placenamesMullaghmore
An Mullach Mór
Sam Neill’s connection with Mullaghmore House and the work of MACCA place this part of Omagh within very different stories of home and community.
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
- An Mullach Mór · Irish · main form · validated name
- Mullaghmore · English · main form
Place & story
Sam Neill’s birthplace
Mullaghmore House on the Old Mountfield Road was the birthplace of actor Sam Neill. In a February 2007 interview with journalist Michael Devlin, Neill recalled his mother’s account that he had been born in the kitchen. He also described returning to find the house during a brief visit to Omagh a few years before the interview. His family subsequently lived in County Antrim before moving to New Zealand when he was seven. The association therefore belongs to his earliest family history rather than a childhood spent wholly in Omagh. [2]
A centre for Mullaghmore and Castleview
The Mullaghmore and Castleview Community Association, generally known as MACCA, developed a resource centre serving both neighbourhoods. Its activities have included childcare, support for older residents and educational and health programmes. In October 2020 the Department for Communities announced almost £110,000 for refurbishment, furniture and equipment. A separate Eco Centre, officially opened in June 2014, provided a meeting and learning space for the community garden. Departmental support for that project exceeded £200,000, extending the association’s work beyond the main building into its grounds. [3]
Gardening and social opportunities
The gardens also became part of a wider Omagh project begun by Leonard Cheshire in 2005. The organisation rented one large polytunnel at MACCA and later a second, allowing more people with disabilities to take part in growing plants and vegetables. Transport helped participants reach the site. Threshold’s retrospective records that the project moved to the Ulster American Folk Park around 2013, where gardeners also grew plants for the museum and maintained grounds. Mullaghmore was thus an earlier home of a practical gardening initiative that continued elsewhere in Omagh. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Tyrone
- Barony
- Strabane Upper
- Civil parish
- Cappagh
- Coordinates
- 54.60307, -7.28812 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414274 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Mullaghmore. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Remembering my interview with Sam Neill and his love for Omagh, 16 July 2026 · Michael Devlin, We Are Tyrone
- Minister announces funding for Community Resource Centre in Omagh, 9 October 2020 · Department for Communities
- The Garden Project: Reflecting on 21 Years, 15 September 2026 · Threshold Services
- Mullaghmore House, County Tyrone illustration: based on a Mullaghmore House, Mullaghmore by Kenneth Allen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-01-25. How this page was prepared.