Tandragee ()Place Names NI
/ref> is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is built on a hillside overlooking the Cusher River, in the civil parish of Ballymore and the historic

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Orior Lower. It had a population of 3,486 people in the 2011 Census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v3.0
Crown copyright.

History

Overlooking the village is Tandragee Castle. Originally the seat of the

Chief of the Name The Chief of the Name, or in older English usage Captain of his Nation, is the recognised head of a family or clan (''fine'' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic). The term has sometimes been used as a title in Ireland and Scotland. In Ireland In Eliza ...

of the O'Hanlon Irish clan and Lord of Orior, the Castle and surrounding countryside were confiscated and granted to Oliver St John and his heirs during the Tudor conquest of Ireland and the

Plantation of Ulster The Plantation of Ulster ( gle, Plandáil Uladh; Ulster-Scots: ''Plantin o Ulstèr'') was the organised colonisation (''plantation'') of Ulstera province of Irelandby people from Great Britain during the reign of King James I. Most of the sett ...

. According to D. J. O'Donoghue's account of his 1825 Irish tour, Sir Walter Scott was fascinated by the life and career of Redmond O'Hanlon, a local Rapparee leader. Hoping to make him the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of an adventure novel, Scott corresponded with Lady Olivia Sparrow, an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

landowner whose estates included Tandragee. Although Scott asked Lady Olivia to obtain as much information as possible about O'Hanlon, he was forced to give up on the project after finding documentation too scanty. Tandragee Castle was rebuilt in about 1837 for The 6th Duke of Manchester. Today, its grounds are home to the Tayto potato-crisp factory. Northern Ireland Electricity has an interconnector to

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

in the Republic of Ireland from the outskirts of the town. Earlier spellings of the name include ''Tanderagee'' and ''Tonregee''. In 2000, Tandragee was scene of the

Murders of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine The Tandragee killings took place in the early hours of Saturday 19 February 2000 on an isolated country road outside Tandragee, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Two young Protestant men, Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, were beaten and repeated ...

, two teenaged local Protestant men who were unaffiliated with an paramilitary organization, as part of an ongoing Loyalist feud.

Education

*Tandragee Primary School *Tandragee Junior High School *Tandragee Nursery *Button Moon Play Group

Sport

Tandragee Rovers play in the

Mid-Ulster Football League The Daily Mirror Mid-Ulster Football League, or simply referred to as the Mid-Ulster League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 9 divisions. These comprise two intermediate sections: the Intermediate A and Intermed ...

. There is a golf course within the grounds of Tandragee Castle, within walking distance of the main street. It is 5,589 metres, par 71, and a hilly parkland course. Tandragee is also home to the

Tandragee 100 Tandragee () is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is built on a hillside overlooking the Cusher River, in the civil parish of Ballymore and the historic barony of Orior Lower. It had a population of 3,486 people in the 2011 Censu ...

, a motorcycle road racing event held each year on country roads near the town.

Industry

Thomas Sinton Thomas Sinton, JP (February 1826 – 20 August 1887) was an Irish industrialist and magistrate. Sinton made a significant impact upon the Irish linen trade; not least establishing the village of Laurelvale, County Armagh. Thomas Sinton was born ...

opened a mill in town in the 1880s, an expansion of his firm from its original premises at nearby

Laurelvale Laurelvale is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is beside the smaller village of Mullavilly and the two are sometimes referred to as Laurelvale-Mullavilly or Mullavilly-Laurelvale. The village is three miles south of Portadown and 1 ...

– a

model village A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...

which he built. Sintons' mill, at the banks of the River Cusher, remained in production until the 1990s. The potato-crisp company Tayto has a factory and offices beside Tandragee Castle. It offers guided tours.

Transport

Tanderagee railway station opened on 6 January 1852 and was shut on 4 January 1965. There is an airstrip for landing and taking off of small aircraft near the old porridge factory.

Demography

2011 Census

Tandragee had a population of 3,486 people (1,382 households) in the 2011 Census. Of these: * 23.26% were under 16 years old and 12.62% were aged 65 and above; * 50.06% of the population were male and 49.94% were female; and * 81.84% were from a Protestant background and 11.70% were from a Roman Catholic background

2001 Census

Tandragee is classified as an intermediate settlement by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e. with population between 2,050 and 4,500 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 3,050 people living in Tandragee. Of these: *24.9% were aged under 16 years and 14.3% were aged 60 and over *48.0% of the population were male and 50.0% were female *86.9% were from a Protestant background and 10.5% were from a Roman Catholic background *2.0% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed. For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service

References

{{Authority control Villages in County Armagh Civil parish of Ballymore, County Armagh