Probus, Wednesday 20th November 2024.
Speaker: Mr Kenneth Collins, Club Member and Local Historian
Kenneth’s talk could well have been entitled “ Collins to the Rescue” in that he stepped in at the last minute to fill in for a speaker who was unable to make it. Kenneth’s talk was about a fine old property known to many as Clanabogan House. Now a successful B&B, it is a home with history.
It was built in 1809 by Samuel Galbraith and called New Grove. At that time Clanabogan did not have a church and Mr Galbraith felt that the Bishop might be moved to establish one if there was a plot of land and a rectory. In 1834 he extended New Grove to create a residence suitable for a new minister and set aside an acre of ground. In 1873 a fine new church designed by Welland and Gillespie, Dublin, was opened. In 1889 renowned architect Sir Thomas Drew, who designed St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, remodelled the interior using marbles from Cork, Kilkenny, France and Italy. A separate rectory was built in 1887 and is still in use.
The graveyard at Clanabogan is the final resting place of Dr. Edward Charles Thompson, FRCSI. who was the prime mover in the building of Tyrone County Hospital. TCH opened in 1899 replacing the old Omagh Infirmary built in1796 on the site now occupied by the Danske Bank. Tyrone County Hospital closed in 2017 and was demolished in 2022 to make way for a private housing development. Kenneth regretted that no trace of the former hospital remained and hoped a “blue plaque” or some such, could be erected to mark the site.
He was warmly thanked for his talk by all present.