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Sir Francis Blennerhasset was granted an estate on a peninsula at the western
end of Lower Lough Erne and between 1613 and 1619 built a 'strong bawn and
stone house'.
In 1671 the estate was sold to Sir James Caldwell, a wealthy Enniskillen merchant.
On the death of Sir James Caldwell, the 6th Baronet, the house passed to his
son-in-law J.C.Bloomfield. A descendant of this family was the co-founder
of the Belleek Pottery which became world famous for its fine Parian china.
It remained with the Bloomfield family until it was burnt down early in the
20th century. The walls are now overgrown with ivy and it is difficult to
distinguish the original structure.
Since 1913 the Forestry Commission has owned the estate, which contains four ruined buildings.
>The most common mode of transport around Lough Erne in the 18th century for the Caldwell family would have been the family barge. A giant stone fiddle 1.5m high set against a ruined Gothic gate lodge on the estate records the death by drowning of one Denis McCabe and is inscribed -
To the
memory
Of
Denis McCabe
Fiddler
who fell out of the
St Partick Barge belonging
to
Sir James Caldwell Bart.
and Count of Milan, &
was drowned off this
Point August Ye 13
1770
Beware
ye fiddlers of the fiddlers fate,
Nor tempt the deep lest ye repent too late,
Ye ever have been deemed to water foes,
Then shun the lake till it with whiskey flows,
On firm land only exercise your skill,
There you may play, and drink your fill.
The stone
violin stands as a constant reminder to us all whether we are fiddlers or
not.
