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People in Ireland identify strongly with their counties. This is as it should be. The county boundaries may have evolved in many ways over a very long period, often in obscure ways. But in the 21st Century, Irish counties – for all that they vary enormously in size – seem to provide their people with a sense of place and pride which survives modern efforts to create newer administrative structures.

Tyrone is Northern Ireland's largest county, so it is something of a surprise for the traveller to discover that its geography appears to be dominated by a range of mountains of modest height, and nearly half of these peaks seem to be in the neighbouring county of Londonderry.

Yet such is the case with Tyrone and the Sperrins. The village of Sperrin itself towards the head of Glenelly may be in Tyrone, but the highest peak of Sawel (678 m), which looms over it, is on the county boundary. But much of the county is upland territory and moorland, giving the impression that the Sperrins are even more extensive than is really the case.

In such a land, the lower country and the fertile valleys gleam like jewels, and there's often a vivid impression of a living - and indeed, prosperity - being wrested from a demanding environment. It's a character-forming sort of place, so it's perhaps understandable that it was the ancestral homeland of a remarkable number of early American Presidents, and this connection is commemorated in the Ulster American Folk Park a few miles north of the county town of Omagh.

Forest parks abound, while attractive towns like Castlederg and Dungannon, as well as villages in the uplands and along the charming Clogher Valley, provide entertainment and hospitality for visitors refreshed by the wide open spaces of the moorlands and the mountains.  


Local Attractions and Information

Ardboe Kinturk (Lough Neagh) Cultural Centre +44 (0)28 86 736512

Benburb Benburb Castle and Valley Park +44 (0)28 37 548241

Castlederg Visitor Centre (Davy Crockett links) +44 (0)28 81 670795

Clogher Clogher Valley Rural Centre +44 (0)28 85 548872

Coagh Kinturk Cultural Centre +44 (0)28 86 736512

Cookstown Drum Manor Forest Park +44 (0)28 86 762774

Cookstown Wellbrook Beetling Mill (Corkhill) +44 (0)28 86 748210

Cranagh (Glenelly) Sperrin Heritage Centre +44 (0)28 81 648142

Creggan (nr Carrickmore) Visitor Centre +44 (0)28 80 761112

Dungannon Heritage Centre +44 (0)28 87 724187

Dungannon Tourism Information +44 (0)28 87 767259

Dungannon Tyrone Crystal +44 (0)28 87 725335

Dungannon Ulysses S Grant Ancestral Homestead +44 (0)28 85 557133

Fivemiletown Clogher Valley Railway Exhibition +44 (0)28 89 521409

Gortin Ulster History Park +44 (0)28 81 648188

Newtownstewart Baronscourt Forest Park +44 (0)28 81 661683

Newtownstewart Gateway Centre & Museum +44 (0)28 81 662414

Omagh Ulster-American Folk Park +44 (0)28 82 243292

Omagh Tourism Information +44 (0)28 82 247831

Strabane Gray's Printing Press (US Independence) +44 (0)28 71 884094

Strabane Tourism Information +44 (0)28 71 883735

Strabane President Wilson Ancestral Home +44 (0)28 71 3844