AN Ulster-Scots poet from Co Tyrone was remembered yesterday for the "significant" contribution he made through his writing.
A blue plaque from the Ulster History Circle was unveiled to William Starrat at the Alley Theatre in Strabane.
Ian Crozier, chief executive of the Ulster-Scots Agency, unveiled the plaque, which marked the culmination of the Derry City and Strabane district Ulster-Scots Language Week.
Mr Starrat came to prominence as a mathematician and schoolmaster at a Strabane school. He was also a highly respected land surveyor and many of his maps still survive today.
Among the estates he surveyed were Colebrook, Archdale, Castle Coole and Lifford, which gave him the knowledge of the local history and folk customs. Many of the areas he visited were strongly Ulster-Scots.
Mr Starrat penned the earliest known Ulster Scots poem around 1722.
He is thought to have written six ‘'Scotch Poems', which were published in the Ulster Miscellany of 1753.
He became known as the Crochan Bard, a hill near Lifford, where it is said that he acquired the inspiration to write his poetry. He was regarded as the earliest, if not the first Poet of the Ulster-Scots language.
He died in 1768.
Chris Spurr, chairman of the Ulster History Circle, said: "William Starrat of Strabane is an elusive writer of Ulster-Scots, whose slender output is yet significant as an early example of a poet from Ireland writing in the tongue.
"We are pleased to commemorate this philomath and Ulster-Scots poet with a blue plaque, and the Circle is particularly grateful to the Ulster-Scots Agency for their financial support."
