Carrickfergus in the Seventeenth Century

The extensive privileges enjoyed by the inhabitants of this place, and the protection afforded by new fortifications, soon caused an increase in its population and importance. On the breaking out of the war in 1641, Sir Henry Mac Neill was to have surprised the town, but was defeated by the vigilance of Colonel Arthur Chichester, the governor; and it now became one of the principal places of refuge for the Protestants of the neighbouring counties. In 1642, the town and castle were, according to agreement, delivered up to General Monroe, who, having landed with 2500 Scottish auxiliaries, to carry on the war against the Irish, made this place his head-quarters till 1648, when he was taken by surprise in the castle, and sent prisoner to England by General Monk, who was, by the parliament, appointed governor in his place, and rewarded with a gratuity of £500; and in the year following, the castle, which had been surrendered to the Earl of Inchiquin, was reduced for Cromwell by Sir Charles Coote. In 1666, the garrison mutinied, seized the castle and the town, and acted with such desperate resolution that the Government, alarmed at their excesses, sent the Earl of Arran, son of the Duke of Ormonde, by sea, to reduce them; and the latter nobleman marching also against them with the few forces on whose fidelity he could rely, the mutineers, after some resistance, surrendered; 110 of them were tried by a court martial, of whom nine were executed, and the companies to which they belonged were disbanded. In the early part of 1689, an attempt was made by the Protestant inhabitants of the neighbourhood to take this fortress, which was then held by the troops of James II., but without success; in the course of the year, however, Schomberg, William's general, invested it with a large force, and the garrison, after having exhausted all their ammunition, surrendered.