Sir James Balfour, a Plantation undertaker from Fifeshire, Scotland, built Castle Balfour in around 1618 on the edge of a low limestone cliff on the edge of the present town of Lisnaskea to assist in the securing of the plantation of Ulster, occurring at this time. Continue reading “Castle Balfour, Lisnaskea”
This is most complete and the best preserved of Ulster’s plantation castles and well worth a visit. I have also written reviews on a number of others.
The so-called plantation castles were built in the 1610s and 1620s to consolidate the Ulster plantation of that period – when Ulster was colonised (following the Flight of the Earls in 1607) and planted with loyal wealthy landowners (from Scotland and England) to prevent further rebellion. Ulster had been the region most resistant to English control during the preceding century. Continue reading “Monea Castle”
A series of castles were built in County Fermanagh (and elsewhere in Ulster) in the 1610s and 1620s by settlers who arrived in the Plantation of Ulster around this time. The castles served a dual purpose. They were both a display of wealth and power over the supplanted Irish and a line of defence to support and bolster the Plantation. Continue reading “Tully Castle”
The remains of Crevenish Castle are south-east of the village of Kesh on the Crevenish Road, or ‘the back road’ as the locals call it – a beautiful drive in itself.
The Castle (originally called Castle Hassett) was built by Thomas Blennerhassett a native of Norwich, England. Blennerhassett secured his land here – confiscated Maguire property – in 1610 as part of the Ulster Plantation. A church, built around the same time has long since disappeared. Continue reading “Crevenish Castle”
The Rambling Wombat 