Ballygawley

Ballygawley, County Tyrone

Ballygawley is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated about 21 kilometres southwest of Dungannon and to the north of the intersection of the A5 Omagh to Monaghan and the A4 Dungannon to Enniskillen roads.

It is a compact village focused in an ‘L’ shape along Main Street and Church Street, with a second cluster of development to the southwest. The main cluster contains the majority of the village’s facilities, including two primary schools, a number of churches and a range of shops and services. The cluster of development to the southwest contains a secondary level school and housing. It had a population of 642 people in the 2001 Census.

Schools in the village include St. Ciaran's High School, St. Mary's Primary School and the Richmond Primary School. It also lies within the Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council area.

History

The Troubles

For more information see The Troubles in Ballygawley, which includes a list of incidents in Ballygawley during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities.

People

Mickey Harte, the Gaelic football manager who led Tyrone to All Ireland glory in 2003 was born in Ballygawley in 1952 ().
Ballygawley is located near the ancestral homestead of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States on his mother's side.

Development

Ballygawley is accouring extensive development with the majour upgradr to the A4 and the building of the new roundabout to accommodate the traffic congestion from the main aughnacloy rd. With these road improvements many contractors have benn submiting plans for extensive housing developments. The most of exciting of all being the redevelopment of main st leading onto church street with plans for exciting new bars and returants. There is speculation of the 'stewart arms hotel' to be reopened and other developments such as the health spa at 'Grangemount'. There is other exciting developments such as the rebuilding of 'Lougharns Castle'as a historical building to house hisorical items from the surrounding area. The Ballygawley river is a majour tourist attraction supplying the finest of fresh water fishing in ireland. The original hydo electric station at the old dungannon rd is being rebuilt to provide a large amount of the towns energy.

Transport

Ballygawley railway station (on the narrow gauge Clogher Valley Railway) opened on 2 May 1887, but finally closed on 1 January 1942.

Education

Sport

Errigal Ciarán GAC is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club.

2001 Census

Ballygawley is classified as a Small Village or Hamlet by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e. with population between 500 and 1,000 people). In the 2001 census (29 April, 2001) there were 642 people living in Ballygawley. Of these:

26.7% were aged under 16 years and 19.3% were aged 60 and over
45.8% of the population were male and 54.2% were female
82.1% were from a Catholic background and 17.5% were from a Protestant background
4.0% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service