Exterior Back

It was a Scottish planter, Sir James Balfour, later Lord Balfour, who built an impressive castle here around 1618 – one of many castles designed to secure King James’s Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. The castle was part of a much larger complex being constructed by Balfour, which also included a bawn, servants’ quarters, and a church.

Like many of the Plantation castles in County Fermanagh, the architecture is Scottish ‘strong-house’ in style with several turrets and corbelled projections. The building is thought to be the work of Lowland Scots masons as opposed to most of the other plantation castles which were built by local Irish tradesmen. 

Around 1780, Castle Balfour was passed on to the Creightons of Crom, after the Balfours left Fermanagh. The last person to possess and inhabit the Castle was James Haire (1737-1833) who leased the castle from Earl Erne. 

Today, the well-preserved ruins of this Scottish Plantation Castle, located adjacent to a Church of Ireland graveyard, are in State Care.