My School Tour to Fermanagh

The Marble Arch Caves
We went on our school tour on Thursday 29th of May 2003 to Co. Fermanagh. It was a bright, sunny morning as I waited to go down to the school. When I got down to the school, I went onto the bus. About five minutes later we started our journey to the North.

When we got to the Marble Arch Caves it was very bright and warm outside. We went into the gift shop before and after we had gone through the caves. When we were walking down to the cave we went down through an ash wood glen. There was some beautiful scenery.

When we went in we had to walk down some steps, before we were down in the cave. Next we went on to a boat trip down the River Cladagh. It was not very long and when we had finished it, we now started the walk.

It was 1.5 km long. There were stalactites, stalagmites and there were one or two columns in the caves. The ones at the start of the caves were a darkish brown because of the iron and manganese that seeped through from the bog above. As we went on, we saw some flowstones including the "Porridge Pot" which was the largest flowstone in the caves. The caves were called the "Marble Arch" because the locals thought that the calcite looked and felt as smooth and shiny as marble. As calcite had formed all the formations, they called it the Marble Arch.

Then we got to the lowest part of the caves, which was 60 metres underground. Then we went on to the "Moses Walk". Here we went past the "Lost City", which was the roof of the caves reflected in the river water. Next we went back to the metal staircase. When we reached the top of the stairs we saw the largest stalactite in the caves, The Martel Stalactite after Edouard Martel, the first man to explore the caves.

Florencecourt House Next we went on to Florencecourt House. It was the residence of the Earls of Enniskillen until the late 20th century. Outside the house there were two cannons. They were won on a bet between the Earl of Enniskillen and another Earl who owned a yacht. They were on the yacht and the cannons were won on a game of cards. The yacht was later sold to the King of Naples. The ceilings were decorated with fine plasterwork and most of the rooms were decorated with portraits of the family.

The entrance hall had four doors in it but two were fakes. Next we went into the Library. There were many leather-backed books in the room. There were small face guards for the ladies around the fireplace as the make-up in those days were wax-based and it would melt off their faces with the heat of the fire.

Next we went into the drawing room. It was right opposite to the dining room. It was the where the ladies went after their dinner, to let the men talk about politics. There was a piano in the room along with most of the original furniture. The fireplace also had to face-guards in front of it. Later after the men had finished discussing politics, they joined the ladies and played cards.

Next we went into the dining room. There was a silver tray and silver cutlery. There were some candlesticks on the table made out of the wood of the wreck of a ship, which sank of the southern English coast. The ceiling was still original even though a pipe burst over it. They made little holes to let the water out, without the ceiling falling down.

Next we went upstairs to one of the bedrooms. It was quite big and it had a chest of drawers, a chest and a bed in it. The bed was not original. Next we went down to the servant's stairs, down to the lamp room, the kitchen and the servant's quarters. Finally we past the wine and china stores.

The Fun Activities Then we did the activities. They included, archery, adventure games and orienteering. We did the archery first. We scored 60 points while the other team scored 26. It was good fun. Next we did the adventure games. They included, Dodgeball and two teamwork games. After that we were given a map and we had to find our way back to the house. This was good but it was difficult because it was quite long.

After that we went back to the bus. We came 2nd out of the four teams. Now we started on our journey back home. We traveled back through Swanlinbar, Cavan Town, Ballinagh, Granard and Edgeworthstown. Next we headed back to Legan. Our school tour was over and we were back again.