placenamesThe Collon
Cuilleann
The Collon marked an older boundary of Derry’s built-up area. Railway records and later oral-history work preserve different aspects of this changing northern fringe.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Cuilleann · Irish · main form · validated name
- The Collon · English · main form
Place & story
At the edge of the older city
The Collon was the old urban boundary used to define the southern end of the district stretching towards the Donegal border. In an interview about the area’s history, the Forge Writers’ Group described the wider Shantallow landscape changing from farms and scattered settlements into a substantial suburb. The Collon’s place in that account is as a boundary marker within a larger district, rather than another name for all of Shantallow. [2]
A collision in the railway records
The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company’s report to shareholders in 1891 recorded a collision at Collon on 21 June. The driver and fireman of one train were killed and rolling stock was badly damaged. The directors blamed disregard of written orders by the crew of a light engine. That explanation is the company’s contemporary account, rather than a finding independently established here from an inspector’s report. [3]
Collecting the district’s memories
The Forge Writers’ Group and Greater Shantallow Area Partnership assembled photographs, recordings and eyewitness accounts for Between the Collon and the Border, published in 2018. Joseph Martin and Sean Quinn were its co-authors. The project grew from efforts around Derry’s 2013 City of Culture programme to record suburban heritage, extending attention beyond the city walls to the communities and landscapes north of the Collon. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Derry
- Civil parish
- Templemore
- Within
- Shantallow
- Coordinates
- 55.01656, -7.32772 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 129790 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — The Collon. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Bringing history home: The Forge Writers’ Group, December 2018 · Niall Coleman, agendaNi
- Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company: report to shareholders, July 1891, within archived railway reports · Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company / Córas Iompair Éireann archive
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-19. How this page was prepared.