Two of these stand at Enniskillen and could hardly be less alike. Enniskillen Castle sits on the River Erne in the middle of town, a Maguire tower house of around 1428 with a Plantation-era Watergate and a barracks behind, now holding the county museum and the Inniskillings regimental museum. Castle Coole, on the edge of the same town, is neo-classical, finished in 1798 and run by the National Trust, with guided tours of the state rooms and the servants’ tunnel beneath.
Most of the rest follow Lower Lough Erne. Tully Castle is a 17th-century ruin on a point, free and about a half-hour stop, burned on Christmas Eve 1641 after the Humes surrendered. Castle Archdale sets plantation ruins of 1615 in a country park with lakeshore trails, a marina, the ferry to White Island and a free museum about the RAF flying-boat base. Castle Caldwell adds forest walking and the Fiddler’s Stone, while Monea, inland, is the best preserved of the plantation castles, unstaffed on a working farm, so leave the dog at home.
Lisnaskea and Castle Balfour sit the other way, on Upper Lough Erne, the castle rising from an old graveyard in the middle of the town and free to visit in daylight year round. Necarne, at Irvinestown, is a roofless Victorian Gothic shell whose 230 acres of parkland stay open daily. Only Castle Coole and Enniskillen Castle are staffed visits; the others are ruins and woodland you walk up to in your own time.
Completed in 1798 and now National Trust run, its guided tours take in opulent state rooms and a subterranean servants' tunnel under ancient oak woodland.
A Maguire tower house of around 1428 on the River Erne, now holding the county museum and the Inniskillings regimental museum, with a free visitor centre.
A free 17th-century ruin on a point of Lower Lough Erne, with level lakeside paths, a small exhibition and the grim story of Christmas Eve 1641.
Plantation ruins of 1615 inside a lakeshore country park that was the RAF's main flying-boat base, with trails, a marina, a ferry and a free war museum.
Fermanagh's second town, small enough to walk, with Castle Balfour above its old graveyard, a 10th-century cross-shaft at the Cornmarket and Upper Lough Erne alongside.
9 of 9 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Enniskillen, fermanagh
Completed in 1798 at a cost equivalent to €30 million today, Castle Coole is one of Ireland’s finest neo-classical estates. Now a National Trust property, it offers guided tours of opulent state rooms, a fascinating subterranean servants’ tunnel, and seasonal walks through ancient oak woodlands.
Enniskillen, fermanagh
Enniskillen Castle sits on the River Erne, a Maguire tower house from around 1428 with a Plantation-era Watergate bolted on and a 19th-century barracks behind. Inside are two museums: the Fermanagh County Museum, strong on the Drumclay Crannog finds and Belleek pottery, and the Inniskillings regimental museum. The visitor centre, café and shop are free.
Enniskillen, fermanagh
The 17th-century ruin of Tully Castle sits on a point in Lower Lough Erne, burned on Christmas Eve 1641 after the Humes surrendered and its people were massacred. Free to visit and a half-hour stop, with lake views, a small exhibition and level lakeside paths.
Enniskillen, fermanagh
Castle Archdale Country Park sits on the shore of Lower Lough Erne, on the site of the RAF's main WWII flying-boat base, from which a Catalina set out in 1941 to find the Bismarck. Today it has woodland and lakeshore trails, a marina with boat and watersports hire, a ferry to White Island, and a free war museum in the old estate courtyard. The plantation castle ruins date from 1615.
Lisnaskea, fermanagh
Lisnaskea is Fermanagh's second-largest town, though with 3,020 people at the 2021 census it still moves at a village pace. Its 1841 Cornmarket shelters a 10th-century cross-shaft carved with Adam and Eve and the motto 'Live and Let Live'. Just outside town, Share Discovery Village runs more than 30 water and land activities on the shore of Upper Lough Erne.
Monea, fermanagh
Monea Castle is the best-preserved of Fermanagh's plantation castles – a four-storey house with round entrance towers, built for the Scottish churchman Malcolm Hamilton and completed around 1618. Its bawn wall still stands, and a Maguire crannog in the reeds nearby is older than the castle by centuries. Free, unstaffed, and set on a working farm, so leave the dog at home.
Lisnaskea, fermanagh
Lower Lough Erne, fermanagh
Irvinestown, fermanagh
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