At first after this, the district of Mallow was assigned to Pelham, H.M. Attorney-General, and Sir Thomas Norreys, who was holding the place, writes to Burghley in 1587: “I understand Mallow (a place which I have hitherto had keeping of) is assigned to H.M. Attorney-General, who doth little esteem it. I crave to be admitted an associate in Co. Cork, and still keep that place, which I doubt not the Attorney-General will easily yield to. I affect not the place for any special goodness, but having held it so long am the more unwilling to leave it, and, if I may obtain it, will endeavour the best service I can.” The same year Sir John Norreys, President of Munster, writes from Utrecht complaining that the honour of his office brings little land with it, and asking that Mallow might be granted to him. He it was who settled the crown of Portugal on the royal house of Braganza, and Edmund Spencer described him in some of the lines of his “Fairy Oueen.” In 1588 Sir Thomas Norreys received a grant of the castle and lands from Elizabeth. Here, in Sir Thomas’s arms, died his brother, the great Sir John Norreys, in 1597, of old wounds which had been neglected and turned to gangrene. One of many fables told regarding his death is that the devil, dressed in black, appeared while he was playing cards, and claimed his soul on the spot in fulfilment of an old bargain. During the Tyrone rebellion in 1598-99 Norreys had his English sheep stolen from Mallow, and his park wall broken down, so that the deer roamed loose. Upon the restored young Earl of Desmond’s returning to Ireland in 1599 he spent much of his time at Mallow, where he was said to be in love with Lady Norris, widow of Sir Thomas. The Attorney-General writes in 1606: “The first night we lodged at Mallow, a house of my Lady Norries, which is a well-built house, and stands by a fair river in a fruitful soil, but it is yet much unrepaired and bears many marks of the late rebellion.” At this time Elizabeth Norreys, heiress to the estate, was a king’s ward, and resided with her mother in the castle. In 1613 a fresh patent was granted to Dame Elizabeth Jephson, and her heirs for £50 paid by her husband, Sir John Jephson, Knight, she having inherited her father’s estate. The grant included the castle, manor, and town of Mallow, Short Castle, _alias_ Castle-Gar, &c. In 1636 the Earl of Cork made an offer for the manor, but he did not come to terms with the owners. Short Castle, which was on the north side of the town, was in charge of Lieutenant Williamson in 1641, when Lord Mountgarret marched against Mallow, while the larger fortress was placed in charge of Arthur Bettesworth and two hundred men by Captain Jephson. After many assaults and several breaches, Short Castle was forced to surrender, which its commander did on terms. There are several versions of the following story.