Ballyscullion Park

The original house at Ballyscullion Park was a huge mansion built in 1787 by the eccentric Frederick Harvey, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry. It had a 350ft facade, large central rotunda and two wings ending in pavilions which housed art galleries. He also laid out the picturesque landscape we enjoy today. The palace was dismantled in 1813.

The present house was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1840 for Admiral Sir Henry Bruce who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar aged 13, and went on to command the British fleet in the Pacific.

In World War II, British and US armies trained at Camp Ballyscullion, and the US 82nd Airborne Division left from here to take part in the D-Day landings in 1944.

The area around Ballyscullion is one of the earliest inhabited sites in Ireland, dating back 9000 years to Mesolithic times, with ancient woodlands beside Lough Beg.

Church Island on Lough Beg is a 5th Century monastic settlement on a site blessed by St. Patrick. A healing stone and rag tree indicate the enduring influence of pagan rites in the early Christian church in Ireland.

For 900 years the Mulhollands were hereditary keepers of St. Patrick’s Bell, whose shrine dating from the early 12th century is one of the earliest pieces of decorative metalwork in Ireland. Both are on display at the National Museum in Dublin.

Lough Beg is a designated RAMSA site and SSSI with many hundreds of migrating whooper swans overwintering on the shores.