Template:FP-Enniskillen

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Enniskillen Castle and the River Erne, Fermanagh

Enniskillen

Enniskillen is the county town of Fermanagh. It is almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper Lough Erne and Lower Lough Erne. The historic centre of the town, the location of Enniskillen Castle, is on an island between two streams of the River Erne.

The town is a centre for boating and watersports, due to its place by Lough Erne.

The oldest building in Enniskillen is the Maguire's stone castle, built by Hugh the Hospitable who died in 1428. The castle was the stronghold of the junior branch of the Maguires and the first water-gate was built around 1580 by Cú Chonnacht Maguire. In the Plantation of Ulster settlers arrived in large numbers. The Maguires were replaced by a Devonshire man, William Cole, appointed by King James I to build a settlement at Enniskillen. Cole strengthened the castle's wall and built a "fair house" on the old foundation as the centrepoint of the county town. (Read more)