Strabane lies in a valley, with round
cultivated hills, fair and pleasant to the eye, swelling up round it.
Near it is the residence of Lord Lifford. I have heard townspeople
praise him as a landlord, and country people censure him, so I leave it
there. His recent speech, in which he complains of the new Land Bill,
that, if it passes into law, it will give tenants as a right what they
used to get as a favor from their landlords, has the effect of
explaining him to many minds.
Leaving Strabane behind, went down or up, I know not which, to Newtown-
Stewart, in the parish of Ardstraw (_ard strahe_, high bank of the
river). In this neighborhood is the residence of the Duke of Abercorn,
spoken of as a model landlord.
The Glenelly water mingles with the Struell and is joined by the Derg,
which forms the Mourne. After the Mourne receives the Finn at Lifford it
assumes the name of the Foyle and flows into history past Derry's walls.
At the bridge, as you enter the town of Newtown-Stewart, stands the
gable wall of a ruined castle, built by Sir Robert Newcomen, 1619,
burned by Sir Phelim Roe O'Neil along with the town, rebuilt by Lord
Mountjoy, burnt again by King James.
Upon a high hill above the town, commanding a beautiful view of the
country far and wide, stand the ruins of the castle of Harry Awry O'Neil
(contentious or cross Harry), an arch between two ruined towers being
the only distinct feature left of what was once a great castle.
