Ordnance survey of the county of Londonderry / Colonel Colby ... superintendent. Volume the first.

  • Ordnance Survey of Ireland.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ordnance survey of the county of Londonderry / Colonel Colby ... superintendent. Volume the first. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/414 (page 1)
    PARISH OF TEMPLEMORE [Sheets 13, 14, 20, 21, County Map.] Name.—The parish of Templemore, sometimes called Temple Derry [Ueampull Ohoipe], and more anciently Derry [Uoipe], or Derry Columbkille [Ooipe Choluim Chile], derives its first and most usual name—Templemore—from the Irish ceampull mop, or “great church”— ceampull \Jemplum] being derived from the Latin, like most other Irish words expressive of Chris- tian edifices, offices, rites, and ceremonies. This name was originally applied, in a popular sense, to the cathedral, or “ great church” of Derry, in contradistinction from the smaller churches in its imme- diate vicinity; and, after the cathedral had become the parish church, its popular name—Temple- more—was in a similar manner transferred to the parish. There is every reason, however, to believe that the use of this name is not of very ancient standing; for it appears from the Irish annals that the cathedral, or Templemore, was not erected till 1164, and it is probable that it was not used as a parish church till some centuries later. Its more ancient appellation—Derry—would therefore still be the more correct one, and it is generally so called in ecclesiastical records down to recent times. Locality.—A division only of the parish, considered ecclesiastically, is in this county; the other, which is in that of Donegal, is subdivided into the dependent perpetual curacies of Muff, Burt, and Inch,—and both these divisions were included in the ancient canthred, or barony, of Ennishowen. The former division—to which alone the designation Templemore is here applied—occupies the most westerly part of the county of Londonderry, and includes merely the city of that name, with its North-West Liberties, which district is recognized as a barony, and styled the North-West Liberties of Londonderry. It is bounded by the county of Donegal on every side, except the E., where it is washed by the river Foyle (which separates it from Clondermot), and for a small extent by Lough Foyle. Its extreme length is nearly 10 miles, and its extreme breadth about 3^. It contains 12611a. 2r. 21p., including 3a. 3r. 27p. of water, and the quantity of ground uncultivated is 2228a. 1r. 32p. The parish is subdivided into twenty-five townlands. PART I. NATURAL STATE. NATURAL FEATURES. Hills The surface of the parish is undulating, and presents a succession of hills, generally cultivated or under pasture. A wide valley, extending from the river Foyle at Pennyburn in a north- westerly direction, separates these hills into two leading masses, or groups. Of these the southern is the more prominent, rising at its western extremity into Holywell Hill, which is the highest ground of the parish, being 860 feet above the sea. This group is again intersected by a remarkable valley, which, as it were, insulates the hill of Derry;.and its surface is further undulated by ravines, which, like that valley, conform in direction to the valley of the Foyle.