter would favour the idea that the Queen had a small garrison in Belfast in conjunction with Sir Brian's force, and that all were in perfect accord.
The claims Sir Brian makes are very extensive. His lands beyond the Banu are out of consideration here ; but there is no doubt that they, as well as those more firmly held by him in County Antrim, were all the patrimony of bis ancestors.
^O HISTORY OF BELFAST.
"And whereas tlie said Sir Brian hath written to your Majesty to confirm unto him and his servants the ancient lands of Clandeboye, as well on this side the Bann as on the other side ; it was no matter of great imjDortance to grant the same by ' Ire or concordatum,' or other- wise, considering that if your Grace do not go forward with a general conquest it will greatly encourage him to serve, and, besides, having no heirs lawfully begotten^ (as the tenor of the gift may run), the lands, notwithstanding, continue as before always at your Grace's
devotion for the also he is willing to pay such a rent
as your Highness shall impose."
Sir Brian now writes another letter, as the agreement with respect to the Smiths had fully, by this time, come to liis knowledge. This communication is to the Lord Deputy and. Council in Ireland, and is a firm expostulation as to his treat- ment in being deprived, unjustly and without inquiry, of posses- sions wliich had so long been owned by his ancestors. He names the Smiths in it, and seems fully cognisant of the entire proceedings. This letter is as follows : —
"My Singular Good Lords,
" For that tlie times have been and are so troublesome in these parts, as although my desire is great to present myself before our most sovereign prince the Queen's Majesty and your honours, yet forseeing what danger was imminent to the country in my absence I could not find convenient time to leave the same. But lest I
1 NoM- Avhj- did Piers say this ? It was an untruth, accordincr to the state- ments of modern writers, and was worse than the falsification of a State Paper, inasmuch as it was in a letter to the Queen herself from one of her most trusted servants. Sir Briau was twice married, the father of his second wife being that Brian Carragh who was also an O'Neill, and whom we have seen associated with him in the agreement in Belfast in 1568. His first wife was daughter of Sir Arthur Magennis, Viscount I veagh. — Annals of the Four Masters, vol. v., p. 1678. This, at least, is the account given by Dr. O'Donovan at the place referred to. It may be incorrect, as, according to the Rev. Mr. Hill (The MacDonnells of Antrim, p. 289), the intermarriages above noted referred to Sir Brian M'Phelim O'NeiU's eldest son, and not to himself. In any case the allusion to Sir Brian's matrimonial position on the part of Piers was covert and ungenerous, and the loophole he suggests to break the agreement, if necessarj', disingenuous, or worse. He left two sons, Shane MacBrian and Con MacBrian, Avho were in after days known and acknowledged as his heirs and representatives, and succeeded to parts of his vast possessions.
SIR BRIAN S LETTER TO THE LORD DEPUTY AND COUNCIL. I'd
sliould be thought altogether to neglect my duty, I have sent these my most humble letters to your Lordships — in like sort beseeching your Honours to accept the same in good part as a sign of my dutiful good zeal borne to my most Sovereign Queen and your Lordships. And further to assure your Lordships that as I have ever since my youth continued in all miseries immoveable from my loyal duty towards my said Sovereign Lady, so will I undoubtedly persevere in the same during my life. And whereas there have been certain books spread in print that it hath pleased the Queen's highness to give unto Sir Thomas Smith Knight and Thomas Smith his son, some part of the country, the which hath been possessed by my ancestors above fourteen descents to their inheritance, namely, Clandeboye. I beseech your Lordships that as my only trust is in your Honours, and I trust such as have been Governors here can certify of my true and faithfid service always since my childhood, I may in consideration thereof be suffered to enjoy the government of that which I have hitherto with great danger of life, loss of men and cattle, defended and kept to her Graces use, than any other to whom it hath at no time appertained. And for -my paxt as I do accompt myself but a Captain over this her highnesses land and country, so I doubt not but the same shall be kept always to her Majesty's devotion. I am bold to move this through the great hope that I have in your Lordships favourable and prudent consideration of my former doing. And so committing my whole cause to your Honours I most humbly take my leave beseeching the Almighty to preserve your Lordships with continual increase of honours. "Brian O'K'eil M'Phelim Bacho.
"From Knockfergus, S7th March, 1572."
The same day on which Sir Brian wrote the preceding letter to the Irish Government he addressed another to the Queen, this time in Latin, to render it more imposing, and written, it is pretty certain, by his chaplain or some other ecclesiastic. Its tenor is quite similar ; and in both a good case is made out in his favour. They were disregarded. Smith's grant could not now be recalled. The consequences appear in numerous notices. Captain Piers informs the Lord Deputy " that the country is in an uproar at the news of Mr. Smith coming to plant in the North." ^ The Lord Deputy himself declares, in a letter to
1 Calendar of state Papers, 1509-1573, p. 466.
30 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
Burgliley, " that Mr. Smith's grant will bring the Irish into a knot to rebel." ^ Thomas Smith also addresses Sir Brian from London, in May, 1572, informing the latter "that he will soon come to live near him as a good neighbour, and trusts they will be on friendly terms." ^ Captain Piers writes to Captain Malbie (June 27, 1572) from Carrickfergus, "that he must come to him with as many horsemen as he can, for Turlough Lynagli, Sorley Boy, and all the Scots are coming upon Sir Brian, now in this town with his creaghts."^ The Queen answers Sir Brian's letter, comforting him. It is to be feared they were but words in the air, though Sir Brian received her communication in good part. Smith reached the land of promise at last, having arrived at Straugford on 31st August, 1572. Sir Brian, in answer to his friendly advances, gave him to understand that " he did not intend to part with one foot of his land."
Thomas Smith acquaints the Irish Privy Council with his arrival, and the unfavourable impression it had produced on the mind of Sir Brian O'lSTeill. He says — ''After resting two or three days at Strangford I took my voyage to Knockfergus, hoping to have some friendly composition with him .... but he would not by any means be brought to speak with me." He says he is now hastening to the Lord Deputy, " by whom sometimes he, Sir Brian, will be guided. What will follow here I cannot yet see, but as occasion serveth from time to time, according to my duty, I will advise your Lordshii^s."
Thomas Smith's force was ludicrously small for so great an enterprise. The feeling respecting it in different quarters, from the highest to the lowest, is detailed in the following letters — sometimes abbreviated, and though rather unconnected, the pro- gress of the marvellous attempt will be easily understood from their perusal.
The Lord Deputy writes to the Queen, 25th September 1572 :—
" Thomas Smith is iiOAV at the length come to the Ardes. He came 1 Calendar of State Papers, 1509-1573 p. 467. - Ilnd., p. 472. 3 7^,/,/.^ p. 474.
THE LOED deputy's OPINION OF SMITIl's PEOJECT. 31
to me the 16th of this present. I wish his number as were able to help, and not such as shall need help ; for if it be a full hundred it is not many more. Here I humbly crave pardon to answer for my dutiful meaning which your Majesty's letters gave me cause to doubt to have been misconceived. The advertisements I send were such as I received, not thereby misliking or dissuading the enterprise but the report thereof, whereof I conceived might grow those dangers that yet may grow, whether in duty I was bound to warn. God is my witness, as I feared the events of the bruits (being acquainted with the jealous nature of this people), so my heart ever doth and shall inwardly em- brace the enterprise as the only means I know, without your Majesty's charge, to bridle this rebellious people, whom nothing but fear and force can teach duty and obedience. Albeit I was neither from your Majesty's Council imparted with any such determination, yet did I and still do wish 100 landed unhruited than 200 bruited. And therefore according to my duty, your Majesty's will, signified by your gracious letters, shall be accomplished by any directions, countenance, support, or aid that I may give Mr. Smith, who, finding his force too weak, is content discreetly to pass over this winter with communica- tions, and as he shall the next spring find himself enabled so to stej:) further forward on his enterprise."
On the same day the Lord Deputy thus writes to Burghley: —
'' I would to God Mr. Smith had come without any words with a sufficient force able to have bearded them. So had his coming been of as great purpose, as the report thereof hath bred, and I fear m'\\1 breed trouble. For he that thinketh that there is better dealing with an Irishman, that weigheth not his word or promise, no other than with feat force, shall find himself deceived; and yet do I use this toilsome Premium Imperium as well as I can, commanding, intreating, praying, and practising all I may, day and night, whereby I have stayed great extremities, and will still as I can."
Captain Piers also, one of the moving actors in this embroil- ment, had written a considerable time before — namely, in January, 1572 — to the Lord Deputy, that when the news of Smith's proceedings
"Came to the ears of Sir Brian and others, I, considering what great inconvenience was like to grow by publishing thereof, as your Lordship doth know the nature of the Irish is such, or rather that
32 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
they would have the country to be altogether waste than any man but themselves to inhabit, and how contrary it is to their natures, which have a long time, as it were, lived without subjection, to become sub- ject, have devised the best I may to quench that imminent fire, and so hj feigning a letter to be sent with contrary news have stayed the same, but it will now be perfectly known shortly to the Irishrie. And therefore, because I do vehemently suspect that when this news shall be more open to Sir Brian he should join with the rest and revolt, as I think they will all do, in my opinion it were not amiss to take pledges of him the best I might get. And therefore do desire your Lordship's answer, for surely if this news had been that they were coming over to aid the Irish against the Scots, it would, in my opinion, have animated them to serve her Majesty. But now hearing that they shall be thrust out and others made Lords over them, how they will take it your Lordship's wisdom may discover."
Burgliley endorses the following words : —
" This matter in print doth give all the Irish of the north occasion to join with the Scots, fearing to be in time thrust out of all."
And on the 4th October, 1572, when Smith and his small force were in the country, the Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam writes thus to Burghley : —
" Sir Brian MThelim hath now discovered his Irish nature, for it is advertised by sundry letters he hath not only joined with Turlough Lynagh, but also that he is the very drawer of him and the Scots to their mischievous dealing, hoping by furthering of Tirlough's demands to amend withal his own reckoning concerning the Ardes. In further detecting of his lewdness he hath lately taken one Thomas Moore, an English gentleman, brother to Edward Moore and lieutenant to Nicholas Malby ; he setteth him out to ransom as a lawful prisoner, and maketh other arrogant demands savouring altogether of rebellion. But I intend to work a means to reclaim him to duty, and such a means as will do it indeed, or never any, except force. And this it is. There is one Con M'l^eill Oge, cousin-german to himself, a prisoner shackled in this Castle — a dangerous fellow, and such a one and so well followed in that country tha,t I believe verily he would soon turn Sir Brian out of it. And my meaning is to shake the rod upon him, and to bring him in opinion (wherewith I am already doing) that if he do go out I will turn Con out, with the fear whereof I hope to
SIR BRIAN TREATED WITH DUPLICITY. 33
hold him in some state from running too far. But I will tell your Lordship truly — If all run not to such ruin, as worse it cannot he, though Con and the devil himself were let loose, I mean not to let him go, though I have great offers of pledge for his dutifulness;i for so perilous a fellow he is that he cares not what or how many of his friends do perish so he may he at liberty."
These letters prove that Sir Brian was treated with duplicity by persons in power. He was still the reputed owner of Belfast and Clannaboye, and to the very last, so far as can reasonably be judged, desirous of preserving that amity and relationship with the Government which, he declares, he had observed from his youth. He had earned the ill-will of his countrymen for so acting, and they were now thoroughly disturbed by the presence and pretensions of Smith. The following additional letters will further explain the situation of affairs : —
^ These are the flattering offers to which the Lord Deputy refers in his letter : —
" Owen M'Neill, Hugh M'Neill Oge's son ; and Donnell O'Neill, Con M'JSTeill Oge's son, offer 200 Cows for the ransopa of Con M'Neill Oge, and a rent of 100 Cows yearly for Clandeboye, Donnell M'Neill offering to place himself in the Baron O'Neill's hands until the 200 Cows be paid, and order taken for the yearly payment of 100 Cows rent for Clandeboy.
" Con M'Neill, when released, to have 100 of her Majesty's soldiers to subdue Clandeboy, destroy the Scots, and raise the number of cows.
"Owen O'Neill craves that he may be allowed to possess and hold Clande- boye after Con's days, to serve the prince, and pay the rent, and also to keep the island of Bailie Gallogly in his hands as he ought.
" They say that if Neill Bryan Fertagh do promise any more than the same offer that it is more than he is able to perform, and that also this offer truly paid and well got is better and more prosperous than any greater offer unjustly granted by Neill or any one that takes his part, who hath no pledge to put in for the same but only his own bare promise."
This document presents the O'Neills in rather an unfavourable aspect. There are here no lofty claims of rightful dominion, of standing as superiors to any in the land by virtue of great territorial possessions and ancient lineage, the entire paper rather -^resembling the squabbles of Irish tenants contending for the acquirement of some mountain farm, each candidate outbidding his neighbour, or disparaging his ability to meet the landlord's rent.
The person for whose freedom these offers were made was Brian O'Neill's near relative— cousin, the Lord Deputy says ; but he was really his elder brother, brought, with his uncle, into long durance by Sir Brian's connivance. The Lord Deputy's avowed stroke of policy to keep Sir Brian in order by threatening to let his rival free is a small sample of the spirit of the age. D
34 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
" The Lord Deputy to Burgliley. Upon respect of the sudden stirs like to grow in the north through the late binding that Turlough Lynagh hath wrought with sundry of the Irishry, and his attempting to bring under him Sir Brian M'Phelim, Captain Malbie has gone to the aid of Sir Brian with 100 horsemen and 200 Kerne or more."
" Lord Deputy and Council to the Queen. We have taken order that your gracious meaning in your Highnesses letter expressed, as touching the states passed to Sir Thomas Smith and his son and such like, hath been partly already published, and have given order for the same to be opened, and declared to what good end those grants have been so passed by your Majesty. And have sent your Highnesses letter to Sir Brian M'Phelim, Avhose parts of dealing being gladded with the comfort thereof may appear to your Majesty in the copy of Captain Piers' letter. And under our hands have avowed and de- clared unto Sir Bryan (as your Majesty hath willed) your express meaning and intention not to suffer any person to dispossess him of his lands and territories wherein he hath right or interest, he con- tinuing in his faithful service. And yet some persons, to hinder your Majesty's peace and service, have not ceased even of late days to raise the bruit of Thomas Smith's landing for the purpose of expulsion as formerly was advertised. And to manifest the same, other books in print of a large discourse to fear and disanimate such others as Sir Bryan is, have eftsoon been put into print there in England, and much to be doubted will breed more trouble than the first book,^ which proffered not so ready or sharp an entry to their territory as this last one doth. By chance one of the books of this last print
^ One of the books published by Smith, explaiuing to his expected followers the nature and advantages of the country to which they were invited, the in- ducements to embrace the brilliant offers made to them, the expense and preparations for tlieir outfit, and all particulars at great length, has recently been republished in that able and comprehensive work, The MacDonnells of Antrim, by the Rev. George Hill, p. 405. If it had not been there it would have been reprinted in this work as an appendix, a great part of it being in the PLnherton MSS., and as Smith had so much of the country close to Belfast, and the town itself, or rather the site of it, granted to him. The only extract necessary to make are the concluding words, the urgent appeal for promptness in procuring the sinews of war — what outs]ioken men in these degenerate days would call the last attempt to float the company. They are — ' ' We Request all our partakers to make so speedy payment of their adventures as possible they may, that nothing be wanting at the time of our forth setting, which they shall learn of the Treasurer or Receiver where they pay the money, with the place and day of our general meeting and embarking."
SIR BRIAN AT LAST AROUSED. oO
came to my hands, which I have sent herewith to your Majesty, but the author or bringer thereof cannot be known."
In another letter from the Lord Deputy to Burghley are these expressions : — " I will do what I may to pacify all things and to keep Sir Brian in tune as I have done hitherto." But in spite of all the fair professions which were made use of towards him, it is quite impossible he could have seen anything but danger in the grant to Smith and the action thereupon already taken. Much depended on Smith's success ; but Sir Brian was constrained by inevitable circumstances to regard the attempt, at last, as an invasion of his rights, and to unite with his countrymen to expel the aggressor. His forbearance must have been great, as even by the avowal of Piers, when the country was in a state of war, he says, " Sir Brian is completely thrown over by his own kindred ;" and " that he had forsaken all manner of offers, to serve the Queen." This could not be ex- pected to continue ; feigned letters and delusive promises were no longer available ; and finally, Malbie, an officer of eminence, who distinguished himself greatly in these wars, and whom we have recently seen in command at Belfast, writes to the Lord Deputy, that
" Sir Brian had come into the Ards with all his force and took all the prey, and set fire upon some towns, where one Henry Savage was killed by his special appointment. Prior Donelogh was in company with him. This was done by Turlough Lynagh's appointment, who hath Sir Brian's son to pledge to perform any evil against her Majesty.
He is bent to do what he can All my neighbours are
ready to go to him, and those who all this summer were at my devo- tion stand now in terms not to come to me, such is their uncertain promises and wicked disposition. A horseman of mine who came from Sir Brian doth tell me that he hath burnt the Abbeys of IS'ew- town, Bangor, Moville, Holywood, and sundry other places ; and that on Friday next, he and Turlough Lynagh do meet at Dundrum to come to me, and do me what hurt they can."
Such were the results of Smith's ill-advised expedition. At the end of October, 1572, the Lord Deputy writes to Sir Thomas himself, "that the northern mischiefs impeach his son's good
36 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
enterprise." The son continued, during the winter of this year, carrying on a feeble warfare. He was, it may be presumed, sometimes at Belfast Castle, but at no time does he appear here in power or actual possession. The place was held up to this date by the Queen and Sir Brian conjointly — certainly till the latter openly united himself with his countrymen — after which it passed from one to another as the fortune of war decreed.^
1 AH the lengthened extracted documents in this chapter are in the Pinkcrton MSS. They are not in that collection in strict chronological sequence ; but as they now appear they make the subject, it is hoped, sufficiently clear. The chapter trespasses beyond the bounds of Belfast, but the interest attacliing to the narrative, and its intimate connection with Sir Brian M'Phelim O'Neill, render that excusable, as it was unavoidable. The next chapter will be to much extent more of Belfast matter, and the documents in it have been obtained direct, within a short time past, from that great repository, the Public Record Office, London, in MS., and, in a few cases, from the Carciv Pcqyers which have been published.
GRANT TO THE EARL OF ESSEX. 37
CHAPTER III.
GENERAL HISTORY. — CONTINUED.
BEFOEE Thomas Smith had time to discover the rashness of his enterprise and its impending failure, another under- taker, of greater power and more illustrious name, had also received from the Queen a grant of Clannaboye and other places, provided he could remove, in conjunction with the war- like and knightly followers among whom the country was to be parcelled out, " the rebellious natives from thence." This was Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex. His grant ran into that of Smith, and included, it may be said, almost the entire of the county of Antrim. Its provisions are set forth at great length,^ and the preliminary negotiations leading to its final accomplish- ment began so early as May, 1573. This was little more than a year after a portion, at least, of the very same territories had been granted to the Smiths by binding treaty. The patent to the Earl of Essex was most comprehensive. He received " the grant of the dominions of Clandeboye, Eowte, Glynnes, Eaugh- lins, and all lands, &c., belonging to those countries in the Earldom of Ulster, and all lands, tenements, and hereditaments from Knockfergus Bay, including the river of the Belfast, directly to the next part of the Lough, and from the Lough to the Bann, and so to the sea along the Bann, and from the Bann all about the land by the sea coast." The details of this grant must have interfered with the powers of the Lord Deputy ; but, armed with it, Essex was in the country in 1573, and a very long and valuable communication, dated 2nd November of that year, proves that he arrived some months previously.^ The
1 Carew MSS., 1515-1574, p. 439, et seq.
2 "About the 20th August 1573 came the Right Honorable the Earl of Essex into this lond as Lord Governour of the Province of Ulster accompanied with
38 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
document refers to the state of the country and the army, neither of which was at all in a satisfactory condition. Smith w^as saved from destruction in County Down by the presence of a small force there under Captain Malbie, he himself keeping possession at Carrickfergus, and not only unable to protect that town, but exercising towards its inhabitants much op- pression, if their petition to the Lord Deputy against him be a trustworthy document.^ He must have left Carrickfergus and Belfast, if he ever had any hold on the latter, shortly after this petition was sent to the Lord Deputy, as it is recorded that on the 2nd June, 1573, "the Toune of Carrickfergus was for the moste parte destroyed by fier, by reason of Captain Smythe's departure out of the same, by Sur Brian M'Phellime O'Neill and his Co-partners." ^ This was found to be true by the Earl of Essex on his arrival, and may be taken as a general picture of the entire country, as is farther set forth in full, at the very beginning of the important paper referred to, in his own words : —
" At my arrival here I found the coimtries in arms, and no place out of the hands of the Irish rebels or of Scots, but only the town of Knockfergus, which the townsmen meant to leave and abandon, having prepared all things for their journey into the English Pale, meaning only to have victualled a few small castles in tlie town, and to have mured up the doors and windows, and so to have put them in
many a lusty Gentleman, and londed in this Towne of Knockfergus. "—^eco?-o?s of Carrickfergus.
A view of the country, and the struggles of Esse.x; and his followers, is afforded by the following extract from the papers of Mr. M'Skimin, said by him to be copied from HulinshetV s Chronicles: —
" 1573. The Earl of Essex with the Lord Rich and other Gentlemen em- barked for Ireland at Liverpool. After many perils the ship he was in made Copman's Island from whence in a pinnace he reached Knockfergus. Lord Kich made Killclife Castle and was thence conducted to Inch Abby (Maister Malbie's house) from whence with a guard of 150 horsemen besides 50 Kerns that went on foot thro' the woods he was conducted safely to Knockfergus. Among those were 30 bowes with a Bagpipe ; the rest had darts."
1 This curious petition, and Fitzwilliam's answer to it, dated 2Pth May, 1573, will be found in the History of Carrickfergus, pp. 289-291.
" IlUtonj of Carriclfcrgus, p. 29.
EARL OF ESSEX IN CLANNABOYE. 39
the guard of some few servants, leaving the rest to the enemy, only the Queen's Castle to have been defended by Piers who had a ward for the same. But the same townsmen, taking heart by the bruit of her Majesty's army to be sent under me, staid their determination, and have now settled themselves in their habitation."
This is explicit euougb ; and Essex goes on to relate that at Carrickfergus Sir Brian at first submitted himself, probably thinking that a greater force than that of Smith was now coming against him, but afterwards revolted, because be was encouraged by Turnour, a "practiser with Turlough Lynnough," who gave out that the King of Spain was to send speedy aid to the Irish ; and to " the slack coming of our victuals from Dominick Cheaster whereof no part arrived in this haven till 3rd October, the state of which victualling being made open unto him by some traitor amongst ourselves, he departed." This latter reason is generally said to have been that which influenced Sir Brian to take away his herds of cattle, and to abandon the Earl of Essex, together with the inadequate force which he also, as well as Smith, had brought with him, and some of whom, alarmed at the rigours of an Irish winter, returned to their English homes. This cause, if the true one, exhibited on Sir Brian's side, to say the least, vacillating conduct, and an entire distaste in reality to the proceedings of Essex. The latter, however, by this 2nd of November, had time to examine the country and estimate its capabilities, and among many suggestions lor its settlement, and descriptive particulars of it, has this passage : — '
" The experience of the beginning of this winter whereof I have made trial here, doth persuade how unnecessary this town of Knock- fergus is for the lodging of any garrison, both for lack of wood and convenient harbour for ships and for annoying of enemies which commonly keep themselves in the woods. Therefore considering that near unto, Belfaste is a place meet for a corporate town, armed with all commodities, as a principal haven, wood and good ground, stand- ing also upon a border, and a place of great importance for service, I think it convenient that a fortification be made there at the spring ; the fortification for the circuit, and a storehouse for victuals to be at her Majesty's charges ; all other buildings at mine, and such as shall
40 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
inhabit it ; and for the doing hereof I desire that Ligh the engineer, or some other skilful in fortification, should be sent hither, who shall also build a Bridge upon the Laigan Avithout her Majesty's charge." ^
None of these grand projects took effect, though they fully show how soon the jx^sition of Belfast approved itself to the understanding of the Earl of Essex. The ill success of his plan- tation— as well as the difficulties, both covert and open, with which he had to contend — diverted his attention from peaceful undertakings. Even with Smith he had to make arrangements, at the very outi'set of his career, as the following paper proves : —
"Memorandum by Secretary Smith May 2Gth 1573.2 My Lord of Essex standeth upon this point as appeareth. That excej^t he may have of me belfaste, Masserine, Castle Moubray otherwise called Eden doucarg, and Castle Tomey ; That he will not meddle with the Enter- prise of Ireland. Eather than his good Enterprise should be left of, Although they be the most special places both for beauty, and pfect in all Clanyboy, and the strongest in scyte — Yet rather than that should hinder this so honorable a Yoyage I am content that my Lorde shall have them of me and my son to him and to his heires for ever freely, upon condition such as my Lord hath aheady granted, (as I take it) that is, to discharge the Queen's Majesty's rent which is XX^ Irish yearly of every Irish plowland which maketh English acres ccliij, and when he hath possessed Clanyboy to give, grant, and deliver freely to my son and the heirs of his body, and for default of such issue, to my right heirs, either the same Castles and territories or so much other lands within Clandyboy such as we and our heirs shall choose, as all those Castles and territories of them, do amount unto and in the mean time to pay yearly unto us for every C acres English of these territories a xij Euglish. The said Castles and territories also to be the confines betwixt my Lord of Essex and Clanyboy and ours. All north from thence to be my Lords, all south to be ours without contradiction — The Territory of helferst to be accounted from the river olferst a mile and half north '^ and from the same and the bay of
1 Careiv MSS., 1515-1.574, p. U8.
2 State Papers, original MS., vol. xi., No. 66, Ireland, Elizabeth,
3 This paper requires a note of explanation. This is the second instance that reference is made to the Farset — by Smith called Ferst — the little river which runs through High Street, Belfast. The airreenient makes Essex owner of I5el-
PEOPOSED AGREEMENT BETWEEN SMITH AND ESSEX. 41
Knockfergus West two miles all of the same breadth. The Territory of thepories (1) oi Masserine to be from the park where the Abbey- stood a mile north and a mile south keeping the same breadth, and two miles east and as much west from the said Castle. The like territories to be of Castle Mowbray. Castle Tome standing upon the Lough Eagh must have half a mile south measuring by the lough and a mile and half north by the river of the ' ban,' and then eastward taking the same breadth towards Castle Mowbray four miles. And if it do fall out in the measure there is more distance betwixt the
fast, and the other castles, named Castle Tomey (Toome), Edenduffcarrick (Shane's Castle), with some land around each of them, as if for accommodation purposes ; and the opinion held both of them and Belfast at the time is very definitely expressed. An explanation of the Belfast notice alone will be attempted, and perhaps it may be done but imperfectly. There is a small s(]^uaie fort, or earthwork, some little distance above the Carrickfergus shore road, and about a mile and a-half or two miles from Belfast. It has been the subject of some conjecture ; but it is possible the arrangement between Smith and Essex, as related in the text, may explain its history. It was called in James the First's time Fort Essex, at least no other place answering the description has ever been identified ; but, this name being lost or unknown, guesses were hazarded as to the origin of the fort, one being that it was constructed by William the Third, or by some of his army in his honour, and hence the demesne in which it is was called Fortwilliam. There is no written account, nor any probability, that the fort was made at the time of the Revolution. It is too small for any purpose of defence or security, being only about eighty feet square. Objection will also apply to its being the place mentioned in the State Papers as the fort built by Essex individually, there being no appearance of any luilding ever having been at it. Keeping in mind the facts, however, that the place was called Fort Essex, and that the agreement between Smith and Essex describes a distance from the Castle of Belfast, so nearly concurring with its actual situation, and that it is a mere earthwork, it is perhaps not an unsafe conjecture to say that this was the very memorial boundary made by the Earl of Essex, in 1573, to mark the limit of the precinct of Belfast, surrendered to him by Smith. This is no doubt conjectural, but that the Fortwilliam of the present day — the Fort Essex of a former period — is in some way mixed up with this very agreement between Smith and Essex seems probable. That Essex, however, really began to build a fort somewhere near Belfast cannot reasonably be doubted, of which here is the proof — •
"Out of a Ire of the Earl of Essex to the 11. of the Councell written in Carigfargus the 2 of Decemb 1573 : —
" The Earl of Essex buildeth a forte neere Belfaste, wherby he commandeth the passages over certaine rivers and waters, and cutteth downe wood quyetly to the greate discouragement of the Irishe." — State Papers, vol. xlviii.. No. 58, Ireland, Elizabeth.
The situation of the little earthwork here mentioned would not correspond with these requirements. It could not have commanded passages over certain
42 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
said Castles east and west, yet that space shall be to either Castle equally divided, and my Lord shall pay nothing for that but only be bound to trench out and make a plain and known jiartition on the south side of all these territories."
This is the rather indefinite and involved language in which Sir Thomas Smith wrote when his patent and that of Essex came into collision. The Queen herself interfered about the boundaries and divisions of her two adventurers/ and it is not to
rivers and waters. The fort which Essex began, or proposed to build, on 2nd December, 1573, to eifect these objects, must have been much nearer the site of the intended corporate town. It was most probably not completed, as no accounts have appeared of such building having ever been brought into requisition for any purpose.
The pioof in writing, or supposed proof, that what is now called Fort- william, and the Mount Essex in the Chichester Grant— the recital of which occurs in the lease given by Sir Arthur Chichester to Moses Hill^are identical, is, in these words, copied from the latter document. Sir Arthur granted the fishing to Hill, describing the same as —
"All those his fishings and wears of all kinds of Fish in that part of the Lagan River lying from the point of land towards the Sea whereon the little fort of Mount Essex stands, &c."
That the present Fortwilliam should have been the Fort Essex or Mount Essex of the sixteenth century is incapable of strict proof, and is merely intro- duced here to open the question. The description — "the point of land towards the sea whereon the little fort of Mount Essex stands" — is confusing, and the discovery at any future time, if ever made, of the exact spot on which Lord Essex built, or began to build, a strong defensive fort "neere Belfast," would fully explain, it is probable, all the circumstances of the case.
^ The Queen's letter on this subject is to this effect : —
" And further our will and pleasure is that you shall appoint certain wise and discreet nien to bound the country by authority of commission, under our great seal of Ireland, as well betwixt the territory given to the said Sir Thomas Smith and Thomas his son ; that is to say, by a straight line drawn from the north part of the mouth of the river called ferst, where it entereth into the sea, to the next east part of the lough called Lough Eagh, where is the shortest cut betwixt them. — Whereof, all that is north from that line to belong to us and our crown, and the said Earl by moities — all that is south from that line to belong to the said Sir Thomas and Thomas, according as it is- agreed heiwixt
them And what they have done herein they shall certify to you in
perfect and fair books, and shall cause some ' plattes' to be made thereof, ami so you to us, accordingly, that thereupon we may resolve how to cause our portion to be used and inhabited. "The Queen to the Lord Deputy 29th Sept 1573."
— State Pajjers, vol. xlii.. No. 31, Ireland, Elizabeth.
How invaluable would these books and "plattes " be at this day, if they were ever made ! It is most likely they never were, the projects of both Smith and Essex havins so soon after come to an end.
ESSEX AND SIR BRIAN AT WAR. 43
be supposed that Smith offered any difficulty to such arrange- ment as she desired. Essex himself says, " the Queen being- satisfied, all bargains will be easy ; " and he considered his coming would greatly promote the success of Smith's adventure in County Down. He must, therefore, from this time be con- sidered the English owner of Belfast, under the Queen, to whom the Castle was afterwards reserved. The Earl of Essex came thus to have an intimate connection with Belfast, though no memorial of his proceedings or his presence now exists within the bounds of the town. He, one of the most famed of England's nobility — a favourite of the Queen, and connected with her by relationship — had staked his all on this plantation scheme. A few papers but recently brought to public notice, and the name of Essex in two or three places at some distance from the town — the situation of which he so highly appreciated — alone preserve in this country of Clannaboye the memory of his adventure. He had soon to defend his territory. Smith was immediately overshadowed — almost lost sight of — in the greater power and station of Essex. To the latter the war with Sir Brian and his auxiliaries, at least so far as it was connected with this place, chiefly fell; and at variance as he was with Piers, the governor of Carrickfergus — not countenanced by the Lord Deputy, who considered the very extensive commission granted to him inconsistent with his own — and finding the Irish around him more powerful in themselves, and in their alliances with distant O'JSTeills and Scots, than he expected, his partial success proved great courage and ability; and if he had been properly supported by those from whom assistance and counten- ance might have been received, it would be impossible to tell what might have been the issue of his bold adventure. The Irish, at first seemingly friendly — as has been seen in the case of Sir Brian O'Neill — turned against him in a short time ; they asserted that the war was not the Queen's, but that of a private undertaker. They thought he had come over to expel the Scots, to settle the country, to leave it again in peace when those objects were accomplished, and Sir Brian reinstated in his former
44 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
position. But when they discovered that the enterprise of Essex was only a repetition of Smith's attempt, and that the land was to be divided among his followers, they were enraged " with the fury of desperation." ^ Essex, to strengthen himself against O'Neill, applied to have the two relatives of the latter, still " shackled in Dublin Castle," delivered to him, with a view, somewhat similar to that of the Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam, of holding them as a rod of terror over Sir Brian. He thus writes —
" You shall remember their Lordships that in the Castle of Dublin there are two prisoners, the one Hugh M'Phelim, elder brother of Sir Brian who challengeth the country of Clandeboy upon the north side of the bay of Knockfergus ; the other Con M'Neill Oge who was Lord of Clandeboye on the south side. I do desire that these two be put into my hands, because, having them prisoners with me there Avill be daily practice for the confusion of Brian who hath usurped upon them both. They offer me good pledges to draw away his followers and to live dutifully. And although I know that being at liberty they were as dangerous as the other, yet such order might be taken with them as might advance the service, and the parties in as good surety as now they be. Therefore you shall desire warrant to the Lord Deputy for sending them hither by sea, to be delivered to me and used as I think good."
The preceding letter was in November, 1573, when Essex had acquired some knowledge of his position, as before it — namely, on the 20th October of the same year — he writes to the Privy Council, " that he has taken 400 of Sir Brian M'Felim's Kine
and slain 40 of his men News that Thomas Smith,
Mr. Secretary's son was slain in the Ardes by Irishmen of his own household whom he much trusted.^ .... Kerne
1 state Papers, 1509-1573, p. 530.
^ This is correct. Thomas Smith was killed in the County Down, in October, 1573. It is said the deed was done by some of the Irish whom he had subsidised to assist him. Sir Thomas Smith himself died in 1577, but in 1575 he proposed to sell his right to the Ards, which had not yet lapsed, to Essex. Sir Thomas offers to part with the Ards, "both great and litle,"for £2000. "It has cost me, "he says, "near £300 besides the death of my sonne." (See, for this statement. The Dominion of Farney, ]). 52.) This was not effected. Sir Thomas bequeathed
ENCOUNTER AT BELFAST BETWEEN ESSEX AND O'NEILL. 45
revolt and turn their weapons on the English." And only eight days after this, he has another encounter with Sir Brian in this very neighbourhood, which is thus described in his own language. It may partially inform us what sort of place the site of Belfast was in 1573.
" The Earl of Essex to the Privy Council, dated Knockfergus, 28th October, 1573.
" Since the writing of the last letters by Mr. Bowes : the Baron of Dungannon, Mr. More of Millefont, and Mr. Malbie with the horsemen that I sent to the relief of them at Cumber were stayed at the ford of Belfast by the Eebels, who were gathered in great numbers upon the other side of the ford, to stop their passage ; whereof having knowledge by a letter from Mr. Malbie I marched thither with 300 footmen and 100 horse, and the next low water after my coming I passed over the ford with no great resistance, and then with my company I departed to the Cumber which I found newly set on fire (as I take it) by Mr. Smith's men, who I learned were even then departed into the Little Ards, and conducted thither by Frederough Savaige. In my return from thence, Brian and all his power were gathered near the ford to stop my passage, my company being then diminished by the departure of the Baron, Mr. Moore and others into the English Pale. Upon sight of them we entered into skirmish which they maintained after their manner reasonably well by the space of two hours, but to their cost, for there were slain of them by their own report above 100 and all in the skirts of the wood, for upon the hard ground they would not come. I continued as long as the turning of the flood would suffer me, and then departed over the water and there encamped all night where we might hear their cries after their country fashion, for the loss of them that were dead." ^
This kind of warfare continued for a considerable time
to his nephew, Sir William Smith, the benefit of his claim under Queen Elizabeth's grant. This claim was put forward by Sir William, or his descen- dants, many years after; and, as will be seen, it even troubled Sir Arthur Chichester in the following century. In 1583, Sir Henry Sidney declared it was still in full force.
1 State Papers, vol. xlii., No. 58, Ireland, Elizabeth. To identify the site of this battle would now be a hard task. It was probably near the present Bally- macarrett, and, if so, is now the site of a large town — the County Down part of Belfast. Essex and his small army must have encamped during the night at Belfast, on familiar ground, not far from the water's edge.
46 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
with varying success. Essex was sometimes contending with enemies at a distance, and sometimes within our own borders. Many of the letters recounting his actions are dated from his " Campe near Belfast," two of which follow. They repeat the same story, and are irregular in dates, and somewhat indistinct in narration. One is to the Queen, the other to the Privy Council. They indicate an opening of cordiality again with Sir Brian, from which it may be inferred that he had been worsted in the war in Clannaboye, and was disposed to come to terms. They, and others which follow, are extremely interesting and valuable in their details regarding Belfast : —
" The Earl of Essex to the Queen. From the Camp near Belfast 13 May 1574.
"The 20th I removed and encamped hard by the Lagan water, parcel of Clandeboye, not seven miles from Belfarst where by reason of the great rain which fell the night before I was fain to stay until the next morning at which time I did hardly pass the water. . . . The 22nd I came hither and encamped^ until the 26th, during which time both putting out espialls and expecting to hear from Sir Brian who stood upon terms of parlance before my coming, both by his earnest letters and like messages, I advised with myself bow to proceed further, and having no advertisement from himself but what I understood by my espialls of the place where he was encamped, accompanied with the Scotts standing all upon their guard I thought good to set forward to see what I could do, either to force him to come in and acknowledge his duties, or else to do my best to expulse him, and so the 26th day I marched to Kellis where I encamped that
night I thought it best to make what composition I
could having him (Sir Brian) in so good terms, and to take him at
his word He hath condescended and is well content
that your Majesty shall have the use of the land from Belfast unto Olderfleet, which is fifteen or sixteen miles of length, but not broad in which is also contained Mageines Island, which land I trust will yield your Majesty as much yearly as the 1500 Kine do amount unto, and consequently he doth give himself wholly and all his titles unto your Highness, yet it was thought good by me and him that his parcel of
1 That is, he was now again at his general camping-ground, beside Belfast, for these four days.
FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN" ESSEX AND O'NEILL. 47
land be reserved unto your Majesty, because his followers (whom he doth mislike as much as I do) as seeraeth unto me, should have no occasion of quarrels ; being a thing agreed upon he doth also agree after this next winter is past to yield every year so many oats as shall suffice for 100 horse, besides all other rents. Upon these points he is departed from me very well pleased, and hath drawn down all his Kirriatts and cattle within six miles of this place in the plains." ^
The next letter is to the same tenor, but rather more explicit : —
" The Earl of Essex to the Privy Council. From the Camp near Belfast 13 May 1574.
" The 20th day I removed and came to the Lagan water where I could not pass over because of the great rain that fell the day before ; so was I forced to stay that night by the Avaterside which the next morning I passed over with great difficulty, and came to Belfarste encamping myself there, where I determined to stay until by espiall I
might know of Sir Brian's doings While I lay at
Belfast I received letters from the Knight marshall, that Moore's and Goring's bands were arrived at the Newry, and marched towards
me After I had staid at Belfaste until the 26th day,
and in the mean time understanding of Sir Brian's doings I set forward the same day towards him, and encamped that night at
Kellis Among the rest of my proceedings I think it
necessary to signify unto your Lordships that where I had begun to intrench a large town here at Belfarste, minding to have placed most of the garrison, as a place most fittest for that purpose Sir Brian in- treated me to leave off" for a time, until his people and Kyrryattes were well settled ; for, that, he said, his people would be jealous and loath to bring down their Kyrryattes if they saw any building here. And hath promised me that at his own cost he will build the said
^ Extracts from original MS. twenty-four folios long. S.P.O., vol. xlvi., No. 10, Ireland, Elizabeth.
This is more frequently spelled Creaghts, and means the cattle and families of the Irish following the chief in his movements from place to place. A troop of this kind — or rather, it may be supposed, of cattle only — attended the army for its ready subsistence in these and subsequent wars. In peaceful times, as is well known, gathering in creaghts — that is, wandering about with their cattle, and settling down for a time in convenient or favourable localities, or till the grass around was consumed by the stock— was a usual mode of living, particularly in summer, amons: the Irish tribes.
48 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
towne for the Queen, so as I would allow him my labourers which I have here, being to the number of 60, under the leading of Eaphe Crawle-y, to which labourers he would bestow Flesh (Gratis) and I to allow them bread and drink. So shall the town be done as in his name for himself, and being finished, he hath promised to deliver it to her Majesty's use." ^
It is plain from this letter there was no town at Belfast in May, 1574. The dislike of the Irish to the building of a town at this place is in character with the people and the age. The politic arrangement of the Earl of Essex and Sir Brian for the purpose was not accomplished, their friendly compact having in a few months more come to an utter and disastrous end. It is customary to assert that the Earl of Essex was unsuccessful in these wars ; locally this can scarcely be said to be the fact, as these letters prove ; " the O'Neill" of the day (Turlough Lennagh) and the Scots were too powerful for his weak force, but his conduct to this time and his military success cannot be dis- paraged. Almost immediately after his arrival in Ireland, seeing the jealousies and opposition which met him, he had offered to resign the great privileges and powers which the Queen had given him, and to act under the Lord Deputy in a private capacity in the prosecution of what he considered an enterprise tending to the public good. That he had not subdued Sir Brian is perhaps true, but that lie had weakened him and brought him to terms, the following letter, written in the same month as the two preceding, and prior in point of date, will sufficiently prove : —
" Letter from Sir Brian M'Phelim to the Queen.
"The Camp near Belfast, 8 May, 1574 Has thrown
himself on her Majesty's mercy — Submits to Essex — renounces his title to Claneboye, but cleaves to her Majesty's clemency to dispose of such portions to him as she shall think meet ; I also most humbly beseech your most excellent Majesty that at the least I may be your Highnesses ' fermor' of this land of Clandeboye to which I have my said Lord's consent, and agreement, — for this year to pay fifteen
^ State Pii2)ers, original MS., vol. xlvi., No. 12, Ireland, Elizabeth.
SUBMISSION OF SIR BRIAN O'NEILL. 49
hundred Kiue as in way of rent to your Majesty, with promise to increase the same yearly, as I and my people shall by the grace of God, with the maintenance of peace grow more plentiful in this worldly wealth." ^
This appears a very ample submission, and, previously, Sir Brian had made intercession to be admitted to mercy and favour. His conduct was wavering; abject submissions, and uniting again with his countrymen and the Scots, seem to have been almost his ordinary course. In this same month he is proclaimed a traitor, and £200 offered for his head. Essex says he meditates a journey against him ; and yet immediately after he writes to the Queen soliciting a pardon for Sir Brian, so constant and unaccountable were the variances and reconciliations between them. The Queen, however, did really accede to the request of Essex and to Sir Brian's very submissive letter, addressing the latter in these words : —
" By your letter of 8th May we understand that you repent having been withdrawn by evil counsels from the obedience you owe to us. We confirm whatever the Earl of Essex has promised you in our name, and have given him power to treat with you respecting lands and other matters concerning the peace of the province of Ulster."
Sir Brian O'Neill and the Earl of Essex had often, in those days of their occasional friendship, viewed together the site of Belfast, and interchanged thoughts upon the subject. Some- thing must even have been done — some little attempts made by Kalph Crawley and his sixty labourers, as the following com- munication implies : —
"Lords of the Council to the Earl Essex, of Dated Windsor, 11th July, 1574. . . . And as touching the place where they (i.e., the troops) should remain for this winter now coming, we suppose Knock- fergus and Belfast to be the places most convenient : Of the which Knockfergus being sufficiently furnished, the more that should lie at Belfast we do think it the better for service, because it keeps the streight,- and being but newly made, it may perad venture require a
^ State Papers, vol. xlvi.. No. 5, Ireland, Elizabeth.
^ This is curious laiic;uage. The " streight " must mean the Ford or Passage ; but the expression " newlj' made" would describe building, or intrenchments recently made, or in process or expectation of being made. E
50 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
better defence : and that the same soldiers might at times, when they be not otherwise occupied by their captains, and their good example, be induced to intrench and work there, somewhat for their own defence and commodity as well as not altogether to live idly ; Such fortifications as may be done this year were well to be expedited before winter, and specially Belfaste now put into as much strength as may be : And if Sir Brian, as he hath promised, will send aid and help to the doing of it, so that there be no fraud therein, he is not to be refused, but to be thanked therefor; and the English soldiers by his example the more encouraged to put to their hands also. The Brew House, Storehouse, and the ]\Iill were very necessary to be perfected there this year."
The garrison between the two places — Carrickfergus and Bel- fast— is estimated in this paper at about 700 men, of which the greater number being at Belfast, would necessitate considerable accommodation. It was under the control of Essex, and yet, notwithstanding his apparently favourable reports, bis relations during the summer, both with his own Government and Sir Brian, w^ere harassing and unpleasant. The Queen was dissatis- fied at the ill success w^hich, on the whole, had hitherto attended the Clannaboye w'ars. She had accepted from Essex a surrender of his patents, and yet he continued to act as before ; he intended to proceed against the Scots, and " will be attended," he says, " by Sir Brian." Mr. Edward Barkley, the possessor of what was then called "the little pile beneath the Cave" — the modern Greencastle— declares, in a letter to Burgliley, that Sir Brian's proceedings were " only to gain time till our victuals are sjDent — no wool on the sheep to make mantles, no Hax, no credit or traffic but with the Scots." Barnaby Goche also, another of those adventurous spirits who had followed Essex, had like- wise declared, so early as April in this year, that " the state of the country groweth worse and worse ; Divers of the natural iidiabitants forsake all and run into England — the rebel strong - — the soldier weary — the Earl ©f Essex painful in the service of his country." These were the unhappy relations existing among the parties, and it really does not appear with what zeal, if any. Sir Brian assisted Essex in his attempt against " the rebel," as
SIR BRIAN O'NEILL MADE PRISONER BY ESSEX. 51
Taiioiigh Leunagh was then, by way of eminence, called. Essex could tolerate this state of things no longer, and from what he conceived and had heard, and has himself declared to be sufficient grounds, brought it to a close in the following manner, as described in this letter : —
" The Earl of Essex to the Lord Deputy, 14th Nov., 1574.
" My very good Lord; Before my coming unto ' Belfirste' with the army I was credibly informed that Bryan MThelemy was daily practising to agree with ' Tirrekgh Lenagh,' and in very deed was through with him to combine in rebellion — whereupon by the way encamping I sent secretly to Captain Malby (being then before at Carrickfergus) to have a good eye upon him until my coming, who, having care unto it, did accordingly, without any suspicion given, very circumspectly discharge the matter committed unto him, and met me in very good time a mile from Belfirst, accompanied with Sir Brian, Eory Oge and others, who after their dissembling manner welcomed me into the country, which I accepted, as well pleased. So we marched together to the camping place near ' Belfirste,' where also Bryans wife came to salute me, the more to blind me. I was not any time rested imtil by sundry persons of credit I was more informed of his treachery meant, and conferring his former revolt with these advertisements then instant, and remembering the refusal I made of the first admonition then given I found it requisite for avoiding a second folly (by overmuch trust) to make sure work with so fickle a people ; and not without the advice and consent of all the captains in the Camp to whom I imparted all that I knew myself of Bryan's lewd practices I gave order that evening to lay hold on him within the Castle of 'Belfyrst' where he lay, in which Whorley some resistance being offered by his men lodged in the Towne, sundry of them were slain to the number of 115. Sir Brian and his wife, Eory Oge, and one Brian M'Eevelin were taken in hand and one Gruildufi'e of Guilmyrre was also saved, who was in handlock in hand Avith Sir Bryan as a prisoner. This account done, the low water served at Belfyrst where I put over certain horsemen to lay hold upon the cattle in the Ards sides, and other horsemen I put towards the Lough side, who returning the next day brought in the number of 3000 head of cattle besides certain stud mares, whereof I will make your Lordship a present of six choice mares, and because your Lord- ship may stand surely informed of the truth of Sir Brians doings the rather to stop the ill bruits that may rise of these my doings (for all
52 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
men be not bent to say well) I do send you herewith some part of that was informed me against M'Phelemy which your Lordship may consider of, the rest at my meeting with your Lordship, which God willing I mind shall be shortly, I will myself make plain unto you. Thus much at this time I have thought good to advise you to find you occupied until my coming ; bidding your Lordshijj in the mean tim*? most lieartily farewell. Your Lordship's assured to command,
"W. Essex."!
The Earl, in another letter to the Privy Council, dated 24th Nov., 1574, has these words, but it is impossible to under- stand whether they refer to the same event — thus described by himself as having occurred in Belfast — or to another : — " I have of late apprehended Brian, his half brotlier Eory Oge Mac- Willey, Brian's wife, and certain other of the principal persons, and put other to the sword to the number of two hundred in all places, whereof forty of his best horsemen." Some part of what was informed against >Sir Brian is obtainable from the Lives of the Earls of Essex; and what is obscure in this narrative may, perhaps, be elucidated by the mention of events which preceded Sir Brian's capture, according to that work. It, of course, is favourable to the Earl, and is as follows : —
" The Earl of Essex's plan for the reformation and plantation of Ulster was approved at home, and in October, 1574, the Queen desired him to repair to Court, making arrangements with the Deputy for the government of Ulster in his absence ; but if his absence should be in his opinion disadvantageous to the service, to send some one over well instructed in all points to resolve all doubts entertained of the plan. Having sure information that Sir Brian was about to revolt again he sent Captain Malbie over, and remained in Ireland himself, and Sir Brian not thinking his treachery was made known to
Essex met him at Belfast After consulting all his
captains he gave orders to arrest Brian M'Phelim that night which was accordingly done : the Irish resisting lost upwards of 100 men killed Essex thought it necessary to issue a Proclama- tion justifying this arrest, in which, after stating that M'Phelim never had a safe-conduct, he details the causes which induced his arrest —
^ State Papers, vol. xlviii.. No. 52, Ireland, Elizabeth.
VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF SIE BRIAN'S CAPTURE. 53
his inveigling and treacherously murdering the Queen's subjects, whom he beheaded and placed their heads on poles ; his endeavouring to starve the garrison of Knockfergus by withholding provisions; his parleys with Turlough Lynnagh ; his revealing to the Scots the intentions of the Earl against them, having by his professions obtained his confidence ; his suffering the Scots to escape when he had under- taken, assisted by a force sent by Essex, to destroy them ; his plan to get Captain Malbie into his hands, and afterwards to have fallen on one part of Essex's army at the ford of the Bann, while Turlough was to have done the same to that part that had crossed, and so have destroyed them and made an end of the war,"^
Of these events, on the other hand, a high authority gives the following account : —
" Peace, sociality, and friendship were established between Brian, the son of Felim Bacagh O'lSTeill, and the Earl of Essex ; and a feast was afterwards prepared by Brian, to which the Lord Justice and the chiefs of his people were invited, and they passed three nights and days together pleasantly and cheerfully. At the expiration of this time, however, as they were agreeably drinking and making merry, Brian, his brother, and his wife, were seized upon by the Earl, and all his people put unsparingly to the sword, men, women, youths, and maidens, in Brian's own presence. Brian was afterwards sent to Dublin, together with his wife and brother, where they were cut in quarters. Such was the end of their feast. This unexpected mas- sacre— this wicked and treacherous murder of the Lord of the race of Hugh Boy O'Neill, the head and the senior of the race of Eoghan, son of J^iall of the Nine Hostages and of all the Gaels, a few only excepted — was a sufficient cause of hatred [of the English] to the Irish." 2
This disastrous event occurred within the Castle of Belfast, as Essex in his report plainly expresses. The language, also, of " resistance being offered by his men lodged in the town," would prove that there was some description of huts or shelter near the Castle thought to be worthy of that rather premature appella- tion. Sir Brian's men occupied the town, and if the Four Masters describe the event truly — that Sir Brian was the inviter on the
1 Devereux's Lives of the Earls of Essex, vol. i., p. 89.
2 Annals of the Four Masters, vol, v., p. 1677.
54 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
occasion to the great feast in Belfast — the two circumstances would establish the fact that he had at the time possession of both, most probably with the concurrence of Essex, a sort of hollow friendship existing between them up to the fatal and memorable day which closed the career of the great Irish chief.
This O'lSTeill, whose history has occupied so large a space, was the greatest of the name that ever possessed Belfast. After his arrest he was sent up to Dublin, as Essex states, to be tried " by order of law ; " he was there, with his friends, tried, exe- cuted, and quartered, according to the statement of the Four Masters ; but as related in the History of Carrickfcrgus, and as extracted from its ancient and contemporary records, he was executed in that town in 1575;^ he was murdered in 1574 or 1575, another most competent authority avers,^ so that there is thus the same contradiction as to the time and manner of his death as there is with respect to the events of the few weeks which preceded the catastrophe in the Castle of Belfast. His character, as revealed in the State, Papers, cannot be taken as other than that of an able and enterprising man, both in a civil and military capacity, considering the age in which he lived ; nor is there anything to impeach his conduct for trustworthiness in his relations to the Government, if we set aside the accounts of the Earl of Essex of his duplicity and treachery in his latter days. He was ambitious ; he wrongfully encroached on the rights of his relatives ; he may have exhibited, and did exliibit, considerable fickleness and instability of character in his frequent submissions and as sudden outbreaks, as if torn by contending iuflueuces. The two English invaders seem entirely
1 The variance between the statements of the Four Masters — an anthority accepted as undoubtedly authentic by eminent Irish scholars of the present day — and that of the Earl of Essex, as well as that in the Lives of the Earls of Essex, and the Records of Carrickfergus, with respect to the circumstances attending the capture and death of Brian O'Neill, is so great as to leave an opening for discussion and conflicting opinions on the perplexing story, and to create a strong desire for such farther research as might elicit the actual truth.
* Dr. Reeves in the Genealogy of the O'Neills in the Montgomery Manu- scrijpis, published by the Rev. George Hill, p. 14.
ORIGINAL DESIGNS OF SMITH AND ESSEX. . 55
to have shaken his faith and confidence in the Government. Few would or could have failed to oppose both by every means. They came to dispossess him ; for with whatever fair words their intentions may have been glossed over — " to plant," to place the land in the occupation of others, and themselves to rule over it as chiefs or nobles, was the object most desired, or which at least he believed would be the final result.^ Even Sir Thomas Smith, an upright man, must have anticipated the same consequences, as about the time his son first appeared in the country he writes in a sanguine and vain-glorious style to Bnrghley — " 800 or 1000 men are ready to daunt the enemy
and cost the Queen nothing The little book my
son sent out was evil done .... still no other way appeared of making the enterprise publickly known, neither of
^ This is part of the covenant between tlie Queen and the Earl of Essex, on 9th July, 1573 :—
" Where her Highness in consideration of service, and surrender of his title to 800 marks of the Earl of Marche's lands had given to the Earl the moiety of the Seigniories of Claneyboy the Earl covenanted, before Michaelmas then next ensuing in person to take his journey into the said country with 200 horsemen and 400 footmen at his own charges and to continue the same for two years from the said Feast. After two years the Earl shall continue like number of soldiers at his charges as her Majesty shall keep, so that the number exceed not 600 soldiers.
" The Queen will send 200 horsemen and 400 footmen under the conduct of the said Earl into the said Seigniories at her charges. . . . Whereas sundry her Majesty's subjects do purpose to adventure in service under conduct of the said Earl for the reducing of the said country at their proper costs, some with horsemen, some with footmen, her Majesty grants that every such person shall have in fee simple for every horseman 400 English acres and for every footman 2C0 acres paying for every acre 2d English
"The Country to be divided equally by six commissioners, three to be named
by the Queen or the Lord Deputy, and three by the Earl of Essex
they to divide the country and to give names to Touns," &c.
The agreement in full is in the Carew MSS., 1515-1574, pp. 448-44 ; and the persons to whom the places were allotted, with the names of their luture residences in County Antrim, are set forth in detail, in a most interesting paper called " The Earl of Essex's Enterprise for the Recovery of Ulster," by Mr. Hore, in the Ulster Journal of Archceology, vol. ix., p. 245, the substance of which is in the State Papers. It and the covenant plainly exhibit the intentions of the adventurers. The latter expresses at the conclusion that "the Earl shall cause his part to be inhabited, after division, with such number of English birth as her Majesty doth her part, so as her Majesty's number pass not 1000 persons."
50 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
US having tenants or great countries to gather the necessary force with persuasions and offers of participation in profits and lionour to allure to him whom he could ; has got a good number ; MacPhelim is afraid, but shall not the Queen dispose of her own ? . . . the Lord Deputy will be eased of the northern Irish and Scotch." Essex and his friends had the same hopes and views. The circuit of the county of Antrim, by the coast and the Bann, and round again to Belfast, was allotted to what might be called the gentlemen undertakers of those days, and great encouragement was given in the way of rents and privileges to soldiers and husbandmen to accompany them and inhabit the land. Sir Brian O'Neill^ and his countrymen knew all this, and it would have been contrary to all their thoughts and habits to have submitted passively to it. He, the leading chief, now disappears from the scene. Belfast, which was as yet but little more than a shadow, the far stretching pastures, the bright streams, the hunting hills, the glorious woods of
^ The genealogy of Sir Brian, shortly stated, and a representation of the seat or chair in which he and his ancestors had been crowned or inaugnrated for numerous generations, will appropriately in this note terminate his direct liistory.
1. Brian MacFelim O'Neill, chief of 5. John. Clannaboy, and senior of the Kinel 6. Charles. Owen. 7. John.
2. John, his eldest son. 8. Charles Henrj' St. John.
3. Felim Duv. 9. John Bruce.
4. Brian.
— From Annals of the Four Masters, vol. v., p. 1678.
Fioni another source the genealogy of the O'Neill is thus drawn up : —
Hugh O'Neill, from whom the Tyrone Neal, Lord of Fevagh. O'Neills were descended. M'Phelim.
Hugh Meath (?) O'Neill, King of Ulster M'Bryan. 1122. M 'Shane.
Daniel. M'Phelim.
Hugh Buye of Clandeboye. Shane M'Bryan.
Brian. Felix.
Henry. John.
Medaugh Longhead. Charles.
Brian Ballagh. John.
Con. Charles.
Hugh Buye. — From MS. Pedigree of the O'Neills in the M'Skivun Papers.
END OF SIR BRIAN 0 NEILL.
57
Clannaboye, which were abiding realities, knew him no more ; and yet the name, so long identified with Antrim and with Ulster, was so rooted in the soil, that here at least, though shorn of vast and fertile tracts of the principality of the old days, it still continues. Great portions of the estates were granted, in
The above skeleton genealogies are probably as correct in the main as can
now be ascertained. From Sir Brian M'Phelim it is likely to be trne, and the
collateral descents, as collected by Dr. O'Donovan, are in the Annals of the Four
Masters at the reference quoted.
The chair here represented was found
about the year 1755 among the ruins
of Castlereagh. It was brought from
that place Viy Mr. Stewart Banks, Sove- reign of Belfast, and built into the wall
of the Butter Market or W eigh-house,
at the lower end of Waring Stieet. It
remained in that situation for a con- siderable time, being used as a seat, or
some such "base purpose," by the
weighmaster. The building requiring
some enlargement or repair, the seat
was thrown down among the rubbish,
and would probably have been broken
up, but that a workman— appreciating
differently from his fellows the interest
and value which attached to it — saved
it from destruction, and conveyed it to
his house. Many went to see this chair where it stood, long years ago, near tlie
then almost " untrodden ways" near Lancaster Street, in a yard in which street it had been placed. A drawing of it was made in 1832 by the father of the writer, which, with the above particulars, was sent to the late Dr. Petrie, of Dublin, by whom the entire was published in the Dublin Penny Journal of that year, p. 208. This chair is all in one piece, and of solid whinstone ; the back is higher than 'that of an ordinary chair, the seat perhaps a little lower. It was thought desirable to reproduce it here, so kijidred to the subject under con- sideration, because it was perhaps the last ancient relic of the great O'Neills of Clannaboye, and because it has been lost for ever to Belfast — which would have been its most appropriate resting-place — having been purchased many years since by a discerning archajologist from the county of Sligo, and taken to that part of Ireland, where, no doubt, it still remains. Such chairs are rare — perhaps that of Castlereagh is unique in all Ireland. "In 1602," says Moryson, "Lord Mountjoy brake down the chair wherein the O'Neills were wont to be created, being of stone, planted in the open field." There is also, as a fellow-picture to the chair, represented beside it, a sepulchral urn, of considerable elegance of form and much ornamentation, which contained, there is reason to think, the ashes of an O'Neill of distinction, possibly a direct ancestor of Sir Brian MacPhelim,
INAUGURATION CHAIR OF THE O NEILL3 OF CLANNABOYE.
58 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
1607, to Shane, eldest son of Sir Brian; and an O'Neill in descent from him still possesses the ancient Castle of Edenduff- carrick.
in ages far away. It was found at Altigarron, or at the place known by the name of Carn Shane Buidhe, the Cairn of Yellow John, which is four or five miles from Belfast, on Divis Mountain. The name was in every respect a distinctive appellation of the O'Neills.
This beautiful urn is 5 inches high, 6| inches in diameter at the broadest part, and 6 inches across the mouth.
t
PPOSED CINERA
QUEEN ELIZABETH S LETTER TO ESSEX.
CHAPTER IV,
GENERAL HISTORY. — CONTINUED.
THE Earl of Essex had been made Governor-General of Ulster. He had been granted the moiety of Clannaboye, Queen Elizabeth herself being his fellow-partner. He had arranged with Sir Thomas Smith for the possession of the most desirable and beautiful places within the district ; and at Belfast a portion at least of his time must have been spent. Though he possessed great talent and energy, and was accorded sucli exten- sive powers, the undertaking on the whole, so far as Clannaboye entered into it, was an entire failure. The causes of this have been visible in the preceding narrative, to which must be added the perplexity, disappointment, and varying counsels of the Queen. On March 14th, 1575, the Privy Council inform the Lord Deputy that "the Queen is fully resolved to go through with the enterprise of Ulster, and to follow the plot of the Earl of Essex." ^ On July 16th of the same year she wrote to Essex the following letter : —
"We have heretofore signified that we intended to proceed no farther in the enterprise of Ulster for a time ; but that you our cousin of Essex should make some countenance with your forces upon Tirlogh Lenoghe and the Irishry, until they were reduced to some good stay and composition. We now understand that you have agreed and compounded with him and are long since marched into Clandehoye to reduce the inhabitants and Sarleboy to some honour- able agreement, which we hope by this time you have performed, so as we shall not need to be at such great charges. Therefore our pleasure is that our whole garrison shall be reduced to 1600 soldiers. Sufficient wards to be left both in the new fort now by you the Earl of Essex made at the Blackwater, and also at Belfast, or such other
^ State Palmers, Carew, 1575-1588, p. 1.
60 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
places in Clandeboy and at Ivnockefergus until tlie coming of Sir Henry Sidney thither to be there as our Deputy."
These communications give in brief the condition of the country, as well as the contradictory resolutions with which Essex had to contend. Sir Henry Sidney arrived in Ireland, as Lord Deputy, in September, 1575; being, he says, "the third time he had undertaken the thankless charge." He esteemed the Earl of Essex, and was disposed to promote his interests, but it was impossible now to restore him to his lost station in Clannab(jye. He was in treaty for Islandmagee as a permanent grant, his desire with regard to which Sir Henry Sidney pro- moted. He succeeded in obtaining this choice spot, though it afterwards passed away to another, leaving to him only the barony of Farney, in the county of Monaghan, which is still possessed by his collateral descendants.
The Earl of Essex had not lost sight of his favourite project of establishing a corporate town at Belfast. Early in the spring of this year (1575) a desire for buildings and f or titi cations in this part of Ulster again appears; and though Belfast is not specially named in the i olio wing extract, it cannot be reason- ably doubted that it was one of the places "elsewhere in Clannaboye" kept in view, and to which it was intended to apply some of the "necessaries" here enumerated.
" You shall also shew the Earl that towards the provisions of certain necessaries for tlie buildings to be made there, and to the fortifications ; and namely, for certain frames of timber^ for houses of stowage, and of handmills, and a hoy, and a frigate, and of iron, lead, and all manner of tools for works, with many other particular things whereof you can make recital, there is warrant made for £1000."
Specific allusion, however, is made to Belfast, a few weeks
^ This apparently had reference to the renewing of the enterprise, about which there was still some uncertainty. The extent to which the appliances for build- ings and tbrtitications were brought into operation cannot be more particularly obtained ; but the above passage, or one of similar import, has probably bteii that which gave rise to a rumour or tradition, that the Earl of Essex had brought over from England at this time the "frames" of a number of houses to begin the building of the town of Belfast. The statement cannot be authenticated.
ESSEX EESOLVES TO BUILD A SMALL TOWN AT BELFAST. 61
later, in a letter from the Privy Council to the Earl, wherein they say —
" Whereas you determine to build rather at Belfast than at Black- water, her Majesty's pleasure is that you should advertise what the charges of the building will amount to, as also what convenient numbers of horsemen and footmen you think requisite to be placed as well there, as at Knockfergus or elsewhere in Ulster."
The Earl — now subdued by losses and misfortunes, and seeing his larger projects impracticable — in a more moderate tone says —
" I resolve not to build but at one place ; namelie, at Belfast ; and that of littel charge ; a small towne there will keepe the passage, relieve Knockfergus with wood, and horsemen being laid there shall command the plains of Clandeboye, and w*^ footemen may kepe the passage open between that and the Newrie, and kepe those of Kilulto, Killmarlin, and the Dufferin in obedience, and may be victualled at plea'" by sea, without daunger of 8cot or pirate."
The expected "charges of the buildings" at Belfast, as asked for, are unluckily not mentioned.
All this proves that no town of regular construction was begun here by the Earl of Essex. This was near the end of his career ; and in his now vain desire for building at this place, he complains that the money spent in some ineffectual measure, which he does not specifically name, " would have built a small town at Belfast." That something was done cannot well be doubted; but nothing certainly of any value or importance either in the way of town or fort.
Though now in such untoward circumstances, the Earl of Essex had still both the influence and the inclination to settle the Irish occupiers, if possible, in peace over the country, which, he had himself at one time hoped to govern. Almost im- mediately after the death of Sir Brian, he informs Lord Burghley that " two of Brian's Kinsmen are competitors for the Captaincy," the alleged treachery of the latter not having abrogated the right of his descendants to the inheritance. O'lsTeills continued to rule in Clannaboye, absorbing the entire
62 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
under the loose relations formerly prevalent, living in their old rude semi-warlike manner, paying tribute of so many beeves (almost the only kind of property which they possessed), and contracting to maintain a certain number of horsemen and foot- men to serve the Queen against her enemies. Yet so unsettled or indefinite was this kind of fidelity, that before the year had expired it was broken through. In November, 1575, Sir Henry Sidney, the Lord Deputy, records in one of his letters, when describing his progress through the country, that at his passage over the water at Belfast he was " offered Skirmishe by Mac- Neill Brian Ertaugh." This was probably the same contest referred to, also in 1575, under the equally brief form, "that an engagement took place at a bare site, called Belfast, between the Lord Deputy and Brian O'Neill." So easily were peaceable terms disturbed, as this seems to have been the same O'Neill who entered into a strict treaty with the Earl of Essex a few months before.^ Arrangements, hoped to be conducive to order and good government, occupied the attention of the Earl of Essex during the short remainder of his life. He died in Dublin in 1576, and his name thenceforth ceases to be heard of in connection with Clannaboye.^ The relations established by him
1 The treaty, binding and precise in lanf^uage, is inserted in Appendix No. 1.
^ Speed introduces, in his description of the counties of Ulster, a brief account of the career and ending of the Earl of Essex, incorporated with which are some general remarks of local interest.
Describing Antrim, he says, "Antrim so called of Antrim, a base townelet of
small reckoning This Bay of Knoc-fergus is well inhabited and
more frequented than the rest on this coast by reason of the commodious
haven Hard hy it lieth, the Nether Clane-boy which also was the
habitation of the O'Neales Queen Elizabeth granted this Claneboy
unto Walter D'Eureux Earle of Essex who crossed over the seas hither, and I wot not whether under a goodlj' colour of honour (for chosen hee was Governour of Ulster and Mareschal of Ireland) hee was by the poUiticke practise of some Courteours finely packed awaie into a Country alwaies rebellious and untamed. But whiles with the expense of a mighty masse of money hee went about to reduce it to good order, hee was by untimely death taken out of the world, leaving unto all good men a wonderful misse of himselfe, and this country unto the O'Neales and Brian Carragh .... who since that time have gone together by the cares and committed many murders one upon another about the Soveraignty of this Seignory."
THE IRISH CHIEFS AT VARIANCE. 63
with the Irish chiefs — not alone with the English Government, but among themselves — produced their usual results. "The bare site" of Belfast, its broken Castle, the wild lands of Lower or North Clannaboye, which " extended from the Kavel in the north to the Lagan in the South," ^ fell chiefly to the lot of Sir Brian's family ; while to Neal O'Neil Upper Clannaboye was apportioned, which meant the County Down possessions of the race. This Neal was father of Con O'Neill of Castlereagh, who was doomed to fall in the next generation before undertakers more fortunate or more powerful than Smith and Essex.
Sir Henry Sidney, while he continued Lord Deputy, acted with great activity and discretion. Still the charge, if not " thankless," was harassing, and adverse to improvement or real pacification. The sons and nephews of Sir Brian were at con- stant strife. The English Government continued to hold Carrickfergus, and likewise, in some form, Belfast. The former place contained in 1577 a population of 200, and was occupied by a garrison of only 127 men ; from which we may certainly infer that the number of people here was too small to render it worthy the designation of either town or village. It is stated that ninety-three soldiers were sufficient for all the out-garrisons, very few of whom were enough for the obscure Castle of Belfast. It is true that in this year the North was represented to be " in greater quiet than it had been for long time, Turlough Lynagh having come in" — one of those temporary lulls which smoothed for the moment the constant wars of the age of Queen Elizabeth.
Sir John Perrot was appointed Lord Deputy in 1583, and must have visited Belfast the following year. He was acquainted with the family disputes of the O'Neills, and made for them what he perhaps thought to be satisfactory compositions. He knew that Clannaboye was divided among them under the unfixed law of the time, and states that " Con M'Neil Oge aspiring to the whole government of Clandhuboy by the old custom of Tanist, I concluded that he should have the Upper
^ This is the definition of the extent of North Clannaboye given by Dr. Beeves, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down and Connor, p. 344.
64 ' HISTORY' OF BELFAST.
Clandhughboy, and Shane M'Brian and Hugh Oge the jSTether." This appears to have been a confirmation of the arrangement with Essex. Two years after, their possessions were surrendered to the Queen, and re-granted to them to be held by Knight service. They promised more horsemen and footemen, more cows and oxen, and to do every thing befitting the great nobles of a powerful and gracious monarch. But nothing could pacify the family strifes, or introduce settled habits. In an account of Ulster, wri'.ten at this time, it is said, " North Clandeboy is given by Letters Patent to Sir Brian M'Phelim's sons, the Queen's pensioners ; notwithstandiug by a new divi- sion lately made by the now Lord Deputy the one moiety thereof is allotted to the rule of Hugh M'Phelim's sons, whereby great dissension doth depend between them and great slaughter on both parties are often committed." Yet Sir John Perrot was thought to have settled all disputes; and a royal letter ^ congratulates him on his reducing the chieftains and captains of Ulster to a general obedience — a project never successful before, though oftentimes attempted — and names those members of the O'Neill sept with whom he had concluded a peace. The Queen was even so conciliatory as to direct that the clause of "saving to us our rights"- be forborne, and not expressed ; and desired, as her further pleasure, " that there be no exception or saving where the title of the parties which sur- rendered is by sufficient proof before you and our Council found
1 20th January, 27th Elizabeth, in Chancery Rolls.
^ The authority for this statement, and a few more here set down, is an elaborate legal paper — apparently a general review of both sides in the great case of Donegall versus Templeniore, which occurred some years ago, and brought to light so much connected with the O'JSTeills and their ancient rights and pos- sessions. It was considered that the claims arising from these old grants to them, by English tenure, descended to the present possessors of their estates ; and, thereupon, great litigation arose as to the ownership of portions of the beds of the River Lagan and Lough of Belfast— of what had been once mere slob land, or covered with the sea, but had become, with reclamations consequent on the wonderful increase of Belfast, of great value. This is merely a popular observation regarding that great case, which involved many points of interest concerning the O'Neills, and which neither law nor archaeology could place on an indisputable basis.
SHANE M'BRIAN o'NEILL. 65
to be good and true." The final issue of all these misty and entangling debates was, that Sir Brian's sons obtained that part of Lower Clannaboye south of the Main Water, including the estates of Shane's Castle — ever since so called from Shane or John, the eldest son of that unhappy chief — doubtless also the old ground around Belfast, and its Castle, if they could retain the latter against the counter claims of the Castlereagh CiSTeills. Shane M'Brian, the eldest of the County Antrim family, is described as "a modest man, and one who speaks English."
For some time after these endeavours to settle the O'Neills in amity, it is not possible to. ascertain to what party the Castle of Belfast really belonged. The situation of the place itself, in the judgment of Perrot, as well as in that of Essex and all others, was estimated at its true value ; but neither it nor the Castle, so far as is known, drew any attention even from so practical a man as Sir John Perrot, beyond his well-known recommendation of the locality as a suitable one for shipbuilding. The ^probability is that the C.istle was in the possession of the G-overnment, as in 1594, when plans were being laid to meet the great rebellion of the Earl of Tyrone, it is declared that, besides the more ini- j)ortant garrisons mentioned, " wards of 20 or 30 men in a place are very meet, as at Belfast and Castle Toome."
In letters in the State Papers relating to other subjects, detached remarks occur sometimes respecting Belfast and its Castle, which may be noted.
Thus — " 1593-4, Mar. 14. Carrickfergus. Ensign John Dallway to S^' H. Bagenall. To keep secret the information sent relative to the business of the Senesclial O'Hagan at Belfast."
Incloses ; " Examination of Shane M'Brian O'Neill. The Earl of Tyrone sent O'Hagan to Belfast to have the said Shane to become his man, and join him against the Queen."
" 1596. Api 22. Captain Cha^ Eggerton to the Lord Deputy. . . . . Has put Neale M'Hugh in the Castle of Belfast and appointed him four shot forth of this garrison. This will be a great gall to the enemy, being upon the passage between the Clandehoyes.''
The two more explanatory and valuable letters succeeding partly show tlie meaning of these mysterious hints and secret
C6 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
meetings. The Earl of Tyrone was in rebellion, and his policy was to attract to his party the Clannaboye O'Neills, his kinsmen and natural allies ; but the latter were at strife among them- selves, undetermined which side undisguisedly to join, striving to gain from the Government in the confusion personal advan- tages. At any rate, if this be not a correct version of the situation, the letters following will illustrate the relations sub- sisting in 1596 between the Government and the O'Neills, and the discord of the latter among themselves : —
" Charles Eggarton (or Egertoii) to the Lord Deputy, dated Canick- fergus 27 May 1596.
" .... Lastlie y* niaie please yo' L. Therle liatli written a Ire unto me for the deHverie of the Castle of Belfast unto the owner in such case as I founde yt, alleadging that ther is Ires sent from yo'' L. and tlie rest commanding me to withdraw the ward from thence, and w^'i all in his said Ire doth charge me that the said Castle was taken since the general! peace, the w^^ was put into Neal MacHughe's hands, at least X dales before Shane MacBryan made his humble submission at Dundalk. I have sent yo^" L. Ire to Cap. Mansell touching that Castle, but tall this tlaie since my first Ires unto yo'' L. I have not receaved anie informations from yor L. what course I shall farther take w*'' the said Castle of Bellfast. I have answeared Therle that the ward that Avas first put therein was Neal ]M'Hugh McPhelim himself and his people av*^'' was done at least X or Xij dales before the generall peace, since w^^'^^ tyme I sent no soldio''^ toward the Castle, but only to guard our boats av"!^ AA^ee sent unto the Avood for feAvell, by reason they have been a long tyme most grieivously spoiled ther by Shane M'Brian's people. Thus craving most humblie yo"' L. directions AAdiat shall be done Avith the Castle of Bellfest, the av*-''' hath cost some money in fortefying and is made in reasonable good sort to be garded."i ....
"Neale M'Hugh M'Phelmay O'xXeale to the Lord Deputy. Dated Kuockfergus 28 July 1596.
" .... if it fall out to be peace my most bumble sute is to liaA'e thone halfe of Clandeboie av*'' the Castle of Bellfast, and that
1 Original MS. Letter, Stdte Papers, Ireland, June 8, 1596. Charles Eggarton was l^L^J•or of Carricklergus this year (1596), and Avas a military man in command there. — Records of Carrickfergus.
NEALE M'HUGH M'PHELMAY O'NEILL's DEMAND. 67
halfe of Clandeboie next adioyning to Knockfergus and the said Castle, the w"^^ I the rather most humblie crave in respect that I depend onely upon Hs (Highness), and therefore do desire to he so much the more nearer unto the subjection of her Ma*^ Lawes and forces the w'^^ thorough my dutifull behavio^' I trust the same shalbe alwaies my comfort, relief, and strength : Secondly, my humble sute is if it shall fall out to be warres, the iv'^^ I greatly suspect wilbe, having manie strong reasons in my owne Knovi^ledge to expect no lesse in- tended by the Eebells, that then it will please yo^' L. to graunt me paie for XXV horse and some pecon for myself, and that the ward of Bellfast maie aide and defend myne and my followers goods, as occasion shall serve in time of neede, and with the helpe of Almightie God and her Hs forces I shall do her Ma^ie better service in this warre than yet hath been done in Clandeboie this XX yeares." ^
The person meant by " Tlierle" seems to have been Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. The governor of Carrickfergus still held command over the Castle, but knew not how to settle for the best between the disputations relatives, one of whom — who writes with as much indifference of "the Eebells" as an English captain — -if his protestations were to be relied on, and his requests granted, would lend his assistance to the Queen '^should it fall out to be war, which he greatly suspected," or more probably, very well knew. The Clannaboye O'Neills had after this correspondence, contests with the English for possession of Belfast, one of which, in June, 1597, when the war with "the arch traitor," as the Earl of Tyrone was called, was in full progress, is so remarkable as to deserve a special recital.
" Sir John Chichester was younger brother of that renowned soldier and statesman, Sir Arthur Chichester. At what period Sir John first served in Ireland I have been unable to ascertain, but he was knighted by Lord Deputy Sir William Eussel in 1594, and Sir Ralph Lane, the Irish Muster Master-General, in a letter to Lord High Treasurer Burghley, in September, 1595, writes : — ' I canne not omytte to certefye yo'" Ip our Sergeant
^ Original MS. Letter, State Papers, Ireland, 28th July, 1596. These two letters are not given here in full ; the above are extracts relating directly to Belfast and the general situation.
68 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
Maior, Capt^ John Chychester, hath carryde himselfe in all services with siugulare comendacion.' In the latter part of June, 1597, Sir John was appointed governor of Carrickfergus. It was a most critical period. Tyrone w^as in the height of his
power ... all the North was in rebellion Not
only the exigency of the time, but the actual state of the garrison of so important a stronghold as Carrickfergus, required a superior and energetic officer. For several months previous to Sir John's appointment, a serious quarrel had existed between Charles Eggerton, constable of Carrickfergus, who had held the post with credit for several years, and Captain Eice Mansell, the
Sergeant-Major of the garrison While these
dissensions reigned within, the enemy prevailed without, and Belfast Castle — at that time, however, a comparatively unim- portant post — fell into the hands of Shane M'Bryan.^ If the quarrel between Eggerton and Mansell caused the loss of Belfast Castle, it also lets us know how the event occurred ; for the wife of Eggerton, being in London soliciting the Queen's interference in her husband's favour, received a letter from one Anthony Dearinge, dated Dublin, 27th June, 1597, which thus rehites the capture of it : —
' One ensigiie Pullen had the gyfte of Belfast Castell, wlioe in cullor of this charge, robbed the people, and took their gudes round aboute him, to mayntayne his drunkeunesse. And being druncke from his chardge at Knockfergus, and a carswose sent hym by Shane M 'Bryan- — -to loke to his chardges wolde not forsake his wyne poots to serve her ma'^y : but lyinge still at Knockfergus drinkinge, his owne man, named John Aloylon, gave the Castell of Belfaste to the enemye the XVIII daie June. And all the Inglishe men in the ward were hanged, and their throats cutt, and their bowells cutt oute of thor bellyes by Shane M'Bryan. And this castell was, by meanes of Capt^ Thornton, with her mati^^^ shipp and soldiers taken the next daie. And nowe our newe comanders, by meanes of their prayeing the counterie have putt all in rebellion in such sorte that they are cept
^ Tliis was the eldest son of Sir Brian M'Phelim O'Neill, and if he were the "modest" man, as described in Sir John Ferret's day, his immediate action in Belfast Castle hardly bore out the title.
DESCRIPTION AND RECAPTURE OF BELFAST CASTLE. 69
in on everie side, and Shane M'Biyan, and Bryan M'Cartt, and the Slogh M'Connels camp at Carmouye in the teeth of our garrisons.' "
Sach was the state of affairs when Sir John Chichester assumed the government of Carrickfergus ; but, by a letter to Burghley, giving an account of his stewardship, little more than two months afterwards, we learn how soon, with the courage and energy of his name and race, he set about retrieving the dis- astrous consequences of his predecessor's misconduct. Though Dearinge states that Belfast Castle was retaken by the English " the next dale," yet in all probability they had not occupied it, for Sir John writes that he found it in the enemy's possession, and thus relates how he captured it : —
"Being. a place which standeth 8 miles from Kerogfergus, and on the river, wher the sea ebbes and flowes, so that botes may be landed within a butte shotte of the said Castell, for the recovery whereof I made choice that it should be one of my first workes. And on the XI daie of Julie following attempted the same with some 100 men, which I transported thether in botes by sea, and indeed our coming was so unlocked for by them as it asked us no long time before we tooke the place without anie losse to us, and put those wee founde in yt to the sworde."
The letter proceeds to describe two other successful encounters he had with the enemy, one of which was the capture and burning of the Castle of Edenduffcarrick, and then relates —
" Theis services I presume touched them so nearly as that since, Shane M'Bryan, TSTeale M'Hugh, Neale M'Brian Fertaugh, which are lordes of both the Clandeboyes, with their followers are come in, and have repaired with me to Dublin, ther submittinge themselves to her Maty an(i jjj^e State, being contented to put in as pledges, for their future loyaulties, the two sonnes of the said Shane M'Bryan, and one of every Sept of the contre besides, which I trust yor Ip shall find to be a perfect freeing of these partes."
Sir John Chichester was himself killed in the November of the same year, in a conflict with Sir James Macdonnell near Carrickfergus.^
1 The account of the taking and retaking of Belfast Castle, and its results, will be found in an article in the Ulster Journal of Archceology, vol. v., pp. 188-
70 HISTOEY OF BELFAST.
The position of the English in Ulster was now trnly peri- lous, and it, as well as the other provinces in Ireland, is described in a lengthened Eeport submitted to the Council and debated on in November, 1597, the part in which Belfast and the vicinity generally are introduced being as follows : —
" All the ]ato rebellions in Ireland liave had their beginnings in Ulster . . . and we have now to report that there is no part freed from the poison of this great rebellion, and no country or the chieftain of a country, being Irish, whom the capital traitor Tyrone hath not corrupted, and drawn into combination with him, so that from sea to sea beyond Duudalk, namely from Karrickfargus in Clandeboye to Ballishannon in Tyrconnell there is no part that standetli f(3r her Majesty except Karrickfargus, the ISTewrie, the fort of Blackwater, and the Cavan in the Breny, which are held with strong and^ chargeable garrisons to her Majesty ; besides three or four petty castles in Clan- deboyes and Lecall, namely, Belfast, Edendoghe Carricke, Olderfleet, and Dondrum, all which are maintained by wards. In Clandeboye two of the petty lords Shane M'Bryan, and Neale Oge M'Hugh MTeo- lem of the house of the O'^eales made their submission, and are now returned into tlieir countries pardoned, but they are not likely to stand fast longer than will serve their turn."
This affords sufficient proof that in November, 1597, the Castle, of Belfast was a Government possession, and of the opinion held of the fidelity of the O'JSTeills. If the account bs true of the cruelty practised on the occasion of its capt^ire a few months pre- viously as related, it was possibly a revengeful proceeding by Shane M'Bryan for tlie alleged outrages on his father, his friends, and relatives twenty-three years before by the Earl of Essex in the same castle. The Government at Dublin, in sending Shane home again, " pardoned," as the official document relates, treated him with a forbearance — from some motive, if they were aware of his conduct when, by his stratagem, he got into the Castle and slaughtered its defenders — which their predecessors did not ex- tend to Sir Brian, his father, for at least more doubtful crimes.
209. This paper, entitled the " Overthrow of Sir John Chichester," was written by Mr. Piakerton, and in his ver}' best manner. It is veiy long, but never fails to keep up its interest. Nothing is extracted from it but the very small portion bearing directly on the object of this work.
ROBERT, EARL OF ESSEX, IN ULSTER. 71
The public and private documents concur very nearly in their relation of the events. Sir John Chichester's conduct was no better than that of Shane MacBrian. The Clannaboye O'Neills joined with the Earl of Tyrone ; they appear in the abortive treaties entered into for the establishmeut of peace, and they were of sufficient importance to be named as accompanying the Earl to his meetings with the English Commissioners near Dundalk for that purpose. Their leanings were always with their country- men, when auy prospect of success appeared, but the strong fortress of Carrickfergus in the very heart of their country, autl the isolated nature of that country itself, restrained their inclina- tions and kept them in reluctant subjection.
The war still continued, and in favour of the Earl of Tyrone. The Queen in 1598, almost in consternation, writes to the Lords Justices, the Lord Deputy, and Council —
''Although we have forborne to write many letters to you since these late dangerous alterations in Ireland we have sent over great supplies to our excessive charge ; yet we receive naught else but news of fresh losses and calamities. Although you have the great number of 9000 men we do not only see the northern traitor untouched at home, and range where else he pleased, but the provincial rebels in every province, by such as he can spare, enabled to give law to our provincial governors." ^
To stay this "rabble of base kerne," as she very erroneously styles her Irish enemies, she sent over the next year, with ample powers, Eobert Devereux, Earl of Essex, the son of him who in past times had made himself so conspicuous in Ulster, declaring that she had committed to his charge " a royal army, paid, fur- nished, and provided in other sort than any king of this laud hath done before." ^ Minute instructions are given as to his course of procedure, and in a paper, endorsed — " A general computation of the Irish forces in rebellion when the Earl of Essex arrived in Ireland, April, 1599," a review is given of the country, and the strength of the foes whom he was to meet ; and in the precise list which follows of the names of those in re-
1 SLate Papers, Carew, 1589-1600, p. 284. "~ Ibid., 1589-1600, p. 293.
72 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
bellioii,! that of "Xeal M'BriaiiFertaghe, Lord of the Upper Cian- debouys, with a force of 80 foot and 50 horse," occurs as the very first. Shane MacBrian, to whom, in his relation to Belfast, more interest is naturally attached, is absent from the roll of rebels — perhaps still remembering with dread his constrained journey to Dublin, two years before, in the train of Sir John Chichester. He was now on the English side. There are, however, in the list several breaks or names obscurely expressed, some one of which may disguise that of Shane M'Brian.^ It is certain, at the same time, that the Queen did not mention to Essex that he might pass the lands of the Clannaboye O'lSTeills to otliers, as she did in the case of five persons considered the capital traitors, so that they must still have been looked on with some degree of favour.
Tiie Castle of Belfast was in the hands of the English, shel- tered by Carrickfergus, and a mere dependency on it.^ It has been described at this period as owned by Sir Ealph Lane. This is in a degree correct. He held it in custodiam, that is, in his. .charge or custody, as a kind of tenant at will, to surrender his trust when a more important owner received the grant by a certain tenure. He was one of the most active and extraordinary charac- ters of this enterprising age. His ostensible occupation was that of Muster Master-General, but nothing connected with the affairs
1 state Pcvpers, Carew, 1589-1600, p. 299.
" There is after all little doubt that this was the fact, as in another list of the force under the Earl of Tyrone, some short time previouslj' — namely, in Decem- ber, 1598 — the two Clannaboyes mustered 120 horse and 300 foot, under the command of Shane M'Brian, Neale M'Hugh, Neale M'Brian Erto, and Owen M 'Hughe ; who were all the representatives and chiefs of the Clannaboye O'Neills.
^ That this is so is proved by a letter, June 14th, 1598, from James Byrt to Sec. Fenton, wherein he says, "Tliis toun (Carrickfergus) is besieged b)'' 800 Scots, and Belfast is in danger;" and declaring, in continuation, that "The enemi hath ever since they weare heere layd hard seage to Belfast, and Capten Atherton is in this towne making merry w^l^ pte off his men, so that we doe greatly dowt that place will miscarry." (.S'. P., Ireland, July 7, 1598.) This was certainly a loose way of carrying on war, and Captain Atherton's desertion of his post, if true (though the information was possibly the result of jcalousj' or per- sonal animosity), may have led to another temporary change of the ownership of the Castle.
SIR EALPH LANE. 73
of the country escaped his observation, and there was scarcely any office, however elevated or obscure, which did not come within the range of his desires. He sat at the Council Board with the greatest personages in the kingdom ; he accompanied the Lord Deputy in his expeditions through the country ; he projected the building of towns and castles, made extensive plans for the reformation of this distracted kingdom ; but he also con- descended to ask for tlie office of chief bell-ringer of it, paying a red rose by way of rent, and for the surveyorship of the parish clerks of Ireland ; and he obtained both. He was ambitious to acquire the government of some important place, and had applied for that of Carrickfergus, after the death of Sir John Chichester. Even a custodiam grant would satisfy him, not knowing what possibly might arise out of it when war ceased. His wishes with respect to his general claim were gratified, and he received, under the limited form specified, the Castle of Belfast in 1598. The interest of Shane M'Brian was here diminished ; it had, it may be supposed, entirely ceased, or was not recognised when this grant was made to Lane. What benefit the latter derived from it is not known, nor whether he ever even appeared around the old walls. His duties may have called him into the neighbour- hood, but real possession and benefit would have needed peace and a more vigorous hand.
The entire failure of this second Earl of Essex in Ulster, and his own fatal end, are known to all. He had appointed Sir Arthur Chichester Governor of Carrickfergus and the two Clan- naboyes, in April, 1599, and to none better fitted for it could the important charge have been entrusted. Lord Mountjoy, who succeeded in breaking the power of the Earl of Tyrone, had in Sir Arthur an able coadjutor, the object and duty of the latter being to meet or hem in O'Neill from the County Antrim, and to reach him by the waters of Lough Neagh. Notices in abundance of the war of the Earl of Tyrone are in- the Calendars of State Papers, some of which were written by Sir Arthur Chichester himself. Belfast, only in the indirect manner already related, had but little participation in it, being in a manner guarded by
V4 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
its situation, except from casual local struggles. The Earl of Tyrone intrigued with those of his name who owned it or claimed it, but there is no account that when he broke out in open rebellion he ever trusted himself within it, though in other years the locality was familiar to him. His downfall and the death of Elizabeth were nearly coincident. His great opponent Sir Arthur Chichester, whose history now opens, was favourably known to the Queen a short time before her deatli, and his merit and talents fully appreciated. A letter from Cecil to Lord Mountjoy, 19th October, 1601,^ hints in no very unmistakable terms at the propriety of appointing him governor of the entire province of Ulster — a scheme, he says, " whereto I find her Majesty suf- ficiently inclinable and especially in liking with Sir Arthur Chichester." The future Lord Deputy's proceedings at this the origination of his great career were not always favourably received, as in the same long letter which suggests tlie propriety of his ap- pointment to the office of sole governor of Ulster the following words of more local interest also occur: —
" Sir Arthur Chichester likewise hath been overtaken, not sticking to take in one Con O'Neale, that was but son to a father living in the Ardes, and yet Sir Arthur stooke not to give him 20s a day sterling, for which favour he so well requited him as he betrayed all the trust that was committed to him ; and now tliat Sir Arthur hath recovered him again he makes dainty to hang him before lie hath your lordship's warrant."
Con CiSTeill is elsewhere described as the Queen's pensioner, and if he received payment in reward of liis fealty and submis- sion, and was yet disaftected or not loyal, " betraying all the trust that was committed to him," his conduct deserves the highest condemnation, while Chichester is blamed for his clemency in this instance, a quality for the possession of which he has got no credit from recent writers. Con CNeill's position in 1601 is distinct enough. He lived at Castlereagh, and if he had been wise and prudent might have continued to live there, and trans- mitted his estates to his descendants. The County Antrim O'Neills also retained, as has been related, much of the inherit-
1 State Pajicrs, 1601-1603, p. 153.
CON O'NEILL OF CASTLEREAGH. 75
ance of their fathers in a disputed sort of way, while the Castle of Belfast, to which both branches probably laid claim — Con's right in the eyes of his friends and countrymen being, it is likely, thought the better, as he is actually called at this time Con of Belfast — was in actual possession of the Government, and Ealph Lane still its owner in citstodiam. ^
While Con O'JSTeill thus resided at Castlereagh, events con- nected with liim and Belfast are related which cannot but awaken curiosity, as seemingly contradictory to the evidence that the town entirely dates its existence from the time of its possession by Sir Arthur Chichester. The matter referred to ^ is the well- known narrative that O'Neill, having " a grand debauch " at Castlereagh with his friends and retainers, probably not an un- frequent occurrence, sent his men to Belfast with " runlets " to purchase wine there ; but the soldiers in the town attacked, beat, and abused them, and, worst of all, took possession of the wine. This so enraged Con that he ordered them to return to the town to revenge this great affront. They did so, and in the scuffle a soldier was killed, and several of the combatants on both sides wounded. O'Neill was in consequence declared guilty of levy- ing war against the State, and imprisoned like a common felon in Carrickfergus.
This melancholy downfall from the days when his forefathers contended with the Lord Deputy or others of high station, ultimately sealed his fate as possessor of Southern Clannaboye. The story is familiar to most readers — how James Hamilton united with Montgomery to save him from possible death and utter worldly ruin, by rescuing him from prison, by guaranteeing
^ Mr. Pinkerton has stated tliat no custodiam grant was ever made to Lane, and that the introduction of his name was only a legal subterfuge by Chichester to rebut or complicate the claims, made at an after-time, of Thomas Smith's heirs. This is in a private letter, in which it is said to be but a surmise ; no proof is offered in support of it. On the contrary, Lane's ownership of the Castle in cus- todiam, is referred to in official papers, leaving no room to doubt its accuracy in a general sense, though certainly no act of ownership or any interference by him with the place is anywhere mentioned.
^ For this curious narrative at full length, and its results on Con O'Neill's fortunes, see the Montgomery Manuscripts, edited by Mr. Hill, p. 21.
76 HISTOKY OF BELFAST.
to him a portion of his estates in consequence of his favour with the new monarch, provided that Con would relinquish the lion's share ; how these proposals were agreed to, leading to the introduction into the country of great undertakers and pro- prietors, and a multitudinous Scottish population.
These events, similar to many others with which Ireland was familiar, are not historically of so much importance as some questions wdiich the story naturally suggests bearing on the embryo town.
In what state was Belfast in 1603, the era of this event ? It may reasonably be argued that if wine could be purchased in it, why not other commodities also ? The entire would lead to the inference that a place of trade existed in the locality long before it was incorporated, and that a community, not without order and internal government, had made a footing on the margin of the Farset in those days. Any direct proof of such cannot be obtained, and seeing the entire insignificance of the place when Chichester began to make the town, it must be deemed a subject deserving locally of the strictest investigation. It might have been that some adventurous speculator had established at the little creek, not a dry-goods store only, but one in which generous wine was procurable ; and the warlike movements of the preceding years might have made such, in this comparatively quiet corner of the country, a hopeful enterprise.
The narrative also proves that a military garrison occupied the Castle, between whom and the followers and dependants of O'Neill, on Castlereagh Hill above them, a smothered ani- mosity existed, of which this affray is direct proof. Sir Arthur Chichester was in Carrickfergus ; the small garrison of Belfast was under his control ; he knew the ground, and the time was at hand which was to usher in his permanent possession of it.
Con O'Xeill, however, was still in Castlereagh in 1608, and though he could not escape from the grasp of the Hamiltons, Montgomerys, and others who finally swallowed him up, his eldest son Daniel was a distinguished person. He was a soldier and a scholar, always attached to the royal house, married an
DANIEL ONEILL, SON OF CON. 77
English countess, held several offices under the Crown, and Charles the Second, writing of him at his death, says, " He was as honest a man as ever lived." Laud wrote of him to Strafibrd, telling his history very fairly, and said the estates which he had lost were then worth £12,000 a year. Daniel O'Neill afterwards endeavoured to regain these great estates, but was unsuccessful. His brother was killed in the civil wars ; he himself died child- less in 1663, and this branch of the O'Neills, so important, so connected with Belfast, lost, with their estates, all historical importance.
78 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
CHAPTER V.
GENERAL HISTORY. — CONTINUED.
THE uameof Chichester becomes closely counected with Bel- fast from the beginuing of the reign of James the First. The Patent to Sir Arthur, dated 5th November, 16U3, grants to him " The Castle of Bealfaste or Belfast, with the Appurtenants and Hereditaments, Spiritual and Temporal, situate in the Lower Clandeboye, late in the possession or custody of Sir Pialph Lane Ivnt., deceased, dated 6th June, 40th Elizabeth." The Patent goes on to narrate at length the different denominations included in the grant, with a general description of its bounds and mearings.
This grant was not well settled till explanations and difficulties arose. The King wrote to the Earl of Devonshire, Lieutenant of Ireland, and, in his absence, to Sir George Carey, Deputy there, explaining his letter of 8th August, stating that his intention was to invest Sir Arthur as well with the government of Knock- fergus, and of all other forts and commands, with the Lough Neagh, and the fee of 13s. 4d. per day for life ; but that there is granted also to him and his heirs for ever, " the Castle of Belfast, the Fall, Mylone, Sinament, and the Fishery of the Lagan, to be holden as of our Castle of Knockfergus in free and common soc- cage." Chichester, at the date of this grant, placed a value on Bel- fast and the lands around which may well surprise those who have known them only in the days of their greatness. In a letter to Cecil he says the entire grant is only worth £5 in fee simple. His words are without precision.^ But this low estimate, if meaning
1 The exact words used by Chichester -when giving expression to this most re- markahle statement, which, when lool^ing at Belfast now, is worthy of perpetual remembrance, are —
"I am lykewise an humble sutorthat wheras the letters w^'li the Kinge wrote
SIR ARTHUR CHICHESTER. 79
£5 per anuum only, even with every allowance that can be made on the score of imperfect description, and possibly some insin- cerity on the part of Sir Arthur, is evidence that the gift of what is now a principality was not then, in the recipient's eyes, of great munificence. It could have gone but a short way in sup- porting the magnificence in which he loved to indulge. He was now the most prominent man in Ireland, and for several years the history, not alone of Belfast, but of the entire kingdom, is identified with his name.
Tlie next year (1604) he was chosen Lord Justice of Ireland in the absence of the Lieutenant. He seemed to be unwilling to accept this office, whereupon the King said that, " though the reasons given for his reluctance might evince his modesty, they were no grounds why he should forbear to impose on him to undertake the service laid upon him." To settle this embarrass- ment, lie was appointed Lord Deputy, 15th October, 1604, and commanded to accept the same, though Mountjoy, now Earl of Devonshire, but resident in England, was yet Lieutenant. Seeing the high office to which he was now chosen, it will be readily understood there can be no intention to follow him far beyond the bounds of Belfast, to recount the great events of his career, his proceedings of state and ceremony in Dublin, his various progresses through the kingdom, and his personal and political actions. Such might suitably be introduced from his ownership of Belfast, from being the first and greatest of his name, and from his own special distinction ; but brief and occasional notices only must serve the present ends.
The army was reduced. Captain Phillips, in returning thanks to the Lord Deputy that his company was one which stood, in- forms him that, as directed, he "had caused most part of the
heather in my behoufe tuchinge a Pattent for the Government of Knockfergus and landes of Belfaste are by the learned Counsell founde defective your lordshipe wyll be pleased to be the meanes that some other to better purpose may be Signed by his maiestie ; and albeyt when I liave it att best perfection I wyll gladly sell the whole landes for the wch others sell, five poundes in fee simple in these partes of the Kyngdome ; yet I must acknowledg my selfe much bound to your lordshipe for procuringe the same for mee."
80 HISTOKY OF BELFAST.
county to assemble, and interpreted the Proclamation into Irish ;" leading to the inference that Irish was the common language in a country in which it is now entirely unknown. The general poverty is almost incredible, Sir Arthur himself, in reporting the capture of a notorious murderer and confirmed malefactor, saying that, in order to reward such as deserved best in this service, he is "driven to borrow £20 to be distributed among them, tliere not being so much money in the Treasury nor in the Exchequer." It is no wonder a firm and cautious hand was required. The Lord Deputy's private affairs, wliich more interest us, must also have given him great uneasiness. In a letter to the Earl of Salisbury, June 19th, 1605, after complaining of the want of funds for public and private purposes, he proceeds to say—
" The King's grants daily increase. There is come hither one ]\[r. James Hamilton, with two letters from the King. ... If copies of those letters be called for, the grants will be fomid to be extraordi- nary. When he (Chichester) was in England, it pleased the Iving to bestow on him the Castle of Belfast, and lands adjoining. He has passed it twice, and as yet he understands by this gentleman, who, it seems, has sought all the Eecords there, some question may be made thereto by reason of some grants made long since to Sir Thomas Smith ; for albeit that deed be of no force, yet not being so found void in the office, as the records of those deeds were not in the kingdom, he (Chichester) is subject to danger. He therefore prays that one letter more may be granted to him for repassing the same."
Chichester expresses liimself mildly and reasonably respect- ing the supposed flaws in his title, and the confusion possibly consequent on some want of precision in legal or topographical nomenclature. Indeed the disputes, or perhaps, it should be said, the unsettled or varying rights of the O'Neills, would ap- pear to have descended to their successors. Hamilton must have raised or acc^uired some claim to Belfast, as he was the first to establish fairs and markets at the place so early as Eebruary, 1605, and there is very considerable difficulty in disentangling the counter relations, arising from the absence of fixed descriptive particulars in the several grants.
SIR ARTHUR CHrCHESTER WISHES TO RESIGN. 81
This misunderstanding or difficulty is further brought to light by the fact, that when an arrangement was in progress about the boundaries and divisions of the County of Antrim, and when North Clannaboye was divided into portions, some of which were given to " the O'lSTeills, and other ancient gentlemen and inhabi- tants," . . . "but reservingthe remainder towards Carrickfergus, not formerly given by his Majesty, to be passed to Englisli and Scottish men by Mr. Hamilton in freehold, reserving a rent," and for this end it is declared they must make use of Mr. Hamilton's grants with his assent. This would argue that the same places had been granted or promised to two different individuals, or at least that Sir Arthur was not settled in the quiet or undisputed possession of his estates in the County of Antrim. He may not have got even his £5 per annum for these two or three years of uncertainty, and took little or no interest as yet in Belfast. But it was not so in his public relations, in which he exhibited great activity and judgment, remarking, with truth, that " he verily be- lieves that the King shall more confirm and strengthen his estate, and leave a more honourable memory behind him, by reforming and civilising Ireland, than in regaining France."
The Earl of Devonshire, the Lord Lieutenant — the Mountjoy of the past— died in 1606, on which occasion, April 25th, Sir Arthur Chichester wrote to the Earl of Salisbury, saying, " lie foresees that upon this accident there will be some alteration in the form of this Kingdom's Government, and Salisbury will do him an exceeding favour by reducing him to a private man so it stand with the King's good allowance. He is fitted to do his Majesty service in some meaner office, and in this place his labours are not seen, nor can they bring forth that fruit which is expected. Besides, his fortunes are poor, not having a foot of land or inheritance but such as his Majesty gave him in the North, of which he makes small benefit, and his expenses last year greatly exceeded his income." ^ With characteristic fore-
^ He had received, when first appointed Lord Deputy in 1604, £10C0 yearly ; £500 as a gift for an outfit, and some fees and entertainments attached to his oiiice.
G
82 HISTOEY OF BELFAST.
sight, however, he had not forgotten, early in the same year, to interest the Earl of Devonshire in his affairs, by asking him to use his influence " to obtain for him in fee farm certain lands which he now only holds from the King by Lease." He does not mention what or where those lands were, but doubtless some of those in the North of Ireland, which he had acquired, and which he yet held by a tenure not altogether to his satisfaction.^ But he could not be relieved from the office which, perhaps insincerely, he desired to resign. His talent, and his hoped-for success in great undertakings now meditated, were too favourably looked on in England to justify such a procedure. He was fixed in the appointment, and continued in it for many subsequent years — certainly, at first at least, to the disadvantage of Belfast, inas- much as his personal superintendence was necessarily withdrawn from this part of the country ; and its state, in this period of its transition from the O'Neills to Chichester, could scarcely have been very progressive. The general condition is manifested in observations made by Sir John Davies, Attorney-General of Ireland, after a journey taken by him into Munster, which he describes as beyond comparison better inhabited and cultivated than the Northern province, and containing three ancient and well-built cities, besides many corporate towns, not inferior to the better class of the same in England; "whereas Ulster is a very desert or wilderness, the inhabitants thereof having for the most part no certain habitation in any towns or villages ; only upon the east sea coast there are three or four poor towns in- habited— as IvROckfergus, Carlingford, the Newrie, and Dundalk. . . . . Ulster hath been ever such an outlaw as the King's writ did never run there until within these few years it was cut into several counties by Sir John Perrot ; and yet the laws of England were never given in charge to the greatest part of the people, neither did any Judge of Assize ever visit that province before the beginning of his Majesty's reign."
^ It is somewhere said, tliough I cannot now lay my hand on the authority, that Sir Arthur Chichester first held Belfast iu custodiam. If so, it could have been but temporary.
SIK AETHUR DISTURBED BY THE CLAIMS OF SMITH. 83
It is evident that Sir John Davies could not have used the language here quoted if Belfast had been a known place. He may have heard it named by his friend Sir Arthur, as a ruined castle, and a few inconsiderable buildings on which scarcely any value was placed, but it is quite likely that he never saw it, or that the description of it offered any inducement for him to do so. These observations are introduced on the principle that an idea may be formed of a place from the absence of any notice of it, as well as from an imperfect account. Still it would have been beyond calculation satisfactory if Sir John had found his way to Belfast and given a description of it, however brief.
Sir Arthur Chichester, and the others who had got possession of much of the territories of the O'lSTeills, had been frequently troubled by the claims of the descendants of Sir Thomas Smith, under Queen Elizabeth's grant. In 1607 this claim was renewed, and Smith's visionary pretensions finally settled.^ Sir Arthur wrote to the Earl of Sahsbury, thanking him " for the favour shown to him and others in stopping a suit lately preferred by Sir William Smith, for reviving a title which he pretends to certain lands within the Counties of Down and Antrim, which otherwise would have drawn them to great travail and expense, whereby the country would have remained waste, and he him- self would be no way benefited." In those years (1606-7) the State Papers are most copious and interesting in their revelations of the important events in which he took part. Frequent men- tion is made of journeys to the North, but no notice is taken of Belfast, which was too much out of the way to obtain even a passing observation. In one of the usual accounts of the State of Ulster, in which several places and persons are described, Sir Arthur merely says that he himself has Carrickfergus ; and that within his government is comprehended the County of Antrim, as well as part of the County of Down; and that in his necessary absence from it Sir Foulke Conway is Lieutenant-Governor in his room. He must, however, like meaner men, have indulged
^ For full particulars of the claim raised by Smith in 1607, and its ending, see Appendix No. 2.
84 HISTORY OF BELFAST.
in hopes of repose and a peaceful retirement when " in the sere and yellow leaf." He wrote to the Earl of Salisbury in January, 1607, notifying the death of Mr. Humpstoune, Bishop of Down and Connor, and then says, " I am particularly tied to have a careful regard to the choice of a good and sufficient man for that see, as it hath jDleased the King to bestow on me the government of Knockfergus during my life, and as my small por- tion of land lies within that diocese, whereby I am like to spend the most part of my time there, when discharged from the place I now hold." ^
Belfast continues unnoticed. When renewed wars were antici- pated, a paper was drawn up containing the " Points for the con- sideration of the Lords of the Council," which represents the necessity of fortifying Carrickfergus ; " for if the small forts be gotten from us, which they cannot warrant against a foreign enemy, although with small supplies defensible enough against the Irish, there will be no place in Ulster to give opposition but this town." The small forts, of which it may be supposed Belfast was one, could serve no effectual purpose in a warlike sense. Yet if one of the number, valued so lightly, it had perhaps some favourable features in its character, as at the instance ot James Hamilton it was mentioned in 1607 as a place suitable for a Charter of Incorporation, six years before that dignity was con- ferred upon it. The great event which threw all others into shade — the Flight of the Earls — took place in September, 1607, and hastened the still greater event — the Plantation of the for- feited counties of Ulster. Immediately after the Flight, the surveys and distributing of the estates of the fugitives commenced — " a greater extent of land," says Sir John Davies, "than any prince in Europe has to dispose of" Sir Arthur Chichester was acknow- ledged to be the only man suited to guide this social revolution. He was acquainted, he says in one of his letters, with all parts of
1 In reeomnieiiding Dr. Todd for the appointment of Bishop, he describes him as competent to assist in the Civil Law, and active to go about in the discharge of his ecclesiastical duties "in those remote places." He also recommends Dromore to be added to Dr. Todd's expected preferment, as being worth only £20 a j^ear, Dowji and Connor but £120.
THE PLANTATION COMMISSIONERS, 85
Ulster; in another to the King in 1610, he declares "that he would rather labour with his hands in the Plantation of Ulster than dance or play in that of Virginia." But the copious Calendars already published illustrate at length the proceedings of the Lord Deputy, and further reference to them would be but trans- gressing limits, which must keep within the little Plantations in and around Belfast. The year before the Flight, Sir Arthur had already leased to "Moyses Hill," for 61 years, a great number of the townlands near Belfast, chiefly in Malone and the Palls, for the rent of £10 a year. A short detail of this lease to Moses Hill, also of those wliicli were given to several others by the Lord Deputy, and the true origin, at the same time, of the modern town of Belfast, are recounted in the ensuing extract from the Eeport of the Plantation Commissioners.
" A Eeporte of the voluntary worke done by Servito'"*^