Castles by the Erne by Marie Maguire is an authoritative and accessible guide which should be of great interest both to those who would like to know more about their past and to visitors exploring Fermanagh's lakeland. In no other part of Ireland are castles and forts of the Ulster Plantation to be found in such numbers as by the shores of Upper and Lower Lough Erne. Almost all of these fortifications - some half-ruined and others in a remarkable state of preservation - are in beautiful and romantic settings, as the well - selected illustrations demonstrate.

This highly readable guide introduces us to a momentous and turbulent period in our history when Ulster was conquered and colonised in one of the most ambitious projects of its kind ever undertaken in western Europe.

(Jonathan Bardon - Author of the acclaimed "A History of Ulster")



Marie Maguire was born in Wicklow and early schooldays were spent in NW Ireland (Donegal, Tyrone & Fermanagh) prior to attending the Methodist College Belfast. She is a graduate of the Queen's University of Belfast and the University of London.

Hospital appointments included Edinburgh, Cambridge and London and, on return to Northern Ireland, the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast & the Queen's University of Belfast. Dr Maguire established a Regional Drug Information Service (now the Northern Ireland Regional Medicines & Poisons Information Service). A Churchill Fellowship provided an opportunity to study drug information services in the USA.

Research interests include Drug Information Studies with publications in professional journals and presentations at European and International meetings.

She undertook a computer course at the INTEC Centre, Enniskillen, in association with the University of Ulster (Magee College), which required as part fulfilment, a project presented on disc and hardcopy. This project, Castles by the Erne, has since been adapted for presentation on the web.


March 2001


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