County Hall is a municipal facility in Drumragh Avenue,

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 River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. North ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

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

. It served as the headquarters of Tyrone County Council from 1962 to 1973.

History

During the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, meetings of Tyrone County Council were held at the

Omagh Courthouse Omagh Courthouse is a judicial facility in High Street, Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is a Grade B+ listed building. History The building, which was designed by John Hargrave in the Neoclassical style, was completed in 1814. The des ...

. In the 1960s, county leaders decided that the courthouse was too cramped to accommodate the county council in the context of the county council's increasing administrative responsibilities, especially while the courthouse was still acting as a facility for dispensing justice, and therefore chose to acquire some open land which had previously formed part of the Millbank estate. The new building, which was designed by Ostick and Williams in the

modern style The Modern Style is a style of architecture, art, and design that first emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1880s. It is the first Art Nouveau style worldwide, and it represents the evolution of the Arts and Crafts movement which was native ...

, was completed in 1962. The design for the three-storey building involved an asymmetrical main frontage onto Drumragh Avenue; the left section featured a glass entrance on the ground floor with an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

above bearing the inscription "Tyrone County Hall" and supporting a wall of concrete panelling displaying the county

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

with three small windows above; the right section featured continuous bands of glazing with black panels above and below. A war memorial to soldiers of the

Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot and the 108th Regiment o ...

who died in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, which had been designed by the sculptor, Sydney March, was relocated from Courthouse Hill to a site within the grounds of the county hall in 1964. Following the bomb attack by the

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

paramilitary group, the

Real Irish Republican Army The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), is a dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a United Ireland. It formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA by dissident members, who rejected the ...

, of 15 August 1998, which killed 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) and injured some 220 others, a memorial to the victims of the attack was also established within the grounds of the county hall on 15 August 2008. After the county council was abolished in 1973, the building became the regional office of several government departments. Approximately 113 civil servants, including those employed by the Western Divisional Headquarters of the Department for Infrastructure, were still employed by the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

in the building as at 1 January 2014.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in County Tyrone

Government buildings completed in 1962