He may have hoped for more on the accession of her Protestant sister Elizabeth, but she had other more immediate concerns and chose not just to make peace terms with Shane O’Neill (by then The O’Neill) but to receive him at her court.

The English also were active in Ulster in these years, chiefly against the Scots who had settled in Antrim (and, of them, mainly against the McDonnells).  Expeditions were led against them in 1555 (under Viscount Fitzwilliam) and again, under Sussex in 1556. On 5 July moving against them he (Sussex, i.e. Thomas Radclyffe) passed through Newry, and again on 6 August on his return. However the enemy was still snapping at his heels on his return to Newry.

In the following year Sussex was obliged to foray again against the Scots who had penetrated to Armagh. The English spoiled the surrounding countryside and set the city on fire before departing for Newry on 27^th October. 

This was to be a recurring tactic of the English in Ireland, brought to a horrific climax by Mountjoy towards the end of the century and practiced again throughout the following (seventeenth) century.

On that night (27 October 1556) Sussex stayed over in our town before proceeding to Dundalk the following day. He was accompanied by leaders of The Pale, the Earls of Desmond, Kildare and Ormond. 

Shane – who had by now assumed his power – was summoned to attend the Deputy in Newry but he refused. Even when he was forced to join the English army as they marched through Tyrone, he withdrew as soon as he was able.