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Cookstown is a town and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of nearly 11,000 people in the 2001 Census. It is one of the main towns in the area of Mid-Ulster. It was founded around 1620 when the townlands in the area were leased by an English ecclesiastical lawyer, Dr. Alan Cooke, from the Archbishop of Armagh, who had been granted the lands after the Flight of the Earls during the Plantation of Ulster. It was one of the main centres of the linen industry West of the River Bann, and until 1956, the processes of flax spinning, weaving, bleaching and beetling were carried out in the town. Cookstown's famous main street (laid out from c1735–c1800), is long and wide, one of the longest, and widest in Ireland.〔("Tyrone Vintage Photographs" ). Emerald Isle Gifts. Retrieved 27 August 2012.〕 ==Places of interest== *Cookstown's main street hosts an open air market each Saturday. *The annual Cookstown 100 National Road Race is a motor biking event attended by many motorbiking enthusiasts. It is the opening race of the road racing calendar in Ireland and is usually held in April. *Ardboe High Cross and Abbey ('), one of the best examples of a 9th/10th century High cross in Ireland, is 10 miles from Cookstown. 22 panels illustrate stories from the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible. *Other ancient sites nearby include Beaghmore stone circles and Tullyhogue Fort (beside the village of Tullyhogue), the inauguration site of the chiefs of Tyrone (Tir Eogain), the O'Neills. Destroyed in 1602, the fort was salvaged to some degree in 1964, when the site was cleared and presented. Though none of the original buildings remain, the unusual layout (raised inner mounds, but no outer defensive ditch) is still clearly visible. Tullaghogue is now owned and maintained by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (N.I.E.A.). *The Donaghrisk walled cemetery to the southwest of (and clearly visible from) the fort is the resting place of the O'Hagans, the chief justices of Tyrone (and as such, they presided over the inauguration ceremonies of the O'Neills). *Lissan House lies on the outskirts of Cookstown. It is a huge structure of little architectural beauty but enormous historical significance and was, until the death of its last inhabitant, Hazel Radclyffe Dolling (daughter of the 13th Baronet of Lissan, Sir Robert George Alexander Staples), in 2006, the oldest domestic dwelling in Ireland continually inhabited by one family. The entrance front is dominated by a gargantuan porte-cochère built in about 1830. Inside, the most striking feature is the bizarre and gargantuan oak staircase which rises from the stone flagged entrance hall the full height of the building. This was constructed by a local carpenter from the remnants of a rare 17th century staircase which collapsed (along with the floors between it) as a result of dry rot in the 1880s and is quite unique, having flights springing at every conceivable angle, some of which go nowhere. The other most notable feature of the house is its octagonal ball room added by Sir Thomas Staples (Queen's Advocate in Ireland) in about 1830 with its fine restrained neo-classical plasterwork, Dublin chimneypiece and carved door frames. The house has recently underwent extensive renovation work externally and is open to the public for tours, events and is a licensed venue for civil partnerships. Further work is planned, including the rebuilding of the glass conservatory, refurbishment of outhouses and gardens and other general works to restore the demesne to its former glory. It is run by a Trust was established on the death of Mrs. Radclyffe Dolling to oversee the restoration of the house and its development into accommodation and conference facilities. *Killymoon Castle is about south east of Cookstown. This imposing structure is regarded as Cookstown's finest piece of architectural heritage. It was built in just over a year at a cost of £80,000 and was Nash's first Irish commission. It is two stories high and has two large towers to the East and West, one circular the other (slightly lower) octagonal. Parts of the original castle were retained and its former Chapel became Nash's library. Inside the dramatic entrance porte-cochère can be found a return staircase leading to the octagonal drawing room and oval dining room. The Stewarts sold the castle in 1852 and, after passing though the hands of some 6 owners, it was sold for the final time in 1922 to a local farmer for the princely sum of £100. The same family retains it to this day. *Drum Manor, approximately 5 miles from the town. Alexander Richardson, a burgess from Edinburgh, Scotland, bought the estate of Craigbalk in 1617 and built Drum Manor, which was also known Manor Richardson.〔(Alexander Richardson ), founder of the Drum estate. Ancestry.com user page.〕 Alexander's son Sir William Richardson left it to his second son, Alexander, from which the Richardsons of Drum descend.〔 Sir William's third son, William, who inherited lands near Augher, obtained a lease for lands in the townland of Tullyreavy on the Drum Manor estate, where he built a house by the lake known as Oaklands.〔 In 1868 Viscount Stuart (later the 5th Earl Castle Stewart) married Augusta Richardson-Brady, heiress to the Oaklands Estate. Immediately upon marriage, Lord Stuart set about reconstructing Oaklands into the Tudor revival Drum Manor. This battlemented sandstone structure once had a tall tower to the East near the entrance front which was dominated by a huge entrance portal surmounted by a large tracery window which contained Victorian armorial stained glass. Lord Stuart was also responsible for setting out the formal gardens and demesne which survive to this day. Lord Stuart's grandson sold the estate to the Forest Service in 1980 and the Service set out the woodland habitat that exists today. However, in an attempt to avoid incurring rates liability, the Forest Service decided to demolish the Manor. Today, Drum Manor Forest Park is one of Cookstown District's largest tourist attractions (complete with the highest-rated caravan site in the District) but the only the ground floor outer walls and the east tower of the Manor House survive. *St Luran's Church of Ireland Church on Church Street is thought to have been originally constructed in 1822 by John Nash and certainly plans for the church exist in his hand. However, even if Nash's church was completed, at most only the tower and first bay of this structure have survived Victorian extension by the architect Welland in 1859. Nash's plans show a castellated and battlemented church from which only the tower and spire bear any resemblance to the structure standing today. The interior is a typical Victorian church structure with a chancel arch, hammer beam roof and large sanctuary with sparse but dignified decoration. *J.J. McCarthy's Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity was constructed between 1855 and 1860 with a tower and spire at the East End. It is one of McCarthy's earliest works in which the influence of A. W. N. Pugin is apparent and the later florid French Gothic of his latter years (seen in St. Patrick's Dungannon and St Macartan's Cathedral in Monaghan) is nowhere to be seen. The church is constructed in the Early English style with a nave of 5 bays leading to a chancel arch and reduced chancel area beyond. In 1980 during the re-ordering works carried out in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, the caen stone side altars, marble altar rails, carved pulpit, original high altar and Telford Pipe Organ were removed . Only the gargantuan Caen stone reredos survives (minus its central spire and High Altar) behind one of the reclaimed Caen stone and Carrera Marble altars, the front of which bears a carved representation of the Assumption of the Virgin (presumably formerly in the Lady Chapel which would have been to the right of this space). The crowning feature of the church today is the Western Window. This was designed and manufactured by Hardman of Birmingham (a firm employed and partly run by A. W. N. Pugin) and has representations of the Canonized Bishops and Abbots of the Archdiocese of Armagh around a representation of the Virgin crowned in glory and below a tripartite window representing the constituents of the Holy Trinity. The remaining stained glass is mainly by Mayer of Munich and dates to the end of the 19th century though there is a very fine Art Deco window showing the Annunciation in the style of Harry Clarke in the former Lady Chapel (now the baptismal font area). The Church underwent a multi-million pound renovation in 2010-12 which included an extensive renovation and refit inside the Church, including restoring the marble floors, altar and upgrading electrical and sound systems, as well as major conservation and preservation work on the church exterior and windows. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cookstown」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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