Greysteel
Greysteel or Gresteel is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies to the east of Derry and to the west of Limavady on the main A2 coast road between Limavady and Derry, overlooking Lough Foyle. In the 2021 Census it had a population of 1,418 people. It is situated within Causeway Coast and Glens district.
History
The village lies mostly within the townlands of Gresteel More and Gresteel Beg. The name "Greysteel" may be a part-translation of the Irish Glas-stiall, meaning "grey strip ", and the Placenames Database of Ireland gives this as the Irish name of the village. An older English name for the area was "Glasteele".The Troubles
During the Troubles, nine people were killed in the Greysteel area:- On 14 November 1976, Jim Loughrey was shot dead by loyalists at his home.
- On 30 October 1993, members of the Ulster Defence Association carried out a mass shooting at the Rising Sun public house, killing eight civilians. This became known as the Greysteel massacre.
Places of interest
- Nearby Faughanvale Old church dates back to the medieval period and is dedicated to Saint Canice.
Transport
The village is adequately served in terms of public transport and City of Derry Airport is located 4 km to the west.Sport
2001 Census
Greysteel is classified as a village by the . On Census day there were 1,229 people living in Greysteel. Of these:- 25.4% were aged under 16 years and 11.7% were aged 60 and over
- 50.2% of the population were male and 49.8% were female
- 96.6% were from a Catholic background and 2.9% were from a Protestant background
- 0.8% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.