Florence Court is a large 18th-century house and estate located 8 miles south-west of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

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.

[1] The first house on the site was built by John Cole (1680–1726) and named after his wife Florence Bourchier Wrey (died 1718).

An anonymous history of Fermanagh written in 1718 describes John Cole's house as being 'very costly and sumptuous'[3] but in 1739 Rev.

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 [the central block] with the sophisticated cut-stone of the links and pavilions'.

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.

John Henry Michael Cole, 5th Earl of Enniskillen transferred the house and fourteen acres surrounding it to the National Trust in 1953.

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.

This specimen is survivor of the two original Irish Yew (Taxus baccata 'fastigiata') saplings discovered in 1767 by local farmer George Willis on Cuilcagh mountain.

[7] The yew is located within the site of the John Cole's early 18th-century gardens, approximately one mile southeast of the house.

[citation needed] The four acre walled garden was laid out in the 18th-century and extended in the 1870s by Charlotte, Countess of Enniskillen.

In September 2017 a National Trust project to restore the garden to its 1930s condition was awarded a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

[8] The project includes plans to rebuild two long glass houses that formerly ran along the length of the north wall.

[citation needed] The Lady Well is a natural spring well located approximately three quarters of a mile east of the house at the bottom of the Broad Meadow.

The Larganess and Finglass rivers flow through the estate, most of which is occupied by pasture and forestry, principally Larch.

The Glen Wood nature reserve is a semi-natural oak woodland conserved by the Forestry Service near to the old deer park on the southwest edge of the demesne.

They are flanked by a pair of symmetrical bay fronted lodges with hipped roofs facing the road and gables to the rear.

The cottage is three bays wide with a front gabled porch, built from coursed rubble with dressed sandstone door and window surrounds.

[citation needed] The Eel house is a single-arched 18th-century bridge crossing the Larganess river, located at the southwest corner of the pleasure garden.

[citation needed] In the 1850s William Cole, 3rd Earl of Enniskillen set up Florencecourt Tilery to provide local employment, utilising rich clay deposits in the vicinity of the Arney River.

Flames reached the roof of the building which crashed down into the hall, so that by the evening around two-thirds of the Florence Court interior lay in ruins.

The dining room, with its exquisite plasterwork decoration, was saved only by the prompt action of local builders Bertie Pierce and Ned Vaughan who, on the instructions of Viola Grosvenor, later the Duchess of Westminster, drilled six holes in the flat part of the ceiling to allow the water which had accumulated on the floor above to quickly drain away and thereby preventing ceiling collapse.

[9] The fire was only one of a series of events in the 1950s and 60s at Florence Court which marked the end of an era for the house and family.

Following World War II falling agricultural prices, rising wage costs, death duties and a drastic reduction of the size of the demesne, the lifestyle of the 5th Earl of Enniskillen and his second wife Mary (née Nevill), was increasingly difficult to sustain.

To secure the long-term future of the house, Lord Enniskillen gave Florence Court to the National Trust in 1953.