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Northern Ireland's two main motorways strike out west from Belfast, skirting Lough Neagh 'that noble sheet of water' to the north and the south. To the north the M2 heads towards the Sperrins, while the M1 will bring you to the windswept moors of county Tyrone. Apart from Omagh, the county town, Cookstown (famous for its sausages) and Dungannon the landscape is almost empty of men but rich in prehistoric and Celtic remains. About one thousand standing stones are a testament to the Stone Age people who passed this way.
Well known neolithic sites here include the Beaghmore stone circles near Cookstown which were uncovered only 40 years ago, and the chambered cairn of Knockmany at the top of a steep wooded hill north of Clogher. If you are interested in this period, the Ulster History Park near Gortin Glen Forest Park is well worth a detour.
From the seventh to the 12th century, crosses and High Crosses went up all over Christian Ireland and there is a superb example of this peculiarly Irish art, 18-l/2 feet high, at Ardboe. Another, not quite so tall, stands at the top of the main street in Donaghmore village.
The chief crowning place of the Tyrone O'Neills was Tullaghoge hill where there is a fine view of the old kingdom of Tyrone from the top. The crowning took place, it's said, 'amid the clang of bucklers and a hundred harps'.
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