Magherafelt, Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

🇮🇪 Magherafelt (Machaire Fíolta, "plain of Fíolta") is a town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, economic and political hub of the area. It is part of Mid-Ulster District.

History Magherafelt has been documented as a town since 1425. An earlier name for the area was Teach Fíolta - ‘Fíolta’s (monastic) house’. This would suggest that there was a monastic settlement here under the leadership of Fíolta. The site of the medieval parish church may be marked by the ruins of a later church and graveyard at the bottom of Broad Street.

The Salters Company of London was granted the surrounding lands in South Londonderry in the seventeenth century as part of the Plantation of Ulster. Subsequently, the town began to take on its current shape with a central diamond forming the heart of the town.

During The Troubles in the late 20th century, 11 people were killed in or near Magherafelt in connection with the conflict.

Governance The town had its own Magherafelt District Council. On 1 April 2015, it was merged with Cookstown District Council and Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland becoming Mid-Ulster District Council. The Mid Ulster District Council has 40 councillors of which five are elected by the electors of Magherafelt. In the 2019 Mid Ulster District Council election, the five elected councillors included two members of Sinn Féin, one member of the SDLP and two members 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.

Notable buildings At the foot of Broad Street is located The Bridewell. This building previously housed the town's court-house and gaol (jail). The name Bridewell is a common name in Britain and Ireland for a prison (see Bridewell Palace). It has since been refurbished and now houses the town's library and tourist centre.

Churches • Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Assumption (1882) • St. Swithin's Church of Ireland (1858) • First Presbyterian Church (1738) • Calvary Free Presbyterian Church (1978) • Magherafelt Baptist Church (2007)

Transport: Road Magherafelt lies on the A31 route which connects the south west of the province (Tyrone, Fermanagh) to the north east (Coleraine, Ballymena etc.). Traffic from north and south used to pass through the town centre frequently leading to considerable congestion. In the 1970s a bypass was proposed route which was eventually funded in 2013 and completed in 2016. The road is a single-carriageway around the eastern edge of the town connecting Moneymore Road and Castledawson Road. The old road through the town became the B40 when the road opened.

Transport: Rail Magherafelt railway station opened on 10 November 1856, shut for passenger traffic on 28 August 1950 and shut altogether on 1 October 1959.

Schools There are seven primary schools serving the area. Local secondary schools include St. Mary's Grammar School, Saint Pius X College, Rainey Endowed School, Sperrin Integrated College and Magherafelt High School.

Sport Magherafelt has several sporting teams, including Magherafelt Reds, O'Donovan Rossa Magherafelt GAC, the Rainey Old Boys Rugby Club and Magherafelt Sky Blues F.C. There is also the Mid Ulster Athletic Club, the Mid Ulster Swimming Club and the Magherafelt District Motorclub.

Demography The town of Magherafelt encompasses the Super Data Zones of Magherafelt_A, Magherafelt_B and Magherafelt_C according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. At the time of the 2021 census, there were 9,071 people living in Magherafelt. Of these: • 59.9% were from a Catholic background and 31.5% were from a Protestant or other Christian background. • 30.9% indicated that they had a British national identity, 36.4% had an Irish national identity, and 30.4% had a Northern Irish national identity.