The name Castlerock derives from the black basalt outcrop you see close to the shore, the area has seen human habitation from when man first made their way by boat up the river Bann and settled at
Mount Sandal. Evidence of mesolithic and bronze age settlement have been found in the dune systems on either side of the Barmouth, this area today is a wonderful wildlife reserve which sees thousands of migratory birds stopping off during the season.
Up until the advent of the railway Castlerock was little more than a small collection of houses, during the Plantation of Ulster the land was allocated to the Clothworker Company Estate. They acquired land that stretched from Coleraine to Londonderry. Articlave, the closest village to Castlerock became one of the first settlements of that estate. Castlerock remained very much undeveloped until the mid 1850’s.
In 1853 the railway line finally opened between Londonderry and Coleraine, it was owned and run by the Colraine and Londonderry Railway Company. A major engineering achievment was the two tunnels that takes the line from Castlerock through to Downhill. With the opening of the railway Castlerock developed as a seaside resort, partly due to a scheme which offered free first class rail travel to anyone who would build a house here. The Coleraine and Londonderry Railway Company was eventually bought over by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Comapny in 1871.
