County Fermanagh Guide (Fear Manach)
“The Erne County” - in the province of Ulster. County town: Enniskillen.
Lakeland county built around the islands of Lough Erne.
Fermanagh is lakeland Ulster, a county built around the island-studded waters of Upper and Lower Lough Erne. Boating, fishing and island-hopping to ancient monastic sites like Devenish define it, while the historic town of Enniskillen sits on an island between the two lakes. Watery, green and serenely beautiful.
Water defines Fermanagh more than any other Irish county: roughly a third of it lies under lakes and rivers, and locals like to say that for six months of the year Lough Erne is in Fermanagh, and for the other six Fermanagh is in Lough Erne. The county town of Enniskillen sits on an island in the river between Upper and Lower Lough Erne, a natural fortress that made it the seat of the Maguire chieftains, who ruled Fermanagh for centuries and patrolled the lakes with a private fleet of boats. Scattered across the waters are islands rich in carved stones and monastic ruins, from the round tower of Devenish to the enigmatic Janus figure on Boa Island.
Away from the loughs, Fermanagh rises into limestone uplands riddled with caves - the Marble Arch Caves near Florencecourt anchor a UNESCO Global Geopark that reaches across the border into Cavan. This is a county of stately homes such as Castle Coole and Florence Court, of the delicate Parian china made at Belleek since 1857, and of quiet market villages where anglers and boaters set out onto some of the best coarse fishing waters in Europe. Portora Royal School in Enniskillen educated both Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett, and in 2013 the eyes of the world turned to the Lough Erne Resort when it hosted the G8 summit.
Cities, towns and villages in Fermanagh
- Enniskillen - The county town, built on an island between Upper and Lower Lough Erne and guarded by the Maguires' castle.
- Lisnaskea - Fermanagh's second town, close to the crowning place of the Maguire chieftains at Cornashee.
- Belleek - One of the most westerly villages in Northern Ireland, world-famous for the Parian china produced at Belleek Pottery since 1857.
- Irvinestown - A Plantation market town near Necarne Castle and the wartime flying-boat base at Castle Archdale.
- Kesh - A village at the top of Lower Lough Erne popular with anglers and the gateway to Boa Island's ancient carved figures.
- Belcoo - A border village facing Blacklion in Cavan across the water, set between the two Lough Macneans.
- Garrison - A small angling village on Lough Melvin, a lake famous for its unique native trout varieties.
- Newtownbutler - A border village in south Fermanagh near the reedy islands and waterways of Upper Lough Erne.
- Derrygonnelly - A village beneath the cliffs of Magho, a gateway to the walking country of the western Fermanagh uplands.
Famous people from Fermanagh
- The Maguires - The Gaelic dynasty that ruled Fermanagh from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, giving the county its enduring identity.
- Oscar Wilde - The playwright spent his schooldays at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen in the 1860s and early 1870s.
- Samuel Beckett - The Nobel laureate boarded at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, where he excelled at cricket as much as at books.
- Adrian Dunbar - Enniskillen-born actor and director best known as Superintendent Ted Hastings in Line of Duty.
- Neil Hannon - The Divine Comedy songwriter grew up in Enniskillen, where his father was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher.
- Joan Trimble - Enniskillen-born pianist and composer who, with her sister Valerie, formed a celebrated piano duo in the mid-twentieth century.
- Frank Ormsby - Poet and long-time anthologist of Ulster writing, born in Enniskillen and raised in rural Fermanagh.
- Kyle Lafferty - Footballer from Kesh who scored crucial goals in Northern Ireland's run to Euro 2016.
- Ciaran McMenamin - Enniskillen-born actor and novelist known for David Copperfield and Primeval.
Did you know?
- About a third of County Fermanagh is covered by water, the highest proportion of any Irish county.
- Enniskillen's historic core stands on an island in the River Erne, making it unique among Irish county towns.
- The Marble Arch Caves form the heart of a UNESCO Global Geopark that was the first in the world to span an international border, reaching into County Cavan.
- Belleek Pottery, founded in 1857, is one of Ireland's oldest working potteries and its delicate Parian china is prized by collectors worldwide.
- The two-faced Janus figure on Boa Island is one of the most mysterious stone carvings in Ireland, possibly dating from the Iron Age.
- The Lough Erne Resort outside Enniskillen hosted the G8 summit of world leaders in June 2013.
- Fermanagh has had no railway since 1957, when the Great Northern lines through the county were closed.
- During the Second World War, Catalina and Sunderland flying boats patrolled the Atlantic from bases on Lough Erne, using a secret flight corridor over neutral Donegal.
Places to visit in Fermanagh
- Lough Erne - Island-studded lakeland around historic Enniskillen.
Surnames from Fermanagh: Maguire · Flanagan · Cassidy · Lennon · Corrigan · McManus · Devine · Heaney · Keenan · Leonard · McHugh · Muldoon