Monea Plantation Castle

17th Century Castle and Bawn

Monea castle is one of the finest examples of the counties plantation castles. Built for Malcolm Hamilton in the Scottish style from the western lowlands, the construction was completed in 1618/19. Hamilton, a Scotsman, was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Cashel from 1623 to 1629, he is buried in the cathedral at the Rock of Cashel. The bawn was added to the castle in 1622. This fortified house stands on land once held by the Macguires, the dominant Irish Clan in county Fermanagh. In 1641 the castle was taken by the Irish, led by Rory Macguire, before being retaken by the planters. In 1688 Gustavus Hamilton, the Governor of Enniskillen was in residence at Monea, sometime later the estate was sold by his son William Hamilton. There was a fire at the castle in the 18th century and it appears the castle was abandoned since.

The three storied fortified house is c.16.5 metres long from east to west and c.6 metres wide. Two huge semi-cylindrical towers, topped with cap-houses, flank the entrance at the west end of the building. The small cap-houses, or watch rooms, are carried on corbels and the gables are crow-stepped, a typical Scottish feature. Both of the towers have spiral staircases. The vaulted ground floor was used for storage and the first floor hall was the living quarters, on the upper floor were the private chambers. The castle is in the south-east corner of the rectangular bawn. There were two towers or flankers at the NE and NW corners of the bawn one of them was being used as a dovecote, see bottom each. The entrance to the bawn was in the north wall, close to the NW tower.