Preserve Carrigaline Castle

Carrigaline Castle, located in Carrigaline,Ireland and from which the city takes It’s name was originally built by Milo de Cogan who came to Ireland with his family during the Norman Invasion. Construction started probably sometime during the 1180s and was finished during the 1190s.It was acquired by The Earls of Desmond in 1438 and a century later was leased to the Fitzmaurice-Fitzgeralds. When The Munster Plantation was started by The English, Warham St. Ledger was the first planter and the castle was given to him in 1568, angered by this James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald led the first Catholic uprising against The Tudors. Lord Deputy Sidney captured the castle and gave it to St.Ledger. The St.Ledgers eventually gave the castle to William Petey who sold it and the surrounding 6,000 acres of land to Daniel Gookin an English planter from Kent in 1613.It was from Carrigaline that Gookin would launch his journey(along with his friend and partner William Newce) to establish the Virginia colony that would become the city of Newport News.This created one of the earliest connections between America and Ireland.Following a land dispute with Richard Boyle,the first Earl of Cork; Gookin sold him the property but negotiated a 22 year lease where he and his family continued to reside at the castle as well as retaining all rights to profits from his cattle herds and wool flocks. The castle was eventually abandoned and became a source of building materials for local farmers.