In 1650 the Bishop of Ross assembled an army in the park. Upon the approach of Lord Broghill with a body of horse, the garrison in the castle set fire to it and joined the main body encamped outside. Then followed the battle of Macroom, in which about seven hundred of the Irish troops were slain. The Bishop and the High Sheriff of Kerry were taken prisoners. The latter was shot, but the bishop was promised freedom if he induced the garrison of Carrigadrohid Castle to surrender. When brought to that fortress he, however, exhorted the besieged to hold out, and he was at once hanged with the reins of his own horse.
Later in the war General Ireton is said to have burned both the town and castle of Macroom.
During the Commonwealth the castle was granted to Admiral Sir William Penn, father of the founder of Pennsylvania.
Upon the restoration of Charles II. the stronghold was restored to the MacCarthys, and was enlarged and modernised by the Earl of Clancarty.
In 1691 it again fell into the hands of an English garrison. They were hard pressed by James’s troops, until the approach of Major Kirk and three hundred dragoons raised the siege.
The estate of the 4th Earl of Clancarty was confiscated for his allegiance to King James, and the castle was sold by auction in 1703. It was bought by the Hollow Sword Blade Co., who resold it to Judge Bernard, ancestor to Lord Bandon.
After this it was occupied by the Hedges Eyre family, the Hon. Robert Hedges Eyre dying 1840.
Colonel White Hedges, brother of Lord Bantry, owned the castle in 1861, and it is now in the possession of Lord Ardilaun, whose wife is one of the Bantry family.
Smith, “State of County and City of Cork.” Bennett, “History of Bandon.” J. Windele, “Notices of the City of Cork,” &c. C. Gibson, “History of the County and City of Cork.” Meehan, “Confederation of Kilkenny.” Murphy, “Cromwell in Ireland.” Parliamentary Gazetteer.
The town of Malahide is situated in the Barony of Coolock, about seven miles north-north-east of the City of Dublin, and about half a mile distant stands the ancient seat of the Talbot family.
A number of suggestions have been put forward as to the derivation of the name Malahide, perhaps the most probable being that it comes from Baile-atha-id, signifying the “town of Id’s ford.”