DRUMRAGH

In 1868, the parish of Drumragh contained the following places:

"DRUMRAGH, a parish in the barony of East Omagh, in the county of Tyrone, province of Ulster, Ireland, containing Omagh, its post town. It is situated on the road from Dublin to Londonderry. The surface is very hilly and boggy, and is interwoven with numerous streamlets, all tributaries to the Strule. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Derry, value £1,099, in the patronage of Trinity College. The church, which is at Omagh, is commodious and handsome. It was built in 1777 by the Mervyns, and was subsequently enlarged. It had a tower and spire added by Knox. Here are two Roman Catholic chapels (united), two Presbyterian, and a Methodist meeting-house. The Kildare Society, London Hibernian Society, and the Society for Discountenancing Vice, assisted five schools, and there are some eleven other daily schools, besides a mathematical and eight Sunday schools, within the parish. New Grove is the principal residence. Many of the inhabitants are weavers. The ruins of the old church are visible."

"OMAGH, a post and market town, and the chief town of county Tyrone, in the parish of Drumragh, in the barony of Omagh, province of Ulster, Ireland, 109 miles from Dublin. It is a station on the Londonderry and Enniskillen railway. It is situated on the river Strule, where the Camowen and Drumragh join, their waters, and on the road from Enniskillen to Coleraine. The principal street, which ascends a sharp declivity, is a well-edificed thoroughfare, crossed at one extremity by two other streets. It contains the parish church of Drumragh, erected in 1777 by the Mervyns, a Roman Catholic chapel, and several meeting-houses belonging to Protestant Dissenters, also charity and National schools. The principal public buildings are the market-houses, court-house, county gaol, poorhouse, infirmary, two banks, fever hospital, &c. It is an assize and sessions town, and the headquarters of the N.W. military district, also the site of a chief police station. One weekly newspaper, the Tyrone Constitution, is published on Friday. The leather trade is carried on to some extent, and a brisk business is done in corn. The town was burnt in 1689 by James II., and in 1743 the greater part of the place was again destroyed by fire arising from accident. A religious establishment is said to have been founded here at the close of the 8th century, the site of which was given to Sir H. Piers at the suppression. In 1498 O'Nial surrendered the town to the Earl of Kildare, and in 1609 it came to Lord Castlehaven, and subsequently to the Mervyns, from whom it was wrested in 1641 by Phelim O'Nial. Market day is Saturday. Fairs are held once a month."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018