Greysteel or Gresteel is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It lies to the east of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

and to the west of

Limavady Limavady (; ) is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying east of Derry and southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 12,032 people at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census ...

on the main A2 coast road between Limavady and Derry, overlooking

Lough Foyle Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle ( or "loch of the lip"), is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over ...

. It is designated as a Large Village and in the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,229 people, an increase of almost 20% compared to 1991. It is situated within

Causeway Coast and Glens Ulster Scots: ''Causey Coast an Glens'' , settlement_type = Borough , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_shield = , shield_size ...

district.

History

The village lies mostly within the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

s of Gresteel More and Gresteel Beg. The name "Greysteel" may be a part-translation of the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

''Glas-stiall'', meaning "grey strip (of land)", and the

Placenames Database of Ireland The Placenames Database of Ireland ( ga, Bunachar Logainmneacha na hÉireann), also known as , is a database and archive of place names in Ireland. It was created by Fiontar, Dublin City University in collaboration with the Placenames Branch of t ...

gives this as the Irish name of the village. An older English name for the area was "Glasteele".

The Troubles

During

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

, nine people were killed in the Greysteel area: *On 14 November 1976, Jim Loughrey was shot dead by loyalists at his home. *On 30 October 1993, members of the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...

carried out a mass shooting at the Rising Sun public house, killing eight civilians. This became known as the

Greysteel massacre The Greysteel massacreCrawford, Colin. ''Inside the UDA''. Pluto Press, 2003. p. 193 was a mass shooting that took place on the evening of 30 October 1993 in Greysteel, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Members of the Ulster Defence Associa ...

Features

Places of interest

*Nearby Faughanvale Old church dates back to the medieval period and is dedicated to

Saint Canice Cainnech of Aghaboe (515/16–600), also known as Saint Canice in Ireland, Saint Kenneth in Scotland, Saint Kenny and in Latin Sanctus Canicus, was an Irish abbot, monastic founder, priest and missionary during the early medieval period. Cainn ...

Transport

The village is adequately served in terms of public transport and

City of Derry Airport City of Derry Airport , previously known as RAF Eglinton and Londonderry Eglinton Airport, is a regional airport located northeast of Derry, Northern Ireland. It is located on the south bank of Lough Foyle, a short distance from the village ...

is located 4 km to the west.

Sport

Faughanvale GAC Saint Mary's Faughanvale GAA ( ga, CLG Naomh Muire Nuachongbháil) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Greysteel, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of the Derry GAA and currently cater for Gaelic football, La ...

is the local

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

club.

2001 Census

Greysteel is classified as a village by th
NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
(i.e. with a population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 1,229 people living in Greysteel. Of these: *25.4% were aged under 16 years and 11.7% were aged 60 and over *50.2% of the population were male and 49.8% were female *96.6% were from a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

background and 2.9% were from a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

background *0.8% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed. For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service

References

{{authority control Villages in County Londonderry Causeway Coast and Glens district