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| CASTLETOWN-ROCHE, CO. CORK. -The vicissitudes of once distinguished and powerful families in Ireland have rarely been better illustrated than by the change of fortune which overtook the Anglo-Norman house of the Roches of Fermoy, generally called after their ancient manor of Castletown-Roche, situated near the famous town. In the days of the English Commonwealth, Maurice, Viscunt Roche and Fermoy, who had gallantly fought for the cause of Charles I on nearly enery battlefield in the Three Kingdoms, attainted and outlawed by the decree of the firece usurper, Oliver Cromwell, to whom he refused to make submission. After the Restoration, having meanwhile tasted the bitter fruit of a long exile in foreign service, the exiled Viscount hoped for recompense-the restoration of his rightful heritage-from Charles II. That "Merry Monarch," and flippant rascal, turned him off with a heartless pleasantry, and actually left the Cromwellian "carpet bagger" in possession of the estates of his father's friend! From that day, the fourteen of the elder line of the Roches were blighted, and the lands and castle of their sires were lost to them forever. Their fortress, renovated and modernized, is shown above. The last Roche who bore the title of his fathers served as a volunteer stable-boy in a Tipperary inn! He was too "proud" to accept wages, in which he showed weakness of intellect. |
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