A Dublin-born son of Enniskillen looks across the town from a hilltop column

The tall column on top of Fort Hill in Enniskillen commemorates Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

From my room in the Belmore Court Hotel in Enniskillen this week, I have had a sweeping view across the town, including Saint Macartin’s Cathedral and up to Fort Hill Park and Cole’s Monument. The column was lit up under the full moon last night [14 April 2014] and can be seen clearly from the cathedral too.

During a sunny morning break, I climbed the winding paths that lead through the trees up to the peak of Fort Hill. There at the top of the hill is the tall column commemorating Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole (1772-1842), who was one of Wellington’s generals and the son of the first Earl of Enniskillen.

At an early stage, this drumlin-like hill was known as Commons Hill or Cow Hill, where the people of Enniskillen were free to graze their cattle and sheep. It was also known as Camomile Hill where, in 1689, the Governor of Enniskillen, Gustav Hamilton, ordered a fort of sods to be raised in Enniskillen, and Fort Hill became an artillery star fort at the end of the 17th century.

In 1836, the area was enclosed and planted with trees. It became a promenade and pleasure ground, and within a decade was a popular public garden with walks.

The Victorian bandstand in Fort Hill Park remembers Thomas Plunkett’s role in restoring the park (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

However, by the 1880s, the park was overgrown and was little used. Thomas Plunkett (1830-1919), Chairman of the Enniskillen Town Commissioners, supervised the landscaping of the park, and the new grounds were officially opened as the Fort Hill Pleasure Grounds on 7 August 1891.

The special areas designed by Plunkett included the Dell, the Fernery, the Fountain, and the Waterfall, and a new entrance and steps were added. The wrought-iron Victorian bandstand, with a clock tower, was built in 1895, while Plunkett was still alive, as a mark of appreciation from the people of Enniskillen.

An inscription reads: “Erected by public subscription in grateful appreciation of the services rendered to the town by Thomas Plunkett, MRIA who during his chairmanship of the Town Commissioners 1882 to 1885 and 1888 to 1894 transformed and beautified these grounds and carried out many other improvements for the promotion of the health and comfort of the community. AD 1895.”

A little above the bandstand, the Cole Monument is a Doric column, topped by a statue of General Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, who was one of Wellington’s generals during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). The column was designed by the sculptor Terence Farrell. Work started in 1845, and it was another 12 years before the monument was completed in 1857.

The column is 30 metres (100 feet) high, and inside the column 108 steps lead to the viewing platform at the top. I am told there are magnificent views across Enniskillen and the surrounding countryside from the platform, and a sign at the entrance to the park says it is open to visitors from April. However, it seems to be closed this week for renovation and restoration, and I never got the opportunity to appreciate those panoramic views.

Samuel Beckett ... proudly remembered on a shop front on Enniskillen’s High Street, close to Saint Macartin’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

It is interesting how many of Enniskillen’s claimed favourite sons are Dublin-born, including Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde and Lowry Cole.

Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde both went to school in Portora Royal School, Enniskillen (as did Archbishop Michael Jackson). Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) was born was born in Foxrock, Co Dublin, on Good Friday, 13 April 1906. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born at 21 Westland Row on 16 October 1854. Lowry Cole, the second son of William Willoughby Cole (1736-1803), 1st Earl of Enniskillen, was born in Dublin on 1 May 1772.

Lowry Cole was an army officer in the West Indies, Ireland, Egypt and Sicily before becoming a general. Meanwhile, he was MP for Enniskillen in the Irish House of Commons from 1797 to 1800, and after the Act of Union was MP for Co Fermanagh in the British House of Commons in 1803-1823.

While he was a sitting MP he was also one of Wellington’s generals during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). As colonel of the 27th Foot, he commanded the 4th Division in the Peninsular War under Wellington, and was wounded at the Battle of Albuera and at Salamanca.

Later, he was Governor of Mauritius (1823-1828) and then Governor of the Cape Colony (1828-1833). In the Cape Colony, Cole played a prominent part in social philanthropy and the town of Colesberg in the Cape and Sir Lowry’s Pass near Cape Town are named after him. He died in 1842 at his Hampshire country seat, Highfield Park, which is now an hotel. He is commemorated by a larger-than-life statue on the north side of the cathedral chancel arch, above a fading more humble monument for his father; a similar monument to his brother, the 2nd Earl of Enniskillen, stands in the a marching place on the south side of the chancel arch.

Larger than life ... a statue commemorating Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole in Saint Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Lowry Cole’s nephew, Bishop Francis Richard Townley Balfour (1846-1924), from Townley Hall, Drogheda, Co Louth, later served as an Anglican missionary with SPG (now Us) in the Cape Colony. He was Archdeacon of Bloemfontein (1901-1906), Archdeacon of Basutoland (1908-1922), and from 1911 the first Anglican bishop to serve in what is now Lesotho. He is buried in the grounds of Mellifont Abbey, Co Louth.

Florence Court outside Enniskillen was the Co Fermanagh home of the Cole family from the late 1750s until 1972. It has been in the care of the National Trust since 1953.

Florence Court, once home to the Cole family, Earls of Enniskillen, is now owned and managed by the National Trust (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Spending a few days in Saint Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen

The tower and spire of Saint Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen, can be seen for miles around the Fermanagh countryside (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I am in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, for two or three days this week with the students of the Church of Ireland Theological Institute who have been invited by the Dean of Clogher, the Very Revd Kenneth Hall, to take part in this year’s Holy Week mission in Saint Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

I am staying in the Belmore Court & Motel on Tempo Road, and this is my second time in Co Fermanagh within four of five days. Since I was last in Enniskillen two years ago (March 2012), Queen Elizabeth visited the town in 2012 as part of her diamond jubilee celebrations, and Enniskillen hosted last year’s G8 summit in June 2013. That was the biggest international diplomatic gathering in Northern Ireland, and the world leaders present included President Obama, President Putin, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

The first and second year ordinands are taking part in a week-long programme built around the theme ‘This is Our Church.’ The Holy Week mission seeks to engage both parishioners and the wider community of Enniskillen.

The Bishop of Clogher, the Right Revd John McDowell, is the preacher at several special evening services. Other activities during the week include family, children’s and youth activities, pastoral visits and work in local schools.

Saint Macartin’s Cathedral is one of two cathedral churches in the Diocese of Clogher – the other is St Macartan’s Cathedral, Clogher. The dean and chapter of Clogher have their stalls in both cathedrals.

The cathedral in Enniskillen stands on high ground overlooking the town and was originally a parish church. It became a cathedral just over 90 years ago in 1923. The first Saint Anne’s Church built on this site was completed around 1627 as part of the original building of the town of Enniskillen.

Captain William Cole from Devon and the other people responsible for creating the new town of Enniskillen from 1611 on chose the site for the new parish church because it was the higher of the two hills on the island that gives its name to Enniskillen. The lower hill became the site for the original Market House, overlooking the Diamond or town square. That site is now the site of the town hall.

The first church building was probably completed in 1627. However, hardly any of the original church remains, although part of its tower was incorporated into the present one and can be seen above the main entrance door where there is a small, old three-light lattice window and a carved stone dated 1637 together with the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).

The first church was small and simple and roofed with shingles that needed constant pair and maintenance. By the beginning of the 19th century the old parish church could no longer accommodate the growing number of parishioners, and in 1826 its length was extended in length. At the time, the Rector of Enniskillen was the Revd John Charles Maude, who was rector 1825-1860.

By 1832, the old parish church and its spire had become structurally unsafe and they were demolished. By 1832, the spire was so unsafe that it was demolished. This offered the opportunity to rebuild the church completely. The new Saint Anne’s Parish Church was consecrated in 1842, and what we see today is essentially the church built that year.

Enniskillen is one among less than a dozen parish churches in Northern Ireland with a tower that has a peal of eight bells or more. When the church was rebuilt in 1842, eight bells were installed, hung on oak frames.

The bust of Archbishop William Magee of York, former Rector of Enniskillen, in the Henry Jones Room in the Old Library in Trinity College Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

William Connor Magee (1821-1891) was Rector of Enniskillen from 1860 to 1864. Later, he became Dean of Cork, and then Bishop of Peterborough. In 1891 he became Archbishop of York and he is buried in York Minster. A bust of Archbishop Magee stands on a window ledge in the Henry Jones Room in the Old Library in Trinity College Dublin. Among his memorable sayings is: “The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.”

The chancel of Saint Anne’s Church was enlarged in 1889. By the early 20th century, the population of Enniskillen was growing steadily but many of the nearby villages were in decline. By then, Enniskilled was one of the largest parishes in the Diocese of Clogher.

An act of General Synod in 1921 designated Saint Anne’s as the Cathedral Church of Saint Macartin in the Diocese of Clogher, although retaining the original Diocesan Cathedral Church of Saint Macartan in Clogher – both named after the same saint but with a slight variation in spelling. Saint Anne’s Church was rededicated as Saint Macartin’s Cathedral in 1923, with stalls for the Dean and Chapter.

Two more bells were added in 1936, making a peal of ten, and the present pipe organ was installed that year. Part of the nave became the Regimental Chapel of the Inniskilling regiments in 1970.

In 2006, the Diocese of Clogher marked the 1500th anniversary of the death of its founding saint, Saint Macartan. As part of the celebrations, Archbishop Magee’s successor, Archbishop John Sentamu visited the diocese during Saint Macartan’s Day.

Today, the Diocese of Clogher is unique in both the Church of Ireland and the Anglican Communion in having two cathedrals. The cathedral can be seen for miles around because it stands on a high hill overlooking the town, topped by a tower and spire that rise to 45 metres.

The Collect of Saint Macartan’s Day:

Heavenly Father,
we thank you for Macartan,
faithful companion of Saint Patrick
and builder of your church in Clogher:
Build up your church through
those whom you call to leadership in this generation,
and strengthen your church
to proclaim the gospel of reconciliation and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Stopping in Monaghan and recalling some long roads we have travelled

Inside the Westenra Arms Hotel in Monghan this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

I spent much of the day travelling to and from a funeral in a small country parish church in the picturesque lakelands of Co Fermanagh, between Roslea and Lisnaskea, close to the border between Co Fermanagh and Co Monaghan.

On the way back to south Dublin, five of us stopped briefly for a late lunch in Monaghan at the Westenra Arms Hotel on the Diamond.

This is an hotel with an interesting history that has served the people of Monaghan for almost 200 years. It has been a silent witness to many social and political events events, and some of the foundations of the older buildings on this site are said to date back to the 17th century.

Thomas Kelly was an innkeeper at the “Westenra Arms” in 1824, when it was probably a coaching inn. In the 1830s, Mr James Curran and his wife Elizabeth were running the hotel. A daughter continued running the hotel, and in the 1860s Miss Emma Curran and sister are listed as leasing the premises from a Mr Mitchell.

The hotel was later bought by Lord Rossmore and rebuilt in the late 19th century. By 1939, Miss Mary F. Bain was the proprietor and manageress of the hotel.

By the end of the 20th century, the hotel’s proprietors were Peter and Anne Driver. Today, the McEnaney family are the proprietors. They undertook major refurbishment work at the hotel in 2003, including the careful restoration of many of the hotel’s original and elegant features.

The Westenra Arms overlooks the Rossmore Memorial in the Diamond in Monaghan’s town centre. The hotel takes its name from a local family, the Westenra family, who are of Dutch descent, and came to Ireland in the 17th century. They lived nearby at Rossmore Park and held the title of Baron Rossmore,

The title was given to General Robert Cuninghame, Commander-in-Chief of Ireland, in 1796, with remainder to the nephews of his wife Elizabeth, Henry Alexander Jones, Warner William Westenra and Henry Westenra.

When the general died the title passed to his nephew Warner William Westenra, was an MP for Monaghan. His eldest son, the third baron, also sat as a Whig MP for Monaghan before succeeding to the family title.

The Rossmore Memorial in the Diamond was erected in 1876 as a memorial to the 4th Lord Rossmore, who died after a hunting accident at Windsor Castle on 28 March 1874. This Victorian monument was described by architectural historian CEB Brett as “formidable and striking.” It is octagonal in shape, with central marble columns supporting a fountain. Around it, the eight grey columns support the pinnacled superstructure that rises to a dome. The dome is surmounted by a spire supported by yet more columns. The letters of Rossmore (also 8 in number) are spaced out around the monument.

Rossmore Park was abandoned in the 1940s, fell into ruins, and was demolished in 1975.

Nearby, in front of the courthouse, stands a monument in memory of the victims of the 1974 Monagahan bombings. It was unveiled by President Mary McAleese on 17 May 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the bombing. The sandstone and metal column contains seven light wells bearing the names of each of the seven victims of the bombing.

I wonder did anyone at today’s reception in Windsor Castle recall that Lord Rossmore had died there 140 years ago.

On the other hand, some of the graves in that small country churchyard in Co Fermanagh and the monument outside Monaghan Courthouse are reminders of the difficult road we have all travelled in the past 40 years that made possible today’s reception for President Michael D Higgins in Windsor Castle, and the attendance of Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness.

The road from Monaghan back to Dublin seemed a little shorter this evening.

Poems for Lent (39): ‘All in an April Evening,’ by Katharine Tynan

‘All in the April morning, / April airs were abroad; / The sheep with their little lambs / Pass’d me by on the road’ … an April scene in a field near Julianstown, Co Meath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Patrick Comerford

My choice of a Poem for Lent this morning is ‘All in an April Evening,’ by the Dublin-born Katharine Tynan Hinkinson (1861-1931). Despite its opening line, the title of this poem is taken from the last stanza, drawing attention to the real subject matter, which is not the beauty of pastoral scenes in the countryside at Spring time, but the Crucifixion and death of Christ on the evening of Good Friday.

TS Eliot opens ‘The Waste Land’ with the words:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

But Katherine Tynan has a very different impression of April days. Her poem become popular and well-known after it was set to music by Sir Hugh Roberton (1874-1952), who gave it a tender and light but reverent setting for two-part chorus and piano accompaniment. Based on a wonderful poem by Katharine Tynan, this memorable song is steeped with pastoral imagery and natural energy.

On these days in Lent, as we move on from the lambing season, it has been a pleasure to watch the lambs in the fields growing, yet still dependent on their mothers for guidance, protection and safety. The lambs in the fields are a reminder that God’s Creation is at its best and most beautiful when it is nurtured in unconditional love.

Now in this Holy Week we are preparing for one of the ironies or paradoxes of our faith, in which the Good Shepherd becomes the Lamb of God.

Throughout the Liturgy we refer to Christ as the Lamb of God – in the Gloria, when we say: “Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world”; Prayer 2 in Holy Communion 2 in The Book of Common Prayer refers to Christ at Passiontide, Holy Week and Easter Week as “the true passover Lamb”; and in Agnus Dei, when we proclaim: “Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, who has taken away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.”

The Lamb of God is the title given to Christ at his Baptism in the Jordan by Saint John the Baptist, declaring: “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1: 29), and exclaiming: “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” (John 1: 36). Christ is the True Lamb who takes the place of the sacrificial Paschal Lamb of the Passover (see Mark 14: 12).

In the Prophetic literature, the word “Lamb” means both servant and lamb. Christ is the Suffering Servant who is spoken of by the Prophets, and who sacrifices himself for his brothers and sisters.

To understand this a little more we read Isaiah where the Prophet speaks of The Suffering Servant:

He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53: 3-4)

In Acts 8: 32-33, the Apostle Philip explains this passage about the Suffering Servant to the Ethiopian courtier: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

The Lamb that was slain in order that we may enter more deeply into the Mystery of Christ’s saving act of Redemption, and we still meet him in the Eucharist, in the Word proclaimed, and in service to one another and to the world.

‘The lambs were weary, and crying / With a weak human cry, / I thought on the Lamb of God’ … a farm outside Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, a few weeks ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

All in an April Evening by Katharine Tynan

All in the April morning,
April airs were abroad;
The sheep with their little lambs
Pass’d me by on the road.

The sheep with their little lambs
Pass’d me by on the road;
All in an April evening
I thought on the Lamb of God.

The lambs were weary, and crying
With a weak human cry,
I thought on the Lamb of God
Going meekly to die.

Up in the blue, blue mountains
Dewy pastures are sweet:
Rest for the little bodies,
Rest for the little feet.

But for the Lamb of God
Up on the hill-top green,
Only a cross of shame
Two stark crosses between.

All in the April evening,
April airs were abroad;
I saw the sheep with their lambs,
And thought on the Lamb of God.

Canon Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and a canon of Christ Church Cathedral Dublin.

Two days by the lakes and in the mountains

Sunset near Bellanaleck,Co Fermanagh, at the end of the day (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Patrick Comerford

I woke shortly after 2.30 this morning to a stream of silver moonlight pouring through the bedroom window. Still half asleep, I moved to the window and gazed upon a half-moon in a clear, star-filled night shining on Lower Lough Erne.

It was a pleasure I could not have planned. Room 121 in the Lough Erne Resort hotel looks out onto the lake. On another night, there might have been a full moon, but a sky filled with clouds; a clear sky but a new moon; or I could have found myself in a room without a lake view.

I don’t know how long more I sat there in the moonlight. But it was one those moments that is impossible to create or to repeat, but a blissful memory that shall remain.

I have spent the past two days on the banks of Lough Erne, enjoying the lakes and shores of Co Fermanagh, exploring the hills and mountains, and enjoying the pleasures of strolling around Enniskillen.

Late evening on Lower Lough Erne (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Yesterday afternoon, I strolled around the shores of the lake on pathways that wind their way through the award-winning, Nick Faldo-designed golf course. I have no interest in golf, and I recalled how Mark Twain once said: “Golf is a good walk spoiled.”

But golf did not spoil that afternoon walk. There were gentle climbs to low hills with views across the lakes. There were trees with posted request to be silent because of the nesting bats. There were swans and moorhens and mallards in the water and the reeds below. A jetty here, over there a wooden bridge to be crossed.

A rainbow over the Lough Erne resort late on Thursday afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

And then, as the sun lowered and sent glittering shivers across the waters, a complete rainbow burst through the grey clouds behind the lough-side lodges and arcing above the hotel. Why, it was only last Sunday that the Old Testament reading reminded us that the arc was placed in the skies as a reminder of God’s covenant with all living creatures.

Later, dinner in the Catalina Restaurant in the hotel brought the evening to a close.

A jetty on Lower Lough Erne (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

After a late breakfast this morning, two of us drove west, close to Belcoo and Blacklion, to see the Marble Arch Caves and the Global Geopark, in the foothills of the Cuilcagh Mountains on the Fermanagh/Cavan/Leitrim borders. We arrived too early – the caves are closed until 17 March – but after thousands of years of formation, I’m sure the caves can wait a longer for another visit.

Florence Court, once home to the Cole family, Earls of Enniskillen, is now owned and managed by the National Trust (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Back on the road to Enniskillen, we stopped to look at Florence Court, the 18th century house and estate was the seat of the Earls of Enniskillen until 1953.

The house was closed to visitors today – sadly, because it is known for its exquisite rococo decoration and fine Irish furniture, with many of original items of furniture once owned by the Cole family.

But we still strolled through the Palladian wings on either side of the house, out onto the lawns in front of the house, down as far as the ha-ha that keeps the cattle and sheep at a distance, and then into the walled garden.

A taste of Greece in Dollakis in Enniskillen on Friday afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

It was 12 km drive back to Enniskillen, where we visited the Castle, with its County Museum and Museum of the Royal Inniskilling Fusliers and the Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, and the cathedral, before having a late – a very late – lunch in Dollakis, a Greek restaurant in Cross Street.

Between us we had Grilled Seafood Souvlaki, marinated in Chilli with Greek Potatoes and Greek Salad, and a Pikilia Platter, with Dolmades, Spanakopita, Olives, Greek Chillies with a selection of dips and pita bread, washed down with true Greek retsina, and followed by Greek coffees and a very generous helping of baklava. They also offer what sound like interesting “Mezze Nights” with Greek wines and spirits included. I must return.

On the road out from Enniskillen, before we reached Bellanaleck, the sun was setting behind the Cuilcagh Mountains to the west. We drove on through Cavan and Virginia – I’m back in this part of Ireland at the end of next week.

Visiting the Lough Erne Resort in Co Fermanagh

Patrick Comerford

I am staying at the Lough Erne Resort, which describes itself as “The Gateway to North-West Ireland.”

The Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, is the first AA and NITB Five Star Hotel in Northern Ireland, and was awarded ‘Best Hotel’ at last year’s 2011 Northern Ireland Tourism Awards and ‘Golf Resort of The Year’ by the Irish Golf Tour Operators Association in 2010.

The resort is set on its own 600-acre peninsula, between Castle Hume Lough and Lower Lough Erne, just outside Enniskillen, with stunning panoramic views from almost every vantage point.

Fermanagh, with its Cathedral, Watergate and Castle, has a legacy and a history that include some of Ireland’s finest treasures, including intriguing rock carvings dating back to 3000 BC, stunning castles and stately homes as well as ancient traditions and crafts.

Enniskillen Castle, situated on the banks of the River Erne, was built in the early 15th Century by the Maguires, who then ruled Fermanagh. The castle now houses the Fermanagh County Museum and Inniskillings Museum.

The Gordon Wilson Library at Lough Erne Resort has been dedicated to the Peace Campaigner, Gordon Wilson. On Remembrance Sunday 1987, 12 people, including his daughter Marie Wilson, were killed in a terrorist bombing in Enniuskillen. It could have provoked anger and revenge; but instead what emerged was forgiveness and reconciliation.

In an interview with the BBC, Gordon Wilson described with anguish his last conversation with his daughter and his feelings toward her killers: “She held my hand tightly, and gripped me as hard as she could. She said, ‘Daddy, I love you very much.’ Those were her exact words to me, and those were the last words I ever heard her say.”

Gordon Wilson went on to add, “But I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge. I will pray for these men tonight and every night.”

For the rest of his life, Gordon Wilson worked hard to bring about reconciliation between people in Northern Ireland.

Local sightseeing tours include a circular tour of Lower Lough Erne through beautiful Fermanagh scenery, and visits to the Belleek Pottery, Boa Island, Devenish Island, and three local National Trust properties: Crom Castle and Estate, Florence Court and Castle Coole.

The monastic site on Devenish Island in Lower Lough Erne was founded in the sixth century by Saint Molaise, and is one of the finest sites in Ireland. It includes a 12th century round tower, several church ruins, two graveyards and an unusual cross.

Belleek Pottery was established in 1857 and holds a special place in the cultural and commercial heritage of Co Fermanagh. The display at the visitor centre includes earthenware dating from the 1850s and works from every Belleek period as well as Masterpieces like the Exhibition Centrepiece.

Castle Coole, home of the Earls of Belmore, is one of the finest neo-classical houses in Ireland. It was designed in 1789 by James Wyatt, it houses fine interiors and exquisite furnishings.

Florence Court House was built in the 18th century by John Cole. The features of the house include exquisite roccoco plasterwork and original period furniture, and the house also has pleasure grounds and walled gardens.

Crom Estate is an important nature conservation area, with 2,000 acres of woodland, parkland, wetlands, tranquil islands and old Crom Castle.