Draperstown

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Draperstown (Baile na Scríne in Irish) is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in the Sperrin Mountains. It is 12 km north-west of Magherafelt in the Upper Moyola Valley. It had a population of 1,638 people in the 2001 Census. The village has a variety of shops and offices, several places of worship, public houses, a visitors centre, livestock market, two schools and two industrial estates.

In Draperstown the buildings were originally laid out in a triangular village green, the Fair Hill and along three streets. Later the green became The Shambles, and this, together with the open space of the Fair Hill, and the wide crossroads at the head of St. Patrick’s Street forms a distinctive townscape and historic settlement.

It was founded by the Drapers' Company, although the area was previously known as Ballinascreen (see Irish). The town's visitor centre focuses on the Flight of the Earls and the plantation of Ulster. Administratively it is part of the Magherafelt District Council area.

Key listed buildings within the village include: St.Columba’s Church, Tobermore Road (1888), the Courthouse, 20 High Street (1839) and the Presbyterian Meeting House, 47 High Street (1843). The core of the village was designated a Conservation Area in 1979.

1 2001 Census
2 External links
3 References
4 See also

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2001 Census

Draperstown is classified as a village by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 1,638 people living in Draperstown. Of these:

24.4% were aged under 16 and 15.0% were aged 60 and over
48.9% of the population were male and 51.1% were female
96.7% were from a Catholic background and 2.8% were from a Protestant background
4.3% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

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