Ballerin is a small

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 ...

between

Garvagh Garvagh ( or ''Garbhachadh'' meaning "rough field") is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is on the banks of the Agivey River, south of Coleraine on the A29 route. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,288. It is situ ...

and

Ringsend Ringsend () is a southside inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and east of the River Dodder, about two kilometres east of the city centre. It is the southern terminus of the East Link Toll ...

in County Londonderry,

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 is located 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. It includes Saint Columba's Catholic

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

and Saint Mary's Catholic church.

Name

The village lies within a

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 orig ...

that has a similar name. The village's name is usually spelt ''Ballerin'', while the townland's name is usually spelt ''Boleran''. Earlier spellings of these names include ''Ballyerin'' (1654) and ''Ballyirin'' (1613). All are believed to come . However, the local

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

club uses the Irish name ''Baile Iarainn'',Ballerin Gaelic Athletic Club
meaning "townland/settlement of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

Parish

Ballerin is in Errigal civil parish and St Mary's is in the Derry Diocese, covering about half the Catholic parish of

.Garvagh Parish

Sport

Ballerin is the focal point for a number of sports in the area including Errigal Boxing Club, Irish Dancing, indoor bowling, Camogie and Gaelic games. *

Ballerin GAC Ballerin Sarfields GAC ( ga, Baile Iarainn Na Sairsealaigh CLG) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Ballerin, Northern Ireland. They are a member of the Derry GAA and currently cater for Gaelic football, Ladies' Gaelic football and ...

References

Villages in County Londonderry Causeway Coast and Glens district {{Londonderry-geo-stub