Moneymore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moneymore is also the name of a farming district near Milton, New Zealand.

Moneymore is also the name of a large housing estate in Drogheda, Ireland.

Moneymore (Irish: Muine Mór) is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, lying near Lough Neagh. Its name comes from the Irish Muine Mór or Big Thicket. It had a population of 1,369 people in the 2001 Census. It is in the Cookstown District Council area.

It is perhaps the best preserved example of a Plantation village in Mid-Ulster. Moneymore features the wide streets and substantial buildings constructed in a precise order which is characteristic of Plantation architecture.

Among its public service buildings it has a medical centre, post office, pharmacy and a privately owned bus service, called Chambers' Coach Hire. It obtained broadband capability during 2005. Until July 2006 there was a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) police station. The main convenience store is a Spar complex that was established in the early 1990s and has since been renovated three times. Most recently, it incorporated the local butcher. Spar also sells petrol from the Texaco oil company. Other shops include a local Newsagents, J. Lawrence, McNicholl's Clothes Shop, Allister's Bakery, a Costcutter and two Chip Shops, the Golden Chip and the Village Takeaway. There is a Chinese Take-Away called 'Calorie' which was established in 1986 by Joe Tsang and his family and was sold in 2003 to the Teng family. Tsang has since opened a new Chinese Restaurant, called Paragon, in Cookstown 5 miles from Moneymore.

1 Geography
2 History
- 2.1 The Troubles
3 Places of interest
4 Education
5 Places of worship
6 2001 Census
7 Trivia
8 References
9 See also
10 External links

[edit] Geography

Moneymore is situated in a valley, and has an average elavation of 920m. It has a latitude of 54:41:28N and a longitude of 6:39:50W. The Ballinderry River flows through the southern part of the village. The river rises on a large hill, Slieve Gallion (one of the Sperrin Mountains) which has a notable radio tower on its summit, and can be seen clearly from most of the district. The village is about 35 miles from the sea to the north.

These old images of the town were scanned from post cards. It is not known when they were taken (dating from around 1920). The recent pictures were taken on the 9th February 1999.

[edit] History

Originally built by the Worshipful Company of Drapers, the village was held in such esteem that they invested in a large scale reconstruction as recently as 1817.

[edit] The Troubles

Between 1974 and 1993, seven people died in or near Moneymore, as a result of the the Troubles. For more information see the Troubles in Moneymore, which includes a list of incidents in Moneymore during the Troubles.

[edit] Places of interest

The most notable building in the town is the 17th century Plantation house, Springhill, built and owned by the Conyngham, later Lenox-Conyngham family but since 1957 in the ownership of the National Trust. The property is on the outskirts of the town and is sign posted from the Main Street.

[edit] Education

There are two primary schools in Moneymore: Moneymore Primary School is its Protestant primary school with 156 children and *St. Patrick's Primary School is its Catholic primary school.

[edit] Places of worship

St. John's Church (Church of Ireland)
Church of SS John & Trea (Roman Catholic)
Moneymore First Presbyterian Church
Moneymore Second Presbyterian Church
Moneymore Congregational Church
Moneymore Gospel Hall

[edit] 2001 Census

Moneymore is classified as a village by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 1,369 people living in Moneymore. Of these:

25.0% were aged under 16 years and 16.1% were aged 60 and over
47.9% of the population were male and 52.1% were female
47.8% were from a Catholic background and 51.0% were from a Protestant background;
3.1% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service