Enniskillen
From Academic Kids
Enniskillen (Inis Ceithleann in Irish) is the county town of Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county on the natural island which separates the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne.
With a population of approximately 11,500, it is by far the largest settlement in the county and the main retail centre for the county. It is also the seat of local government for Fermanagh District Council.
In recent years Enniskillen has become synonymous with the tragedy of the Northern Ireland conflict. Until 1987 the town had been relatively untouched by the conflict, but an IRA bomb on Remembrance Sunday, the Remembrance Day Massacre, killed eleven civilians (including nurse Marie Wilson, whose father Gordon Wilson went on to become a leading campaigner for an end to violence in Northern Ireland) in a tragedy which shocked the world. The IRA later claimed that their target was a colour guard of British soldiers. The Enniskillen bomb is now acknowledged as a turning point in the Northern Ireland peace process. On Remembrance Day 1997 the leader of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, formally apologised for the bombing.
The Enniskillen bombing is mentioned prominantly in the film U2: Rattle and Hum. The night of the bombing, U2 was appearing in concert and during the performance of Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bono angrily denounced the bombing, describing it as "leaving people dead and dying under the rubble of a revolution that most of the people in my country don't want."
Places of interest
- Enniskillen Castle
- The Ardhowen Theatre
- Castle Coole
- Cole's Monument
- St Macartin's Cathedral (http://www.enniskillencathedral.org)
- Portora Royal School
External links
- Enniskillen.Com (http://www.enniskillen.com)
