Crocknacrieve, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh 

Mark Bence-Jones. 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. 95. “(Richardson/IFR; Archdale/IFR; Loane/IFR) A Georgian house, built by Capt John Johnston, whose widow married H.M.Richardson, of Rossfad; who, when he inherited the latter estate, and part of Rich Hill, handed Crocknacrive over to his cousin, Nicholas Archdale, who added a wing, sadi to have been built with stone from the old Folliott castle at Ballinamallard. Sir Edward Archdale sold the property 1901, in 1921 it was bought by S.C. Loane,  whose wife (nee Barton) was the granddaughter of H. M. Richardson.” 

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

CROCKNACRIEVE (CROCKNACREEVE), County Fermanagh (AP FERMANAGH AND OMAGH 07) – 
F/026 
REGISTERED GRADE A 
Regency era demesne (170 acres/68ha) and villa located atop a drumlin 1.3 miles (2km) south- 
west of Ballinamallard and 1.5 miles (2.3km) north-east of St Angelo airport. Modest de novo 
house (Listed HB 12/16/034), described in 1834 as a ‘neat and handsome building’, was built in 
1817 for Captain John Johnston (1775-1831), Clerk of the Crown for Northwest Ulster. It remains 
substantially unaltered and comprises a three-bay two-storey over basement rectangular block 
facing south-east, with a single-storey over raised basement wing on its north-eastern flank. It has 
a shallow-pitched overhanging hipped roof with a large off-centre chimneystack and an off-centre 
entrance porch (a later addition). The 1830s Ordnance Survey Memoirs note ‘a small but very 
neat conservatory attached to the south side of the house’, which was demolished in the late 
1850s to make way for a canted bay. The house wing is linked to large square stable yard to the 
north, enclosed by two-storey ranges; those on the north have unrendered walls and dressed 
stone surrounds. To the rere of this yard is a freestanding L-plan range added in 1859 by Nicholas 

Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 
Archdale (1820-77) shortly after he bought the property. The kitchen garden occupies a roughly 
rectangular area (1.65 acres/0.7ha) lying 300ft (90m) south-west across the lawn from the house. 
In 1834 this garden was described as being ‘very handsome, well sheltered and kept in good 
order’; at its north end there is the remains of a two-storey garden house, now largely removed, 
which predated the 1830s. From the 1830s until the 1970s, the southern portion of this garden 
was under orchard; today the garden is under grass. The demesne, described in 1834 as being 
only 70 acres (28ha) was laid out in 1817 and its plantations were later described as making ‘very 
rapid growth’. Although subsequently enlarged, it otherwise remains remarkably little altered, 
comprising a meadow or ‘lawn’ in front of the house, enclosed by mature deciduous woodland 
screens; the kitchen garden is also enclosed by woodland and to the west, north west and north 
are mature deciduous woodland belts and blocks. To the south-east there is a further woodland 
block and parkland planting associated with the dower house, Brookville, added to the demesne 
in the 1840s; this is a substantial two-storey hipped roof house with rendered walls and a central 
recessed bay to front, the ground floor level of which is now covered by a large lean-to 
conservatory / porch. There are two carriage drive approaches to the house through the park; the 
main drive on the north side from the Enniskillen Road, and another from the south 
(Enniskillen/Mossfield Road), which also services Brookfield. Both have gate lodges; the latter on 
the south lies opposite the entrance gates, is a three-bay single-storey dwelling of c.1850, while 
that on the north is a ruined stucco single storey two bay dwelling c.1840 with pedimented 
portico supported on a pair of Doric columns; it has been suggested the latter is the work of 
architect J.B. Keane, one time assistant to Richard Morrison. The property was sold in 1901 by 
Edward Mervyn Archdale (1853-1943) to a local farmer, who in turn sold it in 1921 to Simon 
Christopher Loane (1883-1971), whose descendants remain. Private SMR FERM 192: 015 
(standing stone).