Tyrone

 

former county, Northern Ireland. In 1973 it was divided into the districts of Strabane, Omagh, Dungannon, and part of the Cookstown district.

This article is about County Tyrone. For other uses of the name, see Tyrone (disambiguation).

Tyrone Contae Thír Eoghain
Location
Statistics
Province:	Ulster
County Town:	Omagh
Area:	3,155 km²
Population (est.)	166,516 (2001 census)[1]

County Tyrone (Irish: Contae Thír Eoghain) is the second largest of the nine counties of Ulster and the largest of the six counties of Northern Ireland. Area: 3,155 km² (1,218 square miles).

The county borders the Northern Ireland counties of Armagh, to the south-east, Fermanagh, to the south-west and County Londonderry to the north-east. The county also borders Lough Neagh to the east. The borders with the Republic of Ireland are County Monaghan to the south and County Donegal to the north-west.

Historically Tyrone stretched as far north as Lough Foyle, and comprised part of modern day County Londonderry east of the River Foyle. The majority of County Londonderry was carved out of Tyrone between 1610-1620 when that land went to the Guilds of London to set up profit making schemes based on natural resources located there. Tyrone was the traditional stronghold of the various O'Neill clans and families, the strongest of the Gaelic Irish families in Ulster, surviving into the seventeenth century.

District Councils

Tyrone is split into four districts:

• Strabane District Council
• Cookstown District Council
• Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council
• Omagh District Council

Towns

The county town of Tyrone is Omagh. the next largest towns are Strabane, Dungannon and Cookstown respectively. Other towns include Fivemiletown, Castlederg, Coalisland, Donaghmore, Ardboe, Pomeroy, and Carrickmore.

Sports

The major sports in Tyrone are Gaelic Games. Gaelic football is more widely played than hurling. The Tyrone GAA football side has had considerable success since the turn of the century winning two All Ireland titles (in 2003 and 2005) and two National League titles (in 2002 and 2005). Underage teams have also had considerable successes on the field at both provincial and national level.

Notable residents

• Philomena Begley, Irish Country Music Singer - Ireland's Queen Of Country Music
• John Dunlap (1747-1812), Publisher of the first American daily newspaper the Pennsylvania Packet in 1784, was also the printer of the American Declaration of Independence.
• John Hughes, (1797-1864), born in Annaloghan, first Archbishop of Roman Catholic diocese of New York.^[2]
• Peter Canavan, former All Ireland winning Tyrone captain and second top scorer in Senior Ulster Championship football.
• Brian Dooher, current captain of the Tyrone senior football team.
• Hugo Duncan, singer and broadcaster on BBC Radio.
• Dennis Taylor, former World Snooker Champion.
• Aaron Hughes, current captain of the Northern Ireland football team and also plays for Fulham.
• Gerard Cavlan, Tyrone Gaelic Footballer.

References

• ^ http://www.cookstown.gov.uk/Development/InformationSheetsEtc/EcDevLiterature/Socio-EconomicProfile/Population.pdf
• ^ (1963) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 

• The Memoirs of John M. Regan, a Catholic Officer in the RIC and RUC, 1909–48, Joost Augusteijn, editor, District Inspector, Co. Tyrone, 1920s,ISBN: 978-1-84682-069-4.

External links

• A Flavour of Tyrone
• County Tyrone.com
• Clogherhistory.ie

See also

• List of places in County Tyrone

Counties of Ireland
Connacht	Galway (Galway City) · Leitrim · Mayo · Roscommon · Sligo
Munster	Clare · Cork (Cork City) · Kerry · Limerick (Limerick City) · Tipperary (North Tipperary • South Tipperary) · Waterford (Waterford City)
Leinster	Carlow · Dublin (Dublin City • Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown • Fingal • South Dublin) · Kildare · Kilkenny · Laois · Longford · Louth · Meath · Offaly · Westmeath · Wexford · Wicklow
Ulster	Cavan · Donegal · Monaghan · Antrim · Armagh · Down · Fermanagh · Londonderry · Tyrone
Italics denote non-administrative counties  ·   (Parentheses) denote eponymous cities or non-traditional counties

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