Fintona

History

The local area has been known to have had human activity for around 4000 years; there are many burial places, standing stones, stone circles and graves in the area around Fintona. The current village is developed from an Uí Néill fortress built in 1431 and is one of Tyrone's oldest settlements. Some time after the Plantation of Ulster, by 1668 the dominant landowners in the area was the Eccles Family and their Manor House, which was located in what is nowadays Fintona Golf Club and Ecclesville Park on the Ecclesville Demesne, was built in 1703. As in many other parts of Ireland during the 19th Century, the expansion of the railway network saw the village connected with the rest of the country. There were two stations, Fintona (open 5 June 1853) and Fintona Junction (open 1 May 1856). Connecting the two stations was a horse-drawn tram which took passengers from the village to Fintona Junction railway station which was a stop on the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway which itself was part of the Great Northern Railway. Both stations closed on 1 October 1957. Possibly the most well known bit of history associated with Fintona was the horse-drawn tram (or "van" to the locals) that took passengers from Fintona railway station to Fintona Junction station one mile away. The name of the horse was always "Dick" regardless of sex. First class and second class passengers travelled inside while third class travellers sat exposed to the elements on the top. The tram made its last trip on 30 September 1957 when the Omagh to Enniskillen line closed, and with it, Fintona's rail links to the rest of Ireland. When retired, it was the second-last existing example of a horse-drawn tram in public service in the British Isles, the only remaining one now being on Douglas promenade, Isle…

Geography

Fintona lies in the civil parish of Donacavey, in the south west of County Tyrone bordering County Fermanagh. The parish was split between two historical baronies – Fintona itself along with the majority of Donacavey was part of the Clogher barony while a northern portion of the parish lay in the barony of Omagh East. The village lies across several gentle hills, including Main Street whose centre lies on a hill summit and its ends at the feet of the same hill. There are small pockets of flat ground, mostly at the Ecclesville Demesne. By road distance, Omagh, the county town of Tyrone, lies north, Enniskillen is south-west, while Belfast and Dublin are east and south-east respectively. Towards the south-east about away, about half-way between Fintona and the village of Fivemiletown, the land rises to the summit of Murley Mountain, (known better locally as "Fivemiletown Mountain", also occasionally known as "Stranisk Hill" after its local townland), which has a peak of above sea level. At this peak and the surrounding land are two close by wind farms, Lendrums Bridge (open 2000) and Hunters Hill (open 2008). A small river named the "Quiggery Water", whose source is located on the northern slopes of Murley Mountain, flows through Fintona with bridges crossing it at Kiln Street and Mill Street as well as just outside the village at a location known as the Carnlea crossroads. This river then joins with the Ballynahatty Water to form the Drumragh River, which in turn joins the Camowen River in Omagh to form the River Strule. Located from the Atlantic coastline, Fintona has an Oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb). Winters are normally cool to mild with morning frosts being a common occurrence, especially with settled weather. Summers are usually…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian red squirrel

  Sciurus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  117
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  71
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  46
• Small Tortoiseshell

  Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  41
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  38
• Green-veined White

  Pieris napi (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  37
• hedgehog

  Erinaceus europaeus Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  37
• Common Nettle

  Urtica dioica L. · Magnoliopsida
  37