[Extracts from the Enniskillen list by Hugh Dixon, published by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 1973 (reprinted 1974).]
Enniskillen Castle has a building history stretching back for
more than five centuries. The present castle yard retains much
of the atmosphere of the barrack which Lt. Chaytor, the Ordnance
Surveyor, visited in 1834. In the centre of the yard, topped by
two, parallel, hipped roofs, stands the Keep, the oldest building.
Around this, buildings and perimeter walls of various dates mark
out the limits of the ancient castle ward. To the south, with
its two, long, cone-capped bartizans, is the Water Gate. Connected
to this and running north westward along the line of the water
is a two-storey range with coach arches. Another two-storey range
forms the straight northern edge of the yard west of the gate.
The block to the east of the gate, which has had zig-zag modifications
on the ground floor, is not shown on the first Ordnance Survey
but must date from soon after (c.1840). On the east side the buildings,
which are set perpendicular to, rather than parallel with, the
wall, are less regular and, with the exception of the vaulted
magazine, less interesting. Until the eighteenth century the Castle
was defended on this side by 'a doble diche of deepe water' which
continued round the north side along the present line of Wellington
Place to meet the river again. Thus the Castle stood on its own
island: and could only be entered across a draw-bridge which must
have been sited near the present gates.
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The Water Gate is the most distinctive feature of the castle,
and also the one which has caused most puzzlement. It is a section
of parapet wall about twenty feet wide, topped with double-stepped,
Irish battlements and flanked by two two-storey bartizans supported
on corbels and capped with sandstone cones. Two symmetrical vertical
slits beneath the battlements suggest the former use of some kind
of draw-bridge or portcullis lifting-gear, but no satisfactory
evidence has yet been presented that there ever was an entrance
at this point. Indeed, the discovery of a well beneath the west
slit seems to suggest exactly the contrary. It may be that the
Water Gate is just an elaborate flanker. It is supposed, on fairly
thin evidence, to have been built by Chonnacht Og Maguire, who
resided at the castle from 1566 until 1589; it does not, however,
appear with certainty on any of the early views, and is surely
too significant a structure to have escaped Thomas' detailed drawings
of 1594. Having a height of over forty feet, it would have towered
over the 'barbegan wall' which he found to be 'in hi'th 14 foote'
and would have rivalled the fifty-six feet of the Keep (taller
then than now). The unavoidable conclusion seems to be that the
Water Gate was built after 1594 and taking into account the repeated
destructions of the late sixteenth century, probably after 1607,
when William Cole took permanent possession Cole's building activity
has already been mentioned. Could the Water Gate not be part of
that 'fair strong wall ... 26 foot high with flankers, a parapet,
and a walk'? An independant stylistic analysis of the building
might reach the same conclusion. The detailed carving of the window
mouldings and their cornices relates to contemporary developments
in Scotland in the assimilation of classical style. Moreover,
the carving of the corbelling is so like that at Castle Balfour,
Lisnaskea, firmly dated to 1618, as to suggest that they might
be by closely related hands.
Refs: Rogers, pp.ll6 117; Castle Museum folder (1969); Notes
by J.W. Charlton (1953-4); Trimble, I, pp.271-2; British Museum:
Ms. Cotton Augustus I(ii)39; Public Record Office, London Ms.
MPF 80; P.S.A.M.N.I. pp.162-3; Ancient Monuments of Northern Ireland,
II, pp.53 4; P.R.O.N.I. T1668/32; Map c.1550 (original in Library
T.C.D.) T1668/19; John Speede's printed view 1610.
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