THE people of Irvinestown are inviting you to visit their town, learn about their rich history and enjoy their craic.

The Irvinestown�Heritage Guide has just been launched, produced by the town's community partnership and author and historian, Breege McCucker, who lives in her beloved Irvinestown. A self guided tour, visitors can use the guide and see for themselves the history all around them.

Explained Breege: "It is an easy walk around the town with plenty of stops and starts, and intergenerational. A fun thing to do to know the town and people who made us." Irvinestown has a bit of everything, says the respected broadcaster, such as an early rath, a famine graveyard, WWII headstones, and the garden of Celtic saints with its iconic oak sculptures.

"Not a bit wonder we are highlighting Irvinestown as the gateway to Celtic Fermanagh. Visitors can start here with us and then proceed to Castle Archdale, White Island figures, Bishops Stone at Killadeas, Devenish Island, and Caldragh Graveyard with the Janus figure," said Breege, who is encouraging people from Fermanagh and beyond to explore Irvinestown on foot.

"Walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before us. They have left us a legacy of a shared heritage," she said.

Here are just some of the things that you can explore in Irvinestown, as outlined in the town's new heritage guide.

n Ma Bothwell's Eating House, Main Street This was a popular eating house (restaurant) during World War Two and was frequented by Canadian airmen. Mrs "Ma" Bothwell prepared delicious meals of steak, egg and chips for airforce men and women. Food was rationed at this time and she often smuggled meat from across the Border at Pettigo, Co. Donegal.

n Famine Graveyard, Reihill Park The Famine graveyard, once known as the Pauper's graveyard, was opened in the grounds of Irvinestown Workhouse at the time of the Great Famine (1845 to 1850) when the potato crop failed in Ireland. The graveyard at the town clock could not cope with the unprecedented number of deaths and there was no burial space left. The memorial stone in the Famine graveyard was erected in 1997. Nothing remains of the original workhouse, said to be "the worst in the North of Ireland", except the inscription stone (1841) and boundary walls which still can be seen at the entrance to Reihill Park.

n Town Clock and Graveyard, Main Street The town clock is the only remnant from an earlier 17th centry Chapel of Ease and the tower was restored by Rector Patrick Delany in 1734. Some members of the Irvine family from Necarne Castle are buried in the graveyard. The oldest recorded gravestone is of Hubert Homes, February 18, 1694. Six headstones show the skill of stone mason Hugh McGilroy (1679 to 1734) with his unique false relief.

n ITEC Office, Main Street This was where the Mart and the old pig market were held. Irvinestown Trustee Enterprise Company has its office here and its focus is on the economic and social development of the town. It is managed by a voluntary board of local directors and is an offspring of Irvinestown Fairs and Market Trustees.

n Lady of the Lake Statue, Pound Street This statue, designed by sculptor Philip Flanagan, was unveiled in December 1999 and represents the local legend of the Lady of the Lake. It tells the story of a beautiful, mystical woman, dressed in flowing garments, gliding over Lough Erne. She carried in her hand a bouquet of wild flowers. Each year in the month of July the Lady of the Lake Festival is held in the town commemorating the local legend. The cross-community festival is run by a voluntary committee which among other events organises a unique 'charity truck run' around Lower Lough Erne, the largest event of its kind in Europe, raising thousands of pounds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

n The Commons, Fairgreen Street This was where the fair day was held on the eighth day of every month. Farmers brought their animals to be sold on the street. Carts containing pigs were seen lined up against the edge of the side paths and it was a day everyone looked forward to.

n Paddy Reilly's Stone, Pound Street.

This old smooth stone is outside Paddy Reilly's former home in Pound Street. It was where senior citizens used to sit and chat discussing the troubles of the world in the early 1900s. It has almost gone out of recent memory.