Walter Spring
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Walter Spring the Unfortunate (1620 – c.1678) was an
Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
Roman Catholic landowner involved in the
Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kin ...
.


Biography

Spring was the son of Thomas Spring, a lawyer. He was the grandson of Walter Spring, who had served as
High Sheriff of Kerry The High Sheriff of Kerry was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Kerry, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Kerry County Sheriff. The sheri ...
, and the great-grandson of Captain Thomas Spring, Constable of Castlemaine. He inherited the family estates in
County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
from his father, including Killagha Abbey, where he was born and brought up. Unlike the previous generations of his family, Walter Spring was raised as a Catholic. His control of the strategic fortress at Castlemaine and the lands surrounding Milltown made him an important figure in Kerry. He attended the 1642
Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...
meeting of Catholic gentry which established the Association of the Confederate Catholics of Ireland and was active in helping to organise the war effort on behalf of the Catholic rebels. During the
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland or Cromwellian war in Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell invaded Ireland wi ...
, Spring’s fortified manor house at Killagha Abbey was attacked by soldiers of the
New Model Army The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...
armed with canon, leading to its destruction.
Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
seized Spring’s extensive estates and granted Killagha to one of his supporters, Major John Godfrey. Following the defeat of the Confederacy, Spring retained only a small portion of his estate. In order to protect it, he occasionally attended Protestant services. However, he was thought to still pose a significant threat by The Protectorate government and was transplanted to County Clare, where he had little influence, under the
Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 The Act for the Setling of Ireland imposed penalties including death and land confiscation against Irish civilians and combatants after the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and subsequent unrest. British historian John Morrill wrote that the Act and ...
. This led to him being dubbed ‘The Unfortunate’ by both opponents and supporters.Charles Smith, ''The Antient and Present State of the County of Kerry'' (1756), 57. His remaining estates in Kerry were transferred to his son, Thomas.


Ancestry


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spring, Walter 1620 births Year of death uncertain 17th-century Anglo-Irish people Irish Roman Catholic Confederates People of the Irish Confederate Wars Irish people of Norman descent
Walter Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...
People from Milltown, County Kerry