Monea Castle

Monea Castle is approached along a beech lined avenue through the Castletown demesne. It is situated close to a crannog and is the site of a former castle built by Hugh ‘the Hospitable’ Maguire. Here Hugh lived for many years. Tradition tells that once a year he held a great meeting at Monea. He later went on to build a castle at Enniskillen.

The present Plantation Castle has been rightly referred to as: ‘the most complete and best preserved of all the Plantation castles of Ulster.’ Commenced in 1616 by the Rector of the parish, Reverend Malcolm Hamilton, later Archbishop of Cashel; by 1619 it was described as ‘a strong castle of lime and stone being 54 feet long and 20 feet broad.’

The design of Monea reflects the Scottish origins of its builder.The bawn comprised a wall nine feet in height, and 300 feet in circuit was added in 1623. The outer shell of the Castle remains reasonably intact. One can see clearly that the Castle had three main floors. The massive semi-cylindrical towers, flanking the entrance at the west-end, have survived. The towers are corbelled out at the attic-floor level to carry diagonally placed square caphouses with crow-stepped gable roofs.