Sir Hugh Clotworthy was succeeded by his son, Sir John, afterwards first Viscount Massereene. He sat in both the Irish and English Houses of Commons, and was one of Stafford’s chief accusers. He was in London when the rebellion of 1641 broke out. The insurrection was in part prevented by a retainer of his, one Owen O’Conally, called “the great informer.”
Sir John’s brother, James, secured the castle in his absence from attack, and the owner returned to it at the end of the year, and took command of the forces in the district. He was imprisoned in 1647 for three years for censuring (with other Members of Parliament) the seizing of the King. During this time his mother, the Lady Marion, occupied the castle. O’Conally commanded Sir John’s regiment in his absence, and in 1649 it was joined to General Monk’s forces. Oliver Cromwell made O’Conally commander of the regiment then at Antrim Castle, and Monro marched against it and killed its leader, but the castle still remained in possession of the troops.
Sir John was raised to the peerage by Charles II. in 1660 as Viscount Massereene. He had no son, and was succeeded in the title and estates by his son-in-law, Sir John Skeffyngton, and henceforward his surname was added to the family name of Clotworthy.
James II. conferred several honourable appointments on him, nevertheless the “Antrim Association” was formed in the castle upon the beginning of the revolution, and the Viscount’s eldest son, Colonel Clotworthy Skeffyngton, was appointed Commander-in-Chief.
The Jacobite General, Hamilton, pushed on to Antrim after his success at Dromore, and Lord Massereene fled from the castle at his approach. The family plate, valued at £3,000, which was hidden before the family left, was shown to the newcomers by a servant, and was seized by them.
Colonel Gordon O’Neill, son of the great Sir Phelim, occupied the fortress in 1688-89, but Lord Massereene recovered his property when William came to the throne.
His grandson was created an earl in 1756, but this title expired in 1816, when Harriet Viscountess of Massereene succeeded to the estates, and through her they passed to the present Viscount.
The last time that the castle figured in history was during the battle of Antrim in 1798. The yeomanry bravely held the castle gardens against all comers, while the great gun of the mount, “Roaring Tatty,” was drawn from its position and fired on the town. One, Ezekiel Vance, gave the signal to the military outside the town to advance by waving a woman’s red cloak from one of the towers of the fortress.