The ordnance was landed by water and planted against the castle. The siege lasted three days, but when the little garrison were thinking of surrendering, help arrived from Tyrone, and the English were driven off with great loss. The defenders of the castle numbered only eighty men, and were commanded by a Scotchman named Owen Crawford. During Red Hugh’s absence in Spain in 1602 the English took the opportunity to again attack the fortress. The warders, seeing no hope of relief, fled, after the walls had been battered by a big gun, and Captain Digges took “that long desired place.” Ballyshannon, with 1,000 acres, was reserved to the King in 1603, and five years later Sir Henry Folliot was appointed Governor. In this year the plot to seize the King’s castle of Ballyshannon was one of the charges in the indictment against the Earls of Tyrone and Tirconnell. In 1610 the castle, lands, and fishings were granted to Sir H. Folliot for twenty-one years. He was raised to the peerage under the title of Baron Folliot of Ballyshannon, 1619. During the Jacobite troubles the castle was still used as a military headquarters, and the town was for a time in the hands of the Royalists. The land on which the ancient fortress stood is now part of the Connolly estate, and was acquired by purchase from the Folliots. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. Allingham, “Ballyshannon, its History and Antiquities.” Donovan, “Annals of the Four Masters.” Calendar of State Papers. “The Donegal Highlands.” Parliamentary Gazetteer. _BALLYTEIGUE CASTLE_ This castle is situated in the townland of the same name upon the shore of Ballyteigue Lough, in the County Wexford. The name signifies “O’Teige’s town.” The old fortress forms part of a modern dwelling-house, and the keep has always been kept roofed and in good repair. It was erected by Sir Walter de Whitty, one of the Norman settlers, the name being spelt variously--Whythay, Whythey, Wytteye, Whittey, Wythay, in old documents. Sir Richard Whitty was summoned to Parliament as a baron by Edward III., and his son Richard held three carucates of land in Ballyteigue in 1335. In 1408, as we learn from a MS. in the British Museum, the Castle of Ballyteigue was burnt by Art M’Murrough Kavanagh on Tuesday, the morning after the Feast of St. Barnabas. Richard Whitty, of Ballyteigue, died in 1539, and his son Robert being only fourteen at his father’s death, the custody of Ballyteigue was granted to John Devereux during his minority. The estate contained 3 manors, 3 carucates, and 523 acres. The manor and castle of Ballyteigue were in the possession of Richard Whittie in 1624 and 1634. The estate was forfeited in the time of the Commonwealth, and was granted to Colonel Brett. It afterwards passed into the hands of the Sweenys, and subsequently to the Colcloughs, a branch of the family of Tintern Abbey.