Dungannon

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Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place

Dungannon (Template:Irish derived place name, Template:IPA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the 2021 Census.<ref name=":22">Template:Cite web</ref> The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in the town, though since 2015 the area has been covered by Mid-Ulster District Council.

For centuries, it was the 'capital' of the O'Neill dynasty of Tír Eoghain, who dominated most of Ulster and built a castle on the hill. After the O'Neills' defeat in the Nine Years' War, the English founded a plantation town on the site, which grew into what is now Dungannon. A linen centre in the 19th century, it became a centre for food processing in the late 20th, with Moy Park, a leading poultry producer, today its largest employer. As a result of the processors sourcing immigrant labour, Dungannon currently has the highest percentage of residents born outside of the British Isles of any town in Northern Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

17th Century

The O'Neills

For centuries, Dungannon's fortunes were closely tied to that of the O'Neill dynasty which ruled a large part of Ulster until the 17th century. Dungannon was the clan's main stronghold. The traditional site of inauguration for 'The O'Neill' was Tullyhogue Fort, an Iron Age mound some four miles northeast of Dungannon. The clan O'Hagan were the stewards of this site for the O'Neills. In the 14th century the O'Neills built a castle on what is today known as Castle Hill; the location was ideal for a fort, for it was one of the highest points in the area and dominated the surrounding countryside, giving (depending on the weather) the ability to see seven counties.

This castle was burned in 1602 by Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, as Crown forces under Lord Mountjoy closed in on the Gaelic lords towards the end of the Nine Years' War. In 1607, ninety-nine Irish chieftains and their followers, including Hugh O'Neill, set sail from Rathmullan, bound for the continent, in an event known as the Flight of the Earls. In what became known as the Plantation of Ulster, their lands were confiscated and awarded to Protestant English and Scots settlers; Dungannon and its castle were granted to Sir Arthur Chichester, the Lord Deputy of Ireland.Template:Sfn

Plantation town

As part of the Plantation, in 1608 James I chartered a number of '"free schools" for the sons of local merchants and farmers. This included the Royal School Dungannon, established in the town in 1636, and occupying its present site south-east of Castle Hill from 1789 with the erection of the building we now know as the "Old Grey Mother" by the Archbishop of Armagh, Richard Robinson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sir Phelim O'Neill seized the town in the opening stages of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and issued the Proclamation of Dungannon, in which the rebels set out their aims and proclaimed their loyalty to Charles I. O'Neill claimed they had been ordered to rise by the King, and later produced a forged commission in support of this.Template:Sfn

During the course of the Irish Confederate Wars, Dungannon changed hands several times; Scots Covenanter forces under Alexander Leslie captured it in September 1642, before O'Neill took it back in spring 1643.Template:Sfn

In 1689, during the Williamite War, Castle Hill, with still extant fortifications, was occupied by a Jacobite force, and hosted King James II as he passed en route to the Siege of Derry.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> In 2007, the castle was partially excavated by the Channel 4 archaeological show Time Team, uncovering part of the moat and walls of the castle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

18th Century

Volunteer conventions

In 1782, as the "most central town of Ulster",<ref name="Paterson">Paterson, T. G. F.; A Relic of 1782, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 3 (1940)</ref> Dungannon was chosen as the site for a convention of the Volunteers. Initially formed for defence against the French in the American War of Independence, the Volunteers had increasingly been agitated by the same kinds of grievances driving rebellion among their kinsmen in America<ref name=":7">Template:Citation</ref> (among them, local emigrants who, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, had established the township of Dungannon, Virginia).

Delegates from 147 Volunteer corps assembled at the Presbyterian church on Scotch Street, previously favoured as a meeting place for the Presbyterian Synod of Ulster.<ref name="Paterson" /><ref name="Latimer">W. T. Latimer; Church of the Volunteers, Dungannon, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Second Series, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Sep. 1894).</ref> Taking on "the substance of a national assembly",<ref>Brendan Clifford (1974), "Notes on the political framework of Ireland 1780-1800", Belfast Politics by Henry Joy, United Irish Reprints: no. 4, B&ICO, Belfast, p. 82</ref> the Convention resolved that the right asserted by the British Crown to overrule the Irish Parliament in Dublin, and to legislate for Ireland from Westminster was "unconstitutional" and "illegal".<ref name=":43">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

Two further Volunteer conventions were held in Dungannon, in 1783 and 1793. In the context, of debating reform of the Irish parliament, the Volunteers divided over the question of Catholic emancipation, Protestants alone having the right to vote, to assume office and to carry arms.<ref name=":12">Template:Cite book</ref>

Orangemen and United men

Local veterans of Volunteer movement broke into two camps; those who joined the new-formed Orangemen, sworn to uphold the Protestant Ascendancy, in forming a loyal yeomanry, and those who, having taken the United Irish oath "to obtain an equal, full and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> began raiding the homesteads of these yeomen to procure arms and gunpowder.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Martial law imposed on the area from January 1797, broke the local United Irish organisation. The rebellion in the summer of 1798, which saw risings in counties Antrim and Down, was chiefly marked in Dungannon by courts martial in which United Irishmen were sentenced to floggings and to penal transportation.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

19th century

File:Heavy traffic expected soon (38083984691).jpg
Dungannon Market Square c 1880

Linen

The town in which the Volunteers had gathered, was still largely a settlement of thatched houses. But by 1802, a surveyor for the Dublin Society was able to describe it as "one of the most prosperous towns in the North of Ireland in die linen trade," and as "inferior" to no other "for its rapid progress in building". In the 1820s and 30s, buyers for the would come from Belfast every Thursday and take their places on the "standings" on the east side of Market Square where the farmers brought their "webs" of raw, unbleached linen woven by their families and servants.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Workhouse

In 1842, following the application to Ireland of the new English Poor Law system of Workhouses (an alternative to outdoor relief, that made it easier for landlords to clear their estates in favour of larger English-export-oriented farms),<ref name="Foster">Template:Cite book</ref> a Workhouse was built in Dungannon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Until its closure in 1948, about 1000 people passed through its doors. A memorial on the former site, now the grounds of the South Tyrone Hospital, commemorates "all those who sought shelter" within its walls. This includes the victims of the Great Famine and the attendant cholera and typhus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Among these were the "Irish Famine Orphan Girls", a group of young women sent from the workhouse to Australia between 1848 and 1850.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Georges Street, Dungannon (16022291874).jpg
Georges Street in the late 19th century

Tenant agitation

In 1834, Dungannon had again been the venue for a regional convention: upwards of 75,000 people attended a "Great Protestant Meeting" called by the sometime Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Henry Cookeand by Tory grandees. Landlords and their retinues were joined by parading Orangemen.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Locally, the call for Protestant unity was not well heeded. Tithes levied atop rents on behalf of the established Church of Ireland, failure to respect the protections of the Ulster Custom, and rack renting, set tenant farmers, Protestant and Catholic alike, at odds with the landed gentry.They were drawn to the Tenant Right League, and subsequently the direct-action Irish National Land League.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Kirkpatrick, R. W. (1980), "Origins and development of the land war in mid-Ulster, 1879–85" in F. S. Lyons and R. A. J. Hawkins (eds.) Ireland under the Union: varieties of tension: Essays in honour of T. W. Moody, Oxford University Press, pp. 201–35.</ref>

With the introduction in 1872 of the secret ballot, landlords and their agents who, in the traditional hustings, had been able to monitor how their tenants voted, could no longer secure the election of Conservative candidates for Parliament. In 1874, Dungannon elected Thomas Alexander Dickson (of Milltown House), an independent Liberal who offered himself as an opponent of "rack renting and serfdom",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in 1880 his son James Dickson.<ref>Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 213–214, 276–277. Template:ISBN.</ref> From 1886, the Dickson legacy was sustained in an enlarged South Tyrone constituency by Thomas Russell, champion of the Ulster Farmers and Labourers Union, MP until 1910 when, after being addressed in a series of land acts, agrarian issues were overshadowed by the return to the political agenda of Irish home rule.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Twentieth Century

Unionist-Nationalist division

In 1913, 1,200 Ulster Volunteers paraded before Sir Edward Carson, leader of the unionist, almost exclusively Protestant, opposition to Irish self-government.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The nationalist response, was the formation of the Irish Volunteers, whose membership in Tyrone, standing at 8,600 on the eve of the Great War in July 1914, was double that of Carson's Volunteers in the county.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the town itself (now the Dungannon District Electoral Area) unionists continued to dominate electorally until the end of the century (nationalists--Sinn Féin, the SDLP and a Republican independent—won their first majority, four of six councillors, in 2023).

Housing and civil rights protest

Dungannon in early 1960s was described as "an average country town" with a population of around seven thousand, "half Protestant, half Catholic". The "best, and largest, firms", including the town's two textile factories, were Protestant owned, and "the upper echelons of the workforce were virtually all Protestant". For working-class Catholics the most "crushing problem" was the housing shortage, as the one ward in which Nationalist (Catholic) councillors could assign tenancies had seen no new houses built by the Unionist-controlled council.<ref name=":2" />

In a reference to the black American civil-rights struggle, women and children protesting housing policy outside a meeting of the Dungannon Urban District Council in May 1963 held a placard with the slogan "If Our Religion Is Against Us Ship Us to Little Rock".<ref>Prince, Simon (2018). Northern Ireland’s ’68: Civil Rights, Global Revolt and the Origins of the Troubles. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, p. 70. Template:ISBN</ref> Three months later, 17 families squatted an estate of pre-fabricated bungalows at Fairmount Park in protest, the beginning of a campaign for an independent points-based system of housing allocation.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref>

On 24 August 1968, the Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ), launched in town by Councillor Patricia McCluskey and her husband Conn, a local GP,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), and other groups organised Northern Ireland's first civil rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon in solidarity. The rally was officially banned, but took place and passed off without incident.<ref name="CA">Template:Cite web</ref> Many more marches were held over the following year. In the build-up toward the sustained political violence of the Troubles, loyalists attacked some of the marches and held counter-demonstrations in a bid to get the marches banned.<ref name="cain1968">Chronology of the Conflict: 1968 Template:Webarchive, cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2013.</ref>

The Troubles

During the Troubles, the Dungannon district suffered numerous bombings, and almost 50 people were killed in and around the town.<ref>CAIN Template:Webarchive, cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 17 June 2016.</ref> The two deadliest attacks involved, in March 1976, the Ulster Volunteer Force detonating a car bomb outside a pub crowded with people celebrating Saint Patrick's Day, and, in December 1979, a land-mine ambush of a British Army patrol by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). The Hillcrest Bar bombing, on Donaghmore Road, killed four civilians—including two 13-year-old boys standing outside—and injured almost 50 people.<ref name="wharton">Wharton, Ken (2013). Wasted Years, Wasted Lives, Volume 1: The British Army in Northern Ireland, 1975-1977. UK: Helion & Company</ref> The land-mine attack against British Army Land Rovers on the Ballygawley Road, killed four British soldiers.<ref name="LostLives2">Template:Cite book</ref>

The most extensive property damage was caused in March 1979 by a 50lb IRA bomb that destroyed a bank and a row of shops on Scotch street.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Survey of the town, 1971

In a survey, published in 1971 by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, the site of the town on the southern slope of the Castle Hill, running down to the Rhone river, is described as "impressive". Note is made of the "careful planting and parkland, inherited from the 18lh and early centuries" which forms a "continuous swathe of natural beauty stretching from Killymeal in the north through Windmill Wood, Ballynorthland, Milltown and Mullaghanagh to terminate in Ballysaggart Lough", and that the skyline remains "dominated by the spires of the principal churches, St. Patrick's, St. Anne's and the tower of the Presbyterian church". The authors were less sanguine about contemporary developments, and sounded a warning note for the future:<ref name=":3" />

The principal streets of the old town, Ann Street, Irish Street, Scotch Street, Church Street, Perry Street and Northland Row, retain most of their original buildings but in general, though with a significant number of individual exceptions, their character is being surely eroded by neglect or thoughtless alterations and by traffic. While the centre quietly decays, new building spreads in a sporadic rash in all directions, gradually choking the impressive glimpses of the countryside which the elevation of the central area can afford, reaching as far as the Mourne Mountains and hills of Armagh. Ballynorthland demesne and Dungannon Park retain most of their ornamental timber, one of the town's finest remaining assets, but positive steps must be taken to prevent their being allowed to decay and engulfed through the seeming apathy and indifference of the townspeople to their inheritance.

21st century, new immigrant population

From the 1990s, employers in the town, and in particularly the food processors, began employing immigrant labour. It was a development that made headlines in December 2005 when an altercation was reported between Lithuanian and East Timorese workers in a parking lot outside Moy Park, a poultry processor<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (founded in 1943 in the neighboring village of Moygashel).<ref name="telegraph_20142">Template:Cite news></ref> In addition to the East Timorese, through labour recruiters in Portugal, employers brought other Portuguese-speaking workers to Dungannon, so that today the town also has residents born in Portugal, Brazil, and Mozambique.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The 2021 Census recorded over a third of the town's population as born outside of the British Isles,<ref name=":22" /> by far the largest share of any settlement in Northern Ireland. In 2019, Dungannon Primary School was rated "one of the most diverse schools in Northern Ireland, as almost two-thirds of its 281 pupils are from families who originally came here from other countries".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Demography

The population of the town increased slightly overall during the 19th century:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Year 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891
Population 3,801 3,854 3,994 3,886 4,084 3,812
Houses 675 686 720 727 812 830

2011 Census

Dungannon had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 census, rising by 3,349 (over 30%) from 10,983 in 2001, making it one of the fastest growing towns in Northern Ireland.<ref name="Census2011">Template:Cite web</ref> It has the highest percentage of immigrants of any town in Northern Ireland.<ref name="bbcmigrants">"NI migrant population triples in decade, says study" Template:Webarchive. BBC News, 26 June 2014</ref> Immigrants make up about 11% of its population; more than twice the average. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of immigrants in Dungannon increased tenfold; the biggest increase of any town.<ref name="bbcmigrants" /> Many came to work in the local food processing plants. There have been several attacks on immigrants<ref>"Politicians unite to condemn 'racist' sign in Moygashel" Template:Webarchive, Tyrone Courier, 8 January 2014; accessed 7 September 2014.</ref> and clashes between rival groups of immigrants<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in the area.

On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 14,340 people living in Dungannon (5,388 households), accounting for 0.79% of the NI total.<ref name="Census2011" /> Of these:

  • 22.01% were aged under 16 years and 12.09% were aged 65 and over;
  • 50.33% of the usually resident population were female and 49.67% were male;
  • 64.82% belong to or were brought up in the Catholic Christian faith, 30.46% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' religion;
  • 31.63% had an Irish national identity, 28.27% indicated that they had a British national identity and 23.93% had a Northern Irish national identity (respondents could indicate more than one national identity);
  • 34 years was the average (median) age of the population;
  • 15.93% had some knowledge of Irish (Gaeilge), 4.82% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots and 23.18% did not have English as their first language.

2021 Census

Template:Bar box In the 2021 Census, Dungannon was recorded as having a population of 16,282,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a 13.5% increase from 2011. Of these:

  • 34.85% of the town's population was recorded as foreign-born (born outside the United Kingdom and Ireland),<ref name=":22" /> by far the largest of any settlement in Northern Ireland.
  • The largest foreign-born communities are East Timorese (1,777 people), Lithuanian (1,565 people), Polish (717 people) and Portuguese (578 people).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 67.15% of the population belong to or were brought up in the Catholic Christian faith, 24.25% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' religion, and 1.63% belonged to or were brought up in an other religion. 6.96% either declared no religion or did not state their religion.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 22.45% were aged under 16 years and 12.48% were aged 65 or over.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 49.24% of the usually resident population were female and 50.76% were male.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 15.38% had some knowledge of the Irish language,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 6.97% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 31.52% did not have English as their first language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 27.15% had an Irish national identity,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 21.98% had a British national identity<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 19.64% had a Northern Irish national identity<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (respondents could indicate more than one national identity).
Religion or religion brought up in (2021 Census)<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Religion or religion brought up in Number (%)
Catholic: Total 10,934 67.15
Catholic: British/Irish/Northern Irish/English/Scottish/Welsh (with or without non-UK or Irish national identities) 6,117 37.57
Catholic: Other 4,817 29.58
Protestant and Other Christian: Total 3,950 24.25
Protestant/Other Christian: British/Irish/Northern Irish/English/Scottish/Welsh (with or without non-UK or Irish national identities) 3,534 21.70
Protestant/Other Christian: Other 416 2.55
Other religions: Total 265 1.63
Other religions: British/Irish/Northern Irish/English/Scottish/Welsh (with or without non-UK or Irish national identities) 114 0.70
Other religions: Other 151 0.93
None: Total 1,134 6.96
None: British/Irish/Northern Irish/English/Scottish/Welsh (with or without non-UK or Irish national identities) 441 2.71
None: Other 693 4.25
Total 16,282 100.00
Ethnic groups (2021 Census)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ethnic group Number (%)
White: Total 13,032 80.04
White: British/Irish/Northern Irish/English/Scottish/Welsh (with or without non-UK or Irish national identities) 9,393 57.69
White: Other 3,487 21.42
White: Irish Traveller 118 0.72
White: Roma 35 0.21
Black or Black British: Total 1,267 7.78
Black/Black British: Black African 341 2.09
Black/Black British: Black Other 926 5.69
Asian or Asian British: Total 1,182 7.26
Asian/Asian British: Other Asian 959 5.89
Asian/Asian British: Chinese 86 0.53
Asian/Asian British: Indian 76 0.47
Asian/Asian British: Arab 33 0.20
Asian/Asian British: Filipino 20 0.12
Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 8 0.05
Mixed: Total 641 3.94
Other: Any other ethnic group: Total 160 0.98
Total 16,282 100.00
Country of birth (2021 Census)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" />
Country of birth Number (%)
United Kingdom and Ireland 10,607 65.15
Northern Ireland 9,890 60.74
England 389 2.39
Scotland 61 0.37
Wales 9 0.06
Republic of Ireland 258 1.58
Europe 3,336 20.49
European Union 3,272 20.10
European Union: Lithuania 1,565 9.61
European Union: Poland 717 4.40
European Union: Portugal 578 3.55
European Union: Other EU countries 412 2.53
Other non-EU countries 64 0.39
Rest of World 2,339 14.37
Middle East and Asia 1,996 12.26
Middle East/Asia: East Timor 1,777 10.91
Middle East/Asia: Other 219 1.35
Africa 223 1.37
South America 75 0.46
North America, Central America and Caribbean 36 0.22
Antarctica, Oceania and Other 9 0.06
Total 16,282 100.00

Places of interest

File:Georges Street, Dungannon (16022291874).jpg
Georges Street in the late 19th century

An interesting feature of the town is the former Royal Irish Constabulary barracks at the northeastern corner of the market square which is quite unlike any other police barracks of a similar vintage in Ireland. A popular but apocryphal story relates that the unusual design of this building is due to a mix-up with the plans in Dublin which meant Dungannon got a station designed for Nepal and they got a standard Irish barracks, complete with a traditional Irish fireplace. Dungannon Park covers Template:Convert; it is centred round an idyllic still-water lake, with miles of pathways and views of the surrounding townland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography

Dungannon is in the southeast of County Tyrone, within the historic barony of Dungannon Middle and the civil parish of Drumglass.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The town grew up around a hill, known locally as Castle Hill.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There are three small lakes on the southern edge of town, the biggest of which is Black Lough.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There are also two parks in the eastern part of town: Dungannon Park and Windmill Wood Park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Townlands

Dungannon sprang up in a townland called Drumcoo. Over time, the urban area has spread into the neighbouring townlands. Many of its roads and housing estates are named after them. The following is a list of these townlands and their likely etymologies:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Economy

File:Tyrone Crystal Factory - geograph.org.uk - 904631.jpg
The then Tyrone Crystal building in Dungannon (2008)

Until its closure in 2010, the crystal glass producer Tyrone Crystal was based in Dungannon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Schools

Primary
  • Aughamullan (Holy Family) Primary School (RC)
  • Bush Primary School
  • Clintyclay Primary School
  • Derrylatinee Primary School (RC)
  • Donaghey Controlled Primary School
  • Dungannon Primary School
  • Killyman Primary School
  • Laghey Primary School (RC)
  • Lisfearty Primary School
  • Newmills Primary School
  • Orchard County Primary School (amalgamation of Annaghmore and Tullyroan primary schools)
  • St Mary's Primary School
  • St Patrick's Primary School
  • Tamnamore Primary School
  • Walker Memorial Primary School
  • Windmill Integrated Primary School
Secondary

Transport

Dungannon is linked to the M1 motorway, which runs from the southeast of the town to Belfast. There is an Ulsterbus town bus service that runs daily that serves the town's suburbs,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> formerly operated by the Optare Solo buses. The nearest railway station is Template:Rws on Northern Ireland Railways.

Former railways

The Irish gauge Template:RailGauge Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway (PD&O) linked the town with Template:Rws from 1858 and Omagh from 1861,<ref name=Hajducki8>Template:Cite book</ref> completing the Template:Rws – Derry railway route that came to be informally called "The Derry Road".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Great Northern Railway took over the PD&O in 1876<ref name=Hajduckixiii>Hajducki, op. cit., page xiii</ref> and built a branch line from Dungannon to Cookstown in 1879.<ref name=Hajducki8 />

The GNR Board cut back the Cookstown branch to Coalisland in 1956<ref name=Hajducki39>Hajducki, op. cit., map 39</ref> and the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) closed the branch altogether in 1959.<ref name=Hajducki39 /> In accordance with the Benson Report submitted to the Government of Northern Ireland 1963 the UTA closed the "Derry Road" through Dungannon in 1965.<ref name=Hajducki39 /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The site of Dungannon station is now a public park and the former trackbed through the station is now a greenway.

Notable people

1800s

1900s

Sport

Cricket

Dungannon Cricket Club was established in 1865.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Attempts were made to re-establish the club after the First World War and this was done in 1929 and survived until 1933 when Lord Ranfurly died, which for a second time left the club without a ground. Cricket was kept alive by the Royal School, Bankers and the RUC until 1939 when the Second World War broke out. The club was reformed in 1948 mainly due to the efforts of Eddie Hodgett and the NCU leagues in 1952 and continues to do so to the present time. The club has never quite reached senior cricket as it has limited resources and relies on the District Council for a ground. The club has played on at least five different locations during its existence. Home games are played at Dungannon Park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Football

Dungannon Swifts F.C. is the town's local team, which plays in the NIFL Premiership, and is Tyrone's only representative in the league, following Omagh Town's collapse. The club represented Northern Ireland in European competition in the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup<ref name="UEFA-06">Template:Cite web</ref> and the 2007–08 UEFA Cup.<ref name="UEFA-07/08">Template:Cite web</ref>

Gaelic games

The local boys' Gaelic football club is Dungannon Thomas Clarkes (Thomáis Uí Chléirigh Dún Geanainn) while the ladies' football team is Aodh a Ruadh.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Golf

Dungannon Golf Club, which provides an 18-hole course, appointed its first woman captain in January 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hare coursing

The local Hare Coursing Club has been in existence since the 1920s but the sport was popular in the area long before the formation of the club. With hare coursing currently banned in Northern Ireland, the Dungannon club organises meetings in the Republic of Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Greyhound racing

Greyhound racing was once a popular sport in Dungannon. The Dungannon Greyhound Stadium was opened in July 1930, the third track in Northern Ireland after Celtic Park and Dunmore Stadium.<ref name="barnes88">Template:Cite book</ref> The stadium, also known as the Oaks Park Greyhound Stadium, remained operational until January 2003 when it was closed by Dungannon (Oaks Park) Stadium Greyhound Racing Limited who had taken over the track in 1995 and saw the opportunity to make a substantial profit by developing the site.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Rugby

Dungannon Rugby FC, founded in 1873, was one of the first towns in Ireland to form a rugby club.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Sources

Template:Commons category Template:Wikivoyage

Template:Northern Ireland towns Template:County Tyrone Template:Authority control

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