James II. conferred several honourable appointments on him, nevertheless the “Antrim Association” was formed in the castle upon the beginning of the revolution, and the Viscount’s eldest son, Colonel Clotworthy Skeffyngton, was appointed Commander-in-Chief.
The Jacobite General, Hamilton, pushed on to Antrim after his success at Dromore, and Lord Massereene fled from the castle at his approach. The family plate, valued at £3,000, which was hidden before the family left, was shown to the newcomers by a servant, and was seized by them.
Colonel Gordon O’Neill, son of the great Sir Phelim, occupied the fortress in 1688-89, but Lord Massereene recovered his property when William came to the throne.
His grandson was created an earl in 1756, but this title expired in 1816, when Harriet Viscountess of Massereene succeeded to the estates, and through her they passed to the present Viscount.
The last time that the castle figured in history was during the battle of Antrim in 1798. The yeomanry bravely held the castle gardens against all comers, while the great gun of the mount, “Roaring Tatty,” was drawn from its position and fired on the town. One, Ezekiel Vance, gave the signal to the military outside the town to advance by waving a woman’s red cloak from one of the towers of the fortress.
The present Lord Massereene is the 11th Viscount.
| Authorities Consulted. |
| C. O’Neill, “Antrim Castle.” |
| O’Laverty, “Diocese of Down and Connor.” |
| Smith, “Memoirs of ’98,” in Ulster Journal of Archæology. |
| Parliamentary Gazetteer. |
ARKLOW CASTLE
The town of Arklow is thirty-nine miles and a half south by east of Dublin, in the County Wicklow.