Strabane

Market town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland; population (2001) 13,450. It is situated on the River Mourne, 32 km/20 mi north of Omagh. Clothing is manufactured, and there is a food-processing industry. The town was developed by the Abercorn family in the 18th century as a linen-manufacturing centre.

The novelist Flann O'Brien was born here.

Strabane was also the birthplace of John Dunlap (1747–1812), the printer who printed the American Declaration of Independence and founded one of the first daily newspapers in the USA, the Pennsylvania Packet. James Wilson, grandfather of the US president Woodrow Wilson, worked in the printing trade in Strabane and his home is open to the public. The hymn writer Frances Alexander, author of ‘There is a Green Hill Far Away’, was also born in Strabane.

Sion Mills village, 5 km/3 mi south of Strabane, is a planned settlement of half-timbered housing established in the 1840s to promote the textile industry.

Strabane

Administrative region in the west of Northern Ireland, with a border with the Republic of Ireland, and serving an area County Tyrone; area 862 sq km/333 sq mi; population (2001) 38,250. The towns under the council's remit include Strabane, Castlederg, Newtonstewart, and Sionmills. The principal sources of employment include textiles, agribusiness, agriculture, packaging, and distribution.