Omagh Courthouse

Omagh Courthouse is a judicial facility in High Street, Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is a Grade B+ listed building.[1]

Omagh Courthouse
Omagh Courthouse
LocationOmagh, County Tyrone
Coordinates54.6000°N 7.3045°W / 54.6000; -7.3045
Built1814
ArchitectJohn Hargrave
Architectural style(s)Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade B+
Official nameCourthouse, High Street, Omagh
Designated23 November 1976
Reference no.HB 11/13/001
Shown in Northern Ireland

History

The building, which was designed by John Hargrave in the Neoclassical style, was completed in 1814.[2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing the High Street; the central section featured a tetrastyle portico with Tuscan order columns supporting a frieze and a pediment containing a clock.[1] A carving depicting the Royal coat of arms was installed at the apex of the pediment.[1] It was extended to the south with five extra bays to the designs of William Joseph Barre of Newry in 1863.[1]

The building was originally used as a facility for dispensing justice but, following the implementation of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, which established county councils in every county, it also became the meeting place for Tyrone County Council.[3] In the 1960s, county leaders decided that the courthouse was too cramped to accommodate the county council in the context of the county council's increasing administrative responsibilities, especially while the courthouse was still acting as a facility for dispensing justice, and therefore chose to move to County Hall, conveniently located a short distance to the north east of the courthouse on the north side of the River Strule, in 1962.[2]

On 15 August 1998 there was a car bomb attack by the dissident Irish republican paramilitary group, the Real Irish Republican Army: the intended target had been the courthouse,[4][5] but because the driver was unable to find a parking space in front of the building he parked the car in Market Street, roughly 365 yards (334 m) to the east the courthouse,[6][7] killing 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) and injuring some 220 others.[8][9][10]

The clock, which had stopped working in 2013, was finally repaired, after the Courts and Tribunals Service had found the necessary funding, in early 2019.[11][12] In November 2020 the justice minister, David Ford, said that he accepted an inspection report recommending that the Omagh Courthouse should be designated a "satellite court" in a proposed rationalisation of the court system.[13]

References
  1. "Omagh Courthouse". Department for Communities. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  2. Rowan, Alistair (1979). North West Ulster: The Counties of Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland). Yale University Press. p. 446. ISBN 978-0300096675.
  3. "No. 1436". The Belfast Gazette. 31 December 1948. p. 326.
  4. "Omagh bomb warnings released". BBC News. 18 August 1998. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  5. "Timeline of the Omagh bombing". The Irish Times. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  6. Potter, Captain S.J.O. (2000). "The Omagh Bombing - A Medical Perspective" (PDF). Royal Army Medical Corps.
  7. "Crown Court for Northern Ireland Decisions: The Queen versus Sean Hoey". Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  8. "Omagh coroner rules on unborn twins". BBC News. 28 September 2000. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  9. "Main Events surrounding the bomb in Omagh". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
  10. Mooney, John; O'Toole, Michael (2004). Black Operations: The Secret War Against the Real IRA. Maverick House. pp. 211–2. ISBN 0-9542945-9-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  11. "No money to fix Omagh's iconic courthouse clock". Ulster Herald. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  12. "Omagh's Courthouse clock ticks again... and just in time for 200th birthday!". Ballycastle Chronicle. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  13. "Fears over future of Downpatrick courthouse". The Down Recorder. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
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