Melanagh () is an ancient Irish

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in what is now north-eastern

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Melanagh along with Tarraghter were once part of the barony of

Loughinsholin Loughinsholin () is a barony in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Its southeast borders the northwest shore of Lough Neagh, and itself is bordered by seven other baronies: Dungannon Upper to the south; Strabane Upper to the west; Keenaght ...

until the

Plantation of Ulster The Plantation of Ulster (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ) was the organised Settler colonialism, colonisation (''Plantation (settlement or colony), plantation'') of Ulstera Provinces of Ireland, province of Irelandby people from Great ...

, which saw them merged with the barony of Mountjoy (modern-day barony of

Dungannon Upper Dungannon Upper is a barony in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was created in 1851 with the splitting of the barony of Dungannon. Lough Neagh runs along its eastern boundary, and it is bordered by four other baronies: Dungannon Middle to ...

). Situated to the south of

Slieve Gallion Slieve Gallion () is a mountain in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is the easternmost of the Sperrin Mountains. It reaches a height of and dominates the western shore of Lough Neagh. Its prominent northeastern summit has a transm ...

, Melanagh was divided into two portions. One portion lay in between Tarraghter and

Killetra Killetra () is an early-modern Irish district in what is now southern County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Killetra along with the ancient districts of Clandonnell, Glenconkeyne, and Tomlagh, comprised the former barony of Loughinsholin Lo ...

, in an area roughly in between the Ballinderry and Lissan Rivers. The other portion lay in between Tarraghter, Killetra, and

Glenconkeyne Glenconkeyne () is an early-modern Irish district in what is now southern County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Glenconkeyne formed the western portion of the former barony of Loughinsholin in Mid Ulster, with the ancient districts of Clandon ...

. Both portions were connected by Tarraghters termon lands.

History

Melanagh derives its name from the Irish ''Meallanacht'', which means "O'Mellans country". It was a termon (church land) of which the O'Mellans were the

erenagh The medieval Irish office of erenagh (Old Irish: ''airchinnech'', Modern Irish: ''airchinneach'', Latin: '' princeps'') was responsible for receiving parish revenue from tithes and rents, building and maintaining church property and overseeing t ...

s. During the

it passed into ownership of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

, thus Melanagh passed into the hands of the Archbishop of Armagh, who in turn leased it to English and Scottish settlers. In 1628, Dr. Allen Cooke, an English ecclesiastical lawyer, received a grant from King Charles I to build a market town, which was to become known as Cooke's Town (modern day

Cookstown Cookstown (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth-largest town in the county and had a population of 12,546 in the 2021 census. It, along with Magherafelt and Dungannon, is one of the main towns in the Mid-Ulster ...

). Cooke purchased extensive areas of land in Malenagh from the Archbishop of Armagh, including the townland of "Core Criche" on which Cookstown was founded. Despite deriving from the same origin, the O'Mellans who gave their name to the district were originally located south of the

Sperrin Mountains The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains () are a mountain range in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane and Mullaghcarn in the west, to Slieve Gallion and the Glenshane Pass in the east, in the counties of Tyrone and Londonderry. ...

, whilst the O'Mullans were located north of them.

References

{{coord missing, County Tyrone Barony of Loughinsholin Barony of Dungannon Upper History of County Londonderry