On the mainland opposite the stronghold are the remains of earthworks which would seem to have been formed by some attacking party possessing military skill. On a hill above this is situated the ancient “cattle-booley” of the MacClancy clan. It is a circular enclosure of earth, faced with stone, and is about 220 feet in circumference.
The ruins of a church are also on the mainland, within hailing distance of the castle.
The Four Masters record a night attack made by the O’Rourks in 1421, by which they took MacClancy Oge prisoner, and became possessed of “Lough Melvin and its castle.” The attack, however, is said to have been made on the island of Inisheen, in consequence of the guards of the lake giving up the boats to the attackers. It was on this island the MacClancy’s wooden crannog was situated, and its plundering again in 1455 by Maguire is recorded.
In 1588 three ships belonging to the Spanish Armada were wrecked on Streedagh Strand.
In one of these was Captain Cuellar, whose graphic narrative of his adventures in Ireland, when he had escaped with his life from the sea, have been published of recent years.
After various wanderings, sufferings and ill-treatment in the neighbourhood, he met a priest who directed him, in Latin, to a castle six leagues off. “It was very strong, and belonged to a savage gentleman, a very brave soldier and great enemy of the Oueen of England and of her affairs, a man who had never cared to obey her or pay tribute, attending only to his mountains, which made it strong.”
On the road he fell in with a blacksmith who forced him to work at his forge until the same clergyman, passing that way, promised to ask the chief to send an escort for him.
The following day MacClancy despatched four of his own people and a Spanish soldier to fetch him. He states they were much grieved at his sore state and assisted him in every way, and he adds: “I remained there three months, acting as a real savage like themselves.”
He describes his hostess as “beautiful in the extreme,” and very kind to him. One day while sitting with her and some of her women friends he began to tell their fortunes by palmistry, and “to say to them a hundred thousand absurdities.” Soon this got abroad, with the result that hundreds of people flocked to him to have their hands told. At length he said he would have to leave, and then MacClancy ordered that no one should molest him in future.
While Captain Cuellar was thus spending his time at Lough Melvin, news arrived that the Lord Deputy, Fitzwilliam, had marched from Dublin with a great force, and was hanging all the Spaniards he could find and punishing those who had succoured them.