Co. Tyrone, North
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
