8. How Cocks Castle Became Hens Castle
Grainne Ni Mhaille eventually remarried in 1566, but she was still mad at her sailor lover’s murder. So she had another go at the MacMahons in Doona Castle, and seized it by surprising the garrison while they were praying. Around that time, she also went after a thief who had stolen something from her, then fled to a church for sanctuary. Grainne surrounded the church and decided to wait him out. She then offered the fugitive the choice of starvation of surrender.
The thief chose a third option: by digging a tunnel and escaping. That made him one of the few who managed to escape Grainne’s vengeance. She became Ireland’s sea mistress, and a pirate queen who controlled the waters around Connaught with an iron fist. She preyed on shipping and coastal communities along Ireland’s western coast, as well as on eastern settlements on the Irish Sea. While expanding her control, she personally led a raid on a seaside stronghold known as Cocks Castle. To commemorate her courage in capturing it, it became known thereafter as Hens Castle.