For more than a century a horse-drawn tram linked Fintona to the railway at Fintona Junction, and the horse was always called Dick. From 1853 the little van shuttled the mile between the town and the junction, where the main line ran, and it kept going until 30 September 1957. The tram itself survives, but not here, so don’t come expecting to see it: the original tram went to the Ulster Transport Museum at Cultra, near Belfast. The Northern Ireland Digital Film Archive has footage of its arrival at the museum. What’s left in Fintona is the story and the welcome signs, which still show Dick hauling the van with driver, conductor and a passenger up top.
Fintona is a working County Tyrone village, grown up from a Uí Néill fortress of 1431, eight miles south of Omagh. It isn’t a tourist town, and it doesn’t pretend to be.
Ecclesville Forest and golf
By the late 1600s the Eccles family were the main landowners, and their manor house, built in 1703, stood on what is now the golf course and the Ecclesville demesne.
Ecclesville Forest is on the edge of the village. A network of surfaced paths runs through woodland on the old demesne. Check local signs for access and dog rules.
Fintona Golf Club has a nine-hole parkland course, founded in 1904 on the Ecclesville demesne. Check its visitor arrangements if you want a round.
Murley Mountain and the river
About four miles to the southeast, roughly halfway to Fivemiletown, the land rises to Murley Mountain, 312m (1,024ft) and known locally as Fivemiletown Mountain or Stranisk Hill. Two wind farms share the peak, Lendrums Bridge (2000) and Hunters Hill (2008), so it’s a working hill rather than a wilderness one. The Quiggery Water rises on its northern slopes and runs through the village, eventually joining other streams to form the River Strule.
A wartime footnote
During the Second World War, Ecclesville House served as headquarters for the 135th Infantry Regiment of the US Army’s 34th Infantry Division. There’s a photograph from November 1942 of their vehicles being washed down in the Quiggery River, with King Street, the police barracks and US Army Nissen huts in the background.
Practical information
- Getting there: Fintona is off the B122 to Omagh and the A5. For bus connections to Omagh, check the Translink journey planner.
- Churches: St Lawrence’s Catholic Church, completed in 1841, stands less than a mile from the town in the townland of Lisnabulreavy; Donacavey Parish Church (Church of Ireland) is the other main one.
- Nearby: Omagh, a short drive away, has the shops and the Ulster American Folk Park.
If you’ve a real interest in railway oddities, read the Fintona story here, then go to the Ulster Transport Museum to stand beside Dick’s tram.