placenamesDerrychrier
Doire an Chriathair
Derrychrier’s recorded history connects a nineteenth-century rectory with neighbouring education and the engineering of the Owenbeg catchment.
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
- Doire an Chriathair · Irish · main form · validated name
- Derrychrier · English · main form
Place & story
The old rectory
The former rectory in Derrychrier was built in 1817 for Alexander Ross, who held the rectorship from 1810 for thirty-nine years. The Historic Buildings record identifies John Bowden as architect. Its two main storeys rise above a basement, beneath a hipped roof; a fanlight marks the entrance. The wooded hilltop setting formerly included gardens, a winding approach and an open water-supply channel. [2]
Pupils at neighbouring Rallagh
Children from Derrychrier were among those attending neighbouring Rallagh School in the early nineteenth century. A local heritage study draws on John McCluskey's 1821 statistical account to describe its opening in August 1820 with 113 pupils. It used the Lancasterian system, in which monitors instructed groups of younger children. Contributions from landowners, a religious educational society and government supported the building. [3]
A mill race and later hydroelectric proposal
A 2019 planning report documented an old mill house and mill race beside Derrychrier Road, on a tributary of the Owenbeg River. A later generating system already occupied the site, but its ageing equipment prompted a proposal for a twenty-kilowatt hydroelectric scheme. The report considered repairs to the weir and the provision of a fish pass, recording the relationship between an older industrial site and modern energy proposals. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Derry
- Barony
- Keenaght
- Civil parish
- Banagher
- Within
- Derrychrier
- Coordinates
- 54.90626, -6.97093 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413318 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Derrychrier. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- TheOldRectory,HB02/05/003A,record2951 · Department for Communities,Historic Environment Division
- Drumboghil:A Celebration of our History and Heritage,p39,RallaghSchool · Drumboghil community heritage project,NICommunityArchive
- PlanningCommitteeReportB/2014/0155/F,27February2019,pp2–3 · Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2011-12-06. How this page was prepared.