Strabane
Strabane (An Srath Bán in Irish) is a town in the north west of County Tyrone in the occupied 6 counties of Ireland (otherwise known as 'Northern Ireland') on the border with County Donegal. It contains the headquarters of Strabane District Council. The historic village of Lifford in County Donegal lies yards from the other side of the bridge.
Strabane has a population of nearly 20,000, with the wider district having a population of upwards to 40,000. Strabane town stands exactly half-way between Omagh and Derry.
The river Mourne flows through the centre of the town, and meets with the river Finn to form the river Foyle. Strabane suffered huge economic damage in 1987 when much of the centre of the town was flooded.
Strabane was ravaged by the 'Troubles', beginning in the early 1970's with bombings common-place and Irish republican paramilitary groups regulary attacking British Army and R.U.C. bases in the town. In 1985, three local IRA volunteers, aged between 16 and 23, were assasinated by an SAS unit as they returned to an arms dump. This event was one of numerous assasinations by British forces in the town.
Recent years have seen Strabane, an overwhelmingly nationalist town, become a hotbed of dissident republican paramilitarism with groups such as the Real IRA increasing in membership. The INLA has carried out as many as ten high-profile armed robberies at locations such as banks and supermarkets in the town since 2001, which have tailed off since a BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight documentary highlighted the events in December 2004. One such robbery netted £500,000 for the organisation.
Strabane once had the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in the E.U. although in recent years the town has recovered economically. However, the inevitable closure of the town's largest employer, the Adria factory, would see the town plunge into economic chaos with huge rammifications.
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty National Trust owns the Strabane house in which John Dunlap learnt the printing trade. He went on to print the United States Declaration of Independence.
Nearby Strabane is Dergalt, the ancestral home of Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States.
Strabane has seen a revival of Irish gaelic culture with an ever-expanding Gaelic football team, Strabane Sigersons, hundreds of children attending the local Irish language Gaelscoil and Irish language groups flourishing.
Strabane is also a sister city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota (USA).
Notable natives of Strabane include: John Dunlap – printer of the United States Declaration of Independence; Paul Brady – renowned singer songwriter in Ireland and the US; Declan Curry – business correspondent on BBC1's Breakfast programme; Pearse McCauley – the IRA volunteer jailed for the murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in 1995; Brian Dooher and Stephen O'Neill – inspirational members of the 2003 all-Ireland winning Tyrone Gaelic football team.
See also
External links
Categories: Towns in Tyrone