Sir Walter Coppinger

[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.

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.

But the settlement proved deeply unpopular with the staunchly nationalist and Roman Catholic Coppinger who had his own ideas on development of West Cork.

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.

[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.