Mahon recounts Stewartstown’s White House link

AN episode of the popular UTV show ‘Mahon’s Way’ to be screened this weekend, will be based entirely in and around Stewartstown.

As part of the half-hour feature, the veteran TV presenter will investigate the south Tyrone village’s extraordinary link to the White House in Washington.

Joe Mahon returned to UTV last Sunday night with ‘Mahon’s Way’ for another series of 14 episodes in which he’s travelling the length and breadth of Northern Ireland (and sometimes a wee bit further), exploring the heritage, history and culture.

And in the second episode to be aired this Sunday, Joe discovers a wealth of hugely significant historical sites in and around the village of Stewartstown.

He visits the area at the ancient graveyard of Donaghhenry where local historian Aidan Fee reveals the final resting place of Scottish nobleman who used to be called Lord Ochiltree before he came to Ulster.

Joe also heads to Crieve Lough where there are ancient rings dating back to the Bronze Age, on another bank there’s the outline of an early 17th century Plantation settlement, and in the centre of the lough there’s a crannog on which Hugh O’Neill is said to have spent his last night in Tyrone before embarking on ‘The Flight of the Earls’.

Later, in the village of Stewartstown itself, John Glendinning relates the extraordinary tale of Bill Greer, who left his home in the townland of Drumbonway at the age of 17 to seek his fortune across the Atlantic. In the 1950s he joined the staff of the White House and eventually found himself playing a key role in one of the most infamous events in modern US history.

You can watch this episode of ‘Mahon’s Way’ on Sunday, July 31 at 7pm on UTV and on catch up on www.itv.com/utvprogrammes