placenamesLimavady
Léim an Mhadaidh
Jane Ross’s musical legacy shares the town’s history with a surviving workhouse and a pioneering electricity station.
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
- Léim an Mhadaidh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Limavady · English · main form · validated name
- Newtown Limavady · English · main form · historical name
Place & story
Jane Ross and an unnamed air
Jane Ross lived with her sisters in Limavady and supplied George Petrie with traditional music collected near her home. His Ancient Music of Ireland, published in 1855, included the melody later known as the Londonderry Air. Its eventual pairing with Fred Weatherly’s words made it internationally familiar as Danny Boy. The familiar account of Ross hearing the blind fiddler Jimmy McCurry belongs to local tradition: the identity of her original performer remains uncertain. Her house at 51 Main Street and her burial in Christchurch graveyard give the association a precise local setting. [2] [3]
A workhouse becomes a hospital
Newtownlimavady Workhouse opened on 15 March 1842, with accommodation planned for 600 people. During the Famine its population approached twice that number. The institution’s later history followed a different course: the remaining healthy inmates left in 1930, while patients stayed in the infirmary until 1932. Roe Valley District Hospital opened in the converted premises in 1937 and operated until 1997. The restored gatehouse, dormitory and adjacent paupers’ burial ground preserve evidence of both the buildings and the people who passed through them. [4]
Electricity from the Roe
At Dogleap, outside the town, John Ritter built a hydroelectric station in 1896 after experimenting with power for his own house at Roe Park. He formed the Limavady Electric Supply Company the following year and supplied the town. Water turbines, later supplemented by diesel generators, sustained the enterprise through several expansions. The Electricity Board for Northern Ireland acquired it in 1946; generation ended in 1967. The surviving stone powerhouse and machinery entered Roe Valley Country Park, retaining a physical link with the town’s early public electricity supply. [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Town
- County
- Derry
- Barony
- Keenaght
- Civil parish
- Drumachose
- Coordinates
- 55.05882, -6.95137 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 129764 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Limavady. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ross, Jane · Fionnuala Carson Williams and Linde Lunney, Dictionary of Irish Biography
- Danny Boy · Gerard Hanberry, RTÉ
- Limavady Heritage Trail: Workhouse · Causeway Museum Service
- Dogleap Powerhouse, HB02/03/008 · Department for Communities, Historic Buildings
- Christ Church, Drumachose, Limavady illustration: based on a Church of Ireland, Limavady by Kenneth Allen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0; adapted illustration distributed under the same licence.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-09-19. How this page was prepared.