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BROOKEBOROUGH

CO. FERMANAGH · IE

Brookeborough
Achadh Lon, Co. Fermanagh

The Ireland's Hidden Heartlands
STOP 06 / 06

Achadh Lon · Co. Fermanagh

A small village in central Fermanagh that carries two very large stories - and gets on with its day regardless.

Brookeborough is a small village in central-south Fermanagh, on the road between Enniskillen and Clones, fourteen miles from the county town and about as far from anywhere one might call a tourist trail. The Colebrooke River runs nearby. Slieve Beagh rises to the east. The surrounding land is the quiet drumlin and pasture country that characterises this part of Ulster.

Two stories have attached themselves to this place with unusual force. The first is the Brooke family of Colebrooke Park, who received the local lands in 1666, gave the village its English name, and produced in Basil Brooke - born at the estate in 1888 - the most durable prime minister in Northern Ireland's history. He ran the government from 1943 to 1963, was created Viscount Brookeborough in 1952, and is a figure whose reputation divides broadly along the community lines that have always divided Fermanagh.

The second story is the raid of 1 January 1957, when an IRA flying column attacked the RUC barracks here and two of its members - Seán South from Limerick and Fergal O'Hanlon from Co. Monaghan, aged 28 and 20 respectively - died of their wounds during the withdrawal. Their funerals became major public events in the Republic. Two ballads, 'Seán South of Garryowen' and 'The Patriot Game', carried their names into a wider cultural memory and are still performed decades later. The attack was, in military terms, a failure. As an act of commemoration it has proven remarkably durable.

The village today is what it has always been between those two large events: a community that farms, plays football, attends church, and drinks in the one pub on Main Street. There is no heritage trail, no statue, no visitor centre. The two stories are there if you go looking for them. The village itself asks nothing of you.

Population

~400

Pubs

1and counting

Coords

54.3194° N, 7.3931° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 Colebrooke Park

The Brooke family ran this county for three centuries.

Sir Henry Brooke received the Aghalun lands in 1666. His descendant Basil Brooke was born at Colebrooke Park in 1888, became Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1943, and held the position for nearly twenty years. The village takes its English name from the family. The estate is still theirs.

Stories & lore → 02 New Year 1957

Two men died here on the first morning of 1957.

On 1 January 1957, an IRA column attacked the RUC barracks in Brookeborough. Seán South from Limerick and Fergal O'Hanlon from Monaghan were killed. Their funerals drew thousands. Their names entered the republican ballad tradition through two songs that are still sung.

The full story → 03 Village character

A working village on the Fermanagh plain.

Brookeborough sits at the western foot of Slieve Beagh with Enniskillen fourteen miles to the west. The Irish name - Achadh Lon, field of the blackbirds - comes from the townland the village was built on. There is one pub, a GAA club, a few streets, and the steady quiet of a place that has nothing to prove.

Where to drink →

02 / 06

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Forest Inn

Quiet, unhurried

Village local

73 Main Street. The one pub in the village, listed on CAMRA. A straightforward local with no performance aspect - you come in, you drink, you go. The kind of pub that defines the category in small Fermanagh villages.

03 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

The Brookeborough raid

New Year, 1957

On 1 January 1957 - New Year's Day - a flying column of around fourteen IRA volunteers crossed the border into Co. Fermanagh as part of Operation Harvest, the IRA's Border Campaign that had begun in December 1956. The target was the RUC barracks in Brookeborough. The attack failed: the barracks held, the column came under heavy fire, and the survivors withdrew in a lorry, carrying their dead and wounded across the border into Co. Monaghan. Two volunteers died of their wounds during the retreat. Seán South (Irish: Seán Sabhat), born in Limerick on 8 February 1928, died on New Year's Day. Fergal O'Hanlon (Irish: Feargal Ó hAnnluain), born in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan on 2 February 1936, died the same day at the age of twenty. Both were buried in the Republic to large public gatherings. The raid was a military defeat. As the event that defined the opening phase of the Border Campaign in public memory, it has not been forgotten.

The songs written for South and O'Hanlon

The ballads

Two songs emerged from the deaths of South and O'Hanlon and entered the Irish republican ballad canon. 'Seán South of Garryowen' - written by Seán Costello - identifies its subject with Garryowen, a suburb of Limerick city; South was actually from O'Connell Avenue, but the lyric fixed him to Garryowen permanently. 'The Patriot Game', written by Dominic Behan, addressed the raid and the broader question of what it meant to die for a political cause - a lyric ambiguous enough that it was later re-read in multiple directions. Bob Dylan adapted the melody for 'With God on Our Side'. Both songs remain part of the Irish traditional music repertoire, sung regularly in sessions across Ireland and in Irish communities abroad.

The man who gave the village its formal name

Basil Brooke

Basil Stanlake Brooke was born at Colebrooke Park on 9 June 1888. He served in the British Army during the First World War, returned to Fermanagh, became a Unionist politician, and rose through ministerial roles to become Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in May 1943. He held the office until March 1963 - the longest tenure of any holder - and was created 1st Viscount Brookeborough, of Colebrooke, County Fermanagh on 1 July 1952. His political record is contested: within unionism he was long regarded as a capable and popular leader; critics pointed to anti-Catholic rhetoric in the 1930s and his resistance to civil rights reform in the 1950s. He died on 18 August 1973. The village had been named after his family's estate for nearly three centuries before he was born.

Colebrooke Park and the land grant of 1666

The Brooke estate

The townland of Aghalun - Achadh Lon in Irish, 'field of the blackbirds' - passed into Brooke family hands in 1666 when Sir Henry Brooke received the grant after the 1641 rebellion forfeited it from the Maguires. The family built Colebrooke Park nearby and the village that grew around the estate took their name. The estate covers roughly 1,000 acres and is still in the Brooke family. Colebrooke operates as a private venue for weddings and events rather than a heritage open-house. It is not accessible on a drop-in basis.

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Fermanagh in spring is the reason people live here. Clear light over the drumlins, quiet roads, the Colebrooke River up after winter.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Not a tourism village, so it does not fill up. Long evenings, the GAA grounds in use, Enniskillen's summer events a short drive west.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

October light in Fermanagh is its own thing. The drumlin country around Brookeborough is at its best in the week before the leaves go.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Nothing closes - this is not a seasonal village - but there is very little reason to linger unless you are passing through. Enniskillen is fourteen miles and has more going on.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Arriving expecting a raid memorial or visitor centre

There is no formal memorial to the 1957 raid in the village itself. Commemoration events are held periodically, but there is no permanent installation to find. If that is why you are coming, check what is happening before you travel.

Driving to Colebrooke Park unannounced

It is a private family home and working estate. It does not open to the public on a drop-in basis. Confirm in advance if you have a specific reason to visit.

Expecting a food scene

There is one pub and a small number of local shops. There is no restaurant. Enniskillen is fourteen miles west. Lisnaskea is seven miles south. Both have options.

Getting there.

By car

Enniskillen is 14 miles (22 km) west on the A4. Lisnaskea is 7 miles (11 km) south. Clones in Co. Monaghan is about 15 miles southeast across the border. The A4 runs through the village.

By bus

Translink Ulsterbus services connect Brookeborough to Enniskillen on the Enniskillen-Clones corridor. Services are infrequent. Check the Translink journey planner before travelling.

By train

There is no railway service in this part of Fermanagh. The nearest operating rail connections are in Clones direction via cross-border bus, or south into Cavan.