Coagh ( ; ) is a small

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

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, 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 ...

, five miles (8 km) east of Cookstown. Part of the village also extends into County Londonderry. It had a population of 545 people in the 2001 Census. It owes its existence to George Butle Conyngham of Springhill, and was founded in 1728 when King

George II of Great Britain , house = Hanover , religion = Protestant , father = George I of Great Britain , mother = Sophia Dorothea of Celle , birth_date = 30 October / 9 November 1683 , birth_place = Herrenhausen Palace,Cannon. or Leine ...

granted Conyngham a market charter allowing the village to host four fairs yearly. It is situated within

Mid-Ulster District , settlement_type = District , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_type1 = Constituent country , subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_type3 = , subdivisi ...

. The village nestles among gentle, low-lying land between the

Sperrins The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains () are a range of mountains in Northern Ireland and one of the largest upland areas in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane eastwards to Slieve Gallion in Desertmartin and north towards Limava ...

and Lough Neagh. The main feature of the village is Hanover Square, which was named after the reigning Hanoverian George II by Conyngham. The village has been an ancient settlement for several thousand years; overlooking Coagh is Tamlaght Stone, a Mesolithic dolmen erected c. 4500 BCE.

History

The Troubles

On 3 June 1991,

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

(IRA) volunteers Lawrence McNally, Peter Ryan and Tony Doris were killed in an ambush by an SAS unit. The British Army stated that the IRA members had been intercepted on their way to an attack. Over 200 rounds were fired at the car.

Education

Coagh has its own primary school, Coagh Primary School, a feeder school for many local schools including Cookstown High School.

Sport

* Coagh United Football Club, which plays in the

IFA Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

Amenities

Coagh has a surgery which serves local areas, such as

Ardboe Ardboe () is a large parish civil parish in east County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It borders the western shore of Lough Neagh and lies within the Mid Ulster District Council area. It is also the name of the local civil parish, which incorporat ...

Ballinderry Ballinderry () is a small civil and ecclesiastical parish on both sides of the County Londonderry / County Tyrone border in Northern Ireland. It is a rural parish of about 350 houses and lies on the western shores of Lough Neagh. The parish c ...

, Moortown,

Drummullan Drummullan ( meaning "ridge of the bare hill") is a small village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is west of Coagh, east of Cookstown, south of Moneymore and north of Stewartstown, County Tyrone, Stewartstown in Count ...

The Loup The Loup () is a small village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies near the western shore of Lough Neagh between Moneymore, Magherafelt, Ballyronan and Coagh, within the district of Mid Ulster. Sport Gaelic games are very po ...

and

Moneymore Moneymore () is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,897 in the 2011 Census. It is situated within Mid-Ulster District. It is an example of a plantation village in Mid-Ulster built by the Dra ...

Demography

19th century population

The population of the village increased slightly overall during the 19th century:

21st century population

Coagh 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). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 545 people living in Coagh. Of these: *20.9% were aged under 16 and 20.4% were aged 60 and over *48.3% of the population were male and 51.7% were female *26.4% 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 ...

background and 72.8% were from a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

background *2.3% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed. For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service

Coagh Townland

The townland is situated in the historic barony of

Dungannon Upper Dungannon Upper is a barony in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was created in 1851 with the splitting of the barony of Dungannon. Lough Neagh runs along its eastern boundary, and it is bordered by four other baronies: Dungannon Middle to ...

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 Tamlaght and covers an area of 616 acres. The population of the townland declined during the 19th century: In 1891, the town of Coagh, standing in the townlands of Coagh and Urbal, covered an estimated area of 13 acres.

Notable people

Jimmy Kennedy James Kennedy (20 July 1902 – 6 April 1984) was a Northern Irish songwriter. He was predominantly a lyricist, putting words to existing music such as " Teddy Bears' Picnic" and " My Prayer" or co-writing with composers like Michael Carr, ...

, Tin Pan Alley composer, grew up here. *

Stuart Dallas Stuart Dallas (born 19 April 1991) is a Northern Irish professional Association football, footballer who plays for Premier League club Leeds United F.C., Leeds United and the Northern Ireland national football team, Northern Ireland national team ...

(born 1991), Northern Ireland international footballer, grew up in Coagh, having been born in Cookstown.

References

NI Conflict Archive on the Internet
{{authority control Villages in County Tyrone Villages in County Londonderry Townlands of County Tyrone Barony of Dungannon Upper Mid-Ulster District