Attraction in County Fermanagh

Belleek Pottery in the small village of Belleek in County Fermanagh, right on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, is one of Ireland's oldest and most famous craft manufacturers, a producer of distinctive fine parian china and pottery that has been made in this border village since 1857. The pottery is celebrated internationally for its delicate basket-weave china decorated with flowers and shells and for the characteristic pale creamy glaze that gives Belleek its unique appearance, and its products have been collected by royalty, displayed in international exhibitions and exported across the world throughout its long history. The story of Belleek Pottery's founding is tied directly to the geological accident that placed the raw materials for fine pottery manufacture in this remote corner of Fermanagh. The discovery of feldspar, kaolin and other clay minerals in the area in the mid-nineteenth century provided the raw materials for a pottery industry, and the power of the River Erne flowing through the village provided the energy to drive the manufacturing process. John Caldwell Bloomfield, the local landlord, recognised the potential and established the pottery in partnership with London business interests, creating employment in an area that had been devastated by the Great Famine of the previous decade. The visitor experience at Belleek includes a tour of the working factory floor where visitors can watch the skilled craftspeople forming, decorating and glazing the pottery by hand using techniques that have remained largely unchanged since the Victorian period. The museum within the complex tells the story of the pottery's history and displays examples of its most celebrated pieces from across different periods of production. The extensive showroom and shop offer the full range of current production. The village of Belleek itself sits attractively on the River Erne and is a good base for exploring the Fermanagh lakelands, with Lough Erne and its numerous islands providing boat trips, fishing and the remarkable early Christian carvings of White Island and Boa Island within easy reach.

Devenish Island in Lower Lough Erne in County Fermanagh is one of the finest and most completely preserved early Christian monastic sites in Ireland, an island accessible by ferry from Trory Point whose combination of a twelfth-century round tower of exceptional quality, an Augustinian abbey of the same period, an earlier oratory and an elaborate high cross creates one of the most complete assemblages of early medieval ecclesiastical architecture available at any Irish island monastic site. The setting on the island in the beautiful landscape of Lough Erne adds considerable atmospheric quality to the visit. The round tower at Devenish, approximately 25 metres high and complete to its conical cap, is one of the finest and most completely preserved in Ireland, its stone staircase still intact within the tower and the carved decorative band that encircles the tower below the cap level providing one of the most elaborate examples of decorative stonework on any Irish round tower. The tower was built in the twelfth century on a monastery site traditionally founded by St Molaise in the sixth century, and the combination of the early medieval foundation and the twelfth-century architectural elaboration reflects the prosperity of Devenish as one of the most important monasteries in Ulster. The Augustinian abbey ruins, including the substantial remains of the church, the cloister and the residential buildings, provide the later medieval dimension to a site whose full span of ecclesiastical use from the sixth to the sixteenth century can be traced through the surviving architecture.

The Marble Arch Caves in County Fermanagh are the finest showcaves in Ireland and one of the most important cave systems in the British Isles, a complex of limestone caverns explored from 1895 onward that provides one of the most spectacular underground experiences in Ireland. The boat journey on the underground river through flooded passages provides the most memorable introduction to any show cave in the country. The caves form part of the Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark. The show cave experience begins with a boat journey through a flooded section of the cave system, the guide navigating the low passages above the underground river while the cave ceiling reflects in the still water below. The subsequent walk through the decorated caverns, with stalactites and stalagmites of considerable variety, provides a comprehensive tour of formations accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years. The Geopark encompasses the remarkable karst landscape of Cuilcagh Mountain, including the Cuilcagh boardwalk trail sometimes called the Stairway to Heaven for its dramatic ascent to the mountain plateau. The combination of caves and surface landscape creates one of the most complete geopark experiences in Ireland.