Charles I. appointed him President of Munster, but in 1646 Lord Broghill, afterwards Earl of Orrery, took the castle of Blarney and made it his headquarters. Lord Muskerry was the last Royalist in Ireland to lay down arms, and he was tried for his life by Ludlow and others. He was permitted to pass to Spain, while his wife was allowed to receive his income from the estate, except £1,000 a year granted to Lord Broghill for his services (1656).
Two years later Lord Muskerry was recalled, after the Restoration, and created Viscount Muskerry and Earl of Clancarty. His property was given back to him, except the portion allowed to Lord Broghill, who was now a supporter of the King.
When James landed at Kinsale, Blarney Castle was used as one of the prisons for the Protestants of Cork, the fourth Earl of Clancarty being one of the King’s chief supporters.
Upon the succession of King William the Clancarty estate, worth about £150,000, was confiscated and sold, a pension of £300 being allowed to the Earl, who died at Hamburg, 1734.
The Rev. Dean Davies, of Cork, was tenant of the castle for some years after the Hollow-Sword-Blade Company of London bought it. Upon leaving he took away many of the oak beams of the castle for his new residence at Dawstown.
Chief Justice Pyne then purchased it, and held it for a short time, but in 1703 Sir James Jeffreys bought the castle and lands, and from him the present owner, Sir George Colthurst, is descended.
There is in the possession of The O’Donovan, at Liss Ard, Skibbereen, a dadagh, or Irish skean, with which an O’Donovan killed M‘Carty Reagh about the middle of the sixteenth century. The dispute arose about some plundered cattle which M‘Carty wished to drive into the bawn of Blarney without division. Being opposed by O’Donovan, he attacked him and threw him down, but O’Donovan, although on the ground, snatched the dadagh from him, and slew him with his own weapon.
About a quarter of a mile south-west of the castle, in the park is the lake, where it is supposed the plate chest of the last Earl of Clancarty was thrown before the castle was surrendered to William’s forces, and a legend says that the Earl rises from the lake every seven years, and walks two or three miles in the hope that some one will speak to him, so that he may tell them where it lies. Another version says that as soon as the estate is restored to the MacCartys the chest will be discovered. A little silver ring has been found in the lake.
| Authorities Consulted. |
| Calendar of State Papers. |
| Carew MSS. |
| Parliamentary Gazetteer. |
| Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.” |
| Croker, “Fairy Legends,” and “Researches in the South of Ireland.” |
| Savage, “Picturesque Ireland.” |
| Windele, “Notices of the City of Cork and Vicinity.” |
| Smith, “History of Cork.” |
| C. C. Woods, “Blarney Castle” (Journal of the Cork Archæological Society). |
| Proceedings of Archæological Association of Ireland. |