Tyrone takes its name from Tír Eoghain, ‘the land of Eoghan’, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages — for centuries the heartland of the O’Neill dynasty, the most powerful family in Gaelic Ulster.
Contae Thír Eoghain · The Red Hand County · Ulster
Tyrone takes its name from Tír Eoghain, ‘the land of Eoghan’, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages — for centuries the heartland of the O’Neill dynasty, the most powerful family in Gaelic Ulster.
This is the county of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who led the Nine Years’ War against the Crown before his defeat at Kinsale in 1601 — and of the Red Hand of Ulster, said won by a chieftain who cut off his own hand to claim the land first.
