Lisnaskea

Near the water, not on it

Lewis places Lisnaskea on the Enniskillen road in Aghalurcher parish, with Lough Erne approaching within about a quarter of a mile at Lake Head. He proposed a canal to bring boats up to the town. ^[2]

Produce from a lake district

The market drew corn, butter, linen and yarn from the inhabited islands of Lough Erne. Lewis describes a market house, stores, savings bank and hotel within a settlement of fewer than one hundred houses. ^[2]

The Balfours and the Plantation town

Lisnaskea’s seventeenth-century development was closely connected with the Balfour family. Queen’s University Belfast’s archaeological report describes the transfer of the Fermanagh estates from Michael Balfour of Burleigh to his brother James, followed by a royal regrant in 1620. A National Library of Ireland manuscript catalogue also records a 1618 warrant confirming castles and lands to James. These are specific documents in the formation of the Plantation estate. ^{[3] [4]}

Castle Balfour survives beside Holy Trinity Church as the strongest architectural reminder of that period. An archaeological monitoring report identifies it as an early-seventeenth-century building of Sir James Balfour. The castle, subsequent village and wider lake district represent successive and overlapping uses of the same landscape. ^{[3] [5]}