Cappagh, County Tyrone

{{short description |Village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland}}

{{coord|54|32|34|N|6|55|33|W|display=title|region:GB_scale:10000}}

Cappagh{{Pronunciation needed}} (Irish: Ceapach (tilled or cultivated land){{cite web|title=Cappagh|work=Place Names NI|url=http://www.placenamesni.org/historicforms.php?getPnameId=9625|access-date=18 March 2013}}) is a small village and townland in the parish of Pomeroy{{cite web | url=https://www.logainm.ie/en/s?txt=in:63165&cat=ID | title=Sub-units of Pomeroy|publisher=logainm.ie|access-date=7 September 2020}} in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Around {{convert|10|km|mi|0}} north-west of Dungannon, it is between Pomeroy, Ballygawley, Galbally and Carrickmore, with the hamlet of Galbally about one mile to the east. Most of the land around Cappagh is farmland although a quarry lies just outside the village. In County Tyrone, there is also the parish of Cappagh which includes part of the town of Omagh and small village of Mountfield.

Places of interest

File:Sheep in the Hamlet of Cappagh, September 2004.jpeg

The village is located on a hillside and immediately behind it stands Cappagh Mountain (948 feet tall). The area around Cappagh has fine mountain scenery where the land is a mixture of rural pastures and bog. These bog and peat lands still provide turf for the older generation of the area. Travelling towards Altmore on the right hand side of the road is "King James's Well". Further on was once a small house that occupied some of the finest miniature model houses and castles in Northern Ireland.

File:Cappagh Monument.jpg

Cappagh Monument - In the middle of the village, a monument was installed in 2001 to commemorate all individuals from the area who were killed during The Troubles. It features a stone figure of a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer, in front of a number of stone plaques commemorating various aspects of the conflict, such as the 1981 hunger strike and local republicans who died. The focal point on the plaque are the names of eight IRA volunteers who died during an unsuccessful attack on a local Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police station, which became known as the Loughgall ambush.[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/victims/memorials/static/monuments/910.html IRA memorial (Cappagh)], cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 7 November 2015.

The Troubles in Cappagh

At least 10 people in and around Cappagh lost their lives during the Troubles, according to CAIN website. Three were members of the IRA, three were RUC police officers, one was a former soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), two were Catholic civilians and the tenth member was a Protestant civilian. The first person from the area to die was a Catholic civilian who was shot and killed in January 1974 by loyalist assailants. The three IRA members and one of the Catholic civilians were killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in an incident outside a local bar on 3 March 1991; a unit of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade drove to the staunchly republican village and shot dead the four people at the bar. The remaining five people were killed by the IRA.[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/index.html 1991 Cappagh killings], cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 7 November 2015.

The village, famed as being a Republican stronghold, was also the scene of another two significant events in the early 1990s.{{Cite book|last=Toolis|first=Kevin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S-3-gRBn0iEC&q=%22Tyrone+hinterlands%22&pg=PT89|title=Rebel Hearts|publisher=Pan Macmillan|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4472-1748-0|language=en}} On 24 March 1990, there was a gun battle between an IRA unit and undercover British troops when a civilian-type vehicle driven by a soldier was purportedly fired on by nearby volunteers without warning.[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1990/may/03/cappagh-incident Cappagh (Incident)] Parliamentary debate, 3 May 1990. Republican sources subsequently claimed a planned ambush against the IRA by the Special Air Service (SAS) was thwarted and at least two undercover soldiers in the car were killed.Toolis, Kevin (1995). Rebel hearts: journeys within the IRA's soul.

Two years later, another major incident occurred in the area. On 12 May 1992, a British patrol consisting of soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment was struck by an IRA improvised explosive device, wounding one soldier who lost both his legs. Elements of the battalion present in the area subsequently clashed with residents in the nearby town of Coalisland, resulting in several people being injured on both sides.[http://www.emigrant.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37019&Itemid=18 "New Paratroop controversy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312034618/http://www.emigrant.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37019&Itemid=18 |date=2012-03-12 }}, The Irish Emigrant, 18 May 1992. The RUC alleged that a light machine gun stolen during the clash was later recovered at a farmhouse near Cappagh, as part of a weapons cache.Fortnight, issues 302-12, Fortnight Publications, 1992, pg. 24 The incident led to the suspension of patrols before the official end of the battalion's deployment to Northern Ireland and to the discharge of the unit's commander, Brigadier Tom Longland.Wood, Ian S. (1994). Scotland and Ulster. Mercat Press, pg. 61; {{ISBN|1-873644-19-1}}

Cappagh Townland

The townland is situated in the historic barony of Dungannon Middle and the civil parish of Pomeroy and covers an area of 464 acres.{{cite web|title=Townlands of County Tyrone|work=IreAtlas Townland Database|url=http://www.thecore.com/seanruad/|access-date=29 December 2012}} The population of the townland declined during the 19th century:{{cite web|title=Census of Ireland 1851|work=Enhanced Parliamentary Papers on Ireland|url=http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/13130/eppi_pages/336883|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130114041846/http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/13130/eppi_pages/336883|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 January 2013|access-date=29 December 2012}}{{cite web|title=Census of Ireland 1891|work=Enhanced Parliamentary Papers on Ireland|url=http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/18814/eppi_pages/505465|access-date=29 December 2012}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}