One of Ireland’s finest plantation castles

This site was originally the stronghold of the Maguire Clan whose outline of a crannog can still be seen at the shoreline. Monea Castle was built for Rev. Malcolm Hamilton Archbishop of Cashel in 1618.  The Plantation of Ulster began in the early 1600s as an attempt to take control of the troublesome province of Ulster. After the Flight of the Earls in 1607, King James began to confiscate the lands and grant them to mainly English and Scottish settlers who found themselves in hostile territory. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the castle was attacked and 8 protestants were killed by the forces of Rory Maguire. It was then occupied by Gustav Hamilton, the Governor of Enniskillen whose family sold the estate in 1704. A few decades later the castle was gutted by fire and subsequently abandoned. This is the largest and best-preserved of the plantation castles in Fermanagh and one of the finest in the country

Thanks to Rod Piker DronesUK for more amazing drone footage