forts historical tyrone

Probably an Iron Age sanctuary originally, this was later to become the inauguration place of the O'Neill chieftains of Tyrone. Here at the clan seat of O'Hagan, hereditary stewards to the O'Neills, the ceremony was conducted in the presence of the assembled under-chiefs, with the recipient installed in an ancient stone chair said to have been blessed by St. Patrick. The Great Hugh O'Neill was himself thus enthroned at Tullaghoge in 1593. That the inauguration chair, a rough construction of s...

Clogher controlled the only major route between eastern and western Ulster, and its pivotal position in the Clogher valley led some 2,000 years ago to the creation there of a hill-fort on a small hillock close to the modern Bishop's Palace. Excavations proved its significance when imports of pottery and metal work from southern England of c.100 B.C. -A.D. 100 were discovered on the site, demonstrating its extensive trade contacts. In the early years of Christianity in Ireland, Clogher had beco...