Greysteel or Gresteel[1] is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies 9 miles (14 km) to the east of Derry and 7 miles (11 km) to the west of Limavady on the main A2 coast road between Limavady and Derry, overlooking Lough Foyle. It is designated as a Large Village and in the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,229 people,[2] an increase of almost 20% compared to 1991.[3] It is situated within Causeway Coast and Glens district.
History
The village lies mostly within the townlands of Gresteel More and Gresteel Beg. The name "Greysteel" may be a part-translation of the IrishGlas-stiall, meaning "grey strip (of land)",[4] and the Placenames Database of Ireland gives this as the Irish name of the village.[1] An older English name for the area was "Glasteele".[4]
The Troubles
During the Troubles, nine people were killed in the Greysteel area:
On 14 November 1976, Jim Loughrey was shot dead by loyalists at his home.[citation needed]
On 30 October 1993, members of the Ulster Defence Association carried out a mass shooting at the Rising Sun public house, killing eight civilians. This became known as the Greysteel massacre.
Features
Places of interest
Nearby Faughanvale Old church dates back to the medieval period and is dedicated to Saint Canice.[5]
Transport
The village is adequately served in terms of public transport and City of Derry Airport is located 4 km to the west.[3]
Greysteel is classified as a village by the 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 background and 2.9% were from a Protestant background
