being beheaded. Sir John Chichester was the fifth son of Sir John Chichester of North Devon, and he was the younger brother of The 1st Baron Chichester. Clandeboye Massacre In October 1574, during the Enterprise of Ulster, The 1st Earl of Essex and his retinue were invited to a feast at Belfast Castle by Sir Brian mac Feidhlimidh Ó Néill (Sir Brian McPhelim O'Neill), Lord of Lower Clandeboye. The feast was to celebrate a newly signed peace agreement between the English Crown and Sir Brian. After three days and nights of feasting and celebrations inside Belfast Castle, the English soldiers accompanying Lord Essex suddenly set upon and murdered most of the family and retainers of Sir Brian inside the castle. It seems this massacre was ordered by Essex himself. This event is usually known as the Clandeboye Massacre. The castle was then seized by Essex and his English forces. Sir Brian mac Feidhlimidh Ó Néill was not killed during this massacre. Instead, Sir Brian, along with his wife and his brother, were arrested by Lord Essex and, later in 1574, all three were executed in Dublin. Plantation Castle By 1603, Belfast Castle, which was probably a Gaelic towerhouse by this time, was in ruins, largely as a result of the Nine Years' War. In July 1603, Sir Arthur Chichester (1563-1625; later created, in 1613, The 1st Baron Chichester), then Governor of Carrickfergus Castle, offered to rebuild Belfast Castle if he was 'granted' Belfast and its surrounding lands by the Crown. Chichester, who had been one of the most ruthless English commanders in Ireland during the Nine Years' War, received a King's letter in August 1603, which officially put him in charge of Belfast Castle and its surrounding lands. In a patent dated 5 November 1603, the Crown granted to Sir Arthur Chichester 'The Castle of Bealfaste or Belfast, with the Appurtenants and Hereditaments, Spiritual and Temporal, situate in the Lower Clandeboye, late in the possession or custody of Sir Ralph Lane Knt., deceased'. A new grant of the castle and its surrounding lands was made by the Crown the following year, in May 1604, again to Chichester, who would serve as Lord Deputy of Ireland between 1605 and 1616. Sir Arthur Chichester was also 'granted' a vast estate in Inishowen in County Donegal, over in the north-west of Ulster, in 1608 or 1609. This huge estate covered almost all of