The fortress was not taken, and Lord Burke persuaded MacConmara to raise the siege.
At this time Maurice de Rochford was custodian.
The Earl of Ulster marched into Clare with a great army in 1311 to besiege Bunratty. Richard de Clare sallied out to meet him on the hill behind the fortress, but was obliged to retreat. William de Burgo, pressing too far in pursuit, was taken prisoner, as well as John, son of Walter de Lacy.
In 1313, de Clare was about to hang O’Brien’s son, who was hostage for the tribe of Coileau, but his wife, with the clergy and nobility, interceded for him.
De Clare and his son Thomas were killed in 1318 in the battle of Dysert O’Dea, and upon his wife, Lady Johan de Clare, hearing of the disaster, she set fire to the castle and sailed for England.
The following year it was spoiled by King Mortogh.
It was immediately repaired, and the Government assigned it to Matilda, wife of Robert de Wills, and Margaret, wife of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, sisters to Richard de Clare, and appointed Robert Sutton constable.
In 1326 it was held for the Crown by James de bello Fago, and in 1332 it was besieged and taken by the Macnamaras.
There is an order dated 1356 to liberate Thomas, the son of John FitzMaurice, who had been imprisoned as accessory to the loss of the castle.
The Lord Deputy recovered the fortress in 1558 by firing across the river until the garrison of Donnell O’Brien surrendered it.