Ballykelly, Baile Uí Cheallaigh, Co. Derry

Baile Uí Cheallaigh · Co. Derry

A London livery company built a village here. The runway crossed the railway.

Ballykelly sits on the A2, three miles west of Limavady, in the flat ground between the Sperrins and Lough Foyle. It is a planned village in the most literal sense - the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers of London were granted these lands in the Plantation of Ulster after 1610, and what you drive through today is what they laid out: a long single street, an Anglican church and a Presbyterian church both built by the company, a manor, and the wide farms behind.

Most people who know the name know it for two other reasons. The airfield - RAF Ballykelly, then Shackleton Barracks - sat on the south side of the village from 1941 to 2008 and at one point had its main runway crossing the live Derry-to-Belfast railway, trains given priority over the Shackleton bombers. And the Droppin' Well, the disco where 17 people were killed by an INLA bomb in December 1982 - eleven soldiers from the barracks and six civilians. The site is gone now. The names are on the memorial at the old base gate.

There is not much for a visitor to do in the village itself. The Drummond Hotel is the place to eat or stay; Limavady is a five-minute drive for everything else. What's worth your time is the back of the village - the Roe Estuary at the lough, Walworth Old Church a mile south among the trees, and the empty hangars and runway of the old base, which you can see from the road and which the planners keep promising to do something with.

Population

2,004 (NISRA 2021)

Walk score

Long single street, 15-minute walk end to end

Founded

Plantation village laid out by the Fishmongers from 1610

Coords

55.0500° N, 7.0167° W

01 / 08

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The Fishmongers

A London livery company laid this place out.

After the Plantation of Ulster in 1610, the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers of London was granted lands here and at Banagher. The church, the manor, the planned street - all of it traces back to a guild of fish merchants four hundred miles away.

Stories & lore → 02 The airfield

Where the runway crossed the railway.

RAF Ballykelly opened in 1941 for Coastal Command. In 1943 they extended the main runway across the live Belfast-Derry line - trains had right of way over landing aircraft. It became Shackleton Barracks in 1971 and closed in 2008.

Stories & lore → 03 The estuary

Lough Foyle's quiet edge.

Walk north out of the village and you hit the Roe Estuary. Brent geese, curlew, godwit, the long flat light of the lough. The RSPB hide at Ballykelly Bank does the rest.

Walks & outings →

02 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
The Drummond Hotel - De Prizio Restaurant	Hotel restaurant	€€	The Drummond is the village's anchor - dating back to 1829 and sitting just off the A2. The De Prizio does a proper a la carte dinner; the Bistro Bar is the easier sit. If you want a meal in Ballykelly itself, this is it.
Limavady, five minutes east	Note	-	Honest version: most evenings out get done in Limavady. Wider choice, more open later. The Drummond covers the rest.

03 / 08

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
The Drummond Hotel	Hotel	The hotel in the village. Off the A2, about 3 miles from Limavady. Wedding traffic at weekends - worth checking the date before you book.
Limavady	Note	Limavady has more options if the Drummond is full or sold to a wedding. Five minutes east on the A2.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Built from London, 1610 onwards

The Fishmongers' village

When James I divvied up Ulster after 1610, the twelve great livery companies of London were each handed a tract of land they'd never seen. The Fishmongers got Walworth and Ballykelly. They put up a castle in 1619 with a garrison of forty men, then leased the estate out for two hundred years to the Hamilton and Beresford families. When the lease finally ran out in the 1820s the company came back in and rebuilt - the Anglican church (dedicated 1795), the Presbyterian church (1827), the school, the manor. The planned single street of the village is theirs. None of them ever lived here.

RAF Ballykelly, 1941-1971

The runway that crossed the railway

The airfield opened in June 1941 as a Coastal Command base for the Battle of the Atlantic - Liberators flew anti-submarine patrols out over the North Atlantic from here. In 1943 they extended the main runway and ran it straight across the Belfast-Derry railway. A set of red flashing 'wig-wag' lights and gates controlled the crossing - and unusually, the trains had right of way over the aircraft. After the war it became home to Avro Shackletons of three squadrons. The last Shackleton left on 31 March 1971; the Army took over the next day as Shackleton Barracks. The base finally closed in March 2008.

6 December 1982

The Droppin' Well

The Droppin' Well was a pub and disco on the Main Street, popular with soldiers from the barracks across the road. On the night of 6 December 1982 the INLA planted a time bomb against a pillar inside. It brought the dance floor and the roof down on top of about 150 people. Seventeen died - eleven soldiers and six civilians, most of them local women in their teens and twenties. It was the deadliest INLA attack of the Troubles. Four INLA members were convicted in 1986. The site is gone; the memorial is at the old base gate.

A mile south, in the trees

Walworth Old Church

The parish church of Tamlaght Finlagan moved to Walworth in the mid-16th century. A church was built on the Walworth estate in 1622 and burned twice in the 17th century - once in the 1641 rising, again in 1689 by Jacobite soldiers retreating from the Siege of Derry. The ruin sitting in the field at Walworth townland today is what was left when the Fishmongers built the current Anglican church up in the village in 1795. The graveyard is still in use. The walls are worth the walk.

Ballykelly on the Belfast-Derry line

The station that closed, and might reopen

The railway still runs through - you can hear the Belfast-Derry trains from the main street - but the original Ballykelly station closed in September 1954. NI Railways are currently building a new passing loop here to lift service frequency on the line, and a feasibility study is looking at reopening a halt with park-and-ride. Until then, the nearest stations are Bellarena (10 minutes east) and Castlerock.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Ballykelly Bank and the Roe Estuary From the small car park at the end of Drummond Road, out along the sea bank to the estuary edge. Brent geese in winter, curlew and godwit all year. The RSPB list this end of Lough Foyle as one of the best wader sites in Ireland.

4 km returndistance

1 hourtime

Walworth Old Church loop Out the south road to Walworth townland, past the ruin, back via the lane. Quiet, flat, all on tarmac. The church ruin is unlocked and unsigned.

2 kmdistance

40 mintime

The old airfield perimeter The Shackleton Barracks site is fenced and waiting for someone to develop it, but you can walk the public road along the southern edge and see the hangars and the runway end. Not a beautiful walk. Is an interesting one.

Variabledistance

An hour or sotime

Bellarena and Binevenagh, ten minutes east If you want a proper walk and a proper view, drive ten minutes east to Bellarena and up onto Binevenagh. The escarpment over Magilligan and the Foyle is one of the best in the north.

- distance

- time

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The flat farmland greens up fast and the estuary still has the winter waders into April. Good light, light traffic on the A2.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

The A2 to the Causeway Coast carries everyone. Mornings before nine are still your own; afternoons are a slow procession of camper vans heading for Portrush.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The geese start arriving on Lough Foyle in October. Stand at the Ballykelly Bank car park at dusk and listen.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The estuary is at its loudest - tens of thousands of wildfowl. The Drummond is the warm bit. Bring a coat.

◉ Go

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Trying to find the Droppin' Well

It isn't there. The building was demolished long ago. The memorial is at the old base gate - that is the place to go.

A walk through the old barracks site

It's fenced, derelict and waiting for redevelopment. You can see what there is to see from the road. Don't climb the wire.

A night out in Ballykelly itself

Beyond the Drummond, the village is quiet after dark. Five minutes east into Limavady solves it.

Driving the A2 in a hurry

It's the artery between Derry and the Causeway Coast and it carries a lot of traffic. Allow longer than the map says, especially Friday afternoon and Sunday.

Getting there.

By car

Derry to Ballykelly is 25 minutes on the A2. Limavady is 5 minutes east. Belfast is 1h 20m via the M2 and A2.

By bus

Translink Goldline 234 (Derry-Belfast via Limavady) stops on the main street. Several services daily.

By train

No station - Ballykelly's halt closed in 1954, though a new one is on the cards. Nearest active stations are Bellarena (10 min east) and Castlerock.

By air

City of Derry Airport is 10 minutes away by car - the runway is the next valley over. Belfast International is 70 minutes.

Next on the tour

Co. Derry

Limavady

Five minutes east. The market town the Fishmongers never built - wider streets, more pubs, the Roe Valley Country Park on the other side.

Co. Derry

Eglinton

Fifteen minutes west on the A2. City of Derry Airport sits on the old wartime airfield. The other Plantation village on this road.

Co. Derry

Derry

Twenty-five minutes west. The walled city itself - the only intact one in Ireland.

Co. Derry

Gulladuff

Inland to the south Derry crossroads built around its football field.

Co. Derry

Greysteel

Three kilometres south-east along the A2 toward Lough Foyle.