The Old Castle ruins situated on the shoreline of the Upper Lough Erne on Crom Estate are the remains of the first castle at Crom. This castle was built in the early 1600s by Sir Stephen Butler who also constructed the nearby towns of Newtownbutler and Butlers Bridge. In 1689 the old castle at Crom was subjected to two sieges by Jacobite troops. The castle survived both attacks however in 1764 it was accidently burnt down. The Old Castle was gutted and all of its contents destroyed. The First Lord Erne did rebuild the castle on a new site (the one you can see today).
The Yew trees which you can see to your left where the focal point of the Old castle garden. These trees are thought to be some of the oldest in Ireland. In the 1870s the garden at the Old Castle was changed and the lime tree avenue which runs along the shoreline was planted. This avenue can be found carpeted in Bluebells in May/June.
The cache has been placed by National Trust staff who would like to encourage visitors to explore other parts of the Estate which visitors wouldn’t usually visit.
The Estate is free to National Trust members and there is an admission charge to non-members. The grounds and Visitor Centre are open March – October. Have a look at the website http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/crom/ for further details and times.
The cache is approximately 10 minutes walk from the main visitor car park.
The cache is a tub container, so room for some swaps and Travel Bugs.