placenamesBallinderry Bridge
Droichead Bhaile an Doire
A stone bridge, an old churchyard and a community credit union preserve different layers of history around this crossing of the Ballinderry River.
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
- Droichead Bhaile an Doire · Irish · main form · validated name
- Ballinderry Bridge · English · main form
Place & story
A hump-backed bridge of four arches
Ballinderry Bridge appears by name on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832. The historic buildings survey dates its four-arched, hump-backed form to around 1800. Rough stone walls contrast with the dressed masonry around the segmental arches and the cutwaters between them. A recessed datestone survives on the western side, although its inscription was unreadable when surveyed. The crossing links the Ardagh and Derrycrin sides of the river and remains a substantial example of local stone engineering. [2]
The old graveyard on Church Hill
Nearby Ballinderry Old Graveyard preserves the site of earlier parish churches. A church was under construction there in 1622, was destroyed in 1641 and subsequently rebuilt. Another church followed in 1707, before worship moved to Saint John’s on a different site in 1849. Eighteenth-century grave slabs remain within the raised, stone-walled enclosure. Its rough entrance steps, circular gate piers and old iron gates preserve the character of a burial place that continued beyond the departure of its church. [3]
Thirty-two founders and a pound each
Ballinderry Bridge Credit Union began at a meeting in Ballylifford Primary School in March 1969. Thirty-two founders each contributed one pound to its initial capital, encouraged by parish priest Father P. Fox. By the end of that year, savings had reached £6,140 from 121 members. The credit union’s fiftieth anniversary in 2019 was marked by the opening of refurbished premises with community meeting space, a later stage in a locally organised institution built through regular saving and voluntary work. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Derry
- Barony
- Loughinsholin
- Civil parish
- Ballinderry
- Within
- Ardagh
- Coordinates
- 54.65948, -6.55873 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 129707 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballinderry Bridge. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Bridge over Ballinderry River, historic buildings record HB09/09/011 · Department for Communities, survey 15 February 2008
- Ballinderry Old Graveyard, historic buildings record HB09/09/010 · Department for Communities, survey 9 March 2008
- Ballinderry Bridge Credit Union marks fiftieth anniversary, CU Focus Winter 2019, page 25 · Irish League of Credit Unions, 2019
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2017-09-29. How this page was prepared.