In 1605, the Lord Deputy applying for means to have it restored, remarks it was “founded by his Majesty’s ancestors, and much needing repair.” [Illustration: CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE (From an Engraving made in 1838.)] It is likely King John stayed in the castle during his visit to Carrickfergus in 1210, and an order is preserved to the Bishop of Norwich to buy supplies for it that year. It appears to have passed into the hands of Hugh de Lacy when King John granted him Ulster, but in 1223 a garrison was to be placed in the castle lest it should be attacked by De Lacy, who was then plotting against the King. The following year a band of knights and soldiers were despatched by the Earl of Pembroke for its further defence. Although it was being besieged by Hugh they managed to get into the fortress safely, and the siege was then raised. Two years afterwards the custody of the castle was granted to Hugh de Lacy’s brother Walter. In 1245 an order was issued for its repair, and later (1253) it was assigned by the King as part of the dowry of Eleanor, Queen Consort. In 1315 the castle was besieged by Edward Bruce, and Lord Mandeville, who endeavoured to relieve it, failed to do so. The gallant little garrison held out for more than a year, and it is said they were reduced to eating eight Scotch prisoners who had died within the walls. Upon the arrival of King Robert Bruce to aid his brother, the fortress was surrendered. After the death of Edward Bruce the castle passed again into the hands of the English, and it appears to have been the only place in Antrim not in the possession of the O’Neills after the assassination of the Earl of Ulster, 1333. In 1337 the King appointed a constable to the castle under the belief that he was the owner of the stronghold, instead of holding it only during the minority of the Earl of Ulster, and as there was a constable already in office, compensation had to be found for the disappointed custodian. From this time there was a long list of constables, the last being Stewart Banks, Esq., of Belfast, who used merely to attend annually to see the Mayor sworn in the outer yard of the castle. In 1461 an Act of Parliament decreed that none but Englishmen should hold the office of Governor. The position is now a mere sinecure. In 1390, in an order for repair, the castle is described as being “totally destitute and desolate of defence,” and sixteen years later its state does not seem to have been much improved. For the next two years it was kept for nothing by Sir James Whyte, who then (1408) petitioned the Crown to give him aid against the threatened attack of O’Donnell and his Scots. After the order for English custodians, James, Earl of Douglas, was appointed Governor of Carrickfergus Castle in 1463.