Strabane Town Centre

Summary

A market town on the Tyrone-Donegal border — a small Victorian and Edwardian commercial centre at the confluence of the Mourne and Finn rivers, the birthplace of John Dunlap (printer of the US Declaration of Independence).

About this location

Strabane is a border town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, at the confluence of the Rivers Mourne and Finn where they join to form the Foyle. The town is directly adjacent to Lifford in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland — the border crossing is a bridge at the town centre. The commercial centre is Victorian and Edwardian in character — Main Street, Castle Street, and the Bridge Street approach give a modest scale Irish market town environment.

The Gray’s Printing Press on Main Street (National Trust) is an 18th-century printing works where John Dunlap, who printed the American Declaration of Independence, was apprenticed before emigrating. The wider landscape context — the Sperrins to the south, the Foyle valley running north to Londonderry — gives a rural Ulster setting around the town.

For productions, Strabane gives a border Ulster market town environment — small scale, authentic, with the specific character of a divided-border community. The National Trust printing press gives a period interior. Derry City and Strabane District Council handles filming permits.