Dungannon

Dungannon is a good example of the rise and fall of the Irish crystal glass trade. Glass was made from ancient times, and Dunmisk Hill 15 miles northwest was a factory as early as the 8th century AD (meaning manufacture from raw materials, not simply molding of existing glass). Medieval Britain and Ireland had many glassworks, almost 90 by 1780 when a tax-break favoured Ireland. Waterford, Cork and Dungannon came to specialise in lead (aka "crystal") glass, a trade that lasted 200 years before collapsing due to becoming uneconomical.

Lead crystal glass has at least 24% by weight of lead oxide. This makes it heavy and resonant — flick the edge of your tumbler and it sings, instead of skittering off the table. Lead glass can be fine-cut and has a high refractive index so it catches the light, with rainbows glinting along its cut edges. It became a popular luxury item, marketed as "crystal" and avoiding any mention of lead. Customers might think that was toxic - and it is! Never use lead crystal as a storage container, as within a few days the lead leaches into the contents. It's alright to use as a wine-glass and even as a decanter providing those are rinsed before and after use, and the contents only sit for hours not days.

Dungannon was near a coalfield and had a range of early modern industries, but local glass-making lapsed until 1971 when the company Tyrone Crystal was founded. In the 1990s it moved to a new factory, wrought many fine pieces and became a tourist attraction; the chandelier in Belfast's magnificent Merchant Hotel Grand Room was made here in 2006. But East European competition brought down all the Irish specialist crystal companies, and Tyrone Glass folded in 2010. Glassworking continues in town in a small way in craft studios, but is no longer an industry here.

By road follow M1 west then A29 into town.

The nearest railway station is Portadown 17 miles east, with frequent trains from Lisburn, Belfast and Bangor, and the hourly Enterprise Train between Dublin and Belfast

Ulsterbus 75 takes 50 min between Portadown and Dungannon, with six M-F and three on Saturday. Bus 67 also runs by a slightly longer route.

Goldliner 273 runs from Belfast Grand Central via Lurgan to Dungannon, taking an hour. It runs hourly M-Sa and every two hours Sunday, and continues to Ballygawley, Omagh, Newtonstewart, Sion Mills, Strabane and Derry.

X4 runs six times a day from Dublin city and airport, taking 2 hr 30 min to Dungannon. It's heading to Derry but you can't ride it for that section. Don't take X3, which takes a different route to Derry.

Ulsterbus 72 runs every two hours from Armagh, taking 40 min via Moy, and Bus 80 runs from Cookstown every hourly taking 50 min via Coalisland.

Goldliner 261 runs from Belfast to Lurgan, Dungannon and Enniskillen. It's hourly M-Sa and every two hours on Sunday.

Goldliner 278 runs in university term-time, with one bus Su-F from Monaghan via Armagh, Moy, Dungannon, Cookstown, Magherafelt, Garvagh and Coleraine to Ulster University, Portstewart and Portrush.

1 Dungannon bus station is southwest corner of town on Beechvalley Way.