Castle Sanderson or Saunderson as sometimes spelt, is only a short distance down the road from us in Butlersbridge. Its now in the care of Cavan County Council and Scouting Ireland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Saunderson
I meet up with a few colleague's from CCC who were visiting the site, and I asked could I tag along and video it. Castle Sanderson often popped up in conversion over the years and as a kid I'd here stories of it. Such a large estate and so close to Butlersbridge but yet I'd never seen it. I had to find out more so I took some time off work and tagged along.
Archive Image from the National Library Digital Collection click here
Archive Image from the National Library Digital Collection click here
An extract found while googling Castle Sanderson -
The Castle Sanderson estate lay partly in Cavan and partly in Fermanagh. There were three avenues leading to the Castle with imposing high white iron gates and spiked railings each side: the Belturbet gates so called because they lead off the road to Belturbet, a nice little town on the river Erne; the Sweep gates, I suppose because the road there swept round a double bend; and lastly the Fermanagh gates, which were the ones used mostly by the gentry in their fine carriages. Here there was a pretty little gate lodge and a bridge, and the avenue led past the little estate church with its surrounding grave yard in which lay the bodies of the Sanderson family for over 200 years, in a crypt with an iron gate and a strong metal door.
A few minutes' walk from the castle was a beautiful wild garden. It had been started by one of the Sanderson ladies many years before, and each lady in turn had added her own touches to it. The result was lovely - many beautiful trees had been brought back from all over the world, azaleas scented the air and lily of the valley added their fragrance. Streams with wooden bridges over them ran into a little lake with an island, where wild fowl nested in peace from predators. Such a peaceful place, even the bees, drunk on nectar, moved slowly from flower to flower.
Colonel Sanderson was a bustling, bad tempered little man and most of his staff feared him. His wife was an invalid in a wheelchair - she was a kind, gentle lady, and was the only one who didn't fear the Colonel. He could never outwit her in any argument - she just laughed at him.
The little road ran gently down. It was narrow and stony, and the carriage tracks were filled occasionally with rough stones from the quarry. On one side was the long stone wall behind which was the Castle Sanderson estate, on the other side were fields belonging to small farms. A fine farmhouse stood back from the road, belonging to the Scarlett family and now owned by William Scarlett, who lived with his widowed mother Ellen.
About the Author
Jessie Woodger (née McMahon) was born in 1923 close to where Co. Cavan meets Fermanagh - an area which is now border country between the Republic and Northern Ireland.
She settled in England after the Second World War, and lived in Headley, Hampshire.
Jessie died in April 2010.