placenamesBellarena
Baile an Mhargaidh
Bellarena’s school and former gate lodge show the influence of the Heygate estate, while the school’s later reuse records another chapter in community life.
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
- Baile an Mhargaidh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Bellarena · English · main form
Place & story
The Heygates’ school of 1861
Bellarena School was established in 1861, a date recorded on the decorative stone high in its road-facing gable. The accompanying initials identify Frederick William Heygate and his wife. The original building contained three classrooms in a T-shaped plan, with basalt walls, sandstone window surrounds and steeply pitched slate roofs. Historic Environment Division research records an extension in 1975, linked to the older school by a separate entrance hall. [2]
From a closed school to an arts centre
The school closed in 2019 after 158 years. The Heritage at Risk record subsequently described boarded openings, slipped slates and obstructed gutters, documenting the effects of losing an active use. A review in 2024 recorded a different situation: the building was being used as an arts centre, craft shop and café. This change supplied a new public role for an institution originally created for local education. [3]
The estate’s cottage Gothic gate lodge
A former gate lodge on Scotstown Road guarded the rear approach to the Bellarena estate. A building appears here on the 1831 Ordnance Survey map, but the official survey dates its rebuilding for Frederick Heygate to about 1860. Basalt walls, a steep roof and diamond-paned windows give it a cottage Gothic character. The record distinguishes this picturesque estate building from a listed monument: its former listing was removed in 2002. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Derry
- Barony
- Keenaght
- Civil parish
- Tamlaght-ard or Magilligan
- Within
- Bellarena
- Coordinates
- 55.11285, -6.96563 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413308 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Bellarena. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Bellarena School,HB02/09/006 · Department for Communities,Historic Environment Division
- Bellarena School,Heritage at Risk record1182 · Department for Communities,Heritage at Risk Northern Ireland
- Bellarena Gate Lodge,HB02/09/004 · Department for Communities,Historic Environment Division
- Bellarena School, 2017 illustration: based on a Bellarena Primary School, 260 Sea Coast Road, near Limavady, Co. Derry by P L Chadwick. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2011-12-06. How this page was prepared.