Population centre

Lislea

Lios Liath

The school building and surviving enrolment records reveal different divisions within Lislea’s educational life, while a postal chronology traces its wider connections.

Watercolour and fine ink illustration of Lislea Protestant Hall in County Derry, as photographed in 2007.
Illustration, Lislea Protestant Hall in County Derry, as photographed in 2007
Recorded locationLislea54.91057° N · 6.51858° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Approximate recorded location · Logainm.ie

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

  • Lios Liath · Irish · main form · validated name
  • Lislea · English · main form

Place & story

A house between two classrooms

An archaeological study of national-school buildings identifies a distinctive arrangement at Lislea: separate entrances and classrooms for boys and girls, divided by a central dwelling house. The researchers compare its Tudor-influenced architecture with Movanagher school. The building made the division between male and female pupils part of its physical plan, while placing domestic accommodation within the same structure. [2]

Neighbours learning together

Kyle Irwin’s transcription of the boys’ enrolment register records pupils arriving from Lislea, Lisnagrot, Fallahogy, Moynock and other nearby places in the early twentieth century. Entries include Presbyterian, Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic children, with farmers and labourers prominent among their fathers’ occupations. The register shows a school drawing on a wider rural neighbourhood, with religious diversity within its boys’ classroom. [3]

A changing postal route

Smith records Lislea post office from 1871, under Ballymena, with closure in 1974 or 1975. [4]

Geographic information

Place type
Population centre
County
Derry
Civil parish
Kilrea
Within
Lislea
Coordinates
54.91057, -6.51858 (approximate)
Logainm ID
1413330 ↗

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Lislea. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Space and Place: Lessons from National School Buildings in the North of Ireland, manuscript page 10 · L. McKerr, B. Graham, B. Sloan and E. Murphy
  3. Lislea Boys National School: enrolment register, entries 401–494 · Kyle Irwin / Richard John Torrens, Bann Valley Genealogy
  4. County Londonderry Post Offices: Lislea · Great Britain Philatelic Society
  5. Lislea Protestant Hall in County Derry, as photographed in 2007 illustration: based on a Lislea Protestant Hall by Kenneth Allen. 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.