placenamesEnniskillen
Inis Ceithleann
Waterborne trade and a former dairy market connect Enniskillen’s commercial past with later craft workshops.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Inis Ceithleann · Irish · main form
- Enniskillen · English · main form
Place & story
Goods arriving by water
In 1837 Samuel Lewis described timber, coal and slate reaching Enniskillen by way of Ballyshannon and Belleek, then travelling along Lough Erne. Grain supplied the town and local distilleries, with further quantities sent towards Sligo and Strabane. This was an island town serving a substantial rural trading area as well as its own inhabitants. [2]
Tuesday butter and Thursday markets
Lewis distinguished the general Thursday market from a Tuesday butter market. He recorded newly built butter and grain markets on the Earl of Enniskillen’s land, alongside a separate market beneath the town hall and provision for pigs and meat sales. Different products therefore occupied designated places within the town’s trading arrangements. [2]
The Buttermarket’s later life
The former dairy market was restored to house art and craft workshops around a courtyard. Further improvements documented by the Department for Communities in June 2021 included shopfront work, seating, lighting and accessible toilets. That completed Buttermarket-area project was separate from the larger town-centre works still underway at the time. [3] [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Townland
- County
- Fermanagh
- Barony
- Tirkennedy
- Coordinates
- 54.34651, -7.64185
- Mapped area
- 0.38 km²
- Logainm ID
- 1411925 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Enniskillen. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Enniskillen:Topographical Dictionary1837,trade and markets · Samuel Lewis
- The Buttermarket:restored dairy market · The Buttermarket, Enniskillen
- Enniskillen public realm and Buttermarket improvements,23June2021 · Department for Communities
- Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Entrance to the Buttermarket craft courtyard, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, as photographed in October 2021 illustration: based on a Buttermarket by N Chadwick. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-06-27. How this page was prepared.