The castle of Castlebellingham has served as one of the ancestral homes for Bellinghams since the 17th century. The Bellingham family originated in the small town of Kendal, Westmorland in England. The original ancestor of the Irish Bellinghams, Alan Bellingham hailed from here. Henry Bellingham, a descendant of Alan was a cavalry officer who first came to Ireland during the English Civil War. The lands of Gernonstown were granted to Henry during the Cromwellian Settlement, in which a large amount of native Irish lands were given to Englishmen in reward for their service. Henry is named in the list of grantees under the Acts of Settlement and Explanation of Charles II s. In 1666, Charles II formally granted the lands to him for his ‘faithful service as a good soldier in the late wars’