Mail's historical book selling well
THE book produced using historical excerpts from the Mid-Ulster Mail is continuing to interest readers in the area, with copies still selling a year after publication.
And it is hoped the book ‘History of Cookstown’ will once again be a Christmas best-seller at Sheehy’s in the town.
It was back in 1891 that Henry Glasgow and his brother John launched a weekly newspaper, The Mid-Ulster Mail.
Just last year a selection of Henry’s historical notes from the Mail were published in a book as a tribute to him.
Beatrice Millar who has given lectures on the history of Cookstown said this reprint will not only interest the historian or industrial archaeologist, but residents too.
“Don’t you have to agree that in spite of modern media and modern ways, there is somewhere deep in most of us a strong feeling, a particular bond for a certain locality?” she said. “Its place names, its topography, its roads and buildings, its history, but most of all, its people.”
She said Henry Glasgow must have felt this sense strongly as he embarked on the one-man task of producing a history of Cookstown which was delivered in weekly instalments.
“So, alone and single-handed, undaunted by distance and the discomfort of travel (and Dublin was a long way off), he carried out the necessary research, and his local history story began in the mists of myth and antiquity.”
The publication includes the mid-eighteenth century laying out and construction of Cookstown by William Stewart.
“The town’s progress is followed as, leaving larger and more prosperous neighbours like Moneymore and Stewartstown behind, Cookstown forged a new prosperity for itself through the exploitation of local water resources and the genius and resourcefulness of the entrepreneurs who saw the potential and seized the moment,” explained Beatrice.
“Other people are not forgotten, from the great and good of the town and surrounding area, to the men and women who oiled the machines, quarried the stone or lapped the linen.
“Named correspondents of the paper enter the story too, as week by week their informative comments on preceeding articles are printed in full, serving to illuminate and elucidate, as well as adding the human touch,” she said.
And this book is not just for the history enthusiast, but any resident who wants to know more about their area in general.
The 308-page ‘History of Cookstown’ is available from Sheehy’s and is expected to top its book charts again this Christmas.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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