Editing Cookstown (section)

==History==
[[Image:Cookstown looking north.jpg|thumb|right| alt=Four-lane street busy with vehicle traffic, with a central island, wide sidewalks, with two-story houses. In the distance, the 1700 ft mountain, Slieve Gallion. |The main street, looking north. Slieve Gallion is in the background.]]

In 1609 land was leased to an English ecclesiastical lawyer, Dr Cooke, who fulfilled the covenants entered in the lease by building houses on the land. In 1628, King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] granted Letters Patent to Cooke permitting the holding of a twice-weekly market for livestock and flaxen goods.<ref name=coyle>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYVJBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT49|title=The Little Book of Tyrone|first= Cathal|last= Coyle|year=2014|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-0750962841|page=49}}</ref>

In 1641, the native Irish revolted against the Planters in a bloody rebellion and the town was destroyed.<ref name=coyle/> The rebellion had a devastating effect on the town and development ceased for nearly a century. Over the succeeding years, the lands around Cookstown were progressively bought up by William Stewart of Killymoon until in 1671 all of Dr Cooke's lands were in the hands of the Stewart family. William Stewart and later his son James set out plans for the town soon after this. Inspired by the [[Wide Streets Commission]]'s work in [[Dublin]], they planned a new town to be built along a tree lined [[boulevard]] which was to be {{convert|135|feet}} wide.<ref name=coyle/>

In 1802, Colonel William Stewart (James Stewart's unmarried son) approached the London architect, [[John Nash (architect)|John Nash]], and requested that he visit the area to rebuild [[Killymoon Castle]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archiseek.com/2012/1803-killymoon-castle-co-armagh/|title=1803 - Killymoon Castle, Cookstown, County Tyrone|date=29 November 2012 |publisher=Archiseek|access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref> Nash also designed the [[Rectory]] at [[Lissan]] for the Rev John Molesworth Staples in 1807.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archiseek.com/2012/1807-lissan-rectory-cookstown-co-tyrone/|title=1807 - Lissan Rectory, Cookstown, County Tyrone|date=13 November 2012 | publisher=Archiseek|access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref>

With the establishment of Gunning's Linen Weaving Mill, with over 300 looms, Cookstown developed in the 19th century as the local centre of the linen trade.<ref name=directory>{{cite web|url=https://www.cotyroneireland.com/cookstown1880.html|title=Cookstown Directory |year=1880|access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref> Two railways established terminus [[railway stations]] at Cookstown - the [[Belfast and Northern Counties Railway]] ([[Cookstown railway station (NCC)|1856-1955]]) and the [[Great Northern Railway (Ireland)|Great Northern Railway]] ([[Cookstown railway station|1879-1959]]).<ref name=directory/>

Prominent developments in the second half of the 19th century included J.J. McCarthy's Church of the Holy Trinity on Chapel Street.<ref name=trinity>{{cite web|url=https://www.archiseek.com/2017/1860-holy-trinity-church-cookstown-co-tyrone/|title=1860 - Holy Trinity Church, Cookstown, County Tyrone|date=15 February 2017 | publisher=Archiseek|access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref>

On 17 June 1920, during the [[Irish War of Independence]], the [[Irish Republican Army (1917-22)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) raided the [[Royal Irish Constabulary]] (RIC) barracks in Cookstown,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hezlet|first1=Sir Arthur|title=The 'B' Specials|date=1972|publisher=Tom Stacey|location=London|isbn=0-85468-272-4|page=10}}</ref> with help from four sympathetic RIC officers. In a brief firefight, IRA member Patrick Loughran was killed. He was the first IRA man killed on active service in what became Northern Ireland.<ref>Lawlor, Pearse. ''The Outrages: The IRA and the Ulster Special Constabulary in the Border Campaign''. Mercier Press, 2011. pp.28-29</ref><ref>[http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/june_1920.htm Chronology of Irish History 1919 - 1923 - June 1920] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070905215654/http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/june_1920.htm |date=5 September 2007 }} Seamus Fox. 2008. Dublin City University.</ref>

Cookstown Town Hall was designed by the town surveyor, Charles Geoffrey Birtwell, and built on the Burn Road by James Corrigan of Pomeroy: it was officially opened on 27 May 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://coaghinww1.co.uk/docs/b014.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130162536/https://coaghinww1.co.uk/docs/b014.pdf |archive-date=2022-11-30 |url-status=live|page=40|title=Cookstown Town Hall|publisher=Mid-Ulster Local History Journal|volume=4}}</ref>

During [[the Troubles]], Cookstown suffered from several bomb attacks: on 2 November 1990 an off duty soldier from the [[Ulster Defence Regiment]] was killed by a car bomb.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://alphahistory.com/northernireland/political-violence-troubles-1990-1994/|title=Political violence during the Troubles: 1990-1994|date=15 September 2017 |publisher=Alpha History| access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref>

Cookstown Town Hall was demolished in 1998<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/town-hall-to-be-demolished-1.191605|title=Town hall to be demolished|date=10 September 1998|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref> and the Burnavon Arts and Cultural Centre opened on the site in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artscouncil-ni.org/images/uploads/publications-documents/ACNI_Annual_Report_2000-2001.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150828082936/http://www.artscouncil-ni.org/images/uploads/publications-documents/ACNI_Annual_Report_2000-2001.pdf |archive-date=2015-08-28 |url-status=live|title=Annual Report 2000/21|page=7|publisher=Arts Council of Northern Ireland|access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref>