Cookstown is a town in the Mid Ulster district of central Northern Ireland. It lies west of Lough Neagh (Lake Neagh) in Ulster, a region in the northeastern part of the island of Ireland. It is also located in the former County Tyrone. Much of the Cookstown area is agricultural. Cookstown is called An Chorr ChrÃochach in Irish.
The town of Cookstown dates from the early 1600’s, during the Protestant settlement of Ulster by the English government. Settlers from England and Scotland were brought to the area to displace its Irish Roman Catholic inhabitants. Much of the town was destroyed during the Irish rebellion of the 1640’s against England. Cookstown was rebuilt and expanded during the 1700’s.
The Cookstown area’s economy has traditionally depended on mixed farming (raising various crops and livestock); dairy products; and the manufacture of bacon products, cement, cheese, and clothes. The surrounding villages include Stewartstown and Pomeroy. The nearby village of Ballyronan, on Lough Neagh, has a marina.
From 1973 to 2015, Cookstown was the name of a larger district council area, a kind of local government area. In 2015, Cookstown joined with the Magherafelt district and most of the district of Dungannon and South Tyrone to form the Mid Ulster local government district.
