- Portora Castle
Portora Castle is a castle in
Enniskillen ,County Fermanagh ,Northern Ireland . The castle was built for Sir William Cole who purchased the land in1612 . It is strategically positioned by the narrow exit of theRiver Erne into theLower Lough Erne . It is a State Care Historic Monument sited in thetownland of Portora, inFermanagh District Council area, at grid ref: H2221 4531. [cite web | title=Portora Castle | work=Environment and Heritage Service NI - State Care Historic Monuments | url=http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/state_care_monuments_2007.pdf | accessdate=2007-12-03]Features
In
1619 Nicholas Pynnar described the castle as 'a bawn of lime and stone, 2.5m square, approximately 4m high, with four flankers and a stone house or castle three storeys high, strongly wrought'. Three of the flankers remain, the two on the west, flanking the walls of the castle. These round towers, about 3m in diameter, have several gun loops. Inside the castle can be seen proper fireplace chimneys in the north and west walls.History
Sir Michael Cole and his family moved to Portora Castle in
1710 when their previous residence,Enniskillen Castle , was hit by fire. They remained there until about 1716, when Sir Michael's son, John Cole (1680-1726), started buildingFlorence Court .The ford at Portora was important in the Erne Waterways and must have seen considerable traffic in peace and war. In the course of the
Erne Drainage Scheme (1951-1960) a bronze dirk and stone axes were recovered at this point. The castle is now in ruins partly because a group of truanting school-boys from nearbyPortora Royal School , experimenting with gunpowder, blew up a section in the latter part of the 19th century. They also tried digging under the building which added to its dereliction.See also
*
Castles in Northern Ireland References
External links
* [http://www.citynoise.org/article/6901 Pictures of Portora Castle]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
