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Florence Court is a large 18th-century house and estate located 8 miles south-west of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is set in the foothills of Cuilcagh Mountain. The nearby village is distinguished by the one-word name Florencecourt. It is owned and managed by the National Trust and is the sister property of nearby Castle Coole. The other National Trust property in County Fermanagh is the Crom Estate. ==History== The history of the building of Florence Court is subject to conjecture and the current house was built in at least two, if not three, phases.〔Rowan, Alistair, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (Comprising the Counties of Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone), Penguin, London, 1979 p.299〕 The first house on the site was built by John Cole, Esq. (1680-1726) and named after his wife Florence Bourchier Wrey (died 1718).〔http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/631037〕 She was the daughter of Sir Bourchier Wrey, 4th Baronet (c. 1653-1696) of Tawstock, Devon. An anonymous history of Fermanagh written in 1718 describes John Cole's house as being 'very costly and sumptuous'〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Enniskillen Papers )〕 but in 1739 Rev. William Henry described this building as being 'but small, being only the left wing of a grand building, designed by Mr Cole, which he did not live to execute'.〔cited in Tinniswood, Adrian, County Fermanagh, The National Trust, 1998, p.19〕 The architects of the current house are unknown.〔 The central block was built first and various dates from 1730 to 1764 are proffered for its construction. It has been attributed to the German architect Richard Castle who worked at nearby Castle Hulme in 1728-9 and Florence Court shares similarities with some of Castle's other Irish houses.〔 An estate map of 1768 shows the central block, standing alone, as having a heavily framed oculus window (in place of the current pair of windows and large, squat niche) on the second floor. This was a recurring device in Castle's work.〔 Were Castle involved, dating the initial phase of building to 1730 may be plausible. On the other hand, Mr Henry's account nine years later does not mention there being a new house, lately built. Rowan suggests the plans could have been drawn up by Castle, but not executed until a much later date, pointing to the 'old fashioned' style of the house; and reflects that 'the design, for all its charm, is far too gauche for ()'.〔Rowan, Alistair, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (Comprising the Counties of Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone), Penguin, London, 1979 p.300〕 The baroque plasterwork in the library and study at the front of the house appear to date from an earlier period to the rich rococo plasterwork in the dining room, drawing room and stair hall on the western side of the house, and the floorboards in these two rooms differ in width from those elsewhere in the house. It is conjectured that the central block may have been completed in two phases, with the rooms at the back of the house, along with the Venetian room, finished by 1764, when John Cole's son, Lord Mount Florence, held a famous housewarming party.〔 The colonnades and pavilions were built c. 1771 and are attributed to the Italian engineer and architect Davis Ducart.〔 These are built of dressed sandstone as opposed to the rendered limestone rubble of the central block. The south and stable yards are by the mason Andrew Lambert. The Introduction to the Enniskillen Papers proposes there may have been an addition stage to completing the front we know today, pointing out that the heavily rusticated window dressings may have been 'an afterthought by another, less accomplished hand'. They do not feature on the facade shown on the 1768 estate map; the introduction suggests further work may have been 'a vain attempt to harmonise (central block ) with the sophisticated cut-stone of the links and pavilions'.〔 Whether there was a final phase is a matter of conjecture. The 1979 National Trust guidebook points out the similarity between the unusual pedimented doorcase at Florence Court with the doorcase of the now vanished Nixon Hall near Bellanaleck (built c. 1780).〔(plate between pages 68 and 69 showing similar painting of Nixon Hall, with pedimented doorcase and venetian window above, from Swanzy, Henry Biddall, The Families of French of Belturbet and Nixon of Fermanagh and their Descendents, A.Thom & Co., Dublin, 1873 )〕 Major improvements were made on the estate c. 1778–80. These included the landscaping of the park by William King and his laying out of the new drive, and the building of the Grand Gates. Florence Court was the seat of the Earls of Enniskillen until 1973. The 5th Earl of Enniskillen transferred the house and fourteen acres surrounding it to the National Trust in 1953. In 1955 a devastating fire destroyed the upper floors of the house. Sir Albert Richardson was entrusted with leading the National Trust's restoration and extensive efforts have since returned Florence Court to much of its former glory. Some rooms on the upper floors, however, remain closed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Florence Court」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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