Strabane
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|---|---|
| Town | |
 The Square, town centre of Strabane | |
  Strabane Location withinNorthern Ireland | |
| Population | 13,507 (2021 census) |
| District | |
| County | |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Strabane |
| Postcode district | BT82 |
| Dialling code | 028 |
| Police | Northern Ireland |
| Fire | Northern Ireland |
| Ambulance | Northern Ireland |
| UK Parliament | |
| NI Assembly | |
| Website | www.derrystrabane.com |
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Strabane (/strəˈbæn/; fromIrishAn Srath Bán, meaning 'the white river-holm')[1][2][3] is a town inCounty Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the2021 census.[4] It lies on the east bank of theRiver Foyle. It is roughly midway fromOmagh,Derry andLetterkenny. The River Foyle marksthe border between Northern Ireland and theRepublic of Ireland. On the other side of the river (acrossLifford Bridge) is the smaller town ofLifford, which is thecounty town ofDonegal. TheRiver Mourne flows through the centre of the town and meets theFinn to form theFoyle River. A large hill named Knockavoe, which marks the beginning of theSperrin Mountains, forms the backdrop to the town.
The locale was home to a group of northern Celts known as theOrighella as far back as the fourth century when the territories ofOwen (laterTír Eoghain) andConnail (laterTír Chonaill - mostly modernCounty Donegal) were established, and Orighella were assimilated into theCenél Conaill. With the arrival ofSaint Patrick, a mission established a church in the area nearCastlefin, and having visited theGrianán Aileach for the conversion of Owen, returned along the Foyle river, establishing a further church atLeckpatrick (the name means 'the flagstone of St. Patrick'). A later church was established atLifford/Clonleigh by a mission headed bySt. Colmcille. In AD 586 St. Colgan established a monastery at Camus [from whence the parish of Camus-Juxta-Mourne gets its name]. Other monasteries and religious sites were established at this time atUrney,Ballycolman, Donagheady, andArtigarvan.[5]
Vikings arrived at Lifford in AD 832 and maintained a presence on the Foyle until AD 863 when they were expelled byÁed Findliath. The regional seat of power was to be the Grianán Aileach until 1101, when it was destroyed by theO'Briens of Thomond, and was then moved to Urney, three miles outside Strabane. In 1243, the seat of power for all Tyrone and the O'Neill dynasty was moved toCookstown. It was during this epoch, in AD 1231, thatFranciscan friars established a religious foundation on what is now the old graveyard at St. Patrick's Street, Strabane.[5]
The town was settled by Scottish families in the 1600s, an action that preceded thePlantation of Ulster. In 1608, duringO'Doherty's Rebellion, most of the inhabitants fled to the safety of the fort ofLifford following SirCahir O'Doherty'sBurning of Derry and Burning of Strabane.[6]
In 1921, Strabane became a border town following thepartition of Ireland.[7] Sitting directly astride the border, Strabane suffered extensive damage during the Troubles from the early 1970s: Strabane Town Hall was destroyed in a bomb attack in 1972.[8] The damage continued throughout much of the 1990s, with bombings and shootings commonplace;Irish Republicanparamilitary groups, mainly theProvisional Irish Republican Army, regularly attacked the town'sBritish Army andRoyal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) bases. Strabane was once the most bombed town in Europe in proportion to its size, and was the most bombed town in Northern Ireland.[9]
Many civilians and members of the security forces were killed or injured in the area over the course of the Troubles. Many British Army regiments fromEngland,Scotland andWales served in Strabane at various times during the Troubles in the barracks at the locally named "Camel's hump" besideLifford Bridge. As a result of theGood Friday Agreement, there is no longer any British Army presence in the town. Strabane became involved in theUlster Project International, sendingCatholic andProtestant teenagers to theUnited States for prejudice-reduction work.[10]
At the height ofThe Troubles, Strabane garnered the dubious distinction of the highestunemployment rate in the industrial world. It is one of the most economically deprived towns in the United Kingdom. Huge economic damage occurred when much of the town centre flooded in 1987.[11]
In August 2005, aChannel 4 television programme presented by property expertsKirstie Allsopp andPhil Spencer named Strabane the eighth-worst place to live in the UK, largely owing to unemployment.[12] Strabane had been moved out of the top 20 in the 2007 edition.[13]
As a result, the Strabane Community Unemployed Group[14] was founded to find solutions to long-term unemployment and combat the causes of unemployment. Sister Mary Carmel Fanning, a retired Catholic girls school principal who had been awarded theMBE for her services to education in 1997,[15] became a director of the group later that year.[16]
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TheIrish gauge5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway (L&ER) reached Strabane in 1847,[17]Omagh in 1852[18] andEnniskillen in 1854.[18] TheGreat Northern Railway (Ireland) took over the L&ER in 1883.[19]
TheFinn Valley Railway (FV) opened from Strabane toStranorlar in 1863.[18][20] The FV was originally Irish gauge but in 1892 it merged with the3 ft (914 mm)narrow gaugeWest Donegal Railway (WD) to form the Donegal Railway[21] and was reduced to the same narrow gauge for through running. The Donegal Railway opened its own line to Derry in 1900.[17] In 1906 the GNR andNorthern Counties Committee jointly took over the Donegal Railway, making it theCounty Donegal Railways Joint Committee.[21] The3 ft (914 mm) gaugeStrabane and Letterkenny Railway opened in 1909[17] and was worked by the Joint Committee.[21]
Thepartition of Ireland in 1922 turned the boundary with County Donegal into an international frontier. This changed trade patterns to the railways' detriment and placed border posts on the Joint Committee's FV and S&L lines and on the GNR line to Derry.[17] Stops forcustoms inspections greatly delayed trains and disrupted timekeeping. Over the next few years customs agreements between the two states enabled GNR trains between Strabane and Derry to pass through the Free State without inspection unless they were scheduled to serve local stations on the west bank of the Foyle, and for goods on all railways to be carried between different parts of the Free State to pass through Northern Ireland undercustoms bond. The Joint Committee's Strabane-Derry line was closed in 1954, followed by the remainder of the narrow gauge system in 1960.[22] In 1958 theUlster Transport Authority took over the remaining GNR lines on the Northern Ireland side of the border. In accordance withThe Benson Report submitted to the Northern Ireland Government in 1963, the UTA closed the former GNR line through Strabane to Derry in 1965.[22][23]
Little trace remains of Strabane's railways except for one old railway building that survives in the town. The nearest railway is operated byNorthern Ireland Railways and runs fromDerry~Londonderry railway station viaColeraine toBelfast Lanyon Place railway station andBelfast Grand Central station. TheBelfast-Derry railway line has been upgraded to facilitate more frequent trains.[24]
On census day 2021, there were 13,507 people living in Strabane.[28] Of these:
On census day 2011 (27 March 2011), there were 13,172 people living in Strabane (5,123 households), accounting for 0.73% of the NI total,[4] representing a decline of 2.2% on the census 2001 population of 13,456.[34] Of these:
As of 2015, Strabane and Derry councils joined to formDerry City and Strabane District Council, and have a strong nationalist majority. At thelocal elections in May 2011, members of Strabane District Council were elected from the following political parties: 8Sinn Féin, 4Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 1Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 1Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and 2 IndependentNationalist. The council chairperson for 2013-14 was Ruairí McHugh of Sinn Féin.[35]
Since 1997 Strabane has been part of theUnited Kingdom parliamentary constituency ofWest Tyrone, held since 2001 by Sinn Féin'sPat Doherty. From 1983 to 1997 it was part of theFoyle constituency, held during that time by the then-SDLP leaderJohn Hume.[36]
The localGaelic football team isStrabane Sigersons.[37]
Strabane Cricket Club andFox Lodge Cricket Club are members of theNorth West Senior League.[38]
Strabane Athletic F.C. play in theNorthern Ireland Intermediate League.[39]
The town has three golf courses[40] prominent among which is the 18-hole Strabane Golf Course.
Angling has historically been popular in the Strabane area.[citation needed] The town and immediate countryside is served by several rivers, with lough fishing at Moorlough and Lough Ash. Strabane is situated at the confluence of the rivers Mourne and Finn where they meet to form the Foyle. Strabane Glen, a steep wooded gorge adjacent to the town, is a designated ASSI (Area of Special Scientific Interest).[citation needed]
Strabane has an Irish-medium nursery,Naíscoil an tSratha Báin, which was founded in 1994,[41] and a Gaelscoil (primary school).[42]
A common greeting in Strabane and the wider North West is "Have ye any bars?" This means "What's the news?" or "What's the latest gossip?"[43] This may derive from Irish, from the phrase "barr nuachta," meaning "titbit," referring to a tasty piece of news.[44]
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In 2007, theAlley Arts and Conference Centre (designed by architectsGlenn Howells andAJA)[45] opened to the general public, offering a 270-seat theatre, art gallery, tourist information centre and cafe-bar. The venue was Northern Ireland Building of the Year in 2008,[45] and won the Allianz Arts and Business Award 2009[46] and the Green Apple Award 2008. It has also hosted the All Ireland Confined Drama Finals (2008), the North West Music Festival, the Stage Write Schools Drama Festival, Sounds Like Summer Music Festival, Strabane Drama Festival, and the Johnny Crampsie Music Festival.[47]
Strabane plays host to aSaint Patrick's Day Parade each year. One of Strabane's most notable features are five 20 ft (6.1 m) steel structures on the banks of the river. Designed byMaurice Harron, they consist of two dancers and a fiddle player on the Lifford side, a flute player on the Strabane side and a drummer in the middle.[48][49]
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According to the 2011 census, 91.57% of the residents were from aCatholic background and 7.22% were from aProtestant background.[4] There are a number of places of worship for the residents of Strabane and the surrounding district. The three main Catholic churches are the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Barrack Street, Sacred Heart Church, Derry Road and St. Mary's Church, Melmount Road.[50]
The main Church of Ireland church is Christ Church, Bowling Green.[51] The main Presbyterian Church is located on the Derry Road while the main Methodist Church is located on Railway Street.[52]
There are a number of infant, primary and secondary schools in the Strabane area. The central location of the town allows parents the choice of schools inDerry,Omagh andDonegal.
There are two secondary schools in the town:Holy Cross College andStrabane Academy. Holy Cross College was created in 2003 with the amalgamation of Strabane's three Catholic post-primary schools, the Convent Grammar School, St Colman's High School and Our Lady of Mercy High School. The college had been operating across the three sites until its new £29 million building opened in September 2009, catering for 1,400 pupils. Holy Cross is a co-ed bilateral college, which means it offers grammar status education within an all-ability school. It is regarded as a "blueprint for the future of education in Northern Ireland" because it caters for both academic and vocational paths.[53] The other secondary school is Strabane Academy which was formed in 2011 whenStrabane Grammar School merged withStrabane High School.[54]
The North West Regional College, which has campuses inDerry,Limavady as well as Strabane, offers a range of vocational and non-vocational courses for post 16 year olds.[55]
TheNational Trust owns a Strabane shop in whichJohn Dunlap learnt the printing trade. Dunlap went on to print theUnited States Declaration of Independence.[56]
Dergalt, the ancestral home ofWoodrow Wilson, 28thPresident of the United States, is near Strabane.[57][58][59] On 8 May 2008 it was severely damaged by a fire.[60]
In 2014, a mural was painted in Townsend Street with the intention of showing support for the people of Palestine followingIsraeli military action inGaza.[61]
Strabane transmitting station is abroadcasting andtelecommunications facility owned and operated byArqiva. It includes a 305.5 metre (1,002 ft) highguyed steel lattice mast, which isthe tallest structure in Ireland. The transmissionantennas surmounting the structure are contained within a fibreglass cylinder. Constructed in 1963, it came into service on 18 February of that year.[62]
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