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 St Mary’s catholic church is located on Irish Green Street in Limavady. It is a proud edifice with battlemented gables and a projecting tower from the middle of the facade. Originally built between 1836 and ‘47, the tower and porch were added between 1890 and 1903. It has been recently renovated and cleaned.
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At the other end of Catherine Street is Limavady Orange Hall. It stands like a bookend as the street starts to descend towards Roe Bridge. The building was completed in 2016 but it retains the marks of its predecessor in its facade. This works well to the street with the increased height harmonising with the previous elevation and the bright new painted finish increasing its civic presence. The side elevation works less well, in my view, as its rectangular modernist proportions hit the more conservative front facade in a way which is a little incongruous. The new building houses a heritage centre which is open to all. The previous hall opened in 1890.  Parallel to Main Street, Limavady, is Catherine Street. This also has some elegant Georgian houses. Formerly all in brick, a number have now been rendered.The Ulster Bank was originally two houses in the centre of the main terrace. One opened as a bank in 1918 with the other the manager’s house. They were combined some time after 1920 when it is likely that the decorative render was applied. The ground floor was reordered in the early 1970′s and again in the 1990′s.  When first built, of course, the post office was not on its own but was an integral part of the streetscape of the northern end of Limavady Main Street. To the upper side, the cinema, to the lower, a thatched building surviving into the 1950′s.  The Old Post Office at the end of Main St Limavady opened in 1952. It was designed by TFO Rippingham of the N Ireland Ministry of Works in a restrained classical style. It is an unusual building, very tall and thin with stepped Dutch gables and balustrade type details under the main windows. Now used as a coffee shop, it is an important connection between Main Street and Tesco’s carpark behind. On the gable out of site on this drawing is a rectangular column on the centre line rising to about door head height/ This is surmounted by a carving of a crown with the words E11R 1952 below.  In a corner of Christchurch Limavady’s churchyard is this unusual war memorial. It is part of the rear tail fin of an Avro Shackleton bomber. The memorial comemorates ‘all those who served at RAF Ballykelly, RAF Eglinton, RAF Limavady and RAF Maydown and all associated units throughout WWII and the subsequent Cold War period.’ It is a huge object giving a clear understanding of the size of these planes which were used by the RAF from 1949 to the early 1990′s. It is also an important reminder of a significant part of this area's Twentieth Century history.  At the southern end of Limavady Main Street is a very different building. Single storey with a projecting central tower, this is the courthouse. It dates from 1914 and was designed by the county surveyor CL Boddie.
 The Roe Valley Cultural Centre has its own early twenty first century take on classical architecture. A brightly coloured but well proportioned colonade faces a specially created public square. It creates a quieter space for art within the busy street. The building opened in 2010.  The facade of the Alexander Memorial Hall, half way down the street, dates from the mid nineteenth century, but its classical style perfectly complements the neighbouring Georgian buildings. The rest of the building has been replaced by a modern arts centre, but the regular spacing of trees ensures that it is hard to see both as a single building. Instead, the facade remains an important remnant that brings its own presence to the street.
 Limivady Main Street has a number of tall brick houses in the Georgian Style. These are thought to date from the late eighteenth century. A number of those to the western side of the street, such as the Alexander Arms, have double pile roofs, that is, is a central gutter joining two pitched roofs. These were probably built earlier in the century. The two shown here have a single pile roof enclosing a longer span and are probably from later in the century. Brick making was once a major local industry with ‘brick fields’ noted in many locations on the 1830 map. The effect of these buildings was to create an elegant space which was remarked upon by travellers. This effect was complemeted by trees planted at regular intervals |
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