Sir Walter Coppinger (died 1639) was a member of the Irish nobility from County Cork, Ireland, who was a magistrate of Cork city, a lawyer, a landlord, and a moneylender. Coppinger came from one of the most prominent families in Cork city; though himself of Hiberno-Norse rather than Old English or Gaelic descent, he was hostile to the English settlement of Cork, and had a reputation for ruthlessness.[1]
Sir Walter Coppinger was the eldest son of James Coppinger, and the great grandson of Stephen Coppinger who was the first representative of the city of Cork in the Parliament of Ireland in 1560, and Mayor of Cork on two occasions, in 1564 and 1572. Sir Walter was a moneylender, and acquired many lands and properties from people who defaulted on mortgages. This made him somewhat unpopular and his reputation in Cork to this day reflects this.
Land, legal disputes and incidents
Coppingers Court
In 1594, Sir Walter acquired the rights of the manor and castle of Cloghan near Carbery, County Cork from two brothers, Charles McCormucke McTeige McCartye and Donogho McCormucke McTeige McCartye, of Cloghrean. Years later, Charles disputed the original transaction, attempted to set aside the deed and obtain a ruling whereby the original transaction was by way of a mortgage only. In 1633, the court ruled the lands and castle belonged to Sir Walter.[citation needed]
In 1609, the Mayor of Cork mortgaged wines which would become due to the city in order to raise money towards the payments of debts. One eighth of all prize wines, one quarter of all wines not considered as prize wines such as Spanish and Gascogne wines. This mortgage would continue until the Mayor paid £125 to repossess their estate. A number of people including Sir Walter Coppinger were granted this mortgage.[2] In October of the same year, Sir Walter was sworn as Serjeant of the Mace.
Sir Fineen O'Driscoll was the local lord in Cork, loyal to the English, and had been knighted in 1587 for his work in capturing Spanish ships. Sir Walter's younger brother, Richard Coppinger, was married to Sir Fineen's daughter, Eileen. In 1600, Sir Fineen opened his lands to English "planters" by granting Sir Thomas Crooke the rights to found the town of Baltimore which grew rapidly. But the settlement proved deeply unpopular with the staunchly nationalist and Roman Catholic Coppinger who had his own ideas on development of West Cork. Sir Walter harassed the inhabitants with legal claims to their lands. In 1610, a compromise was reached whereby Crooke, Coppinger, and O'Driscoll agreed to grant a lease to Baltimore to the settlers for a term of 21 years, expiring on 20 June 1631.[1]
In 1616, Crooke and his fellow settlers brought suit in the Court of Castle Chamber, the Irish equivalent of Star Chamber, alleging numerous acts of aggression against them: Coppinger was found guilty on one count of riot but cleared of the other charges. Castle Chamber was not noted for effectiveness and this verdict achieved little.[3] In 1618, Crooke, despairing of obtaining justice from Irish courts, appealed to the Privy Council in London to protect the settlers against Coppinger's "malicious and covetous desire to supplant them" both by "bloody riot" and by fraudulent claims to their titles.[4] No firm decision was taken, and Crooke renewed his petition before the new King Charles I in 1626, who, noting that Castle Chamber was apparently divided on the issue, ordered a hearing before Star Chamber.[5] The case was still proceeding when Crooke died in 1630; it seems that the authorities were reluctant to decide either for Coppinger or for the settlers. After Crooke's death, control of Baltimore passed to Coppinger.[citation needed]
In 1618, the Barrett family mortgaged Ballincollig Castle for £240 from Edmond Coppinger. The mortgage was eventually transferred to Sir Walter and in 1630, for an additional £790, Sir Walter took possession of the castle and lands. In 1644, the castle was taken by Cromwell; after 1690 it was unused and fell into disrepair.[citation needed]
In 1630, Sir Walter Coppinger and two others, Sir William Sarsfield and Sir Randall Clayton, were put in the election to the office of Mayor of Cork, but all were unsuccessful.[1]
Baltimore is a village in western County Cork, Ireland. It is the main village in the parish of Rathmore and the Islands, the southernmost parish in Ireland. It is the main ferry port to Sherkin Island, Cape Clear Island and the eastern side of Roaring Water Bay and Carbery's Hundred Isles.
McMahon, also spelt MacMahon, were different Middle Age era Irish clans. Their name is derived from the Gaelic MacMathghamhna meaning 'son of the bear'. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the MacMahons were one of the chiefly families of the Dal gCais or Dalcassians who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC.
The sack of Baltimore took place on 20 June 1631, when the village of Baltimore in West Cork, Ireland, was attacked by pirates from the Barbary Coast of North Africa — the raiders included Dutchmen, Algerians, and Ottoman Turks. The attack was the largest by Barbary slave traders on Ireland.
Dunasead Castle, sometimes known as Baltimore Castle, is a 17th-century fortified house situated in the town of Baltimore in County Cork, Ireland. The tower house is built on the site of an earlier Norman-era structure, which itself replaced an earlier Bronze Age ringfort. Traditionally associated with the chiefs of clan O'Driscoll, the castle was purchased and restored by members of the McCarthy family in the late 1990s, and partially opened to the public from 2005.
Ballincollig Castle is a Norman castle to the south of the town of Ballincollig, County Cork, Ireland, built after the Norman invasion of Ireland. In its prime, the castle was inhabited by the Barrett family, who had control of the local area. The castle still stands today, albeit largely in ruin. The original keep still remains, as does most of the curtain wall and two towers.
The Corcu Loígde, meaning Gens of the Calf Goddess, also called the Síl Lugdach meic Itha, were a kingdom centred in West County Cork who descended from the proto-historical rulers of Munster, the Dáirine, of whom they were the central royal sept. They took their name from Lugaid Loígde "Lugaid of the Calf Goddess", a King of Tara and High King of Ireland, son of the great Dáire Doimthech. A descendant of Lugaid Loígde, and their most famous ancestor, is the legendary Lugaid Mac Con, who is listed in the Old Irish Baile Chuinn Chétchathaig. Closest kin to the Corcu Loígde were the Dál Fiatach princes of the Ulaid.
Clan Barrett is an Irish clan from County Cork that originally descended from Normans who came to Ireland with Strongbow in the 12th century. They are related to the ancestors of the Clan Barrett of County Mayo, who until recently were otherwise considered Gaelic in origin. Of the two, the Cork branch was considered numerically stronger, while the Mayo-Galway branch held more prominence in the Middle Ages.
The MacCarthy Reagh dynasty are a branch of the MacCarthy dynasty, Kings of Desmond, deriving from the Eóganacht Chaisil sept.
Donal IV O'Donovan,, The O'Donovan, of Clancahill, was the son of Donal III O'Donovan, The O'Donovan of Clancahill, and Gyles (Sheela) O'Shaughnessy, daughter of Elis Lynch and Sir Roger Gilla Duff O'Shaughnessy, The O'Shaughnessy.
Donal II O'Donovan, The O'Donovan of Clann Cathail, Lord of Clancahill, was the son of Ellen O'Leary, daughter of O'Leary of Carrignacurra, and Donal of the Skins, The O'Donovan of Clann Cathail. He is most commonly referred to as Donnell O'Donevane of Castledonovan in contemporary references of his time.
Owen MacCarthy Reagh (1520–1594) was the 16th Prince of Carbery from 1576 to 1593. He belonged to the MacCarthy Reagh dynasty. Owen was commonly referred to as "Sir" Owen MacCarthy (McCartie) in the English court records.
O'Driscoll is an Irish surname. It is derived from the Gaelic Ó hEidirsceoil. The O'Driscolls were rulers of the Dáirine sept of the Corcu Loígde until the early modern period; their ancestors were Kings of Munster until the rise of the Eóganachta in the 7th century. At the start of the 13th century, three prominent branches of the family came into existence: O'Driscoll Mor, O'Driscoll Og, and O'Driscoll Beara. The Ó prefix was dropped by many in Ireland during the 17th and 18th centuries. The surname is now most prominent in the Irish counties of Cork and Kerry.
Sir Robert Jacob or Jacobe (1573–1618) was an English-born lawyer, who was Solicitor General for Ireland between 1606 and 1618. He was a close friend and political associate of Sir John Davies, the Attorney General for Ireland; both were key figures in the Irish administration during this period.
The Court of Castle Chamber was an Irish court of special jurisdiction which operated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Sir George Shurley (1569–1647) was an English-born judge who held the office of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Uniquely among the holders of that office, he ranked as junior in precedence to the Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.
The Crooke Baronetcy of Baltimore, County Cork was a title in the Baronetage of Ireland. It was created for Sir Thomas Crooke, 1st Baronet in 1624. The Crooke family came originally from Cransley in Northamptonshire; Thomas Crooke, the father of the first baronet, was a well-known preacher of strongly Calvinist views.
Sir Thomas Crooke, 1st Baronet, of Baltimore (1574–1630) was an English-born politician, lawyer and landowner in seventeenth-century Ireland. He is chiefly remembered as the founder of the town of Baltimore, County Cork, which he developed into a flourishing port, but which was largely destroyed shortly after his death in the Sack of Baltimore 1631. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Baltimore in the Parliament of 1613–1615. He was the first of the Crooke baronets of Baltimore, and ancestor of the Crooke family of Crookstown House.
Coppingers Court is a ruined four-storey fortified house dating from 1616, situated on private property approximately 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) from the sea. It was built by Sir Walter Coppinger and located in Ballyvireen valley, west of Rosscarbery in County Cork, Ireland. The house has a rectangular centre flanked by two wings on the east and west, resulting in a total of 9 gables.
Sir Fineen O'Driscoll was an Irish clan chief who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I. He was more commonly known as The Rover and also known as Fineen of the Ships. He was married to Eileen, daughter of Sir Owen MacCarthy Reagh the 16th Prince of Carbery, whose grandmother Eleanor was a daughter of Gearóid Mór FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare. His eldest son, Connor, was the Lord of Castlehaven. His daughter Eileen married Richard Coppinger, a brother of Sir Walter Coppinger with whom he had numerous disputes over land that continued up to O'Driscoll's death. Another son Fineen was born in 1585. His daughter Mary was captured by a pirate named Ali Krussa and sold into the Barbary slave trade. He also had an illegitimate son, Gilly Duff. Fineen was also brother-in-law to Donal II O'Donovan and the two together with Owen MacCarthy Reagh's family are all noted in collaboration on numerous occasions.
Cloghan Castle is a ruined tower house on Castle Island in Lough Hyne in West Cork, Ireland. While no longer standing, it was originally at least three storeys tall. Castle Cloghan was once the main stronghold of the Irish clan O'Driscoll, but was abandoned after their Chief, Sir Fineen O'Driscoll, died there in 1629. The mid-19th century collapse of the ruins is said to have been caused by the barking of a ghostly black dog.
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