The Down Survey for Kilbride and Blessington parishes, completed "c".1655, records no buildings in Kilbride parish, but Threecastles is listed as containing a garrison, presumably there to secure the area following the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. Despite the nominal conclusion of the conflict in 1653, Wicklow continued to serve as a refuge for the remnants of the Confederate forces or Rapparees. The Cromwellian regime excluded the county from military protection, proclaimed it a free-fire zone and sought to remove the Catholic Old English and Gaelic Irish population.