Florence Court is a large 18th-century house and estate located south-west of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is set in the foothills of Cuilcagh Mountain. The nearby village is distinguished by the one-word name Florencecourt. It is owned and managed by the National Trust and is the sister property of nearby Castle Coole. The other National Trust property in County Fermanagh is the Crom Estate.

History

thumb|200px|Florence Wrey (died 1718), daughter of Sir Bourchier Wrey, 4th Baronet (c. 1653–1696) by his wife Florence Rolle. She was the wife of John Cole of Enniskillen, builder of Florence Court, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Her grandmother was one of the earliest English women to bear the name, Florence Rolle (1630–1705), the daughter and heiress of [[Denys Rolle (1614–1638)|Denys Rolle (1614–1638), of Stevenstone and Bicton in Devon. Collection of National Trust, Florence Court]]

The history of the building of Florence Court is subject to conjecture and the current house was built in at least two, if not three, phases. The first house on the site was built by John Cole (1680–1726) and named after his wife Florence Bourchier Wrey (died 1718). She was the daughter of Sir Bourchier Wrey, 4th Baronet (c. 1653–1696) of Tawstock, Devon. An anonymous history of Fermanagh written in 1718 describes John Cole's house as being 'very costly and sumptuous' but in 1739 Rev. William Henry described this building as being 'but small, being only the left wing of a grand building, designed by Mr Cole, which he did not live to execute'.

The architects of the current house are unknown.

The baroque plasterwork in the library and study at the front of the house appear to date from an earlier period to the rich rococo plasterwork in the dining room, drawing room and stair hall on the western side of the house, and the floorboards in these two rooms differ in width from those elsewhere in the house. It is conjectured that the central block may have been completed in two phases, with the rooms at the back of the house, along with the Venetian room, finished by 1764, when John Cole's son, Lord Mount Florence, held a famous housewarming party. Major improvements were made on the estate c. 1778–80. These included the landscaping of the park by William King and his laying out of the new drive, and the building of the Grand Gates.

Florence Court was the seat of the Earls of Enniskillen until 1973. John Henry Michael Cole, 5th Earl of Enniskillen transferred the house and fourteen acres surrounding it to the National Trust in 1953. In 1955 a devastating fire destroyed the upper floors of the house. Sir Albert Richardson was entrusted with leading the National Trust's restoration and extensive efforts have since returned Florence Court to much of its former glory. Some rooms on the upper floors, however, remain closed.

Description

The house features exquisite Rococo decoration. It also features fine Irish furniture, many pieces of which were acquired for the property by the National Trust and others loaned from other Irish houses. The majority of the original furnishings were removed when the Cole family moved to Perthshire in 1973 but many were returned at the bequest of Nancy Cole, Dowager Countess of Enniskillen on her death in 1998.

Gardens

Pleasure Garden

The expansive pleasure garden was landscaped in the mid-19th century, with panoramic views of Benaughlin and Cuilcagh mountains. It features Victorian specimen trees and displays of both temperate and semi-tropical plants, principally rhododendrons.

Summer House

Also known as the heather house. The present structure is a reconstruction of an 18th-century thatched summer house. It is located on a prominent spot at the top of the pleasure garden, with views of the garden and Benaughlin mountain.

The structure was rebuilt by the National Trust in the late-1980s to designs based on 19th-century photographs of the feature. The foundation and cobbled floor are the only parts of the 18th-century structure that remain. In 2015 the summer house was burnt to the ground by vandals. It was rebuilt in 2016, with a significant proportion of the funding for the project raised from the local community.

Florence Court Yew

The most notable tree on the estate is the Florence Court Yew. This specimen is survivor of the two original Irish Yew (Taxus baccata 'fastigiata') saplings discovered in 1767 by local farmer George Willis on Cuilcagh mountain. As the Irish Yew can be propagated only from cuttings, this tree is the progenitor of almost all Irish Yews worldwide.

The yew is located within the site of the John Cole's early 18th-century gardens, approximately one mile southeast of the house. These formerly extensive gardens are now largely lost with the exception of the surviving remains of the 18th-century rock garden, located opposite the yew. The rock garden formerly contained stone tables and chairs but is currently overgrown.

Walled Garden

The four acre walled garden was laid out in the 18th century and extended in the 1870s by Charlotte, Countess of Enniskillen. It features a rose garden, two ponds, orchards of heirloom variety fruit trees and a working vegetable garden. The 1870s Rose Cottage on the western edge of the garden was formerly the head gardener's dwelling. It was restored from a derelict condition in the 1990s and is now let as a holiday cottage. In September 2017 a National Trust project to restore the garden to its 1930s condition was awarded a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project includes plans to rebuild two long glass houses that formerly ran along the length of the north wall.

The tennis courts behind the north wall were replaced by Forestry Service offices in the 1970s.

Cane Cottage

An 18th-century cottage built from bamboo was formerly located west of the house. It served as a tea house but fell into disrepair during the second half of the 20th century and was demolished in the 1970s.

Lady Well

The Lady Well is a natural spring well located approximately three quarters of a mile east of the house at the bottom of the Broad Meadow.

Park

Landscape

The 18th-century landscaped park is framed by Benauglin and Cuilcagh mountains.

thumb|left|Florence Court estate in early autumn; nestled in the foothills of [[Cuilcagh Mountain]]

The fire was only one of a series of events in the 1950s and 60s at Florence Court which marked the end of an era for the house and family. Following World War II falling agricultural prices, rising wage costs, death duties and a drastic reduction of the size of the demesne, the lifestyle of the 5th Earl of Enniskillen and his second wife Mary (née Nevill), was increasingly difficult to sustain. To secure the long-term future of the house, Lord Enniskillen gave Florence Court to the National Trust in 1953. It was opened to the public the following year.

In 1956, the 5th Earl's only son and heir Michael, Viscount Cole, died suddenly aged 36; he was unmarried. In 1961, as the restoration of the house was nearing completion, Hurricane Debbie devastated the estate. In 1963, the 5th Earl and his wife, Lady Enniskillen, died within three months of each other.

The 5th Earl, upon his death, was succeeded by his nephew, Captain David Lowry Cole, (1918–1989), in 1963, who became the 6th Earl of Enniskillen. David Enniskillen (as he was popularly known) had spent much of his life in the Colony of Kenya, having been elected a member of the Legislative Council of Kenya in the early 1960s, just before independence. In 1955, he was divorced from his first wife Sonia (née Syers), stepdaughter of his uncle the 5th Earl (who died in 1963 with his wife, Sonia's mother). By her, he had issue: one son and one daughter.

David Enniskillen and his second wife, Nancy, Countess of Enniskillen (née Nancy MacLennan; formerly a diplomat with the United States Foreign Service), moved back to Florence Court, living there from 1964 until 1973. In that year, in the early years of The Troubles, the Earl and Countess of Enniskillen left Florence Court, moving over to Kinloch House in Kinloch, Perthshire, in Britain. David Enniskillen thus became the last Earl of Enniskillen to actually live in Florence Court. He was succeeded by his only son Andrew Cole, 7th Earl of Enniskillen, in 1989. Andrew Enniskillen continues to live on an estate in Kenya.

Film and television

During the spring of 2012, the BBC filmed parts of Blandings, a television comedy, at Florence Court. Most of the series, however, was filmed at Crom Castle. The series was first broadcast on BBC 1 during January and February 2013.

See also

  • Florence Court Forest Park

References

  • 50 Years Since the Fire – An Exhibition to Celebrate the Reconstruction of Florence Court, The Print Factory: Enniskillen (not in print)

Further reading

  • Rowan, Alistair, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (better known as the Pevsner Guide to North West Ulster). Penguin, London, 1979. (for the 2003 Yale edition).
  • James, Kenneth W., Damned Nonsense! – The geological career of the third Earl of Enniskillen. Ulster Museum, Stranmillis, Belfast, 1986. .
  • Tinniswood, Adrian, County Fermanagh. The National Trust, Heelis, Swindon, 1998 (revised 2006). .
  • Purcell, Mark, The Big House Library in Ireland: Books in Ulster Country Houses. The National Trust, Heelis, Swindon, 2011. .
  • Florence Court at the National Trust
  • Virtual Tour of Florence Court Northern Ireland – Virtual Visit Northern Ireland