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Ballykelly (Baile Uí Cheallaigh) translates to ‘Town of Kelly’ or Kelly’s Town’. The village which has views across the Folye to Donegal was largely established and developed by the Fishmongers Guild during the Plantation of Ulster and contains some wonderful period architecture. Its history as a settlement though, goes back much further in time.
The present day Tamlaghtfinlagan Church of Ireland built in 1795 and funded by the Bishop of Derry and the Hon. John Bereford, traces its name back through a series of ecclesiastical buildings to the foundation of an Abbey in 580AD. This was located not far from the present church, the first Abbot was Findluganus who was a close follower of St. Columb. The present church is also the final resting place of Blind John McCurry, the itinerant fiddler who Jane Ross heard playing outside the Burns & Laird Shipping office in Limavady. The melody so captivated her that she noted it down, it later passed with her song collection to George Petrie. He published it with the name ‘Londonderry Air’ which is also the same melody as ‘Danny Boy’, its origins are believed to be from ‘ O’Cahans Lament’. On the
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