Caledon, County Tyrone

For other places with the same name, see Caledon (disambiguation).

Caledon
Irish: Cionn Aird
Caledon  Caledon shown within Northern Ireland
Population	387 (2001 Census)
Irish grid reference	H755453
District	Dungannon and South Tyrone
County	County Tyrone
Country	Northern Ireland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CALEDON
Postcode district	BT68
Dialling code	028
EU Parliament	Northern Ireland
UK Parliament	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
NI Assembly	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
List of places: UK • Northern Ireland • Tyrone

Caledon ( /ˈkælɨdɨn/), historically known as Kinnaird (from Irish: Cionn Aird), is a small village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is in the Clogher Valley on the banks of the River Blackwater, 7 miles from Armagh. It lies in the southeast of Tyrone and near the borders of County Armagh and County Monaghan. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 387 people. It is a designated conservation area.

Name

The name Caledon appears to be a shortened version of Caledonia, the old Latin name for Scotland. Originating from the Pictish tribe of northern Scotland, the Caledonii, the term means "great, hard/tough people".^{[citation needed]} In present-day Scotland the Gaelic version of Caledonia, An Chaillean, is an alternate name for Dunkeld (Dún Chaillean) and Schiehallion (Sídh Chaillean).^{[citation needed]}

History

Caledon House was built in 1779 by James Alexander, a member of the Irish House of Commons for Londonderry, who had previously in 1778 bought the Caledon Estate. James Alexander was made Baron Caledon in 1790 and later Viscount Caledon in 1797. The House was begun in 1779 to designs by Thomas Cooley, but altered by John Nash in 1808-10.

On 20 June 1968, Austin Currie, Nationalist Party MP at Stormont, with others, began a protest about discrimination in housing allocation by 'squatting' (illegally occupying) in a house in Caledon. The house had been allocated by Dungannon Rural District Council to a 19 year-old unmarried Protestant woman, Emily Beattie, who was the secretary of a local Unionist politician. Beattie was given the house ahead of older married Catholic families with children. The protesters were evicted by officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, one of whom was Beattie's brother. The next day the annual conference of the Nationalist Party unanimously approved of the protest action by Austin Currie in Caledon.

Transport

Caledon railway station (on the narrow gauge Clogher Valley Railway) opened on 2 May 1887, but finally closed on 1 January 1942. Tynan and Caledon railway station on the mainline Great Northern Railway (Ireland) opened on 25 May 1858 and finally closed on 1 October 1957.

People

• The village is home to the Earl of Caledon and the Alexander family as well as previously being home to Sir Pheilim (Feilim) O'Neill, the leader of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
• John Foster McCreight (1827-1913) was a jurist and the first Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia. He was born in Caledon to a well-established and well-connected family.
• Brian McCoy (1942 – 1975), was a trumpet player with the Miami Showband. McCoy was one of the three bandmembers killed when the group was ambushed outside Newry by the Ulster Volunteer Force at a bogus military checkpoint.

Education

• Churchill Primary School
• St. Joseph's Primary School

2001 Census

On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 387 people living in Caledon. Of these:

• 31.0% were under 16 years old and 16.2% were aged 60 and over;
• 47.9% of the population were male and 52.1% were female;
• 35.1% were from a Catholic community background
• 60.1% were from a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' community background.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

External links

• NI Neighbourhood Information System
• Caledon Village website
• Lewis's Topographical Dictionary, 1837
• Lewis's Topographical Dictionary, 1842