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Civil Parishes of County Fermanagh
There are 23 civil parishes in county Fermanagh. The name Fermanagh originates from the Irish term Fir Manach or Fear Manach, meaning "men of Manach"). The county is 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 about 61,170. Enniskillen is the county town and largest in both size and population. Fermanagh is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland and is within the historic province of Ulster. Fermanagh is one of the four counties of Northern Ireland presently to have a majority of the population from a Catholic background, according to the 2011 census.
The Annals of Ulster which cover medieval Ireland between AD 431 to AD 1540 were written at Belle Isle on Lough Erne near Lisbellaw. Fermanagh was a stronghold of the 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, Fermanagh was divided in 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, and 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 Elizabeth I, but it was not until the time of the Plantation of Ulster that it was finally brought under civil government.
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