Counties of Ireland - Tyrone

County Tyrone coat of arms

The largest county in Northern Ireland, Co. Tyrone also boasts some of the most beautiful scenery on the island, thanks largely to the heathery peaks of the Sperrin Mountains, which stretch across the central and eastern portions of Tyrone and into Co. Londonderry.

The Sperrins, Credits: Irelandscontentpool

Hillwalkers certainly won't want to miss out on the 48-km Central Sperrins Way, a marked circular trail that starts from the Glenelly Valley near the village of Plumbridge, and continues across a varied selection of roads, field tracks and open moors, as well as a blanket bog.

Tyrone's county town is Omagh, a place that resounds in most minds with the 1998 Real IRA bombing, but today it is rather quietened, with a lovely canal and church steeples that rise above the picturesque town centre. Omagh is also home to the rather twee Ulster American Folk Park, an open-air "living museum" that chronicles the relations between Ulster and the U.S. Exhibitions here mostly show off homemaking skills like baking and sewing, conspicuously leaving out any mention of more recent exchanges between Ulster and the U.S., especially as they would relate to The Troubles.

Cottage at Ulster American Folk Park, Credits: Shutterstock

The Beaghmore Stone Circles are a series of seven ancient ceremonial stone circles located off the A505 west of Cookstown. It is believed that Neolithic farmers cleared the early woodland here to make room for the site, which in addition to the circles, includes 12 cairns and 10 stone rows.

Beaghmore Stone Circle, Co. Tyrone, Credits: Irelandscontentpool

Sport is an important part of Tyrone life and identity, especially Gaelic football, of which the county has won three All Ireland titles and 13 Ulster titles. Peter Canavan, who captained the Tyrone team to its first All Ireland title in 2003, is from Glencull near Ballygawley. PGA golfer, Darren Clarke, is from Co. Tyrone's other large town, Dungannon.

Other famous Tyrone people include folk singer Paul Brady, writer Flann O'Brien and John Dunlap, who printed the first American newspaper and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.