By 
A rural bank built for local people ended its long run facing closure after nearly a century marked by forgery attempts, robberies and, finally, rural decline.
For close to 100 years, the Northern Bank served the people of Beragh and the surrounding district, though not without its share of drama.
Its story began in 1912 when a detached, symmetrical three-bay, two-and-a-half-storey building was constructed on the village’s main street. The plans had first appeared in the Irish Builder on December 23, 1911, announcing that the tender of Messrs Henry Laverty and Sons Ltd. of Belfast had been accepted for the project.
The building was designed by architect Godfrey W Ferguson of Royal Avenue, Belfast, and valued at £40 at the time of construction, roughly £4,097 today.
It contained offices, a kitchen, four bedrooms, a reception room, an attic bedroom and a bathroom, along with a yard and garden.
After 1934, Northern Bank Ltd. became the full owner, and the valuation rose to £50, around £3,112 in today’s money. While modest by modern standards, the property still attracted its share of chancers.
That same year, a special court sitting in Beragh RUC barracks heard a forgery case involving Ballynahatty man William Shannon.
Two weeks earlier, Shannon had presented a cheque for £7 5s at the bank using the name Thomas McLaren.
McLaren, who knew Shannon, testified that he had never issued such a cheque. The forgery was quickly discovered: Not only was the signature wrong, but the surname was misspelled. Shannon claimed he could not write and that his wife wrote everything for him.
In 1948, a public auction was held inside the bank following the retirement of manager H. Kiernan, who, like many managers of the era, lived on the premises with his family. Among the items listed for sale were a royal blue carpet, a Chesterfield couch, a cabinet gramophone and even an electric kettle. In the years that followed, the Troubles cast a long shadow across the North, and Beragh was no exception. In 1972, sub-offices in Sixmilecross and Carrickmore were targeted in robberies.
Although the Beragh branch itself remained untouched, it was left to help shoulder the administrative fallout of the attacks.
It was not until the early ceasefire years, after the Good Friday Agreement, that the Beragh branch found itself directly in the crosshairs.
On April 8, 2003, armed robbers carrying a handgun and a machete burst into the building, threatened staff and fled in a stolen car.
Just a month later, two men entered the bank, one again producing a handgun and threatening staff before escaping with a substantial sum of cash.
Their getaway car, a blue Nissan Primera with false plates, had been stolen in Omagh days earlier and was later recovered near Beragh.
As rural decline deepened, the future of the branch became increasingly uncertain.
The inevitable came in 2008 when the Northern Bank announced the closure of the Beragh office.
A spokesperson described the decision as difficult and acknowledged the disappointment it would cause.
Local representative Paddy Joe McClean described the closure as yet another devastating blow for the rural community, particularly in an area with no ATM.
Since closing in 2008, the building has been converted into a private home, though the brass Northern Bank signage remains in place – a reminder of the near century of service it provided to the people of Beragh.
