placenamesDerrykeighan
Doire Caocháin
Derrykeighan’s church ruins and burial ground preserve evidence reaching from Iron Age carving to the rebellion of 1798 and the First World War.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Doire Caocháin · Irish · main form
- Derrykeighan · English · main form
Place & story
The carved stone
An Iron Age carved stone was discovered in 1977 during restoration work at Derrykeighan's old church, where it had been reused as building material. A Ballymoney council report describes decoration on two of its four faces. The stone went on loan to the Ulster Museum in 1984; the council requested its return in 2008 for the new Ballymoney museum exhibition. It subsequently became part of that museum's permanent display. [2] [3]
A disputed move to Dervock
The old church was unroofed in 1831 after the construction of a replacement at Dervock. Ordnance Survey memoirs, reproduced in the Unearth Dervock heritage book, describe bitter disagreement over the move. They also record an earlier gunpowder attack that damaged pews but failed to destroy the roof as intended. This contemporary account differs from later abbreviated versions in which the explosion destroyed the building. [4]
Burials across divided histories
The churchyard contains the graves of United Irishmen Francis McKinley and William Dunlop, executed after the rebellion of 1798. John Meeke, awarded the Military Medal during the First World War, is also buried here. The council's heritage account recalls his attempt to save the wounded nationalist MP William Redmond. Seventeenth-century headstones incorporated into the church ruins provide another layer of the burial ground's history. [5]
The successor parish church
Derrykeighan's successor church opened in nearby Dervock in 1831. Its parish history records nineteenth-century alterations, including iron roof trusses and a bell installed in 1858. Olympic champion Kennedy Kane McArthur donated nave tiling in 1950 in memory of his parents. Following closure for major works in January 2012, the church reopened in June 2013, with its bow-fronted balcony retained within the refurbished interior. [6]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Derrykeighan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- BallymoneyCouncilLeisureAmenitiesCommittee19February2008,item340.25 · Ballymoney Borough Council
- BallymoneyMuseum,permanentcollection · Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
- UnearthDervock,TheParishofDerrykeighan,p32,OSmemoirs1838 · Causeway Coast and Glens Museum Services,NICommunityArchive
- DerrykeighanGraveyard · Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
- History of Derrykeighan Church · Billy and Derrykeighan Parish,Church of Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.