TULLAGHOG

TULLAGHOG, a village, in the parish of DESERTCREIGHT, barony of DUNGANNON, county of TYRONE, and province of ULSTER, 2 ¼ miles (S. E.) from Cookstown, on the road from Stewartstown to Coleraine; containing 137 inhabitants. This place, though now an insignificant village, was of regal importance at an early period: on the summit of a gentle eminence, a little westward from the village, is a large circular encampment, surrounded by deep fosses and earthworks, on which stood the princely residence of the ancient clan of O'Haedhagain, or O'Hagan; in this fortress the kings of Ulster were solemnly inaugurated into the style and authority of "The O'Nial." The Earl of Tyrone retired into this strong-hold when retreating before the victorious army of Elizabeth; and here, in 1602, the Lord-Deputy Mountjoy remained for some time, and broke in pieces the strong chair of stone in which the kings of Ulster had been crowned. On June 27th, 1603, Sir Garrett More had here the first audience with the Earl of Tyrone, the last prince of the O'Nial race; and two days afterwards Tyrone left this fortress, and on the 30th, at Mellifont abbey, submitted to the English government; on the same day he received a pardon, and was shortly afterwards restored to his earldom and possessions.

All that remains of this regal city is the fortress before noticed: a great number of unhewn blocks of limestone lie scattered around, but the last vestige of the regal chair has been carried away, though there were pieces of it in the orchard belonging to the glebe-house so lately as 1776. The fortress is covered with brambles and full-grown forest trees: it forms part of the glebe of Desertcreight. The village comprises 29 houses, among which are handsome male and female schools, with residences for the master and mistress, built and supported by John Lindesay, Esq. Four fairs are held during the year. Close adjoining it is the site of the ancient priory of Donarisk, founded by one of the O'Hagans in 1294, of which nothing remains but the cemetery, the ancient burial-place of the clan of O'Hagan, and more recently of the family of Lindesay: a remarkable tomb is erected to the memory of "Robert Lyndsay, Chiefe Harbeger to y King James."

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