The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was initially successful, but was subsequently crushed by Oliver Cromwell during the invasion of 1649–1652 and British rule restored. To pay for the invasion, Cromwell confiscated large tracts of Irish Catholic land and granted it to army veterans in lieu of pay and to adventurers who helped finance the operation. Among those who were granted land was Anthony Gale, who “claims in right of an Adventurer as well as in right of a Soldier” who received land in Queen's and Westmeath Counties. The Queen's County grant of land was the former Crottentegle estate previously held and subsequently forfeited by the Keating family. The first record of this Anthony Gale in Ireland is the 1659 Census, where an Anthony Gayle (sic) appears as a titulado (land holder) in Crottentegle, Queen's County, site of the Gale Ashfield estate.