Dungannon
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|---|---|
 St Patrick's Roman Catholic church | |
 Dungannon Coat of Arms | |
  Dungannon Location withinNorthern Ireland | |
| Population | 16,282 (2021 Census) |
| Irish grid reference | H7962 |
| • Belfast | 40 miles (64 km) |
| District | |
| County | |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DUNGANNON |
| Postcode district | BT70, BT71 |
| Dialling code | 028 |
| Police | Northern Ireland |
| Fire | Northern Ireland |
| Ambulance | Northern Ireland |
| UK Parliament | |
| NI Assembly | |
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Dungannon (fromIrishDún Geanainn, meaning 'Geanann's fort',pronounced[d̪ˠuːn̪ˠˈɟan̪ˠən̪ˠ])[1] is a town inCounty Tyrone,Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (afterOmagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the2021 Census.[2] TheDungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in the town, though since 2015 the area has been covered byMid-Ulster District Council.
For centuries, it was the 'capital' of theO'Neill dynasty ofTír Eoghain, who dominated most ofUlster and built a castle on the hill. After the O'Neills' defeat in theNine Years' War, the English founded aplantation 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, withMoy 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.[3]
For centuries, Dungannon's fortunes were closely tied to that of theO'Neill dynasty which ruled a large part ofUlster until the 17th century. Dungannon was the clan's main stronghold. The traditional site of inauguration for 'The O'Neill' wasTullyhogue Fort, anIron Age mound some four miles northeast of Dungannon. The clanO'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.
Thiscastle was burned in 1602 byHugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, as Crown forces underLord Mountjoy closed in on the Gaelic lords towards the end of theNine Years' War. In 1607, ninety-nine Irish chieftains and their followers, including Hugh O'Neill, set sail fromRathmullan, bound for the continent, in an event known as theFlight of the Earls. In what became known as thePlantation of Ulster, their lands were confiscated and awarded to Protestant English and Scots settlers; Dungannon and its castle were granted toSir Arthur Chichester, theLord Deputy of Ireland.[4]
As part of the Plantation, in 1608James I chartered a number of '"free schools" for the sons of local merchants and farmers. This included theRoyal 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 theArchbishop of Armagh, Richard Robinson.[5]
SirPhelim O'Neill seized the town in the opening stages of theIrish Rebellion of 1641, and issued theProclamation of Dungannon, in which the rebels set out their aims and proclaimed their loyalty toCharles I. O'Neill claimed they had been ordered to rise by the King, and later produced a forged commission in support of this.[6]
During the course of theIrish Confederate Wars, Dungannon changed hands several times; ScotsCovenanter forces underAlexander Leslie captured it in September 1642, before O'Neill took it back in spring 1643.[7]
In 1689, during theWilliamite War, Castle Hill, with still extant fortifications, was occupied by aJacobite force, and hostedKing James II as he passed en route to theSiege of Derry.[8] In 2007, the castle was partially excavated by theChannel 4 archaeological showTime Team, uncovering part of themoat and walls of the castle.[9]
In 1782, as the "most central town of Ulster",[10] Dungannon was chosen as the site for a convention of theVolunteers. Initially formed for defence against the French in theAmerican War of Independence, the Volunteers had increasingly been agitated by the same kinds of grievances driving rebellion among their kinsmen in America[11] (among them, local emigrants who, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, had established the township ofDungannon, Virginia).
Delegates from 147 Volunteer corps assembled at thePresbyterian church on Scotch Street, previously favoured as a meeting place for thePresbyterian Synod of Ulster.[10][12] Taking on "the substance of a national assembly",[13] the Convention resolved that the right asserted by theBritish Crown to overrule theIrish Parliament in Dublin, and to legislate for Ireland fromWestminster was "unconstitutional" and "illegal".[14]: 283
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 ofCatholic emancipation, Protestants alone having the right to vote, to assume office and to carry arms.[15]
Local veterans of Volunteer movement broke into two camps; those who joined the new-formedOrangemen, sworn to uphold theProtestant Ascendancy, in forming a loyalyeomanry, and those who, having taken theUnited Irish oath "to obtain an equal, full and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland",[16] began raiding the homesteads of these yeomen to procure arms and gunpowder.[17]
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 incounties Antrim andDown, was chiefly marked in Dungannon bycourts martial in which United Irishmen were sentenced to floggings and topenal transportation.[18]
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The town in which the Volunteers had gathered, was still largely a settlement of thatched houses. But by 1802, a surveyor for theDublin Society was able to describe it as "one of the most prosperous towns in the North of Ireland in dielinen 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.[19]
In 1842, following the application to Ireland of the newEnglish Poor Law system ofWorkhouses (an alternative tooutdoor relief, that made it easier for landlords to clear their estates in favour of larger English-export-oriented farms),[20] aWorkhouse was built in Dungannon.[21] Until its closure in 1948, about 1000 people passed through its doors. A memorial on the former site, now the grounds of theSouth Tyrone Hospital, commemorates "all those who sought shelter" within its walls. This includes the victims of theGreat Famine and the attendantcholera andtyphus.[22] Among these were the "Irish Famine Orphan Girls", a group of young women sent from the workhouse to Australia between 1848 and 1850.[23]
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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 sometimeModerator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland,Henry Cookeand byTory grandees. Landlords and their retinues were joined by parading Orangemen.[24] Locally, the call for Protestant unity was not well heeded. Tithes levied atop rents on behalf of the establishedChurch of Ireland, failure to respect the protections of theUlster Custom, andrack renting, set tenant farmers, Protestant and Catholic alike, at odds with the landedgentry.They were drawn to theTenant Right League, and subsequently the direct-actionIrish National Land League.[25][26]
With the introduction in 1872 of thesecret ballot, landlords and their agents who, in the traditionalhustings, had been able to monitor how their tenants voted, could no longer secure the election ofConservative candidates for Parliament. In 1874,Dungannon electedThomas Alexander Dickson (of Milltown House), an independentLiberal who offered himself as an opponent of "rack renting andserfdom",[27] and in 1880 his sonJames Dickson.[28] From 1886, the Dickson legacy was sustained in an enlargedSouth Tyrone constituency byThomas Russell, champion of the Ulster Farmers and Labourers Union,MP until 1910 when, after being addressed in a series ofland acts, agrarian issues were overshadowed by the return to the political agenda ofIrish home rule.[29][30]
In 1913, 1,200Ulster Volunteers paraded beforeSir Edward Carson, leader of theunionist, almost exclusively Protestant, opposition to Irish self-government.[31] Thenationalist response, was the formation of theIrish Volunteers, whose membership in Tyrone, standing at 8,600 on the eve ofthe Great War in July 1914, was double that of Carson's Volunteers in the county.[32] In the town itself (now theDungannon District Electoral Area) unionists continued to dominate electorally until the end of the century (nationalists--Sinn Féin, theSDLP and aRepublican independent—won their first majority, four of six councillors, in 2023).
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.[33]
In a reference to theblack 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 toLittle Rock".[34] 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.[33]
On 24 August 1968, theCampaign for Social Justice (CSJ), launched in town by CouncillorPatricia McCluskey and her husband Conn, a localGP,[35] theNorthern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), and other groups organised Northern Ireland'sfirst civil rights march fromCoalisland to Dungannon in solidarity. The rally was officially banned, but took place and passed off without incident.[36] Many more marches were held over the following year. In the build-up toward the sustained political violence ofthe Troubles,loyalists attacked some of the marches and held counter-demonstrations in a bid to get the marches banned.[37]
During the Troubles, the Dungannon district suffered numerous bombings, and almost 50 people were killed in and around the town.[38] The two deadliest attacks involved, in March 1976, theUlster Volunteer Force detonating acar bomb outside apub crowded with people celebratingSaint Patrick's Day, and, in December 1979, a land-mine ambush of a British Army patrol by theProvisional 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.[39] Theland-mine attack againstBritish Army Land Rovers on the Ballygawley Road, killed four British soldiers.[40]
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.[41][42]
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:[19]
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.
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 betweenLithuanian andEast Timorese workers in a parking lot outsideMoy Park, a poultry processor[43] (founded in 1943 in the neighboring village ofMoygashel).[44] In addition to the East Timorese, through labour recruiters in Portugal, employers brought otherPortuguese-speaking workers to Dungannon, so that today the town also has residents born inPortugal,Brazil, andMozambique.[45]
The2021 Census recorded over a third of the town's population as born outside of the British Isles,[2] 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".[46]
The population of the town increased slightly overall during the 19th century:[47][48]
| 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 |
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.[49] It has the highest percentage of immigrants of any town in Northern Ireland.[50] 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.[50] Many came to work in the local food processing plants. There have been several attacks on immigrants[51] and clashes between rival groups of immigrants[52] 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.[49] Of these:
| Nationality | Per cent | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irish | 27.2% | |||
| British | 22.0% | |||
| Northern Irish | 19.6% | |||
In the2021 Census, Dungannon was recorded as having a population of 16,282,[53] a 13.5% increase from 2011. Of these:
| 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 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 orBlack British: Total | 1,267 | 7.78 |
| Black/Black British:Black African | 341 | 2.09 |
| Black/Black British: Black Other | 926 | 5.69 |
| Asian orAsian 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 | 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 andAsia | 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 andCaribbean | 36 | 0.22 |
| Antarctica,Oceania and Other | 9 | 0.06 |
| Total | 16,282 | 100.00 |
An interesting feature of the town is the formerRoyal 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 inDublin which meant Dungannon got a station designed forNepal and they got a standard Irish barracks, complete with a traditional Irish fireplace. Dungannon Park covers 70 acres (28 hectares); it is centred round an idyllic still-water lake, with miles of pathways and views of the surrounding townland.[68][69]
Dungannon is in the southeast of County Tyrone, within the historicbarony ofDungannon Middle and thecivil parish of Drumglass.[70]
The town grew up around a hill, known locally as Castle Hill.[71] There are three small lakes on the southern edge of town, the biggest of which isBlack Lough.[72] There are also two parks in the eastern part of town: Dungannon Park and Windmill Wood Park.[73][74]
Dungannon sprang up in atownland 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:[75][76]
Until its closure in 2010, the crystal glass producerTyrone Crystal was based in Dungannon.[77][78]
Dungannon is linked to theM1 motorway, which runs from the southeast of the town toBelfast. There is anUlsterbus town bus service that runs daily that serves the town's suburbs,[80] formerly operated by theOptare Solo buses. The nearest railway station isPortadown onNorthern Ireland Railways.
TheIrish gauge1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway (PD&O) linked the town withPortadown from 1858 andOmagh from 1861,[81] completing thePortadown –Derry railway route that came to be informally called "The Derry Road".[82] TheGreat Northern Railway took over the PD&O in 1876[83] and built abranch line from Dungannon toCookstown in 1879.[81]
TheGNR Board cut back the Cookstown branch toCoalisland in 1956[84] and theUlster Transport Authority (UTA) closed the branch altogether in 1959.[84] In accordance with theBenson Report submitted to theGovernment of Northern Ireland 1963 the UTA closed the "Derry Road" through Dungannon in 1965.[84][85] The site ofDungannon station is now a public park and the former trackbed through the station is now a greenway.
Dungannon Cricket Club was established in 1865.[111] 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 theRUC 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.[112]
Dungannon Swifts F.C. is the town's local team, which plays in theNIFL Premiership, and is Tyrone's only representative in the league, followingOmagh Town's collapse. The club represented Northern Ireland in European competition in the2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup[113] and the2007–08 UEFA Cup.[114]
The local boys' Gaelic football club isDungannon Thomas Clarkes (Thomáis Uí Chléirigh Dún Geanainn) while the ladies' football team is Aodh a Ruadh.[115]
Dungannon Golf Club, which provides an 18-hole course, appointed its first woman captain in January 2022.[116]
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.[117][118]
Greyhound racing was once a popular sport in Dungannon. TheDungannon Greyhound Stadium was opened in July 1930, the third track in Northern Ireland afterCeltic Park andDunmore Stadium.[119] 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.[120]
Dungannon Rugby FC, founded in 1873, was one of the first towns in Ireland to form arugby club.[121]
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