Stewartstown, County Tyrone

History

Stewartstown was built by Andrew Stewart (1560–1629), 3rd Lord Stewart of Ochiltree, 1st Lord Castlestewart. He was a direct descendant of Robert II of Scotland, by a younger son, Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany. He held the High Court position of First Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King James I of England (James VI of Scotland). He held the office of General of Edinburgh Castle, and gained the rank of General in the Artillery. In 1611 he settled in Ulster, where he was granted 3,000 acres (12 km²) in Co. Tyrone, and later other large tracts of land in Northern Ireland too. In 1615, with the King's consent, he sold and resigned the Barony of Ochiltree to his first cousin, Sir James Stuart, son of James Stewart, Earl of Arran, in order to raise money. In its stead, in 1619, he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland and created Baron Castlestewart by James I. No parliament sat between the years of 1615 and 1634, so he never voted in Parliament, but constantly enjoyed the title. In 1587, he married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Kennedy of Blairquhan Castle, Ayrshire. He was the ancestor of Earl Castle Stewart. William Greer (September 22, 1909 - February 23, 1985), born in Stewartstown, was an agent of the U.S. Secret Service, best known for having driven President John F. Kennedy's automobile in the motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas on November 22, 1963, when the president was assassinated.

Places of interest

Roughan Castle was built circa 1618 by Sir Andrew Stewart (d. 1639), 2nd Lord Castlestewart, eldest son of Andrew Stewart (1580–1629), 3rd Lord Ochiltree, 1st Lord Castlestewart, who came from Scotland during the plantation and established the nearby town of Stewartstown. The 2nd Lord Castlestewart built his castle overlooking Roughan Lough. It is a small square castle, three storeys high with a central tower 20 feet (6.1 m) square, flanked by thick rounded towers at each corner.

Amenities

Stewartstown has a surgery which serves nearby areas; such as Ardboe, Coalisland, Brockagh, Clonoe and Newmills.

The Troubles

For more information see The Troubles in Stewartstown (Tyrone), which includes a list of incidents in Stewartstown during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities.

Local schools

Sport

Stewartstown is the home of famous Professional Call of Duty Professional player, Philip Hull also known by his Alias OZYMANDIAS. Who has won 18 MLG titles including Call of Duty Championship and an X Games Gold Medal. He attained most of these titles while playing for Quantic Leverage, Complexity Gaming, Fariko Impact and Envyus Gaming. He is one of the first Northern Irish players to play on the Competitive Gaming Pro Circuit. He holds a rare achievement of being in the 1% of people to complete Mile High Club on Veteran in Call of Duty 4 Remastered.

He is famous for Ninja Defusing the Bomb in a round 11 game of Search and Destroy, in the Call of Duty Black Ops 2 season against Envyus Gaming at MLG Anaheim. OZYMANDIAS has played with many Call of Duty greats such as Seth "Scump" Abner, Ray "RamboRay" Lussier, Will "BigTymer" Johnson, Joey "Merk" DeLuca and Jordan "Proofy" Cannon. Philip Hull continues a story book career through this Call of Duty Infinite Warfare season playing for Lumonosity Gaming.

Transport

2001 Census

Stewartstown 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 608 people living in Stewartstown. Of these:

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service