Leachter, Co. Tyrone

Images and information provided by P. O'Brien, September 2010

Leachter handballalley is in a remote hill-top location in Marketcross, near Loughmacrory in Co. Tyrone and began life in 1869 at the gable wall of a house belonging to a family called McKernan. It had a clay floor over fifty feet long and each spring the men and boys of Aldrummond and Loughmacrory would bring bags of stone and sand to repair the damage caused by winter storms and allow handball to continue.

Handball continued at the site for several generations until a more accessible handball alley was built in 1932 in nearby Loughmacrory, and Leachter alley gradually fell into disrepair with only ruins present today.