Coleraine
town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Coleraine ( kohl-RAYN; from Irish: Cúil Raithin [ˌkuːlʲ ˈɾˠahənʲ], 'nook of the ferns') is a market town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, of which it is the county town. It is 55 miles (89 km) north-west of Belfast and 30 miles (48 km) east of Derry, both of which are linked by major roads and railway connections. The town had a population of 24,483 people in the 2021 census.
Coleraine has a large catchment area and is designated as a "major growth area" in the Northern Ireland Development Strategy. The town is part of Causeway Coast and Glens district.
History
Neolithic period
Coleraine has some of the oldest evidence of human settlement in Ireland. Mount Sandel dates from approximately 5935 BC. The Iron Age souterrain and Ogham Stone and be found just southwest of Coleraine at Dunalis.
Early Middle Ages
The 9th Century hagiography, Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, records how the town got its name. When Patrick arrived in the neighbourhood, he was received with great honour and hospitality by the local chieftain, Nadslua, who offered him a piece of ground on which to build a church. The spot was next to the river Bann and was overgrown with ferns, which were being burned by some boys to amuse themselves.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Coleraine” is town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Coleraine, town and civil, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1108185. VIAF identifies the subject as 134871048. The Library of Congress control number is n80158605. Authority coordinates are 55.133, -6.661. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Coleraine”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Coleraine primary sources, Coleraine archive and Coleraine research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Coleraine”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Coleraine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.