Дрейперстаун: История и современность деревни в округе Лондондерри

Village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Draperstown (,/d//r//ɛ//p//ər//z/'/t//aʊ//n//, /,/d//r//iː//p//ər//z// /) is a village in the Sperrin Mountains in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the civil parish of Ballinascreen and is part of Mid Ulster district. It is also part of the Church of Ireland parish of Ballynascreen and the Catholic parish of Ballinascreen, and within the former barony of Loughinsholin. The village lies at the intersection of the townlands of Moykeeran (from ga Maigh Chaortain 'plain of the rowan'), Moyheeland (from ga Maigh Chaolain 'plain of the marshy stream'), Cahore and Tonaght (from ga Tonnach 'marshy place').

Draperstown had its name bestowed upon it in 1818 by the Worshipful Company of Drapers, which had previously named Moneymore as Draperstown. Prior to this however the settlement was originally known as "Borbury" At this time this settlement became known by several names including the Cross of Ballinascreen, Moyheeland and Burboy. McNamee is buried at St. Columba's Church in Straw (from ga An tSrath 'The river meadow'). In 1812, the Drapers Company built a series of buildings including a courthouse at the other side of the crossroads from the main street. The company named it Draperstown, which was adopted by the Post Office as the official name of the village. The Presbyterian Church opened in 1843 and St. Columba's Catholic Church at Straw opened in 1853.

The town lies within the Moyola (District Electoral Area) of Mid Ulster District Council which elects five councillors out of the 40 members of the council. In the 2023 Mid Ulster District Council election, the five elected councillors included three members of Sinn Féin, one member of the SDLP and one member of the Democratic Unionist Party. It is located within the Mid Ulster (Assembly constituency) in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency). The current MP is Francie Molloy of Sinn Féin.

The town largely acts as a service centre for the surrounding farming communities. The main store in the town is the EuroSpar. There are a range of other smaller shops. There is also a livestock mart in the town for the sale of cattle, sheep and pigs. The mart has weekly sales.

The Roman Catholic Parish of Ballinascreen covers the town of Draperstown and surrounding district. The first church in the area dates back to at least the eighth century. It was a monastery church called Scrin Colimbkille (Columbcille's shrine) which is located in the townland of Moneyconey outside the town. The parish gets its name from this shrine the ruins of which are still visible. There are four active churches in the parish. The new Church of the Holy Rosary located on the Derrynoid Road opened in 1979. This replaced St. Mary's Oratory which had opened in 1928. The older St. Columba's Church which is located on the Sixtowns Road at Straw opened in 1853. St. Patrick's Church in Sixtowns opened in 1854. St. Eugene's Church, Moneyneany opened in 1902. There are two other churches both of which are listed buildings. These are:
St. Columba's Church, Church of Ireland, Tobermore Road, built 1888. The original church on this site was built in 1760, before the town itself. Presbyterian Meeting House, 47 High Street, built 1843. The Courthouse, 20 High Street, built 1839 is also a listed building. It is now used as a library. In 1979, the core of the village was designated a Conservation Area.

The town lies at the junction of the B40 (High Street and Derrynoid Roads), B41 (Tobermore Road) and B47 (St. Patrick's Street and Sixtowns Road). There is a regular bus service through the town. Ulsterbus routes 112 and 112a are from Magherafelt to Draperstown via the B40. Route 403 is from Magherafelt to Omagh passing through Draperstown via the B40 and B47. Draperstown railway station opened on 20 July 1883, closed for passenger traffic on 1 October 1930 and finally closed altogether on 3 July 1950. The Draperstown branch ran from Magherafelt with an intermediate station at Desertmartin.

Although the dominant language of the residents of Draperstown has been English for the past century, in the surrounding rural areas the Irish language was widely spoken up until the late nineteenth century. Indeed, there is evidence that it was still spoken in some households in the 1930s and later. Although the most prominent native Irish speaker was Éilis Ní Dhonnghaile (1857–1935) of Labby, records of other Irish speakers included the Murray sisters in Moneyneena (1931), Peig James (1943) and Hannah James (1947); Matthew Regan, Draperstown (1942); and Mary Anne Doherty, Moneyneena and Antrim (1965). There have been attempts to promote the speaking of Irish in the area with the opening of an Irish language nursery and primary school. Pupils from the primary school can proceed to the Irish language secondary school Gaelcholáiste Dhoire in Dungiven.

St Colms's GAC Ballinascreen (CLG Naomh Colm Baile na Scrine) is the local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club. The club provides teams in Gaelic football, hurling, ladies football and camogie. Dean McGlinchey Park is the club's ground. Draperstown Celtic FC is the local football team who play at Cahore playing fields.

According to the Ulster Towns Directory, the following were the ten most common surnames in the town in 1910: Bradley, Connor, Donnelly, Henry, Kelly, Murray, McKenna, McNamee, O'Kane and O'Neill.