County Fermanagh - Heritage/Historical<< Fermanagh Homepage |
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| Here's a selection of Fermanagh Heritage/Historical.Click on the 'Go to ALL' link to get the full list. |
1. Monuments |
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Cole's MonumentForthill Park, Co. FermanaghThe statue to Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole (1772 - 1842), one of Wellington's Generals in the Penisular War, stands on top of a Doric Column. 108 steps lead to the top of the monument where the visitor is rewarded for his climb by a magnificent panoraic view of Enniskillen | |
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2. Heritage Centres |
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Enniskillen CastleMrs Brona Cleary , Castle Barracks, Co. FermanaghIn a series of ding-dong battles between the Maguires and the O'Neills on the one hand, and between the Maguires and the English on the other, the castle changed hands many times during the course of the 16th century. In 1602 it was taken by Niall Garve O'Donnell and the English, and five years later it was occupied solely by the English. The bottom of the tower (known as the keep) at the centre of the castle may be part of the original 15th century Maguire castle, but the remainder of the tower is the result of a later rebuild, and now houses the regimental museum of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Fermanagh County Museum. Standing on the river side of the enclosure is the so-called water-gate, built probably in 1611. Much of the remaining sides of the enclosure are occupied by 18th and 19th century barrack buildings nor serving a variety of purposes. On view at Enniskillen Castle are the Heritage Centre, the Castle Keep, Watergate and the Arcaded barracks. The Heritage Centre: The Castle Keep: in origin a 15th century Maguire stonghold, later a military barracks, now housing: The Museum of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and Displays about the castle. The Watergate: a twin-turreted building added to the outer walls of the castle in the early 17th century. The Arcaded Barracks: displays focusing on Fermanagh's archaeological and historic monuments. | |
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5. Cathedrals (Historical) |
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Enniskillen Anglican CathedralCo. FermanaghThe Anglican cathdral on the main street contains a full length martial portrait of this same general, still brandishing his sabre. The cathedral tower, which survives from a seventeenth century church on the site, contains a bell cast from cannon used in the Battle of the Boyne. Colours of the Inniskilling regiments hang in the light and airy late Georgian interior. Notable features are the seventeenth century font and a stone tablet to William Pokrich ( died 1628) with half the inscription upside down. Across the narrow street is an immensely tall and thin nineteenth century Catholic church, St Michael's with a long nave and steep roof. A window in the south aisle portrays St Molaise, the abbot founder of Devenish monastery, holding the Devenish Gospel Shrine. Down the street the atmspheric William Blake Bar ( 1887) has a characterful. | |
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6. Archaeological |
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Caldragh IdolCo. FermanaghAn early, possibly one of the oldest extant examples of Irish figure sculpture, standing forlornly in the gloom of an old burial ground near the south-west shore of Boa Island in Lower Lough Erne. It depicts two dwarfish figures gazing in opposite directions and probably represents a Celtic deity. But while the influence of the pagan Iron Age seems unmistakable, it is doubtful if the carving can be as early as the first century AD date sometimes claimed for it. Nonetheless, the stone evidently personifies and ancient pre-Christian cult which may have survived here in isolation into the Dark Ages. The idol is 29 inches high and comprises tow back-to-back figures with disproportionately large heads and flat pointed faces. The coarse features are delineated by boldly incised lines, the eyes wide and expressionless, the mouths open. The arms are crossed diagonally in front of the belt-girt torsos, on one of which a phallus is indicated. On the top of the stone is a shaped cavity, 5 inches deep, usually interpreted as a slot to receive a missing part of the sculpture, such as an antlered headpiece, if it is not a receptacle for blood offerings. Close by is another carved figure, brought here from Lustymore Island. It may be broadly contemporary with the Caldragh Idol and like it represent a deity. Whatever their origin, there is something inescapably baleful about these stone dwarfs in their dank lakeside setting, surrounded by dark weather-worn slabs under the trees. | |
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7. Castles (Historical) |
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Castle Archdale Country ParkCo. FermanaghThe Park and surrounding area are rich in historical features; early settlers found Lough Erne a convenient and safe transport route and the islands provided solitude and security; hence on many islands monastic sites were established such as at Devenish and White Island. Both are accessible by ferry (seasonal). During the 1939-45 War, Lough Erne played an important role as the most westerly flying boat station, from which aircraft protected the allied convoys from the U-Boat threat in the North Atlantic. Castle Archdale was the main operational/maintenance base from where Sunderlands and Catalinas flew. Evidence of this period can be found throughout the park in flying boat docks, ammunition dumps, Nissen hut bases etc. This period of the park's history is explained in an exhibiton in the Park Centre Woodland Unlike the surrounding forests which are coniferous the majority of the trees in the Country Park are deciduous. The most important tree is the native Oak which supports a great many insects and subsequently birds and other animals. Together with the Ash, the Oak forms the upper canopy of mature trees beneath which flourished a wide variety of shrubs and ground cover. Features within the Park Visitors to Lough Erne find Castle Archdale a good base with its excellent marina and slipway. Boats are available for hire for those wishing to explore the nearby islands, some of which are National Nature Reserves. Features within the Park include a red deer enclosure, rare breeds collection, wildfowl pond, nature trail, butterfly garden and wildflower meadow. To make the most of your visit, be sure not to miss the Archdale Centre which is in the corner of the main courtyard. Here you can see various exhibitions and audio visual shows which will help you to understand our efforts to conserve this beautiful part of Fermanagh. | |
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8. Forts (Historical) |
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The redoubtCo. FermanaghThe Redoubt on Windmill hill, site of a 17th century star-shaped artillery fort. The moat, rampart walls and the remains of a swivel gun are still visible. Superb panorama of Enniskillen, the River Erne and Portora Royal School from the rampart. | |
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9. Tombs |
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Aghanaglack Dual Court-TombCo. FermanaghEasily accessible along pathways, the latter stands at an altitude of 720 ft in the clearing of a forestry plantation which provides a splendid view across undisturbed countryside towards a great table mountain to the south-west. The tomb consists of a burial gallery subdivided into four chambers flanked at each end by a roughly semicircular forecourt. Excavations in 1938 produced a combination of Stone and Bronze Age finds including pottery and flint, while the only bones which could be identified were found to belong to two children. | |
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10. Homes (Historical) |
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Castle Archdale Country ParkCo. FermanaghThe Park and surrounding area are rich in historical features; early settlers found Lough Erne a convenient and safe transport route and the islands provided solitude and security; hence on many islands monastic sites were established such as at Devenish and White Island. Both are accessible by ferry (seasonal). During the 1939-45 War, Lough Erne played an important role as the most westerly flying boat station, from which aircraft protected the allied convoys from the U-Boat threat in the North Atlantic. Castle Archdale was the main operational/maintenance base from where Sunderlands and Catalinas flew. Evidence of this period can be found throughout the park in flying boat docks, ammunition dumps, Nissen hut bases etc. This period of the park's history is explained in an exhibiton in the Park Centre Woodland Unlike the surrounding forests which are coniferous the majority of the trees in the Country Park are deciduous. The most important tree is the native Oak which supports a great many insects and subsequently birds and other animals. Together with the Ash, the Oak forms the upper canopy of mature trees beneath which flourished a wide variety of shrubs and ground cover. Features within the Park Visitors to Lough Erne find Castle Archdale a good base with its excellent marina and slipway. Boats are available for hire for those wishing to explore the nearby islands, some of which are National Nature Reserves. Features within the Park include a red deer enclosure, rare breeds collection, wildfowl pond, nature trail, butterfly garden and wildflower meadow. To make the most of your visit, be sure not to miss the Archdale Centre which is in the corner of the main courtyard. Here you can see various exhibitions and audio visual shows which will help you to understand our efforts to conserve this beautiful part of Fermanagh. | |
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11. Crosses (Historical) |
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Boho High Cross-shaftToneel, Co. FermanaghIt bears the figures of Adam and Eve on one face and a Baptism of Christ on the other. Holes in the narrow sides suggest that the head of the cross may once have had lateral supports like the cross on the Rock of Cashel.. A cross-head now preserved in the porch of the church was probably not the head which belonged to this cross-shaft, but to a second cross. | |
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12. Museums |
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Carrothers Family Heritage MuseumSam Carrothers , Carrybridge Road, Co. FermanaghSmall private museum preserves a thousand items collected by the Carrothers family -including by the Carrothers family - including birds' eggs, fossils, bottles, newspapers, and letters from the Front in WWI. Wheelchair access. Show me all the details for Carrothers Family Heritage Museum | |
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13. Monastic Sites |
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Devenish Monastic SiteCo. FermanaghReached by ferry from the nearby shore or from Enniskillen, it is easily recognisable from a distance by its 12th century Round Tower, one of the last and best of its kind. It belonged to a monastery founded in the 6th century by St. Molaise, and to him was dedicated the Great Church (Teampull Mor), the first church which the visitor meets when walking up the path from the jetty. Dating from the first quarter of the 13th century, it also contains later residential quarters and a bullaun stone which is credited with the feat of having carried St. Molaise across the sea. Between this church and the Round Tower is St. Molaise's House, built with a now-vanished stone roof in the 12th century, probably as the saint's tomb-shrine. On the highest point on the island, to the west of the Round Tower, is St. Mary priory (popularly known as the Abbey), which belongs to an Augustinian monastery founded in the 12th century, and which functioned alongside the older monastery throughout the Later Middle Ages, though its buildings are scarcely any earlier than the 15th century. Other features of interest include a late medieval cross in the Upper Graveyard, and a small thatched site museum containing an interesting selection of decorated stones - though not the old monastery's principal treasure, the Soiscel Molaise, an 11th century book-shrine which is now preserved in the National Museum in Dublin. | |
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14. Stones (Historical) |
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Boa Ilsand Stone FiguresBoa Island, Co. FermanaghThe larger of these represents two figures back to back, with arms crossed and the hair of their curious pear-shaped heads interlaced, and one being perhaps phallic. The smaller figure, removed from Lustymore Island nearby, and seemingly related in style but with facial features pocked out rather than in relief, is a bust with joined hands. Both figures have been described as Celtic idols, but their uniqueness in the context of the Irish prehistoric Iron Age might make one wonder if they could, perhaps, date from the Christian era which produced other unique carvings on White Island further up the lake. | |
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15. Churches (Historical) |
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Aghalurcher churchCo. FermanaghSt. Ronan is said to have founded a church in the 7th century at this spot a mile and a half south of Lisnaskea, where many Maguire chieftains were buried. Of greater interest than the ruined church with battered walls are the 18th century grave-stones, some kept locked in a stone vault. A 12th century carving of a figure bearing book and cross, which may once have adorned a now-vanished tomb-shrine of St. Ronan, is now exhibited in the Fermanagh County Museum in the Castle at Enniskillen. | |
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16. Monastery |
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Devenish Monastic SiteCo. FermanaghReached by ferry from the nearby shore or from Enniskillen, it is easily recognisable from a distance by its 12th century Round Tower, one of the last and best of its kind. It belonged to a monastery founded in the 6th century by St. Molaise, and to him was dedicated the Great Church (Teampull Mor), the first church which the visitor meets when walking up the path from the jetty. Dating from the first quarter of the 13th century, it also contains later residential quarters and a bullaun stone which is credited with the feat of having carried St. Molaise across the sea. Between this church and the Round Tower is St. Molaise's House, built with a now-vanished stone roof in the 12th century, probably as the saint's tomb-shrine. On the highest point on the island, to the west of the Round Tower, is St. Mary priory (popularly known as the Abbey), which belongs to an Augustinian monastery founded in the 12th century, and which functioned alongside the older monastery throughout the Later Middle Ages, though its buildings are scarcely any earlier than the 15th century. Other features of interest include a late medieval cross in the Upper Graveyard, and a small thatched site museum containing an interesting selection of decorated stones - though not the old monastery's principal treasure, the Soiscel Molaise, an 11th century book-shrine which is now preserved in the National Museum in Dublin. | |
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17. Mills (Historical) |
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Florence Court Saw MillCo. FermanaghThere is a fully restored water powered sawmill on the Florence Court estate, dating from the 19th Century. The sound of the water wheel turning carries across the Pleasure Ground. Nearby is a hydraulic ram which was used to pump water up to the house, and also an ice house. | |
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18. Stone Circles |
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DrumskinnyCo. FermanaghThis Drumskinny complex may have been built in the second millennium B.C., but the letters MOF on some of the stones are not an indication of the existence of writing at the time, but the initials of the Ministry of Finance which supplied them in places where the excavator found evidence for the former presence of stones which have disappeared. | |
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19. Hills (Historical) |
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Knockninny HillCo. FermanaghKnockninny Hill is a striking feature on the upper lake. The hill is a well known beauty spot and although only 600ft high, there is a fine view of the islands from the top (3 miles north of Derrylin) | |
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