Editing County Fermanagh (section)

==History==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2024}}
The Menapii are the only known Celtic tribe specifically named on [[Ptolemy]]'s 150 AD map of [[Ireland]], where they located their first colony—Menapia—on the [[Leinster]] coast {{circa|216 BC}}. They later settled around [[Lough Erne]], becoming known as the Fir Manach, and giving their name to [[Fermanagh]] and [[Monaghan]]. [[Mongán mac Fiachnai]], a 7th-century King of [[Ulster]], is the protagonist of several legends linking him with [[Manannán mac Lir]]. They spread across [[Ireland]], evolving into historic Irish (also Scottish and Manx) clans.

The [[Annals of Ulster]] which cover medieval Ireland between AD 431 to AD 1540 were written at Belle Isle on [[Lough Erne]] near [[Lisbellaw]].

In the early 9th century, the Erne was considered to be the boundary of [[Connacht]] and [[Ulster]], specifically the over-kingdom of [[Airgíalla]]. The Fir Manach proper, [[Tirkennedy]] and [[Magherastephana]], along with [[Clankelly]] were part of the western Airgíalla group-kingdom of Uí Creamthainn with its seat at [[Clogher]], whereas [[Lurg]] was associated with the northern Airgíalla branch of Uí Fiachrach centred at [[Ardstraw]].

Fermanagh was a stronghold of the [[Maguire of Fermanagh|Maguire clan]] and Donn Carrach Maguire (died 1302) was the first of the chiefs of the Maguire dynasty. However, on the confiscation of lands relating to [[Hugh Maguire (Lord of Fermanagh)|Hugh Maguire]], Fermanagh was divided in a similar manner to the other five escheated counties among Scottish and English undertakers and native Irish. The baronies of [[Knockninny]] and [[Magheraboy]] were allotted to Scottish undertakers, those of [[Clankelly]], [[Magherastephana]] and [[Lurg]] to English undertakers and those of [[Clanawley]], [[Coole (barony)|Coole]], and [[Tirkennedy|Tyrkennedy]], to servitors and natives. The chief families to benefit under the new settlement were the families of Cole, Blennerhasset, Butler, Hume, and Dunbar.

Fermanagh was made into a county by a statute of Elizabeth I, but it was not until the time of the [[Plantation of Ulster]] that it was finally brought under civil government.

The closure of all the lines of [[Great Northern Railway (Ireland)]] within County Fermanagh in 1957 left the county as the first non-island county in the UK without a railway service.