Castle Caldwell Forest

Heritage

The ruins of Castle Caldwell are undoubtedly the most striking feature within Castle Caldwell Forest. Built in 1612 as part of the Plantation of Ulster by Sir Francis Blennerhasset, the name of the castle actually comes from James Caldwell, an Enniskillen merchant who purchased the estate in 1662. Sir James Caldwell spent a further £16,000 building, ‘a most comfortable good house, a very large court of excellent offices, …two very large walled gardens with fish ponds, a beautiful temple built on the Black Rock glazed with painted glass’, Caldwell Castle the Beautiful Seat of Sir James Caldwell in Ireland. F. Newbery, London (1780).

During the 1840s the Caldwell family fortune declined, leading to the entire estate, including the village of Belleek, being passed to John Caldwell Bloomfield. It was Bloomfield who commissioned a geological survey of the estate, revealing rich mineral deposits of Feldspar and Kaolin (China clay). These minerals are important raw materials used in the production of fine China and so Bloomfield capitalised on his good fortune by founding the now world-famous Belleek Pottery.

The industrial-scale lime kiln on site highlights the importance of the local limestone, once frequently fired in the kiln to produce quicklime, and taken by barge to Belleek Pottery.

Although the castle was eventually abandoned in the 1900’s, if local ghost stories are to be believed, the ruins are still haunted by Dennis McCabe, a fiddler who drowned after falling off the Caldwell family barge. A copy of the fiddler’s gravestone with its amusing inscription can be seen at the main entrance to the forest.

The first part of the Beech Wood Walk is along the peninsula shore that would have been submerged by water up until the 1880’s when the lowering of Lower Lough Erne (by approximately 3m) exposed new land and new habitats developed. The path follows the new foreshore which is populated by alder and willow trees, whilst higher up on the banks oak and beech trees indicate the former water’s edge.

Another interesting feature which may be found at the eastern tip of the peninsula is the wall of the old strategic defence fort of Rossergole Point. This fortification no doubt played a vital role in protecting and controlling trade along this route.

You may even catch a glimpse of some of the shy woodland mammals that inhabit this beautiful place such as the pine marten. The varied habitats within the forest and along this shoreline have attracted many types of birds, including many species of water birds and songbirds.