Omagh


Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. Northern Ireland's capital city Belfast is 68 miles to the east of Omagh, and Derry is 34 miles to the north.
The town had a population of 19,659 at the 2011 Census, and the former district council, which was the largest in County Tyrone, had a population of 51,356. Omagh contains the headquarters of the Western Education and Library Board, and also houses offices for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at Sperrin House, the Department for Regional Development and the Northern Ireland Roads Service at the Tyrone County Hall and the Northern Ireland Land & Property Services at Boaz House.

History

The name Omagh is an anglicisation of the Irish name an Óghmaigh, meaning "the virgin plain". A monastery was apparently established on the site of the town about 792, and a Franciscan friary was founded in 1464. Omagh was founded as a town in 1610. It served as a refuge for fugitives from the east of County Tyrone during the 1641 Rebellion. In 1689, James II arrived at Omagh, en route to Derry. Supporters of William III, Prince of Orange, later burned the town.
In 1768 Omagh replaced Dungannon as the county town of County Tyrone. Omagh acquired railway links to Londonderry with the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway in 1852, Enniskillen in 1853 and Belfast in 1861. St Lucia Barracks were completed in 1881. In 1899 Tyrone County Hospital was opened. The Government of Northern Ireland made the Great Northern Railway Board close the Omagh – Enniskillen railway line in 1957. In accordance with the Benson Report submitted to the Northern Ireland Government in 1963, the Ulster Transport Authority closed the – Omagh – Londonderry main line in 1965, leaving Tyrone with no rail service. St Lucia Barracks closed on 1 August 2007.
On 30 December 1942 a Consolidated Catalina Ib of No. 240 Squadron RAF which was operating from RAF Killadeas crashed into the town. The crash killed all eleven occupants, however no one on the ground was killed or injured. The cause of the crash was never ascertained.

The Troubles

Omagh came into the international focus of the media on 15 August 1998, when the Real Irish Republican Army exploded a car bomb in the town centre. 29 people were killed in the blast – 14 women, 9 children and 6 men. Hundreds more were injured as a result of the blast.
In April 2011, a car bomb killed police constable Ronan Kerr. A group of former Provisional IRA members calling itself the Irish Republican Army made its first public statement later that month claiming responsibility for the killing.

Geography

Wards

These wards are only those that cover the town.
The town sprang up within the townland of Omagh, in the parish of Drumragh. Over time, the urban area has spread into the surrounding townlands. They include:
An air temperature of was recorded once, and it remains the coldest air temperature ever recorded in Ireland.
Omagh has a history of flooding and suffered major floods in 1909, 1929, 1954, 1969, 1987, 1999 and, most recently, 12 June 2007. As a result of this, flood-walls were built to keep the water in the channel and to prevent it from overflowing into the flood plain. Large areas of land, mainly around the meanders, are unsuitable for development and were developed into large, green open areas, walking routes and parks. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "".

Demography

On Census day there were 19,659 people living in Omagh, accounting for 1.09% of the NI total. Of these:
According to the World Gazetteer, the following reflects the census data for Omagh since 1981:

Tourist attractions

The Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh includes the cottage where Thomas Mellon was born in 1813, before emigrating to Pennsylvania, in the United States when he was five. His son Andrew W. Mellon became secretary of the US Treasury. The park is an open-air museum that explores the journey made by the Irish to America during the 1800s. The park is used to host events during Easter, Christmas, Fourth of July and Halloween. It also hosts a major Bluegrass festival every year. Over 127,000 people visited the park in 2003.
The Gortin Glens Forest Park, north of Omagh is a large forest with a deer enclosure and several waterfalls and lakes.
Strule Arts Centre opened in 2007 is an example of urban renewal in Omagh town centre. Creating a modern civic building, in a newly created public space reclaimed from the formerly disused area, between the River Strule and High Street.

Parks

Omagh has over 20 playgrounds for children, and a large amount of green open area for all the public. The largest of these is the Grange Park, located near the town centre. Many areas around the meanders of the River Strule have also been developed into open areas. Omagh Leisure Complex is a large public amenity, near the Grange Park and is set in of landscaped grounds and features a leisure centre, boating pond, astroturf pitch and cycle paths.

Retail

Omagh is the main retail centre for Tyrone, as well as the West of Ulster, due to its central location. In the period 2000–2003, over £80 million was invested in Omagh, and of new retail space was created. Shopping areas in Omagh include the Main Street, Great Northern Road Retail Park and the Showgrounds Retail Park on Sedan Avenue in the town centre. Market Street/High Street is also a prominent shopping street, which includes high street stores such as DV8 and Primark.

OASIS Plaza

The 'Omagh Accessible Shared Inclusive Space', a £4.5 million facelift for Omagh's riverbank, was funded by the European Union and planning approved in 2013. The development included the construction of a pedestrian bridge linking Drumragh Avenue and Old Market Place, a riverside walk, exercise areas, electronic information hub, artwork panels, games tables and fishing stands. The plans also included a covered performance and stage area and a neutral civic space able to accommodate markets, concerts and general recreational activities partially occupying lands at Drumragh Avenue car park.
Construction for the project began in March 2014, and the OASIS plaza was officially opened in June 2015.

Transport

Former railways

Neither the town nor the district of Omagh has any railway service.
The Irish gauge Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway opened as far as Omagh on 3 September 1852 and was extended to Enniskillen in 1854. The Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway reached Omagh in 1861, completing the Portadown – Derry route that came to be informally called "The Derry Road". The Great Northern Railway absorbed the PD&O in 1876 and the L&ER in 1883.
The Government of Northern Ireland made the GNR Board close the Omagh – Enniskillen line in 1957. The Ulster Transport Authority took over the GNR's remaining lines in Northern Ireland in 1958. In accordance with The Benson Report submitted to the Northern Ireland Government in 1963, the UTA closed the "Derry Road" through Omagh on 15 February 1965. Later the Omagh Throughpass road was built on the disused trackbed through Omagh railway station.

Bus Services

Bus Services in Omagh are operated by Ulsterbus. The town has seven bus corridors that run daily which are the following:
X3- Dublin-Derry/Londonderry
32- Dublin-Letterkenny
384A- Strathroy
384B- Killyclogher
384C- Tamlaght Road
384D- Culmore Park and O'Kane Park
384E- Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital
384F- Mullaghmore and Lisanelly Heights
384G- Dergmoney and Coolnagard Estate

Proposed railways

A proposal to reopen the line between Portadown and Omagh was considered by the NI Department for Regional Development in their Future Railway Investment: A Consultation Paper in early 2013. The proposal is not ranked as a high priority in the report for railway investment from 2015 to 2035. The report estimates that a link from Portadown to Omagh would cost around £475 million, thought it admits that no detailed feasibility study has been carried out.
There are plans to reopen railway lines in Northern Ireland including the line from Portadown via Dungannon to Omagh.

Road connections

Omagh has a number of educational institutions at different levels. Omagh is also the headquarters of the Western Education and Library Board, which is located in Campsie House on the Hospital Road.
Primary schools
Grammar/secondary school
Colleges/universities
The Department for Education proposed to build Omagh's six existing secondary schools at the former 190-acre St Lucia Army Barracks, to form one large educational campus, with shared facilities, but with separate school buildings to enable each school to maintain their individual ethos'. In April 2009, at the inaugural Lisanelly Shared Educational Campus Steering Group meeting held in Arvalee School and Resource Centre, the Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane announced that funding had been allocated to be used to develop exemplar designs and associated technical work for a Shared Educational Campus in Omagh. Work on the development began in October 2013, with the first school, Arvalee School, and a proposed completion of 2019 has been put forward. The construction is said to be costing in excess of £120 million.

Religious buildings

The following is a list of religious buildings in Omagh:

Local newspapers and magazines

Local newspapers and magazines include Omagh Today, the Tyrone Advertiser, Tyrone Constitution, Tyrone Herald, and Ulster Herald.

Local radio

Radio station Q101.2 FM West broadcasts from Omagh. BBC Radio Ulster also had a studio in the town.
A community radio project, Strule FM, broadcast for four weeks in December 2008, and received a Bronze award for Community Radio at the 2009 Sony Radio Academy Awards.

Internet

Omagh was one of the first areas in Northern Ireland, outside the Belfast commuter belt, to transfer to broadband internet. Prior to this, the only means for internet connection was through dial-up connections.
In 2014, Omagh became one of only seven Northern Irish towns to receive superfast 4G mobile data coverage from the EE network.

Sport

Gaelic games

, primarily Gaelic football, are the most popular sports in Omagh. The town has two Gaelic football clubs, Omagh St. Enda's, which plays its home games in Healy Park, and Drumragh Sarsfields, which plays its home games at Clanabogan.
Healy Park is the home of Tyrone GAA and the county's largest and main sports stadium located on the Gortin Road, has a capacity nearing 25,000, and had the distinction of being the first Gaelic-games stadium in Ulster to have floodlights.
The stadium now hosts the latter matches of the Tyrone Senior Football Championship, as well as Tyrone's home games, and other inter-county matches that require a neutral venue.

Football

Omagh no longer has a top-flight local football team, since the demise of Omagh Town F.C. in 2005. Strathroy Harps FC are the only Omagh and Tyrone team to win the Irish junior cup twice in 2012 and 2013.

Rugby

Omagh's rugby team, Omagh Academicals, is an amateur team, made up of primarily of local players.

Cricket

Omagh Cavaliers Cricket Club located in Omagh.

Greyhound racing

A greyhound racing track operated from 1932 until 1940. The track was opened by the Duke of Abercorn on 25 May 1932 and racing took place at 'The Park' in the Showgrounds. It was organised by the Tyrone Greyhound Racing Association until 1940.

People

Notable residents or people born in Omagh include: