Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone

01 / 08

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The BBC Incident

October 1979: a film that was never broadcast in full.

A Panorama crew filmed armed, masked IRA members manning a roadblock on the roads into the village. The film was seized by police under the Prevention of Terrorism Act after a parliamentary outcry. It has never been shown in full on British television. The Unionist leader called it treasonable activity. Thatcher's government pressured the BBC governors. The governors admitted it appeared to breach standing instructions on filming in Ireland.

Stories & lore → 02 St Colmcille GAC

Fifteen Tyrone Senior Football Championships. More than any other club.

An Charraig Mhór Naomh Colmcille have won the O'Neill Cup fifteen times - 1940, 1943, 1949, 1961, 1966, 1969, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2005. The 1977-78-79 three-in-a-row places them in a small category of clubs that have ever done it. That run started the same year the BBC crew arrived.

Stories & lore → 03 Termon Rock

The old name carries a saint's sanctuary and a rocky hill.

The village sat on maps as Termon Rock into the nineteenth century. Termon comes from the Irish tearmann - a church sanctuary, land granted to early monasteries and protected by ecclesiastical law. The parish of Termonmaguirk (Tearmann Mhig Oirc, McGurk's sanctuary) remembers the 6th-century monastic foundation here. The rock is the rocky hill the village sits on. An Charraig Mhór - the big rock - is both the Irish name and the more direct description.

Stories & lore →

02 / 08

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Charm Inn

The do-everything local

Bar, restaurant, coffee shop, off-licence - 15 Main Street

Operating as The Old Charm Inn and now The Charm Inn at 15 Main Street. Bar, food, coffee shop, off-licence, outside catering under one roof. The kind of place that covers most of what a village of this size needs from a single building. Open from mid-morning to late.

The Public House

Straightforward village bar

Pub, 16 Main Street

Registered at 16 Main Street, Food Hygiene Rating 5 (Very Good) from Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, October 2023. The pair of Main Street pubs that face each other across a village that doesn't ask for much more.

03 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
The Charm Inn kitchen	Pub food and restaurant	£	Bar food and a restaurant menu, running alongside the coffee shop. Local pub-restaurant staples. The most consistent food option in the village itself.
Main Street Takeaway	Chipper / takeaway, 36 Main Street	£	Fish, chips, pizza. Food Hygiene Rating 4 (Good) as of April 2023. Opens from late afternoon. The post-match option after a game at Pairc Colmcille.

04 / 08

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Drom Na Gainne B&B	Four-star B&B, 150 Creggan Road	In the foothills of the Sperrins, 2.8 km from An Creagán Visitor Centre. Ensuite rooms, home-cooked breakfast, free parking, mountain views. Rated 4 stars by Tourism NI. Phone: +44 28 8076 1678.
Drumaneir Cottage	Self-catering, 18th-century stone cottage, 160 Creggan Road	A restored 18th-century Irish stone cottage with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a fireplace, garden, and children's play area. On Booking.com with a 9.9 guest rating. Contact Mairead Kelly. 10 minutes from An Creagán Visitor Centre.

05 / 08

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

A film seized, a parliament in uproar

The BBC Roadblock Film, 1979

In October 1979 a BBC Panorama crew filmed armed, masked IRA members manning a roadblock on the roads around Carrickmore. The film was not broadcast - instead it became the subject of a parliamentary crisis. The Conservative MP Tim Eggar asked Margaret Thatcher in the Commons to "express extreme concern" that the Panorama team had "encouraged the IRA to break the law". The Ulster Unionist leader James Molyneaux called the filming "at least a treasonable activity". The BBC governors issued a statement acknowledging the filming "would appear to be a clear breach of standing instructions in relation to filming in Ireland". Police seized the footage under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 1980, following a further outcry in parliament and the press. The film has never been shown in full on British television. The incident became one of the defining moments in the long argument between the Thatcher government and the BBC over coverage of the Troubles - the same argument that would later produce Thatcher's 'oxygen of publicity' doctrine and the broadcasting ban on republican spokespeople.

Fifteen titles. The most of any Tyrone club.

An Charraig Mhór Naomh Colmcille

Carrickmore St Colmcille GAC - An Charraig Mhór Naomh Colmcille - has won the Tyrone Senior Football Championship fifteen times: 1940, 1943, 1949, 1961, 1966, 1969, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2005. No other Tyrone club has reached that total. The run in the late seventies - three championships in a row, 1977, 1978, 1979 - is the one that older supporters still measure other achievements against. In the nineties and early 2000s the club had a second dominant period, winning six titles in eleven years. The O'Neill Cup last came to Pairc Colmcille in 2005. The board at the ground carries all fifteen years. The village doesn't need to be reminded.

A 6th-century sanctuary, a rocky hill, two names

Termon Rock and the Saint's Name

The village sat on maps as Termon Rock well into the nineteenth century. The first word comes from tearmann - Irish for a church sanctuary, the protected land granted to early monasteries under Brehon law. The civil parish is Termonmaguirk (Tearmann Mhig Oirc, traditionally translated as McGurk's sanctuary), a name that preserves the memory of a Gaelic Christian network operating in mid-Tyrone fifteen centuries ago. Saint Colmcille is said to have founded a monastery here around 550 - the parish church, the GAA club, the primary school, and the sports complex are all named for him. The second word, Rock, is the hill. An Charraig Mhór - the big rock in Irish - is both the modern name and the older physical description. The change from the English map-name to the Irish one, largely completed in common use by the twentieth century, mirrors what happened across much of west Tyrone as Irish-language naming reasserted itself.

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Sperrins are at their clearest and An Creagán Visitor Centre reopens for its spring season. Good walking weather before the summer traffic hits.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings, bog and heather walking at its best. Club football in the Tyrone championship rounds - check fixture lists before you book if you want to catch a Carrickmore home game.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The county senior championship final falls in October. If Carrickmore are still in it, the village will be packed and electric on final day. The Sperrins in October have a particular quality of light.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The village is quiet, the Sperrins can close in with cloud for days at a time, and there is limited accommodation. Fine if you want the landscape to yourself. Not a winter-festival destination.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

×

Looking for Troubles tourism

The 1979 BBC incident is part of the public record and worth understanding. The people who lived through what happened here don't need a stranger reconstructing it on the footpath. Read about it, then let the village show you what it is now.

×

Expecting a town's worth of restaurants and bars

Two pubs and a takeaway on Main Street. For a wider food choice, Omagh is 20 minutes west. That's not a criticism - it's the honest geography of a mid-Tyrone village.

×

Arriving for a game without checking the fixture

Pairc Colmcille is the whole reason to time a visit around football. If there's no home game it's still a fine place, but the game is what the village runs on.

+

Getting there.

By car

Carrickmore sits on the B46, about 12 miles south of Cookstown and 20 miles east of Omagh. From Belfast, take the M1 to Dungannon then follow the B34 and B43 west - about 1 hour 15 minutes. From Omagh, 25 minutes east on the A505 and B46.

By bus

Translink Ulsterbus services connect Carrickmore with Omagh and Cookstown. Service 273 (Omagh-Cookstown) passes through; check Translink for current timetable. Connections to Belfast from both Omagh and Cookstown.

By train

No station in the village. Nearest stations are Dungannon (no longer operational - use Portadown, 35 minutes by road) or take the train to Belfast and pick up a bus service to Omagh.

By air

Belfast International is about 55 miles - roughly 1 hour by car. City of Derry Airport is 45 miles west, about 55 minutes. Dublin Airport is 100 miles, about 1 hour 45 minutes via the M1.

Carrickmore, An Charraig Mhór, Co. Tyrone

The village where a BBC crew filmed armed men on a roadblock in 1979 - and caused a parliamentary crisis. The GAA club has more Tyrone Senior titles than any other. Both things are just as true.

At a glance.

October 1979: a film that was never broadcast in full.

Fifteen Tyrone Senior Football Championships. More than any other club.

The old name carries a saint's sanctuary and a rocky hill.

The pubs.

The Charm Inn

The Public House

Where to eat.

Where to sleep.

Stories & lore.

The BBC Roadblock Film, 1979

An Charraig Mhór Naomh Colmcille

Termon Rock and the Saint's Name

When to go.

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

Getting there.

Next on the tour