Acclaimed retired Fermanagh architect Richard Pierce, who is renowned for his lectures and talks on all things artistic and cultural, will once again treat audiences to a detailed talk as part of this year’s Fermanagh Live Arts Festival (FLive) programme.

Richard will share his own personal views on one of the most iconic buildings in Fermanagh – so iconic that it appears on at least one version of the county’s coat of arms: the Watergate of Enniskillen Castle.

‘The Watergate: A Tale of Tourelles’ talk is pre-recorded and will be shown at the Ardhowen Theatre on Sunday, October 3 at 3pm, with Richard available for a post-screening discussion.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter ahead of the event, Richard outlined one of the reasons, among several, why this particular building is of importance to him.

“In 1986, after I had joined the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, I gave a talk, ‘The History of the House in Fermanagh’.

“In that, I proposed that the Watergate was just the gable end of an extension to the Maguire Keep.

“I think it may have been a big private house for the newly important Sir William Cole, whose family eventually became Earls of Enniskillen.”

Richard went on to explain that his idea that the Watergate was the gable end of an extension fell on deaf ears, “simply because there was no written evidence, nor is there any archaeological evidence to support my theory”.

However, two years ago, Richard received a phonecall from Richard Bennett, the ex-headmaster of Portora Royal School, who has an academic background in history.

“Richard told me that while he was in the regimental museum one sunny afternoon in 2018, he had a visit from a man who described himself as the descendent of Captain Sir William Smith, who was a very fine draftsman – he drew for the army, he drew pictures of various sites which were of very strategic importance.

“This man who came to visit Richard explained that an ancestor had given all his drawings to Trinity College Dublin,” said Richard, noting that it was only when TCD decided to put all of its documents online that these drawings were resurrected.

“What is absolutely fascinating is in 1796, when the British were very nervous of a French invasion, Captain Sir William Smith went around all of the strategic points on the River Erne: Ballyshannon, Belleek and Enniskillen.

“He did very accurate drawings of these three towns, and they are absolutely fascinating – they are mindblowing,” said Richard, adding: “But one of the things that they show is that the Watergate was the gable end of a Scottish baronial castle, because the walls which go from the Watergate to the Keep were still there at that time. They had not been demolished.

“I felt very vindicated! So that story in itself is one of the reasons I am fascinated with it, and why I take a personal interest in it,” he told this newspaper.

During his talk, Richard will delve deeper into his ideas and theories of the Watergate, while also covering the stages it has gone through in its 400-year-old history, and how its style and configuration came from France via Scotland.

The talk will be highly entertaining and informative, full of surprising twists and turns.

For further information and the full programme of FLive events, see flive.org.uk.