Town
Things to do in Cookstown
County Tyrone
Seven of the twenty places on our County Tyrone list are in or near Cookstown: Beaghmore Stone Circles, OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory, Tullaghoge Fort, Wellbrook Beetling Mill, Ardboe Cross, Lissan House and Drum Manor Forest Park. That is a stone circle, a visitor centre, a fort, a museum, a monastic site, a house and garden and a forest between them. Below you will find three more places from Northern Ireland's heritage records.
On our Tyrone list
7 places in and around Cookstown.
Beaghmore Stone CirclesStone circle · CookstownSeven stone circles with cairns and stone rows, uncovered by turf cutting on open moorland at the edge of the Sperrins.
OM Dark Sky Park and ObservatoryVisitor centre · CookstownThe observatory in Davagh Forest sits inside Northern Ireland's only International Dark Sky Park, up in the Sperrin foothills northwest of Cookstown.
Tullaghoge FortFort · CookstownThe O'Neills were inaugurated at this hilltop enclosure south of Cookstown. A path climbs to it from a small car park at the foot of the hill.
Wellbrook Beetling MillMuseum · CookstownA water powered linen mill in a wooded glen on the Ballinderry River west of Cookstown, where the wheel drives wooden hammers that pound the cloth to a sheen.
Ardboe CrossMonastic site · CookstownThe tenth century high cross on the Lough Neagh shore at Ardboe has twenty-two carved panels of Bible scenes, with a church ruin beside it.
Lissan HouseHouse and gardens · CookstownThe Staples family lived at Lissan for nearly four hundred years. The house north of Cookstown is run by a trust now, with a walled garden and woodland walks in the demesne.
Drum Manor Forest ParkForest · CookstownThe Forest Service took over the old Drum Manor estate near Cookstown in 1964, and its waymarked trails go round the forest and a wildfowl lake.
More to see in Cookstown
From Northern Ireland’s heritage records and other public sources.
More from the Tyrone list
Ulster American Folk ParkMuseum · OmaghAn open air museum outside Omagh about emigration from Ulster to North America. You walk from thatched Ulster farmhouses onto an emigrant sailing ship and off into an American street.
Gortin Glen Forest ParkForest · GortinThe first forest park in Northern Ireland to be opened in a conifer plantation, on the B48 between Omagh and Gortin, with a scenic drive and waymarked trails.
Glenelly ValleyValley · PlumbridgeThe Glenelly River runs west along this valley in the Sperrins down to Plumbridge, with Sawel, the highest of the range, on the ridge to the north.
Knockmany Passage TombPrehistoric site · AugherA neolithic passage tomb on a hilltop above the Clogher valley near Augher. Its chamber stones are carved with spirals and circles, and a modern dome covers them now.
Harry Avery's CastleCastle · NewtownstewartThe two towers on the hill outside Newtownstewart belong to a castle an O'Neill chief built around 1320, when Irish chiefs rarely built in stone.
Castle CaulfieldCastle · DungannonSir Toby Caulfield built this house in 1619. The ruin in the village west of Dungannon keeps its dressed stone windows, and the family arms are over the gatehouse.