Qualla: Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark

Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0. In September 2008, a geopark in the limestone country south of Lower Lough Erne quietly made global history. By extending its boundaries across an international frontier into the Republic of Ireland, the Marble Arch Caves Geopark became the world's first transnational geopark in the European and Global Geoparks Networks. That this had not happened anywhere else on Earth before is the kind of bureaucratic milestone that sounds dull until you realise what it actually means: a single protected landscape, jointly managed by councils in two different jurisdictions, with one shared interpretive identity. The site, now known as the Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark, covers over 30 discrete areas across County Fermanagh and neighbouring parts of County Cavan, all united by a shared geological story going back 350 million years.

Image: Dieglop | CC BY-SA 4.0

Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark: The First Caver

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User: (WT-shared) Plug at wts wikivoyage, Public domain. The Marble Arch Caves themselves were first explored in 1895 by a French speleologist named Edouard-Alfred Martel together with the Irish naturalist Lyster Jameson. Martel was already one of the most celebrated cave explorers in Europe, the man who effectively founded the modern ...

Image: User: (WT-shared) Plug at wts wikivoyage | Public domain

Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark: Carbon Through Time

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Geopark sits almost entirely on Carboniferous bedrock, sandstones, mudstones and limestones deposited around 325 million years ago when this part of the world lay just south of the equator under a warm shallow sea. The Marble Arch Caves are developed in the Asbian-age Glencar...

Image: Gerd Eichmann | CC BY-SA 4.0

Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark: The Drumlin Sea

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. The most recent chapter of the Geopark's geology was written in ice. During the most recent glaciation, the Midlandian or Devensian, an ice sheet over a kilometre thick covered the entire region. The ice flowed broadly from east to west but turned southward south of Upper Lough E...

Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark: Shannon's Salmon of Wisdom

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shannon Pot, the natural spring on the southern slope of Cuilcagh Mountain that is considered the source of the River Shannon, sits within the Geopark and has an extraordinary depth of mythology attached. The pool is named for Sionann, granddaughter of the Celtic sea-god Manannan...

Image: Andreas F. Borchert | CC BY-SA 4.0

Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark: Castles, Caves and Crossings

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Romeparis, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Geopark is dotted with historic sites: Castle Caldwell on the western end of Lower Lough Erne, Tully Castle, Monea Castle, the ruined Drumlane Abbey, and Enniskillen Castle which is now refurbished as a museum. Devenish Island, accessible by boat in Lower Lough Erne, is a reg...

Image: Romeparis | CC BY-SA 3.0