Cookstown

Template:Infobox Irish Place Cookstown (An Chorr Chríochach in Irish) is a town in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county (next to Omagh, Strabane and Dungannon respectively) and has a population of 10,646 people (in the 2001 Census). It was founded in 1609 by planter Alan Cooke. It was one of the main centres of the linen industry. A working linen mill can still be seen at Wellbrook Beetling Mill outside Cookstown: beetling is the process used to smooth and polish linen after weaving.

Cookstown's main street, known as the One Mile Street, is the longest, widest and deepest in Northern Ireland.

Places of interest

A few miles away is Ardboe Cross, one of the best examples of a 9th/10th century High cross in Northern Ireland. 22 panels illustrate stories from the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible.

Other ancient sites nearby include Beaghmore stone circles and Tullyhogue Fort, the crowning place of the kings of Tyrone (Tir Eogain), the O'Neills. Destroyed in 1602, the fort was salvaged to some degree in 1964, when the site was cleared and presented. Though none of the original buildings remains, the unusual layout (raised inner mounds, but no outer defensive ditch) is still clearly visible.

The Donaghrisk walled cemetery to the southwest of (and clearly visible from) the fort is the resting place of the O'Hagans, the chief justices of Tyrone (and as such, they presided over the crowning ceremonies of the O'Neills).

Killymoon Castle is about 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) south east of Cookstown.

Politics

In elections for the Westminster Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly it is part of the Mid Ulster constituency.

The local authority, Cookstown District Council, was established in 1973, and includes part of County Londonderry, notably the villages of Moneymore, The Loup and Ballyronan.

History

The Troubles

During the Troubles, Cookstown was the scene of several incidents, affecting both its Catholic and its Protestant residents. For more information, see The Troubles in Cookstown (Tyrone), which includes a list of incidents in Cookstown during the Troubles resulting in fatalities.

People

• Tyrone GAA Star Eoin Mulligan who won two All Irelands With Tyrone in 2003 and 2005 is from the town

• Fulham F.C. and Northern Ireland central defender and captain Aaron Hughes.

• It is the birthplace of Ulster Vanguard founder William Craig.

• It is the birthplace of Republican political activist Bernadette Devlin, one of the leaders of civil rights party People's Democracy, and the youngest woman ever to be elected to the British parliament.

• It is also home to comedians Owen O'Neill and Jimmy Cricket.

• Oliver Sheppard, sculptor was born in Cookstown in 1865. His The "Death of Cuchalain" piece was chosen by De Valera as the national memorial to participants of the 1916 Rising and now resides in Dublin General Post Office.

• Jonathan Swift stayed at Loughry Manor as a guest of the Lindsay family while writing Gulliver's Travels (published 1726).

• Birthplace of Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary, September 23, 1869.

Sport

In 1981, the Cookstown Hockey Club became the first Irish field hockey team to win a major European competition, the EuroHockey Club Champions Trophy. In 1981 this competition was the second highest level in hockey, like the UEFA Cup in association football nowadays.

Trivia

Cookstown is famous for its sausages, known as the "Cookstown Sizzler", which were advertised on television by Rolf Harris and George Best.

Fictionalised as "Ballyglass", it is the hometown of the hero of "Utterly Monkey", a novel by local writer Nick Laird (husband of novelist Zadie Smith).

The local paper, The Mid Ulster Mail, is the biggest selling local newspaper in the area.

In the film The Devil's Own, the character played by Brad Pitt claimed to be from Cookstown, which he described as being "on the shores of the Lough". Cookstown is actually 16 kilometres (10 miles) from the shores of Lough Neagh, only slightly closer than Belfast is. It is possible the character could have been thinking of the closest town to his father's shoreside farm, though this would have been unlikely given that there are many small villages such as the Loup which are closer than Cookstown.

Jimmy Kennedy, although born in Omagh, grew up in the Cookstown area and was educated at Cookstown Academy (the forerunner of Cookstown High School). He is well known for the many songs he wrote including, 'The Teddy Bears' Picnic', 'Red Sails in the Sunset', 'The Hokey Kokey' and 'South of the Border'. He won numerous awards during his lifetime, and his name was entered in the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in New York in 1997.

2001 Census

On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 10,646 people living in Cookstown. Of these:

• 26.0% were aged under 16 years and 15.6% were aged 60 and over
• 49.7% of the population were male and 50.3% were female
• 57.6% were from a Catholic background and 41.1% were from a Protestant background
• 3.9% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

Since 2001 the population of the town and district has increased. There is a higher percentage of young people and a lower percentage of unemployment. The percentage of Catholic in the town has also increased to over 60%.

Education

• Ballylifford Primary School
• Churchtown Primary School
• Cookstown High School
• Cookstown Primary School
• Crievagh Primary School
• Derrychrin Primary School
• East Tyrone Institute (technical college)
• Holy Trinity College
• Holy Trinity Primary School
• Lissan Primary School
• Orritor Primary School
• St. Joseph's Primary School
• St. Mary's Primary School

External links

• Beaghmore Stone Circles
• Mid Ulster Mail

See also

• List of towns in Northern Ireland
• List of villages in Northern Ireland