Images of Omagh takes readers on wander down memory lane
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Miranda Gilmour points out a photograph of her sister to Dr Haldane Mitchell, author of Images of Omagh volume 16, during the book launch in the Ulster American Folk Park. AN4425
Where in Omagh would you have found the Rat's Pad, Park Avenue and Tintown, not to mention the Shambles?
These addresses and the answers to their location are to be found in the latest volume of Images of Omagh and District, the 16th in the series on local history compiled by Dr Haldane Mitchell and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Omagh.
This eagerly-awaited publication is now in the shops and the addresses mentioned are a few of the many listed in an enlightening article by the late William McGrew, who had a fine touch for ferreting out the quirky things of past times and increasing our awareness of where we live.
They would have been familiar to an older generation and have now been preserved in print for the future.
Mr McGrew's history lesson is the type of contribution that has kept Images of Omagh going with such success for all these years, and probably for many more to come because the supply of material seems to be unending.
The current edition takes as one of its themes the history of matters residential in a wide sweep from castle to cottage.
First to greet the reader is an absorbing article by Lord Claud Hamilton, written over 50 years ago, on the building of Barons Court, home of the Abercorn family. The land was originally granted to the Hamiltons in 1612 by James I in recognition of the family's services to his mother, Mary Queen of Scots.
When the Jacobite bubble burst the Hamilton lands were forfeited by the Crown, but were later restored and the family's fortunes were back on track.
The story of the family's arrival at Newtownstewart is complemented by a history of the Abercorns by the present Duke, bringing it up to the present day. He takes a wry look-back at some of his ancestors, particularly the ninth Earl who persuaded his friend, Pitt the Younger, that elevation to Marquis would be a suitable recognition of his merits.
Then, after the tragic death of his first wife he chose his cousin, Miss Hamilton, as his second. But he felt it unbecoming to marry a plain Miss and managed to get her a title by demanding it of the King himself.
Houses of note
Other houses of note that are detailed in the book were those of the Stewart family who, according to a well researched article by John Hadden, played a very important role in the Carrickmore area over 200 years and were landlords of 26 townlands comprising over 25,000 acres.
Probably the best known of their houses was what is now a ruined shell which stands on a hill two miles from Ballygawley on the left of the road from Omagh.
Dunmoyle House, near Sixmilecross, with its 24 main rooms and a a tall tower, also get well-deserved space in the book. It was the home of Sir John Ross, a Londonderry-born barrister who was to become the last Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The house has long since been demolished.
There is another deeply-researched contribution, this time by Kenneth Collins, dealing with housing matters at the other end of the social scale. He charts the history of the labourers cottages which originated in laws passed by the Dublin government at the end of the 19th century.
The first lot were erected at a cost of £130 each. Omagh Rural Council in 1943 had 457 cottages which were let at ninepence a week.
No Images of Omagh edition would be complete with something relating to the railways and it comes in a selection of pictures and an article on the Fintona Horse Tram by Michael Pollard. This Volume 16 oozes with interest, names and faces and a wide variety of old photos, many of them taken by no less a personage than Newtownstewart's famous son, Willie Ross Henderson, whose life and times are related in a fine biography by Sheelagh Todd.
He was an amazing man, well ahead of his time in many respects with interests that spread over almost every facet of life. in the 1920s he acquired a motorbike, a rare sight on the roads of Tyrone; he was to the fore in helping to found Newtownstewart Golf Club in 1914.
He published a magazine for the benefit of his business customers and he found time to be the local corresponded for the Tyrone Constitution for which he also wrote special articles. Images of Omagh and District is available from newsagents for £20.
A valuable addition to this volume is an index for each of the first 10 issues.
