This region is located in the centre of Northern Ireland, stretching from the Western shoreline of ‘that noble sheet of water’ Lough Neagh to the Tyrone/Donegal Border and is recognised as a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty as well as being one of the most idyllic geographical areas of rural Ireland.
This region incorporates most of the County of Tyrone and the southern portion of County Londonderry and is bordered by the traditional market towns of Cookstown, Limavady, Magherafelt, Omagh and Strabane and also shoulders the ancient walls and monuments of Derry City.
Cookstown has the longest and widest street in Northern Ireland, One Mile Street with a variety of shops and businesses, providing a shopping experience to suit all tastes.
The range of shops is extensive; from small family stores to much larger chain stores. There is ample free parking providing a real paradise for shoppers.
On Saturdays, Cookstown’s main shopping area really comes alive with a bustling, vibrant street market which has a Royal Charter dating back to the 17th century.
On then to Dungannon where the landscape is nearly empty of men but is rich in prehistoric and Celtic remains with almost one thousand stones standing as a testament to the Stone Age people who passed along this way.
Visitors who enjoy taking in places of historical interest have an excellent choice as there are some well known Neolithic sites here.
One of which is the Beaghmore Stone Circles near Cookstown, which was only uncovered some 40 years ago, and consists of seven mysterious Bronze Age stone circles and cairns which were excavated from the surrounding bog land.
A further site is the chambered Cairn of Knockmany, which is at the top of a steep wooded hill north of Clogher.
The An Creagan Visitor Centre gives visitors information on archaeological and geological aspects of the county through exhibition and displays.
The Ulster History Park, near Gortin Glen Forest Park is well worth a detour if you are interested in this historical period.
Drum Manor Forest Park has some interesting wildlife and walking trails to explore and is a great place to visit.
All over Christian Ireland, from the 7th to the 12th century, crosses and High crosses were erected throughout the land at the time when Christianity was flourishing in Ireland.
There is a brilliant example of this peculiarly Irish art at Ardboe. Standing at approximately 18 feet high, Ardboe Cross is an impressive 10th century, Celtic cross which has carved on it 22 panels of biblical scenes from both the Old and New Testaments. This cross has been declared
‘the finest High Cross in Ireland’
In the village of Donaghmore, standing at the top of the main street there is another cross, but it is not as tall.
On top of Tullaghoge Hill there is a lovely view of the old kingdom of Tyrone and this was the chief crowning place of the Tyrone O’Neills
‘amid the clang of bucklers and a hundred harps’
Well worth visiting is the Ulster-American Folk Park at Castletown, Omagh which grew up around the cottage where Thomas Mellon was born in 1813.
The story of the House of Mellon is truly fascinating.
Thomas was five years old when his family emigrated to America, settling in Pennsylvania where he became a judge, banker and millionaire.
His son, Andrew, became secretary to the US Treasury, ambassador to London, chief architect in the steel town of Pittsburgh, and was probably the richest man in the world during this era.
Mellon money helped build the Waldorf Astoria, the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the locks and gates of the Panama Canal as well as the Folk Park in Omagh.
One of the Mellon dynasties had a love of English paintings and 140 Constable’s, 41 Gainsborough’s, 42 Hogarth’s and 35 Stubbs’s were given to the Yale Museum.
Archbishop John Hughes was born in 1797, the son of a gardener, and lived in a cottage a few miles away from Folk Park. He was to become the Archbishop of New York and the founder of St.Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
He became a politician, pamphleteer and champion of the Irish Catholic immigrants and the cottage, which was his boyhood home, has been moved to the Folk Park and rebuilt stone by stone from where it originally stood.
Every September the Appalachian Music Festival is held in grounds of the park.
The ancestral home of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, is situated near Strabane and the farm is still occupied by Wilson’s who will happily give callers a tour of the house.
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