Castletown Manor, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh – demolished 

Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London. 

p.78. “(Waller/IFR) A large Georgian block, built by John Waller. Good frieze in dining room. Now demolished.” 

www.nihgt.org/resources/pdf/Register_of_Parks_Gardens_Demesnes-NOV20.pdf

CASTLETOWN MANOR, County Fermanagh (AP FERMANAGH AND OMAGH 07) F/008 
REGISTERED GRADE A 
Demesne (164 acres/66ha) with early 17th century origins lying 5.34 miles (8.9km) north-west of 
Enniskillen and 3 miles (5km) south-east of Derrygonnelly. The area contained by the demesne, 
which is adjacent to the village of Monea, has a long history of settlement, evidence of which 
shows in the landscape today. The substantial remains of the Plantation house, Monea Castle of 
1616-18 (FERM 11:061) lies in low ground at the southern end of the demesne. It may have 
replaced an earlier tower house; this area had been a Maguire centre as evidenced by the nearby 
crannog (FERM 191:062) lying 230ft (70m) to the south of the castle on the edge of a small lough, 
now silted up. The building is a three-storey tower house with Scottish detailing, was built by 
Malcolm Hamilton (d.c.1627-30), Chancellor of Down and later Archbishop of Cashel (1623) , upon 
1,000 acres (‘Derrinefogher’) he acquired in 1615 for £530 from Robert Hamilton. Described by 
Pynnar in 1619 as ‘a strong castle of lime and stone,’ the building originally lacked a bawn; 
however, this was remedied sometime between 1620 and 1630. Following Malcolm Hamilton’s 
death, the estate was escheated to the crown for violation of the rules of the Plantation, and re- 
granted as the ‘Manor of Castletown’ in December 1631 to James Hamilton, Viscount Clandeboye 
and Robert, Lord Dillon, who by some arrangement subsequently restored it to the late 
Archbishop’s family. Rory Maguire ‘slew and murthered eight Protestants’ here in 1641, but he 
failed to take the castle and unlike most nearby rural plantation houses Monea survived the 
Rebellion. It was subsequently occupied by the Archbishop’s widow and was eventually inherited 
by Gustavus Hamilton, the Governor of Enniskillen (1688), who incurred enormous financial 
losses in the Williamite Wars. His great impoverished wife and children continued to live in 
Monea following his death in 1691, but in the end were forced to sell the property for £295 to 
Hugh Montgomery of Derrygonelly and Robert King of Lissenhall, Swords, Co. Dublin – the latter 
taking the castle and the rights of the manor. In 1711 King devised Monea to his daughter Mary 
(d.1733), who in 1713 married William Smyth of Drumcree, Co. Westmeath (d.1742), who served 
as High Sheriff of Fermanagh in 1736. It next passed to their second son, Thomas Smyth (1714- 
92). At some point in the 1790s –possibly 1790- the estate was sold to James Brien of 
Stralongford, Co. Tyrone (d.1811). There appears to be not supporting evidence for the tradition 
that the castle was burnt in the 1750s and may just have been abandoned sometime in later 18th 
century in favour of ‘Monea Cottage’, a cruciform building on the site of the present house (Listed 
HB 12/11/077), lying 400m due north of the old castle. This house, probably built in the 1790s by 
James Brien, was a low, largely one and a half-storey residence with a rear return, originally 
thatched as a gentleman’s cottage. There is some evidence it was renovated and possibly 
extended in 1834-36, but the surrounding landscape park is contemporary with the late 18th 
century cottage, although the house was enlarged and remodeled in the 1870s. The entire 
parkland has a radius of mature shelter belt trees, which undulates with the contours of the land. 
The main woodland areas lies to the south-east and north-east of the house, with substantial 
perimeter planting also on the north. Most of the planting is deciduous, mainly beech, oak with 
some mixed planting in the south. Also many horse chestnut here, maples and other trees. The 
‘lawn’ to the south of the house has a ha-ha and includes some fine acers. The walled garden 
(1.38 acres/0.56ha) lies on the north-east side of the house and belongs to the late 18th or early 
19th -century; it is shown on the 1830s OS map to have been divided centrally by a wall or hedge. 
The enclosing walls are stone though the south-west side is delimited by outbuildings. Today a 

Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 
portion of the south of the garden is cultivated and maintained, the rest being under grass, save 
for a riding arena in the north-west corner. Within the east side of the garden is a single-storey 
building with square rubble walls, presumably a former garden bothy. Until the 1960s the garden 
originally had shelter tree belts on its west and north sides to provide shelter for the garden 
produce (originally mostly kitchen stuff) and to screen it from the parkland. At some stage in the 
1840s or early 1850s a beech avenue was planted up to the house and then down across the 
parkland lawn to meet a lane to the old castle; these beech trees are still present and a spectacle 
on their own right and now an important part of the landscape. By 1860, Monea Cottage was in 
possession of James Brien’s grandson, John Dawson Brien (1815-81). In 1870-71 he added the 
present front section of the building and made substantial alterations to the existing house at the 
same time, most notably the raising or rebuilding of part of the eastern wing. To-day the main 
front of the house is a mildly Italianate south-facing two-storey square block with cement 
rendered façade and a slated hipped roof with slight overhang and stone chimneystacks. After 
John Dawson Brien’s death, his wife, Frances, continued to live in the house until her death in 
1917. It was occupied by their grand nieces, Constance and Elinor Reade until their deaths in 1968 
and 1974 respectively. The present owner acquired the house in 2001. Of two mid-19thcentury 
gate lodges, only one is extant but much altered. There is an inner gate ‘screen’ of c.1870 in date 
(Listed HB 12/11/077C) along the west drive, 60m from the house with octagonal pillars. SMR: 
FERM 191:61 Plantation castle, 191:62 crannog and 191:70 enclosure (not an antiquity). House 
private. Public access to Monea Castle.