County Tyrone

County Tyrone is the largest of the six counties which comprise Northern Ireland. It is an "island" county, bounded to the north by Londonderry, to the south by Fermanagh and Monaghan, to the west by Donegal and Fermanagh and to the east by Armagh and Lough Neagh. With a population approaching 200,000 Tyrone occupies an area of some 1260 square miles (or 806,305 acres). The county town is Omagh and the other major centres are Dungannon, Strabane, Cookstown and Castlederg. Courts sit in Dungannon, Omagh and Strabane. Once a major source of flax growing and linen production, Tyrone is still predominantly involved in agriculture and food production; Moy Park, one of the United Kingdom's top 15 food companies and Northern Ireland's largest private sector business is based at Dungannon. Heavy engineering and the manufacturing of specialist materials handling equipment form an important part of the county's economy as does the construction industry which is heavily involved in both the public and private sectors throughout Northern Ireland and beyond.

The name derives from Tir Eoghain - the land of Eoghain, a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. Several American presidents (including James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant and Woodrow Wilson) and financiers (including Thomas Mellon) had ancestral links with Tyrone as did well-known authors (including William Carlton, Benedict Kiely, W F Marshall, Brian O'Nolan and Brian Friel). The American Declaration of Independence was printed by John Dunlap who was born in Strabane and learned the printing trade there and these transatlantic connections may best be appreciated at the Ulster American Folk Park and Mellon Centre for Migration Studies at Omagh. Strabane also produced Annie Russell Maunder, the pioneering astronomer after whom a crater on the surface of the Moon is named, and Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander, the celebrated hymn writer.