St Aidan’s Church Magilligan, is located further along the Duncrun Road. Like most medieval churches a comandiing position was selected and it has fine views of Lough Foyle below. The structure dates from the early medieval period and is said to have been founded by St Patrick. The single lancet window is thought to date to the 13th century. A mortuary house in front of the gable has been traditionally understood to be the grave of St.Aidan, the patron of the church. St Aidan was St Columba’s biographer and also Abbot of Iona - the monastery founded by Columba off the west coast of Scotland. The ruin is of the medieval parish church, repaired in 1622 & in use until the C18th when the Earl Bishop gave it to the Roman Catholic congregation on the completion of the new Church of Ireland. A pre-emancipation Catholic Church is constructed nearby.
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On the upper sider of Clooney Road, best reached via the Tully Road from Ballykelly is Tamlaght Finlagan Old Church. This sits on a small rise beside the Bessbrook River and is the location of the ancient church of the Ballykelly area. Here was a monastery reputedly founded by St Findluganus following the convention of Drumcatt in 574 AD. It is recorded as having had a round tower, ruinous in the mid nineteenth century. A rectangular projection to the church at the north east end has curved masonry inside and may be the base of this structure. The monastry had become a parish church by 1291 and was abandonded in 1622. This was because the Fishmongers Company moved the parish church to their settlement of Ballykelly (see 535) following the Ulster Plantation. The drawing shows the extensive and atmosperic graveyard, with many graves marked by simple stones and the west gable of the building. A timeless place well worth the visit.
Faughanvale Old Chuch is sited above the road near the village of Greysteel. Hidden from view near a bend in a steep road it is in a very picuresque location with fine views over Lough Foyle. Reputedly the site of a 7th century monastery associated with St Canice..
Back to Clooney Road, City of Derry Airport is located beside the road on another former WWII airfield. This was RAF Eglinton air base home to No. 133 Squadron RAF from 1941 which flew Hurricane fighters. In 1943 the airfield became a Fleet Air Arm base called RNAS Eglinton and was home to the No. 1847 Fleet Air Arm Squadron providing convoy cover as part of the Battle of the Atlantic. In 1978 the airfied was purchased by the district council and the current terminal was erected as part of a significant investment with European Regional Development support and opened in 1993. Designed by WRD and RT Taggart architects it is a bright welcoming building designed for ease of internal adaptability and extension. While significant extensions have not been required the subdivision of the internal space has undergone a number of changes during subsequent years. An open an airy interior has largely been retained however. The Mussenden Temple Downhill
Built in 1783 and named after the cousin of Bishop Hervey, builder of the Downhill estate, the Mussenden Temple is a fine piece of Neo Classical architecture. Deliberately sited at the edge of a cliff, the building encapsulates perfectly the Eighteenth century idea of the ‘sublime’ pitting the creation of man against the wildness of nature. This is reinforced by the quote around the frieze: ‘SAUVE MARI MAGNO TURBANTIBUS AEQUORA VENTIS’ – ‘Tis pleasant to watch from land the great struggling of others when winds whip up the waves on a mighty sea’. Nice day for a drive. Tirmony Dolmen near Maghera is worth a visit. This is a prehistoric tomb at least 4,000 - 6,000 years old. Today it is well situated and imparts great character to its surroundings.
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April 2024
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