placenamesDunnamanagh
Dún na Manach
Dunnamanagh, also known as Donemana, combines the remains of a Georgian country house with a long-established village cricket tradition.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Dún na Manach · Irish · main form · validated name
- Dunnamanagh · English · main form
Place & story
A nineteenth-century village
In 1837 Samuel Lewis described Dunamanagh as a post town on the road between Strabane and Cookstown. It had a constabulary station, a sub-post office linked to Strabane and eight annual fairs. A substantial Presbyterian meeting house stood in the village, while an older Covenanter meeting house lay ruined. The parish church and separate schools for boys and girls were nearby, giving the settlement several administrative and educational functions. [2]
The castle above the village
Dunnamanagh Castle is the ruin of a late-eighteenth-century country house. Its three surviving walls include a rounded entrance projection, pointed upper windows and remnants of a castellated parapet. The Historic Buildings record identifies its Gothic appearance as a Georgian treatment. Earlier accounts place a plantation-period bawn on the site, but describe that enclosure as having been removed before the later building was erected. [3]
The Holm and the cricket club
Donemana played in the inaugural Derry Cricket Union challenge cup in 1888, defeating the Garrison team before losing the final to Limavady. After years in junior and intermediate competitions, the club returned to senior cricket in 1944 and won its first Senior League title in 1948. Its ground, the Holm, lies beside the Dennet and the road towards Duncastle, anchoring this sporting tradition in the village landscape. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Tyrone
- Barony
- Strabane Lower
- Civil parish
- Donaghedy
- Coordinates
- 54.87275, -7.31453 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414200 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Dunnamanagh. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Dunamanagh,1837 · Samuel Lewis
- Dunnamanagh Castle,HB10/09/008 · Historic Environment Division
- Donemana’s Centenary Year,p41 · The Ulster Cricketer,Autumn1988
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-01-25. How this page was prepared.