Enniskillen Courthouse is a judicial facility in East Bridge Street,

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It is a Grade B listed building.

History

The East Bridge Street site had previously been occupied by a gaol which had been built on the initiative of a Captain Cole who secured permission to proceed with the development in May 1613. The design also involved a sessions house which was built on

pier Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...

s over the gaol which was itself constructed in a vault below ground. Some rebuilding eventually became necessary and the current structure dates to around 1785. After a new gaol had been built in Gaol Square to a design by

Sir Richard Morrison Sir Richard Morrison (1767 – 31 October 1849 / 1844Philip Smith (writer), ''An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of County Wicklow'' (Dublin: Wordwell Press / Government of Ireland, Department of the Environment, Heritage, and Local Gov ...

in 1815, the East Bridge Street gaol became redundant and so the structure was altered to the designs of William Farrell in the

Neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...

in 1822. The new design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto East Bridge Street; there were square sash windows on the ground floor, rounded headed sash windows on the first floor and a cornice decorated with modillions at roof level: the central section featured a prominent single-storey portico with four

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...

columns supporting a heavy entablature. The building was originally used as a facility for dispensing justice but, following the implementation of the

Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 37) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, ...

, which established county councils in every county, it also became the meeting place for

Fermanagh County Council Fermanagh County Council was the authority responsible for local government in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, between 1899 and 1973. It was originally based at the Enniskillen Courthouse, but moved to County Buildings in East Bridge Street ...

. In the 1950s, county leaders decided that the courthouse was too cramped to accommodate the county council in the context of the county council's increasing administrative responsibilities, especially while the courthouse was still acting as a facility for dispensing justice, and therefore chose to acquire additional premises at County Buildings in May 1960. The courthouse continued to operate as a venue for administering justice until it closed in 1969; however, following a major restoration, it re-opened again on 11 September 1982. In May 2012 the justice minister, David Ford, said that he accepted an inspection report recommending that the Enniskillen Courthouse should be designated a "satellite court" in a proposed rationalisation of the court system. It was downgraded to the status of a "hearing centre", with hearings scheduled for just three days a week, in July 2016.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in County Fermanagh Courthouses in Northern Ireland Government buildings completed in 1785 Grade B listed buildings