placenamesCreggan
An Creagán
The postwar estate grew beside older waterworks that later acquired a new purpose through community enterprise.
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 Creagán · Irish · main form · validated name
- Creggan · English · main form
Place & story
Saint Mary’s in a growing estate
Creggan’s growth after the Second World War created the setting for Saint Mary’s Church, opened on 31 May 1959. Corr and McCormick designed the granite-faced cruciform building, and John Sisk and Son constructed it. Its triangular site sits beside a junction of six roads, with views across Derry and the Foyle valley. The sanctuary was reconstructed in 1979. The parish’s own account places its history within the pressures of unemployment and the Troubles, alongside the work of sustaining religious and community life. [2]
Water for Derry
The reservoirs above the estate originated as infrastructure for the expanding city. Derry Corporation built the system in stages during the nineteenth century, using the valley and the Creggan Burn to impound water. The country park’s historical account dates the first reservoir to 1849 and later works to 1852 and 1880. These engineered bodies of water preceded the postwar housing estate. Their later recreational use therefore represents the adaptation of older municipal works within a changed urban landscape. [3]
From fishery to country park
In 1992 Gerry Quinn and three partners secured support for a trout fishery at a disused reservoir. Glenowen Fisheries operated as a cooperative and received initial backing from the International Fund for Ireland, with additional development support. By 1997 the group was seeking funding for a wider country park project. Quinn’s evidence to an Assembly committee in 2014 records a further step: a 99-year lease of three reservoirs from the council in 2002. The venture connected outdoor recreation with locally organised employment and training. [4] [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Derry
- Civil parish
- Templemore
- Within
- Creggan
- Coordinates
- 54.99868, -7.34364 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413314 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Creggan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Parish of Saint Mary, Creggan: parish history · Saint Mary’s Parish Creggan
- History of land ownership: who owned Creggan? · Creggan Country Park
- Grant sows seeds for Creggan country park · The Irish Times,6December1997
- Reservoirs Bill: Creggan Country Park,1April2014 · Northern Ireland Assembly, evidence of Gerry Quinn
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2017-12-01. How this page was prepared.