The Clogher Valley has been inhabited since ancient times and abounds with standing stones and chambered graves. Rich farmlands rises to the high rolling moors on the north and south.

The name Corick or Corag which means a confluence of streams was part of the lands granted to the Bishop of Clogher at the time of the ‘Plantation of Ulster’ (1610). The town-land which extends to almost two hundred and twenty acres stands where the Fury River, rising at the Monaghan Border joins the Tyrone Blackwater.

The family of Fixter and Hedin were among the early freeholders who occupied the town-land in the 17th century. They were in residence for the Hearth Tax of 1666 and these two families also provided church wardens for the Cathedral Parish on six occasions over the next two decades.

About 1697 Bishop St George Ashe settled John Story from Hexham in Northumberland on the property. John Story sold his estate at Bingfield Hall and then came to Ireland apparently as the Bishop’s Agent.

This John Story (1648 – 1725) and his son Thomas Story (1678 – 1768) eventually acquired an estate of over three thousand acres under the See of Clogher in addition to their fine demesne at Corick where they built their first mansion house.

The Story family and their descendents were connected with Corick for about three hundred years providing mainly Bishop’s Agents, Clergymen and Farmers. The parents of the novelist William Carelton were tenants at Nurchossy (early 19th Century) of John Benjamin Story (1764 – 1844). Carelton mentions him in ‘Traits and Stories’ where he is described as one of the tallest and handsomest of the local squires!

The Story family made many improvements to Corick over the years including tree planting and establishing the walled garden (19th Century). In 1863 on the instructions of William Story the house was enlarged and altered to the design of the Belfast firm of Sir Charles Lanyon. A new garden front with large canted bay in it’s center and a three storey tower with Italianate hipped slate roof were added. The original dining room remained unaltered.

Near Corick, in the demesne, two large ancient ring forts remain having been scheduled as an ancient monument in 1990. The last member of the Story family, a grand-daughter of Dr. John Benjamin Story, a famous eye surgeon, who became High Sheriff of Tyrone early this century recently sold the house and gardens at Corick to Mrs Jean Beacom and the surrounding farmland to the local farmers. It is Mrs Jean’s Beacom fondest desire that she will be able to carry on the traditions of this grand Irish house into the 21st Century.