placenamesCraig
An Chreig
Roadside crags preserve unusually clear evidence of underwater volcanic eruptions.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Chreig · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Craig · English · main form
Place & story
Ancient lava beside the road
Small crags on both sides of Carrickayne Road at Craig preserve pillow lavas of late Precambrian age. The Earth Science Conservation Review identifies them as part of the Dungiven Limestone Formation. Their rounded forms developed when molten lava entered water and cooled rapidly around its edges. [2]
Structures preserved through change
Despite later metamorphism, the rocks retain chilled margins, radial fractures and cavities left by gas bubbles. Some pillows reach about a metre across and preserve the way molten interiors settled against earlier layers. A disused pit also exposes crystalline limestone beneath rocks originally deposited as sand and mud. Together these exposures record a shallow marine environment interrupted by volcanic activity. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Tyrone
- Barony
- Strabane Lower
- Civil parish
- Donaghedy
- Within
- Carrickayne
- Coordinates
- 54.82696, -7.17525 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 122027 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Craig. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Craig, County Tyrone: site summary, item131 · I. Enlander, M. Dempster and P. Doughty / National Museums NI
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2015-01-20. How this page was prepared.