At this time the Earl’s mother, Lady Anne, resided at Killyleagh Castle in accordance with the wishes of her husband’s will. As Earl Henry left no children the estate was divided amongst his cousins, Killyleagh falling to the lot of James Hamilton. When James died in 1683 his lands were divided between his brother Gawin, ancestor of the present Colonel Rowan-Hamilton, D.L., of Killyleagh Castle, and his daughter Anne, whose granddaughter, Dorcas, married Sir John Blackwood, and was created Baroness Dufferin and Clandeboye. The division of the estate was accurately made and decided by lot, which had the effect of putting one branch of the family in possession of the half of the courtyard of the castle which lay nearest the town, while the other part was attached to the castle. This division caused a family feud of some two hundred years in duration. A house was built on the disputed land between the town and castle, and it was only upon the coming of age of the late Marquis of Dufferin, who said it should never be said of him that he kept any man out of his own hall-door, that the contention ended. The young nobleman presented the land to his kinsman of the castle, to be held by the tenure of the annual tribute of a red rose to the lady of Clandeboye, or should there be no such person, a pair of gilt spurs to the Lord Dufferin of the time. He added to his gift a castellated gate-house, which was erected from designs by Mr. Ferrers. The last stone was laid by Lord Dufferin upon the morning of his marriage with Miss Rowan Hamilton on the 23rd of October, 1862. It bears an inscription to that effect, as well as the name of its sculptor, Mr. Samuel Hastings, of Downpatrick. In 1688-89 Sir Robert Maxwell resided in the castle, having married the widow of the Earl of Clanbrissal. Captain Savage asked to be allowed to garrison the gate-tower so as to be some check upon the disturbances the Protestant party were making in the North. Sir Robert took two days to consider the matter, but in the meantime the soldiers were attacked by Hunter, and the captain and lieutenant taken prisoners. Soon after the castle was reduced by the Royalists, and in the investigation which followed much credit was taken from the fact that no plundering was allowed. It was stated that such forbearance was wonderful in the face of great provocation, inasmuch as the very day the castle was taken part of Colonel Mark Talbot’s wig was shot off by a bullet from the fortress. The celebrated United Irishman, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, owned and lived in the castle. He was secretary of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen in 1791, and in 1794 he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for seditious libel.