The same year Maguire laid siege to the fortress, it is said, at the instigation of the Earl of Tyrone. The relieving party was defeated, and the Lord Deputy himself set out to the rescue of the garrison.
They had been reduced to eating horseflesh, and had only one more animal when they were relieved. The ward was then reduced from forty to thirty, and the castle victualled for six months, which supply was to be augmented by fishing for eels under the walls.
Shortly after this the bawn was seized and seven warders killed; and in 1595 the whole fortress surrendered. In the State Papers the Lord Deputy declares he cannot understand why this should have been, as the castle was well provisioned. He says that he hears the constable and fifteen warders were promised life and goods, but that when they came out they were all put to death. It does not seem that this report was confirmed.
In 1596-97 the Lord Deputy asks for three falcons with their carriages and ladles, to replace those which Maguire had taken with the castle, and which had belonged to Dublin.
Maguire’s brother held the fortress in 1598.
It was again in English possession in 1607, and Captain William Cole was constable in 1610, when he asked for some land to be allotted to his office. That immediately round the castle was in the hands of Scottish settlers, and there was no demesne land attached to the building.
In 1611 he built “a fair house” on the old site, adding numerous outhouses.
A moat surrounded the bawn, and the river was crossed by a drawbridge. He also erected a wall 26 feet high with flankers and parapet, which still remains.
The castle was granted to Sir William Cole in 1620 on a lease for twenty-one years, and he was responsible for its repair. The Earl of Enniskillen at present represents the family.
Four hundred pounds was granted for State repairs in 1646, some of which had been expended on the castle of Enniskillen.