Beragh (from Irish: ''Bearach'', meaning "place of points/hills/standing stones") is a village and

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic ori ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. It is about southeast of

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') 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 ...

and is in the

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Fermanagh and Omagh District Council ( ga, Comhairle Ceantair Fhear Manach agus na hÓmaí; Ulster-Scots: ''Districk Cooncil o Fermanagh an Omey'') is a local authority in Northern Ireland and was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ferman ...

area. The 2001 Census recorded a population of 520.

History

One of the first known references to the village was on a 1690

Plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

map of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. In the 1820s this village, the property of

Earl Belmore Earl Belmore is a title in the Peerage of Ireland that was created in 1797 for Armar Lowry-Corry, 1st Viscount Belmore, who had previously represented County Tyrone in the Irish House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Belmore, of ...

, was described as having "one long wide street of very mean houses whose tenants for the most part appear to be poor". The inhabitants mostly worked in trade and agriculture. In 1841 the population was 617, the village having 103 houses. The village had a market patent granted under the name "Lowrystown". The

Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway The Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway (PD&O) was an Irish gauge () railway in County Armagh and County Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland (now Northern Ireland). Early development Building of the PD&O line started from Portadown in 1855 ...

opened Beragh railway station on 2 September 1861. The

Ulster Transport Authority The Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) ran rail and bus transport in Northern Ireland from 1948 until 1966. Formation and consolidation The UTA was formed by the Transport Act 1948, which merged the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board (NIR ...

closed the station and the PD&O line on 15 February 1965.

Demography

19th century population

The population of the village decreased during the 19th century:

21st century population

Beragh is classified as a small village or hamlet by th
NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
(i.e. with a population between 500 and 1,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 520 people living in Beragh. Of these: *28.5% were aged under 16 years; *18.1% were aged 60 and over; *the average age was 34.3 years (NI average age 35.8 years); *47.5% of the population were male and 52.5% were female; *62.8% were from a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Community Background; *35.4% were from a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

and Other Christian (including Christian related)' Community Background; *6.3% were born outside

; and *0.0% were from an ethnic group other than white. For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service

Sport

* Beragh Red Knights is the local

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

club. *Beragh Swifts F.C. is the local football club which plays in the Fermanagh & Western 1st Division; reserve team plays in the F&W 2nd Division.

Beragh Townland

Standing stone at Beragh Hill - geograph

The townland is situated in the historic barony of

Omagh East Omagh East (named after Omagh town) is a barony in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is bordered by nine other baronies: Omagh West and Lurg to the west; Strabane Lower and Strabane Upper to the north; Dungannon Middle and Dungannon Up ...

and the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Clogherny and covers an area of 481 acres. The population of the townland declined during the 19th century: The village of Beragh is in the townland of the same name and in 1891 had an area of 17 acres.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in County Tyrone Townlands of County Tyrone Archaeological sites in County Tyrone Barony of Omagh East