Old Castle Archdale is an early 17th century plantation castle near the eastern shore of Lower Lough Erne in County Fermanagh. It is designated the title ‘old’ to distinguish it from the later Castle Archdale which was built nearby in the 18th century. It was built in 1615 by John Archdale, an English Planter from Suffolk who had arrived in Ireland in either 1612 or 1614. This area of Fermanagh has a significant number of plantation castles that were built when lands seized by crown forces were redistributed or sold at very attractive rates to planters from both Scotland and England. Archdale bought over 1000 acres of land, most of which had been taken from the Maguire Clan but died in 1621 shortly after the construction of the castle was complete, his son Edward succeeded him. During the rebellion of 1641 Rory Maguire attacked the castle and all of Edward  Archdale’s children and his wife were killed when the castle was set alight, except for his heir, William, who was saved by his nurse who threw him from a castle window to an awaiting servant. Maguire also destroyed the nearby village of Lisnarick, then known as Archdalestown. The castle was retaken by crown forces and the Archdales set about repairing it, they occupied it until 1689. The castle was finally destroyed during the Williamite Wars and abandoned in 1689. 

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