Farmyard, Castletown House, Monea, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, BT93 7AR

Farmyard complex, Castletown House demesne, Monea, County Fermanagh. Constructed between 1860 and 1879, almost certainly associated with the building of the present main house by John Dawson Brien around 1869. Privately owned and still in use as farm buildings. The complex is also a scheduled monument. It forms a fine range of outbuildings with both intrinsic architectural and historic worth, and group value with the other listed structures within this important demesne.

The farmyard lies immediately to the north of the domestic yard, extending further to the west. Its boundaries are formed by a combination of agricultural buildings, walls, and lean-to structures, described in detail below.

BARN

A two-storey, single-bay building aligned west to east, enclosing the south-west corner of the farmyard. It has a pitched artificial slate roof with a stone bellcote to the east gable; the bell remains in place and is rung by a chain hanging in the passageway of the abutting carriage house. The south elevation contains an entrance door and a small window. The west gable is abutted by the cart house. The east gable is abutted by the carriage house belonging to the domestic yard, and is blank above. The north elevation is blank except for a tongue-and-groove sheeted loading door at first floor level, set right of centre.

CART HOUSE

The cart house encloses the south-west end of the farmyard and has a pitched roof aligned west to east. It is mostly artificially slated, except at the extreme west end. The south wall is blank. The west gable has a doorway and a window opening at ground floor level. The north wall is abutted at its centre by an open lean-to with a mono-pitched artificial slate roof; to the left end of this lean-to is a large opening, and to the right end is a semi-elliptical headed opening. At first floor level there is a tongue-and-groove sheeted loading door at the right end, served by steps on the calf house (described below). The east gable is abutted by the barn.

CALF HOUSE

This building encloses the west end of the farmyard. It is two-storey and two-bay, aligned north to south. The east (front) elevation has a window and a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to each bay at ground floor level; the left door is now gone, and both windows are blocked by corrugated plastic sheeting. The north gable has a small opening in the gable apex and is abutted at ground floor level by a metal fuel tank on a concrete plinth; the north-east corner has a rounded stone bollard protecting it. The west (rear) elevation has a modern steel three-over-three window set to the left of centre at ground floor level. The south gable has twelve stone steps leading up to a doorway (door now gone) in the gable; the topmost step forms a platform linking this building to the first floor right doorway of the barn.

LEAN-TO

This building encloses the western part of the north boundary of the farmyard and is aligned west to east. It has a natural slate lean-to roof supported on three cast-iron posts along its open south face. The gable ends are in rubble stone. The right gable is blank. The left gable is also blank and is abutted by a single-bay doghouse.

DOG HOUSE

A small structure with a natural slate lean-to roof. It has two small openings at ground level giving into small kennels, and one opening above at centre.

ANIMAL HOUSE

A small two-storey outbuilding aligned north to south on the north side of the farmyard. Its stonework is more finely dressed than that of the other outbuildings. The south gable of this building forms the north boundary of the farmyard. Immediately to its west, between it and the lean-to, are seven stone steps rising to an opening fitted with a flat iron gate. The south gable has a central tongue-and-groove door accessed by four similar steps. A rubble stone wall continues east at ground floor level, enclosing the farmyard and containing a doorway into a small enclosed yard to the north. The west elevation is blank, and ground level rises towards the north end. The north gable is embanked with earth to the lower half of ground floor level and has a doorway to first floor centre, accessed by five steps up from the east; the wall here continues east at ground floor level enclosing the small yard. The east elevation has a louvred window opening at ground floor left; to the right of centre is a doorway, and beyond it a second window opening; at first floor right there is a window opening.

PIG STY

A narrow one-and-a-half-storey, two-bay pigsty aligned north to south, enclosing part of the east boundary of the farmyard. It is now roofless. The west wall of the north bay fronts the small yard of the animal house and has a number of doorways. The west face of the south bay has two enclosed pig pens, each with small doorways; the enclosing walls of these pens are now collapsed. The north gable is blank. The east elevation is blank and forms part of the boundary of the vegetable garden. The south gable has a doorway accessed by a partially collapsed flight of steps. Running south from this gable is a rubble wall linking to the shed; this wall contains a pair of large flat iron gates.

SHED

A single-storey, single-bay structure set immediately south of the pigsty, helping to enclose the east side of the farmyard. It has a pitched natural slate roof aligned west to east, with a red brick chimney. The south elevation is blank. The west gable has a pair of large tongue-and-groove sheeted doors in a single opening. The north elevation is blank. The east gable is blank and forms part of the west boundary of the vegetable garden. The boundary wall continues from here to enclose the remainder of the farmyard and has a single iron gate giving access to the vegetable garden.

Also within the demesne are three single-bay animal sheds to the north-west of the farmyard — two in stone and one in concrete blockwork — all with pitched natural slate roofs. To the north of the farmyard are a timber-framed hut and a Dutch barn. There is a former gate lodge to the west drive, now much altered, and a second gate lodge to the north drive has been demolished.

Historical context

Monea Castle is a Plantation structure dating from 1619 and is one of the most intact 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 burnt down in 1750, on the site of the current house. The Manor of Monea was purchased in 1790 by a Mr J. Brien of Stralongford, County Tyrone, who held a number of estates across 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 was erected in 1802 by "Lieutenant J. Brien" — a datestone from this building is now in the domestic yard. Captain John Brien married Charlotte Dawson in 1814, and their son John Dawson Brien was born in 1815 and inherited the estate in 1856. John Dawson Brien 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 is at this time that he built the current main house. He died in 1881, and his wife Francis (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 continued to live 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 then passed 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 there 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 current demesne with a lodge and main driveway to the north. There is no west lodge at this date, 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 is cruciform in plan, with a range of T-planned outbuildings to its north. The flower and vegetable gardens and their associated buildings are shown immediately to the east of the complex.

The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857 shows the west lodge in place, with the west driveway now as the main approach. The former schoolhouse is no longer labelled, and a national school is shown outside the demesne to the north-west. The tree-lined driveway to the old castle is now shown. The outbuildings to the north of the house are more numerous and the farmyard is more clearly defined.

The current Ordnance Survey map, revised in 1963, shows that the north lodge (now demolished) was rectangular with a small return on its north end. According to Dean, both lodges were built around 1860; he records that the single-storey west lodge had 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 erection of the present main house, the rear returns — part of the original Monea Cottage — are L-planned, suggesting that the east and south wings of the cruciform cottage were demolished for the construction of the present house around 1870. Pieces of masonry frieze and cornice that now cope the wall of the west drive and the wall of the flower garden may have been removed from the demolished portions of Monea Cottage.