Erne Hydro Electric Scheme

The Erne Hydro Electric Scheme was the largest construction project of its time in Ireland, bringing a workforce of approximately 1,500 to the town of Ballyshannon. Construction began in 1946, with building the dams at Cliff and Cathaleen’s Fall, and ended in 1955 with the commissioning of a second turbine at Cliff Station. It also required the destruction of a late seventeenth-century bridge, a number of nearby country houses including Camlin Castle, Stonewold, Laputa and Cliff House and a number of other dwellings

1838 – Camlin Castle, Co. Donegal

Architect: John B. Keane

A rebuilding project by John B.

1850s – Cliff House, Belleek, Co. Fermanagh

Cliff House, was rebuilt by a Thomas Conolly, an Irish Conservative Party politician as a summer residence.

1951 – Cathaleen’s Fall Power Station, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal

Architect: Desmond Fitzgerald

The Erne Hydro Electric Scheme utilises the natural drop of 45m between the two power stations at Cliff and Cathaleen’s Fall on the River Erne to form the basis for the third-largest hydro operation in the country.

Erne Hydro Electric Scheme

1838 – Camlin Castle, Co. Donegal

1850s – Cliff House, Belleek, Co. Fermanagh

1951 – Cathaleen’s Fall Power Station, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal

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