Castle Saunderson is a castle near Belturbet

Belturbet

Belturbet is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. It is from Cavan town from Dublin city. Belturbet lies on the N3 road. It is from the border with Northern Ireland between the counties of Cavan and Fermanagh and is south of Enniskillen.- History :...

, County Cavan

County Cavan

County Cavan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Cavan. Cavan County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. It was the family seat of the Saunderson family, who acquired the original castle in 1573 during the Ulster plantation. The original castle was inhabited by the O'Reillys of Breffni and formerly known as Breffni Castle since the 14th century. The present castle dating from the 1840s. A notable member of the family born there was Edward Saunderson, founder of the Ulster Unionist Party

Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

.

Captain Alexander Saunderson sold the Castle in 1977 to a businessman, who planned to use it as a residence, but this never transpired. It later served as a hotel, but was damaged by fire, the third fire to occur at the Castle. In 1997 it was acquired by Scouting Ireland (CSI)

Scouting Ireland (CSI)

Scouting Ireland was a WOSM affiliated National Scout Organisation in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland from 1927 to December 31, 2003. It has since merged with Scouting Ireland S.A.I. to form Scouting Ireland...

. The subsequent formation of Scouting Ireland

Scouting Ireland

Scouting Ireland is the World Organization of the Scout Movement-recognised Scouting association in the Republic of Ireland, although it also has Scout Groups in Northern Ireland. Scouting Ireland is a voluntary, non-formal educational movement for young people...

 and financial difficulties have delayed its development as a cross-border Scout campsite, but substantial progress has occurred with the announcement in November 2008 of EU funding for the project, amounting to over €3 million.

The Saunderson Castle estate (currently only 103 acres) has an entrance in both Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

and the Republic of Ireland. These grounds include a church and family grave yard.