Dungannon

Dungannon, a market town of Co. Tyrone, Ireland, in the east parliamentary division, on an acclivity 8 m. W. of the south-western shore of Lough Neagh. Pop. of urban district (1901) 3694\. It is 103 m. N.N.W. from Dublin by the Great Northern railway, and a branch line runs thence to Cookstown. The only public buildings of note are the parish church, with an octagonal spire, and a royal school founded in 1614 and settled in new buildings at the end of the 18th century; it is now managed by the county Protestant Board of Education. Linens, muslin and coarse earthenware are manufactured, tanning is prosecuted, and there is trade in corn and timber. The early history of the place is identified with the once powerful family of the O’Neills, whose chief residence was here, and a large rath or earthwork north of the town was the scene of the inauguration of their chiefs, but of the castle and abbey founded by this family there are no remains. In Dungannon the independence of the Irish parliament (to which the town returned two members) was proclaimed in 1782. The town was formerly corporate, and was a parliamentary borough returning one member to the Imperial parliament until 1885.

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