The ruin of "Old" Castle Archdale sits on the eastern shore of Lough Erne, built in 1615 for John Archdale who hailed from Suffolk. He came to Ulster under the Plantation scheme.

The Castle was built as an English style castle or fortified strong house; a three storey house in a T-shaped plan built within the bawn wall. The bawn was made from lime and stone with three flankers each five metres high. The flankers and almost all the house have gone and what remains seems to date from the rebuilding after 1641.

Destroyed by Rory Maguire in 1641, the Castle was rebuilt and inhabited until 1689 when it was burnt out and abandoned.

In later years, Colonel Mervyn Archdale built the largest Palladian house in Fermanagh on the Castle Archdale site in 1773, with a 6-bay entrance front.

During the Second World War, Castle Archdale was a major RAF base, housing up to 2,500 people. Catalinas and Short Sunderlands flew from Castle Archdale to protect Atlantic shipping from German U-boats. The RAF kept it until 1957. The house was derelict by 1959 and finally demolished in 1970.

All that remains of the manor house now is its site, paved and ballustraded; however, the grand farm courtyard remains well preserved behind it.