Tyrone takes its name from the Irish, Contae Thír Eoghain. Eoghan was a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages who was responsible for capturing St. Patrick and bringing him as a to Ireland.

Tyrone is an county and borders Armagh, Monaghan, Fermanagh, Donegal and Derry.

In the east of the county Ireland’s largest Lough Neagh separates it from County Antrim. The Sperrin Mountains dominate the landscape in the west of the county.

The Beaghmore Stone Circles, close to Cookstown, indicate that people in the area over 6,000 years ago.  Tullyhogue Fort nearby, was the inauguration for the ancient Kings of Ulster.

Tyrone is famous for its connection with the O’Neill clan. They ruled Ulster for over four and their inauguration site was also at Tullyhogue.

After the Battle of Kinsale, County Cork, in 1601, the of the great O’Neills began to decline. 

In 1607 Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Rory O’Donnell, Earl of Tír Chonaill, together with hundreds of their people out from Lough Swilly, never to see their native land again.

This event in Irish history is as ‘The Flight of the Earls’. 

They went to Paris, on to Brussels and from there to Rome, where they were warmly greeted by the Pope. O’Neill died in on July 20, 1616. When the Earls had gone Ulster had nobody to defend it and the Plantation of Ulster began in 1609.