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Published: April 3rd 2007
On the 31st Dave, Chris, Johnny and Neil and I went to Enniskillen for the weekend. Enniskillen is in the County of Fermanagh and was a couple hours from where we have been staying. The town of Enniskillen is actually an island and is between the Upper and Lower Lough Erne lakes. The town is connected with bridges to get from one side of the island to the other. We left Saturday afternoon and once arriving found us a place to stay, then headed to a Pub for drinks and supper.
The next day we rented a boat for the afternoon to cruise around the Lower Lough Erne. There are 90 islands on the Lough Erne and most of them are ancient religious sites. Our little boat was no speed demon; it took us all afternoon to travel 5 miles and back! We stopped on Devenish Island which is the biggest of the religious islands. The remains of an Augustinian monastery dated from the 6th century are still there. There is also a 12th century round tower which was used by the monks to call everyone for prayer times. The island was founded by St. Molaise’s, who is buried
Devenish Island
The medieval tomb cover. there. It was pretty interesting walking around; there were also a couple old graveyards on the island. After that we took the boat into Enniskillen, then back to where we had to drop it off. We had some supper, and then headed back to the farm.
On the April 3rd Irene took us for a drive to see some local points of interest in County Down. We went to Scrabo Country Park to see a Memorial Tower built in 1857 in honour of the third marquess of Londonderry (don’t ask me what that means!). We also went to Stormont, which is the Parliament building for Northern Ireland. It was built in the 30s and during the War it was covered in horse manure to hide it from being bombed! It would have taken a lot of crap for that job! The inside of the building is built from marble from Italy and the ceilings are painted with a special paint that doesn’t fade. Unfortunately the man who developed this paint died before he could pass on his secret! There is also a 22 karat gold chandelier that weighs a ton that hangs in the main hall as you walk
Devenish Island
The ruins of the old church. into the building. It was originally a gift to the Queen, from a German, but once the war started it was decided that the gift should be taken down since they were fighting Germany. It was put in storage, then after the war they gave it to Stormont. England asked for it back at one stage, but Northern Ireland said no, so it still hangs in Stormont!
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