Coordinates: 54°15′40″N 7°43′38″W / 54.261004°N 7.727313°W / 54.261004; -7.727313 Florence Court is a large 18th century house and estate located 8 miles 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.
Florence Court was the seat of the Earls of Enniskillen before the National Trust acquired it in 1953, shortly before a devastating fire destroyed the upper floors of the house. Extensive restoration efforts have since returned Florence Court to much of its former glory, although some rooms on the upper floors remain closed. The house is best known for its exquisite Rococo decoration and fine Irish furniture. Many original items of furniture, previously sold, have been re-acquired and returned.
The estate includes a walled garden with displays of both temperate and semi-tropical plants, a working water-powered sawmill, an ice house, a natural spring well and the Florencecourt Yew. The Larganess River flows through the estate. Pasture lands and forestry occupy much of the estate. It is a prime source of Irish yew wood.
Read more about Florence Court: The Fire
Famous quotes containing the word court:
“Of all things in life, Mrs. Lee held this kind of court-service in contempt, for she was something more than republican—a little communistic at heart, and her only serious complaint of the President and his wife was that they undertook to have a court and to ape monarchy. She had no notion of admitting social superiority in any one, President or Prince, and to be suddenly converted into a lady-in-waiting to a small German Grand-Duchess, was a terrible blow.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)