Domestic Yard, Castletown House, Monea, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, BT93 7AR

Domestic Yard, Castletown House, Monea

This fine range of outbuildings, dating from the second half of the 19th century, sits immediately to the north of the rear returns of Castletown House. The yard holds considerable architectural and historic merit in its own right and has strong group value with the other listed structures within this important demesne.

The yard itself is limestone-flagged at its south-east end, which sits at a lower ground level. A curving limestone retaining wall with four steps leads up to the remainder of the yard, which is finished in concrete. The yard is wider than the house, and to either side of the rear of the house a wall with a tongue-and-groove sheeted door separates the yard from the areas beyond. The eastern of these two walls is coped with moulded cornice and frieze blocks — matching those on the front gates — which are presumed to have been salvaged from a former structure. The yard is entered from its north-west corner.

It is enclosed on the east by the woodshed and the dairy, on the west by a stable block, and on the north by a carriage house. All the outbuildings share a consistent character: pitched natural slate roofs, square limestone rubble walls finished in lime dash (partially exposed), and an advanced masonry eaves course.

Woodshed

This single-storey, single-bay structure runs west to east. Its western end is open, with a tongue-and-groove head to the gable above. The eastern gable is blank and canted at an angle. The south wall has a tongue-and-groove shuttered window opening, and the north wall is blank, abutted by the south gable of the dairy.

Dairy

This single-storey, two-bay building runs north to south. Its south gable partially abuts the north wall of the woodshed. A brick chimney sits on the ridge between the two bays. The south gable has a wide tongue-and-groove door to the centre, an infilled loading door above it, and a similar narrow ventilator to the left. The west wall has a four-paned casement window to the north bay and a six-over-six sliding sash window to the south bay. The north gable has a small tongue-and-groove sheeted loading door. The east elevation has a doorway (the door itself is now gone) and forms part of the western boundary of the flower garden.

Stable Block

This is a two-storey, three-bay building running north to south. The north bay is a later addition, evident from its slightly different roof pitch. There is a chimney to the north gable and plastic rainwater goods. The south gable is blank apart from a louvred vent at first-floor level.

On the east elevation, at the extreme left end, is a steel casement window with a brick reveal. To its right, the wall separating the yard from the front garden abuts the building. Immediately inside the domestic yard is a pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted half-doors — modern reproductions — with a loose timber canopy over them. Above, set slightly to the right at first-floor level, is a small tongue-and-groove sheeted loading door. To the right of centre bay is a wide double-leaf tongue-and-groove sheeted door with a cottage latch; to its left is a six-over-six sliding sash window with horns and a granite cill. Between these two openings, at first-floor level, is a further tongue-and-groove sheeted loading door. The north bay on the right has a six-over-six exposed box sliding sash window set at a slightly higher cill level. The west (rear) elevation has vertical vents at both ground- and first-floor levels, with a modern metal casement window to the right of centre at ground-floor level.

Carriage House

This block runs west to east and has no chimney. On the south elevation, the left end has an enclosed passageway leading to the farmyard. To its right is a pair of large modern tongue-and-groove doors with a timber lintel. To the centre is a pair of modern top-hung sliding tongue-and-groove sheeted doors. At the right end are a door and two windows: the door is tongue-and-groove sheeted; to its right is a six-over-six exposed box sliding sash; and beyond that is a small timber casement window. At ground-floor level there is a small freestanding plaque reading "Erected by Lieutenant / John Brien / in the year 1800", which was taken from the former schoolhouse on the estate. The west gable of the carriage house is abutted by a barn. The east gable has a four-paned casement window in the gable. The rear (north) elevation fronts the farmyard. At the right end is a round-headed tongue-and-groove sheeted door serving the passage into the domestic yard, and at the left end is a small square casement window.

Immediately to the north of the domestic yard lies the farmyard.

Historical Context

Monea Castle is a Plantation structure dating from 1619 and is among the most intact examples of its type in Ulster. The castle, its garden, and its tree-lined avenue are scheduled monuments. Monea Cottage was erected to replace the castle after it burned down in 1750, on the site of what is now Castletown House.

The Manor of Monea was purchased in 1790 by Mr J. Brien of Stralongford, County Tyrone, who held a number of estates in the province. On his death in 1811 it passed to his fourth son, Captain John Brien (born 1776). It is possible that Captain Brien was already resident on the estate, as the old schoolhouse carries a datestone recording its erection in 1802 by "Lieutenant J. Brien" — that datestone now rests in the domestic yard. Captain John Brien married Charlotte Dawson in 1814, and their son John Dawson Brien was born in 1815, inheriting the estate in 1856. It was John Dawson Brien who built two gate lodges around 1860, one to the west and one to the north. In 1869 he became High Sheriff and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Fermanagh, and it was at around this time that the current main house was built, circa 1870. He died in 1881, and his widow Frances (née Smith) had the local Church of Ireland church, St Molaise, rebuilt in his memory. A plaque in the church reads: "To the Glory of God / and in affectionate memory of / John Dawson Brien / Castletown / This church was erected / by his widow / and his two surviving sisters / 1890." Mrs Brien remained in the house until her death in 1917.

The estate was due to pass to John Henry Loftus Reade, but he had died in Flanders in 1914. It passed instead to the Brien family; their two eldest sons had also died in the First World War, and the house was inherited by one of their sisters. She lived in the house until her death around 1974, when it passed to the present owner. The demesne has not been sold since its purchase in 1790.

The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 shows the demesne with a lodge and main driveway to the north. No western lodge appears, but a schoolhouse is marked to the north of the driveway. There is no driveway running south to the original castle. The house is marked "Monea Cottage" and shown as cruciform in plan, with a range of T-planned outbuildings to its north; the flower and kitchen gardens and their associated buildings are shown immediately to the east of the complex. The second edition map of 1857 shows the western lodge and the main driveway now being the western one; the former schoolhouse is no longer labelled, and a national school appears outside the demesne to the north-west. By this date the demesne has a tree-lined driveway to the old castle, the outbuildings north of the house are more numerous, and the farmyard is more clearly defined. The current Ordnance Survey map, revised in 1963, shows the northern lodge — now gone — as having been rectangular with a small return on its north end.

Dean records that both lodges were built around 1860 and provides plans of the single-storey western lodge, which has a hipped L-planned roof with a gable to the return, small segmental-headed windows, and a door on its north elevation. This building was much altered and extended around 1979.

Following the construction of the main house, its rear returns — part of the original Monea Cottage — are L-planned, suggesting that the east and south wings of the cruciform cottage were demolished to make way for the present house around 1870. The pieces of masonry frieze and cornice that cope the wall of the western drive and the wall of the flower garden may have been removed from the demolished portions of Monea Cottage at that time.