Cookstown, known before the
Plantation of Ulster as
Corchrichy ( ), is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
. It is the fourth largest town in the county
(next to Omagh
, Strabane
and Dungannon
respectively) and had a population of nearly 11,000
people in the 2001
Census. It was founded around 1620 when the townlands in
the area were leased by an English ecclesiastical lawyer, Dr Alan
Cooke, from the Archbishop of Armagh, who had been granted the
lands after the
Flight of the
Earls. It was one of the main centres of the
linen industry West of the
River
Bann, and until 1956, the processes of flax spinning, weaving,
bleaching and beetling were carried out in the town.
Cookstown's famous main street (laid out from
c1735–c1800), is long and wide, one of the longest main streets in
Ireland
.
Places of interest
- Cookstown's main street hosts an open air market each
Saturday.
- The annual Cookstown 100 National Road Race is a motor biking
event attended by many motorbiking enthusiasts. It is the opening
race of the road racing calendar in Ireland and is usually held in
April.
250 px
- Other
ancient sites nearby include Beaghmore
stone circles and Tullyhogue Fort
, the crowning place of the chiefs 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 remain, 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).
- Lissan House lies on the outskirts
of Cookstown. It is a huge structure of little
architectural beauty but enormous historical significance and was,
until the death of its last inhabitant, Hazel Radclyffe Dolling (daughter of
the 13th Baronet of Lissan, Sir Robert George Alexander Staples),
in 2006, the oldest domestic dwelling in Ireland continually
inhabited by one family. The entrance front is dominated by
a gargantuan porte-cochere built in
about 1830. Inside, the most striking feature is the bizarre and
gargantuan oak staircase which rises from the stone flagged
entrance hall the full height of the building. This was constructed
by a local carpenter from the remnants of a rare seventeenth
century staircase which collapsed (along with the floors between
it) as a result of dry rot in the 1880s and is quite unique, having
flights springing at every conceivable angle, some of which go
nowhere. The other most notable feature of the house is its
octagonal ball room added by Sir Thomas Staples (Queen's Advocate in Ireland) in about 1830
with its fine restrained neo-classical
plasterwork, Dublin chimneypiece and carved door frames. The house
currently lies empty, its contents in storage, but a Trust was
established on the death of Mrs. Radclyffe Dolling to oversee the
restoration of the house and its development into accommodation and
conference facilities.
- Killymoon Castle is about 1.5
kilometres (1 mile) south east of Cookstown. This imposing
structure is Cookstown's finest piece of architectural heritage. It
was built in just over a year at a cost of £80,000 and was Nash's first Irish commission. It is
two stories high and has two large towers to the East and West, one
circular the other (slightly lower) octagonal. Parts of the
original castle were retained and its former Chapel became Nash's
library. Inside the dramatic entrance porte-cochere can be found a return staircase
leading to the octagonal drawing room and oval dining room. The
Stewarts sold the castle in 1852 and, after passing though the
hands of some 6 owners, it was sold for the final time in 1922 to a
local farmer for the princely sum of £100. The same family retains
it to this day.
- Drum Manor, approximately 5 miles
from the town owes its origins to the marriage, in 1868 of Viscount Stuart (later the Fifth Earl of Castlestuart) to Augusta
Richardson-Brady, heiress to the Oaklands estate. Immediately upon
marriage, Lord Stuart set about reconstructing Oaklands into the
Tudor revival Drum Manor. This battlemented sandstone structure once had a tall
tower to the East near the entrance front which was dominated by a
huge entrance portal surmounted by a large tracery window which contained Victorian armorial
stained glass. Lord Stuart was also responsible for setting out the
formal gardens and Demesne which survive to this day. Lord Stuart's
grandson sold the estate to the Forest
Service in 1980 and the Service set out the woodland habitat
that exists today. However, in an attempt to avoid incurring
rates liability, the Forest Service
decided to demolish the Manor. Today, Drum Manor Forest Park is one
of Cookstown District's largest tourist attractions (complete with
the highest-rated caravan site in the District) but the only the
ground floor outer walls of the Manor House survive.
- St Luran's Church of Ireland
Church on Church Street is thought to have been originally
constructed in 1822 by John
Nash and certainly plans for the church exist in his hand.
However, even if Nash's church was completed, at most only the
tower and first bay of this structure have survived Victorian
extension by the architect Welland in 1859. Nash's plans show a
castellated and battlemented church from which only the tower and
spire bear any resemblance to the structure standing today. The
interior is a typical Victorian church structure with a chancel
arch, hammer beam roof and large sanctuary with sparse but
dignified decoration.
- J.J. McCarthy's Roman Catholic
Church of the Holy Trinity was
constructed between 1855 and 1860 with a tower and spire at the
West End. It is one of McCarthy's earliest works in which the
influence of A. W. N.
Pugin is apparent and the later florid
French Gothic of his
latter years (seen in St. Patrick's Dungannon and St Macartan's
Cathedral in Monaghan
) is nowhere
to be seen. The church is constructed in the Early English style with a nave of 5 bays leading to a chancel arch and reduced chancel area beyond.
In 1980
during the re-ordering works carried out
in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, the caen stone side
altars, marble altar rails, carved pulpit,
original high altar and Telford
Pipe Organ
were removed . Only the gargantuan Caen stone reredos
survives (minus its central spire and High Altar) behind one of the
reclaimed Caen stone and Carrera Marble altars, the front of which
bears a carved representation of the Assumption of the Virgin
(presumably formerly in the Lady Chapel
which would have been to the right of this space). The crowning
feature of the church today is the Eastern Window. This was
designed and manufactured by Hardman of Birmingham (a firm employed
and partly run by A. W. N.
Pugin) and has representations of the
Canonized Bishops
and Abbots of the Archdiocese of Armagh
around a
representation of the Virgin crowned in glory and below a
tripartite window representing the constituents of the Holy Trinity. The remaining stained
glass is mainly by Mayer of Munich
and dates to the end of the nineteenth century though there is a
very fine Art Deco window showing the Annunciation in the style of Harry Clarke in the former Lady Chapel (now a seating area). The Church
itself is now undergoing major renovation and refurbishment work to
restore its once magnificent interior and exterior.
History
Plantation of Ulster
The lands around the present site of Cookstown were, prior to the
early seventeenth century, in the hands of the O'Mellan Clan and
were broadly known as "Mellanagh". This land was confiscated by
King James I after the
Flight of the
Earls of
Tyrone and
Tyrconnell in 1607 and a series of Rebellions in
the area which saw the native landlords ousted from their holdings.
The O'Mellan land was held to be the property of the
Established Church and was thus presented
to the Anglican
Archbishop of
Armagh who was charged with overseeing the settlement of the
area with English and Scots "planters". In 1620, a small portion
was leased by James Stewart (a Scots settler in the area) and lands
around the townland of Cor Criche were leased to an English
ecclesiastical lawyer, Dr. Cooke, who fulfilled the covenants
entered in the lease by building 10 houses on the land (today
covering the area known as Oldtown), which he stipulated were all
to have front gardens (a tradition which still remains in place).
In 1628, King
Charles I granted
Letters Patent to Cooke permitting the holding of a twice-weekly
market for livestock and flaxen goods.
In 1641, the native Irish revolted against the Planters in a bloody
rebellion. Cookstown, being in the heartland of Ulster insurgency,
was abandoned to the rebels who immediately seized the important
Iron works at Lios Áine (later
Lissan) and
the area became a hotbed of activity as
pikes
and weapons were forged for the rebel cause.
Lissan was one of the
first estates in this area to be settled when it was purchased by
Sir Thomas Staples of Yate Court near Bristol
in
1610. Sir Thomas' wife Charity, Lady Staples and
their five children were captured by Hugh Og O Quin during the
Rebellion and imprisoned at Moneymore
Castle about 5 miles away and held there until Moneymore
and the estate were liberated by Sir Thomas (who
had been in Dublin
when the
Rebellion broke out) and the Royalist army
in 1643. When the armies of Charles I reached Cookstown in
1643, they routed the rebels and razed the remains of the town to
the ground.
Eighteenth century
The 1641 Rebellion had a devastating effect on the town and
development ceased for nearly a century. Over the succeeding years,
the lands around Cookstown were progressively bought up by William
Stewart of Killymoon until in 1671 all of Dr Cooke's lands were in
the hands of the Stewart family. Settlement however remained sparse
and by 1734, only 2 inhabited houses remained at Oldtown. William
Stewart and later his son James set out plans for the town soon
after this.
Inspired by the Wide Street Commission's work in
Dublin, they
planned a new town to be built along a tree lined boulevard 135 feet wide which would connect the
Killymoon Demesne with Oldtown, a distance of over a mile and a
quarter. This street was laid out by the mid 1790's and has
remained at the centre of Cookstown's development ever since
covering Killymoon Street, Church Street, Chapel Street, Loy
Street, William Street, James Street and finally Oldtown Street and
being the longest main street in Ireland. All remaining traces of
Cooke's town were obliterated at this point.
Throughout the remainder of the eighteenth century, Cookstown
prospered quietly as a market town where linens, seeds and other
agricultural produce were marketed at its famous market. In 1802,
Col William Stewart (James Stewart's unmarried son) approached the
famous London architect,
John Nash and
requested that he visit the area to rebuild the
Castle of Killymoon which had been burnt in 1801. The
Castle was built in just over a year at a cost of £80,000 and was
Nash's first Irish Commission. It is two stories high and has two
large towers to the East and West, one circular the other (slightly
lower) octagonal. Parts of the original castle were retained and
its former Chapel became Nash's library.
In addition to Killymoon, there is evidence to suggest that Nash
also designed the original
St Luran's
Parish Church on Church Street in 1822
and certainly plans for the church exist in his hand.
It is also suggested that Nash designed the
dower house of Killymoon on Chapel Street (now
divided into two houses) and it is certain that he designed the
Rectory at
Lissan for
the Rev John Molesworth Staples in 1807.
Nineteenth century
However, Cookstown's greatest development came with the
Industrial Revolution. With the
establishment of Gunning's Linen
Weaving
Mill, the expansion of the Wellbrook
linen
finishing estate, the establishment of Adair's weaving mill at
Greenvale and the final arrival of the railways, Cookstown's
population quadrupled between 1820 and 1840. The railways allowed
the fast transport to and from the town of agricultural produce.
Two railways established
termini at Cookstown - the
London, Midland and
Scottish Railway in their dressed stone station designed by
Charles Lanyon (now much altered as a
Chinese restaurant on Molesworth Street) and the
Great Northern Railway in
their brick station next door (now Cookstown High School's Hockey
Club). Both transported goods and livestock for sale to Cookstown's
market.
With the exception of
Killymoon
Castle, all of Cookstown's best architecture dates from this
period and the town still resembles almost exactly the town
developed at this time. Probably foremost among the buildings of
this period is J.J. McCarthy's Church of the
Holy Trinity on Chapel Street which is one of
McCarthy's earliest commissions in which the influence of AWN
Pugin's
St. Giles' in Cheadle
can be ascertained.
Other fine buildings of this period include the
Scottish Baronial former Courthouse
(currently derelict) on Chapel Street; the Classical First
Presbyterian Church (Loy Hill) and
Italianate Molesworth
Presbyterian Church ( Molesworth Street); the
Romanesque Methodist
Church (Church Street); the
Hibernian
Bank on James Street (destroyed by terrorist activity ) and the
pair of railway termini on Molesworth Street.
The twentieth century
With the linen and later the hat-making and brick manufacturing
industries, Cookstown continued to prosper in the early twentieth
century and its population continued to expand. Little architecture
of any note dates from this period as the Victorian structures of
the previous generation continued to fulfill their purpose.
The
Great War had a devastating effect on the
local community at a cost of life commemorated in the prominent
Cenotaph
(loosely based on Lutyens' Whitehall
Cenotaph) at the centre of the town unveiled in 1927.
This is Cookstown's sole piece of public sculpture.
As industry developed, a
Technical
College was established on Loy Hill in a
Queen Anne style red brick structure. This
was opened by Mrs. Adair, whose husband owned the Greenvale Mill,
in 1936 and the building continued as a Technical College until
2006 when it was relocated. Currently it is used as offices, a
creche and a credit union.
All of Cookstown's main educational institutions date from this
period, Cookstown High School being housed in the Victorian mansion
and former residence of the Gunning family at Coolnafranky and the
Catholic Church constructing its
convent schools and St Mary's Boy's School in 1939 (now demolished
and replaced by Holy Trinity Nursery School), all on Loy
Hill.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Cookstown became the
centre of much regimental activity. Killymoon was
requisitioned by the American Army and a large
internment camp was established on
recently reclaimed land at Burn Road. The town suffered no enemy
damage during the war and the industries of the town
prospered.
This however proved to be the last
belle époque of the industrial town of
Cookstown. While the
linen industry
survived to some degree in Ulster until well into the 1960s,
increased fabric imports from the
Far East
led to tremendous difficulties for the industry across Northern
Ireland. Despite this economic downturn, Cookstown's Council
constructed its moderne town hall in 1953 (now demolished and
replaced by the Buranavon Theatre) and the Daintyfit clothing
factory on Burn Road was opened. An internationally renowned
Agricultural College was also established at
Loughry House, but the prosperity of the town was
now severely in doubt. Gunning's weaving mill closed in 1956 and
was swiftly followed by Adair's Mill and the
Wellbrook estate in 1961. The railways
ceased to operate from the town in 1963 and while the market
continued to be held on Saturday, its agricultural significance to
the wider Ulster community never recovered and the sale of
livestock finally completely ceased in 2004. In 1970 the
Blue Circle Cement factory was opened at
Derryloran. This provided much employment for the local
population.
The sole building of architectural note from this period was Liam
McCormack's Chapel, the cube-shaped body of which is tacked on to
JJ McCarthy's
High Victorian
Gothic Convent of Mercy at Chapel Street at one of its corners.
The
patterned concrete and bronze façade of this building was
constructed in 1965 and contains important stained glass by the
Dublin artist
Patrick Pye though the buildin is
currently boarded up following the closure of the
Convent.
Through most of its history relatively good relations between
Protestants and Catholics were maintained by almost equal numbers
from both communities. But during the Troubles (1969-1996),
Cookstown suffered from several bomb and other attacks, robbing the
town centre of most of its Victorian buildings including the
sandstone façade of the
Hibernian
Bank as well as the Adair's former
Italianate residence at Glenavon (which had been
converted to a hotel).
In 1989, two permanent armed
checkpoints were erected at either side
of the town centre and an army base was established at Church
Street. Barriers were also erected around the town so that the Main
Street could be cordoned off in the evening.
For more information see
The Troubles in Cookstown
.
The twenty-first century
After the PIRA's initial ceasefire in 1996, the tree-lined
boulevard thought up by James and William Stewart
was restored and a scheme of regeneration saw the creation of green
space, flowerbeds and restored shop frontage. With Ulster's
industry now substantially defunct, the town began to attract
instead financial investment from shopping and tourism. In 2000,
the
Burnavon Arts and
Cultural Centre opened on the site of the former Town Hall on
the Burn Road and began to attract large scale cultural and
artistic events to the town whilst a year later, a development
scheme began which saw the former
LMS Railway Terminus
turned into a shopping centre. In 2003 Cookstown District Council
in conjunction with Cookstown Town Centre Forum launched
Cookstown's ten year Town Centre Regeneration Strategy and Action
Plan which details a range of short, medium and long range
regeneration actions.
Today, Cookstown has been almost completely regenerated with plans
for further regeneration work to be carried out throughout the town
centre. Another large shopping centre on Molesworth Street was
built in 2007.
The old Gunning and Moore Weaving Mill at
Broadfields has been transformed into a large retail park with
outlets of Tesco
, Marks and Spencer, Homebase, Next,
Tempest, New Look,
Halfords and Peacocks being the first tenants to set
up here. More stores such as B&M Bargains and Burger
King are also setting up.
The town's central location and many hotels (for a population of
just over 11,000 it has no less than 4) has meant that it is a
natural location for conferences and meetings involving delegates
from across Northern Ireland. It was the natural choice of location
for the Mid-Ulster Sports Arena (established in 2003) and the
planned multi-million pound investment in a state of the art Public
Service Training College which will accommodate the Police Service
of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue and the
Northern Ireland Prison Service (which is to be built at
Loughry commencing in early 2009). Cookstown
currently has more than a hundred types of businesses operating at
its heart. Of the direct retailing businesses some two-thirds are
independent, largely family-owned concerns which give the town's
retailing a distinctive appearance and a unique mix of excellence
outlets. The town's rich traditional retailing mix of high quality
independent stores is a tribute to retaining long-standing and
loyal business while simultaneously building a new customer base
with the continued attraction of some of the biggest names in
national retailing. The town has taken a long term view to
regeneration and Cookstown District Council in conjunction with
Cookstown Town Centre Forum appointed a Town Strategy Manager to
implement Cookstown's Town Centre Regeneration Strategy.
Cookstown confidently bills itself as the ‘Retail Capital of Mid
Ulster’ and is at the forefront of those towns which are
reinventing retail and communicating the strength of the retailing
offer to wider audiences, through a unique Cookstown brand identity
(Cookstown – Looking Good, Looking Great) and aggressive
marketing of the town locally and nationally. The town was also one
of the first in Northern Ireland to produce a ten year Urban Design
Strategy (2007), an aspirational framework for all future town
centre development. The Cookstown Town Centre Living Initiative
(LOTS) Scheme (2006 – 2011) offers substantial grant assistance to
reinvigorate unused or derelict space above shops into modern
residential living accommodation is considered to be one of the
most successful schemes of any town in Northern Ireland. The
Cookstown Town Centre Street Entertainment Programme (2008)
promotes the town's family-friendly appeal and encouraging people
either to visit for the first time or to prolong a regular visit.
While over the course of 2008 and 2009 the civic heart of
Cookstown's Burn Road is due to benefit from an Environmental
Improvement Scheme.
The Council has secured millions of UK pounds sterling and ensured
that inward investment has been at its highest level since the
establishment of the town in the seventeenth century, developing
beyond recognition the economic infrastructure, tourism, retail and
hospitality sectors in the area.
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
.
Notable inhabitants
- Tyrone GAA Eoin Mulligan who won three All Irelands with
Tyrone in 2003, 2005 and 2008 is from the town.
- Fulham F.C. and Northern Ireland
central defender and captain
Aaron Hughes.
- Birthplace of Ulster Vanguard founder William Craig.
- Birthplace of Republican political activist Bernadette Devlin, who was raised in a
small housing estate called Rathbeg (meaning small fort in Gaelic),
one of the leaders of 1960s civil rights movement and the youngest
woman ever to be elected to the British parliament (aged 21).
- Birthplace of Major-General Sir Richard Havelock Charles, 1st
Baronet (1858-1934), doctor, and Serjeant Surgeon to King George V.
- 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 in
1726).
- Birthplace of Mary Mallon, aka
Typhoid Mary.
- The
Cookstown Drama Group won the confined section of
the All Ireland One Act Drama Finals in Clonakilty
, County Cork on 2 December 2007 with their
production of Ruby of Elsinore by Bruce Kane. It
was directed by Nigel O'Neill and starred Lorraine Creighton, Linda
Heenan, Mairead Eastwood, Gerry Eastwood, Sean Hurson and Charlie
Eastwood. This is the first group from Northern Ireland to win the
Finals.
Sport
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
- 52.8% were from a Catholic
background and 45.1% were from a Protestant background
- 3.9% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.
Education
References
- Placenames Database of Ireland
- Visiting Cookstown
- NI
Neighbourhood Information Service NISRA
External links
See also
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