Florence Court Estate

Florence Court is an excellent example of mid-18th century Irish Palladian architecture near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The setting is beautiful, in the foothills of Cuilcagh Mountain, overlooking Benauglin Mountain, watered by River Larganess and River Finglass. The house is well known for exquisite Rococo plasterwork and Irish furniture. And it wasn’t open when I was there.

Florence Court house is set back in an enormous grassy field.

The Florence Court house is surrounded by a large 18th-century landscaped parkland. Much of it is grassy pasture. There is even a ha-ha, like in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park! A ha-ha is kinda like a wall, but only on one side. The top of the “wall” is level with the field on the other side. So that from the house you just see grass, but from the other side, it is a wall. Keeps the sheep off the front porch.

The Florence Court Walled Garden has lawns, a rose garden, waterside walks, orchards and a kitchen vegetable garden.

The Walled Garden provided all the fruit and vegetables for the house.

The landscaped Pleasure Grounds have well-thought-out paths winding through specimens of temperate and semi-tropical plants. The rhododendrons and azaleas were blooming in profusion for my visit.

I really came to Florence Court to  see the Heather House, a 19th-century orné  Summer House garden feature. The next post is all about this Summer House.

The Florencecourt Yew is the mother of all the Irish Yews. In 1740, farmer George Willis discovered unusually beautiful yew saplings on Cuilcagh Mountain. He brought back two, one for him and one as a gift for William Willoughby Cole who would later be made the 1st Earl of Enniskillen. Although Willis’ yew died in 1865, the Florencecourt Yew flourished. Cuttings were propagated and it became very popular, even commercialized. Irish Yews descended from the Florencecourt Yew can be found everywhere.

Victorian Technology

Florence Court was almost entirely self-sustained. The sawmill, carpenter’s workshop and Victorian hydraulic ram have been restored.

The restored water-powered sawmill and carpenter’s workshop help illustrate how mechanical innovations were used.  

The Victorian hydraulic ram was used to pump water uphill to the house.

Florence Court still has its ice house. The ice house has a deep pit, which was filled with ice cut from the river during the winter. It stayed frozen to preserve food and chill water year round. Dug deep into the earth, with thick stone walls and in a shaded forest location, ice could last all year.

“Ice houses… were constructed on the grounds of most large country houses throughout Ireland, in the days before refrigeration.

“Ice houses were mostly sited inside the walls of the demesne, within relatively easy access of the house. Although strictly functional in their use, some ice houses were clearly constructed to serve as visual features in the landscape. They were built mainly in the 18th and early 19th century’s, and… few remaining intact.

“Most of the examples to be found in Ireland are brick, domed or vaulted structures, either totally or partially submerged in the ground or the side of the hill… Entrances usually opened into a short vaulted passage, which led to a much larger chamber with a shallow domed roof and an inverted cone base, at the bottom of which the ice was stored. The structures were stocked by layers of ice from the pond or river beside which they were often sited…”

The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland, James Howley

“The Palladian layout was not necessarily confined to new houses, and some older buildings were given a Palladian dress, chiefly by the addition of pavilion linked to the house by curtain walls. This was done at Florence Court, Co. Fermanagh – one of the most beautiful houses in Ulster and now in the care of the National Trust – when, about 1770, pedimented pavilions were attached to the house by graceful arcades topped by balustrades.”

The Houses of Ireland (A Studio Book)
Brian de Breffny, Rosemary ffolliot, George Mott

Next: Florence Court Heather House >