Tyrone's history is in danger of being lost, heritage group warns

A County Tyrone heritage group has warned that local history is in danger of being lost.

The newly formed Omagh group is concerned about the condition of historically important buildings.

It also says a museum is needed in the town where local stories can be recorded and artefacts put on display.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council says it will be consulting people on a heritage plan to decide the future of museum space.

Local historian and tour guide Vincent Brogan has been involved in setting up the heritage group.

He pointed to the state of the octagonal Governor’s House at the former Omagh gaol which was built in 1823.

It has been in private ownership and was recently put up for sale.

The building is partly open to the elements and the interior cannot be viewed for safety reasons.

“We are concerned due to the state of the building and we would have liked to have seen something done to preserve it,” Mr Brogan told BBC News NI.

“We have no idea how the building has been kept but we do feel that the authorities should have been more proactive in dealing with it over the years.”

He suggested the nearby St Lucia Barracks, which closed more than 15 years ago, as a possible location for a museum.

Since 2016, almost £400,000 has been spent by the Department for Infrastructure on maintenance and security.

However, the 15-acre site remains inaccessible to the public, and there is uncertainty about its future.

“There’s really no plans that we know of how it could be used in the future,” Mr Brogan said.

“It is something that visitors and locals in Omagh lack in having a centre where they can discover their heritage going back into the 17, 18, 1900s.

“I would be very keen to get it brought out into the public.”

While the nearby Ulster American Folk Park tells the story of people who emigrated, there is no museum of local history about those who stayed behind.

Mr Brogan said “a proper museum for Omagh” that reflected the history of the county town of Tyrone would be one of the aims of the new heritage group.

“I know there’s obviously council boundary issues but we really do need something in Omagh that reflects Omagh as it’s own place,” he said.

“There’s a lot of heritage in Omagh being lost because it’s not being recorded and not being shown to the next generation as well.

“There is a lot of material out there which people would share.

“People hold a lot of stuff themselves and we need to have the opportunity to make that available to the wider public over a longer-term basis.”

There are also items of local importance in storage in museums which are not on public display.

National Museums NI has material in its collection relating to the last man hanged at Omagh gaol.

Royal Irish Constabulary Insp Thomas Hartley Montgomery was sentenced to death for the murder of bank clerk William Glass during a robbery of the Northern Bank in Newtownstewart in 1871.

Artefacts from the murder including the bank ledger, part of a blood-stained wooden ledger stand, and photographs and newspaper articles are in storage at the Ulster Folk Museum in Cultra, County Down.

The museum said it had no immediate plans to put these items on display and it had to “weigh up the balance of displaying and preserving our artefacts”.

The Strule Arts Centre has a rooftop museum space which Fermanagh and Omagh District Council described as the “first steps towards a museum collection for the Omagh area”.

It recently hosted a temporary exhibition celebrating the showband era.

Some of the items will go on permanent display in a rooftop museum area.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Chairman Barry McElduff described the showband history as “the true unique selling point for Omagh.”

He also highlighted the Omagh Music Heritage Walking Trail where people could learn more about the dance halls and ballrooms.

He disagreed that local history was in danger of being lost.

“This council is developing a heritage plan, we will be going to the people, we will be seeking the people to help us co-design what the museum space looks like in the future,” Mr McElduff said.

“The Strule Arts Centre is already shaping up to be a tremendous museum space in the heart of Omagh and I would encourage as many people to come along as possible.”