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Coordinates: 54°21′00″N 6°49′59″W / 54.35°N
6.833°W / 54.35;
-6.833
Caledon (pronounced /ˈkælɨdɨn/), previously known as
Kinnaird (Irish: Cionn Aird), is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern
Ireland. It is in the Clogher Valley on the banks of the River Blackwater,
some 7 miles from Armagh. It
is situated in the south east of Tyrone and on the border of both
County Armagh
and County
Monaghan. In the 2001 Census it had a
population of 387 people. It is a designated conservation area. It
lies within the Dungannon and
South Tyrone Borough Council area. The residents have a
well-known rivalry with near-by village Killylea, mostly friendly, this has resulted
in several murders and attempted murders.
Name
The name Caledon came about when 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 name Caledon seemingly appears to be a
shortern of the old Latin name for Scotland of Caledonia,
originating from given to the Pitcish tribe of northern Scotland,
the Caledonii meaning great, hard/tough people. Today in
Scotland the gaelic version is An Chaillean can be found
in Dunkeld/Dún Chaillean and Schiehallion/Sídh
Chaillean.
History
- 20 June 1968 - The Caledon Protest: 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. Emily Beattie was
given the house ahead of older married Catholic families with children. The
protesters were evicted by officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC), one of whom was Emily Beattie's brother. The next day the
annual conference of the Nationalist Party unanimously approved of
the protest action by Austin Currie in Caledon.[1] This
was one of the catalysts of the civil rights movement in Northern
Ireland.
- Although a seemingly peaceful rural village, Caledon in recent
times has built a certain notoriety in recent years, attracting
many media to the small rural village, for the 2004 murder of Killylea man Noel Williamson,
the spate of attempted murders in February 2007 in which five men
were stabbed and a double attempted murder in February 2008 in
which a house was petrol bombed, leaving a father and his young son
in critical condition.
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.[2]
People
Education
- Churchill Primary School
- St. Joseph's Primary School
- The local converted court house has also been known to provide
some evening educational activities, such as computer and first aid
classes.
See also
References
External
links
Wikis
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