[edit]
Coleraine c. 1890
Neolithic period[edit]
Coleraine has some of the oldest evidence of human settlement in Ireland. Mount Sandel dates from approximately 5935 BC. The Iron Age souterrain and Ogham Stone and be found just southwest of Coleraine at Dunalis.
Early Middle Ages[edit]
The 9th Century hagiography, Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, records how the town got its name. When Patrick arrived in the neighbourhood, he was received with great honour and hospitality by the local chieftain, Nadslua, who offered him a piece of ground on which to build a church. The spot was next to the river Bann and was overgrown with ferns, which were being burned by some boys to amuse themselves. This incident led to the area being called Cúil Raithin ('nook of ferns'), which was later anglicised as Coulrath, Colrain, Colerain and Coleraine. It was translated by Colgan into Latin as Secessus Filicis.
The town's main Church of Ireland church, St. Patrick's Church, is named in reference to this history. It was heavily remodelled by the architect Sir Thomas Drew in the 1880s.
Ulster Plantation[edit]
The town was one of the two urban communities developed by the London Companies in County Londonderry in the Plantation of Ulster at the start of the 17th century. In particular, The Honourable the Irish Society was made responsible for much of Coleraine and it remains so today.
The slightly skewed street pattern of Coleraine's town centre is the legacy of that early exercise in town planning, along with traces of the lines of the ramparts that provided the Plantation town with its defences.
War of the Two Kings (1689–91)[edit]
During the War of the Two Kings (1689–91) Coleraine was a centre of Protestant resistance to the rule of James II. Richard Hamilton's Irish Army made an attempt to seize the town but was repulsed. The Protestants were forced to abandon the town shortly afterwards and withdrew to Derry.
Later the same year, following the failed Siege of Derry, Sir Charles Carney and his Jacobite garrison fled the town on receiving news of the advance of Percy Kirke's Enniskillen forces and the landing at Carrickfergus of Marshal Schomberg. The Williamites controlled Coleraine for the remainder of the war.
Industrial Era[edit]
With some industrialisation, the expansion of the river port, and the development of the railway, the town expanded throughout the 19th century.
The population doubled due to a number of factors: major industrial development on extensive suburban sites, including a substantial distillery producing Coleraine Whiskey; the expansion of commerce; and the development of sporting and recreational facilities.
World Wars & the 20th Century[edit]
The town sent soldiers to both world wars. The town's population then expanded significantly after the Second World War.
In 1968 the New University of Ulster opened in the town (later the 'New' was dropped from the name) and became a major employer. The university also attracted students to the area.
There has been a steady expansion of the urban area from the mid-20th-century compact town of less than 2.25 square miles (5.8 km2), to the present much more dispersed area of about 7 square miles (18 km2). Since 1980s growth has continued but at a slightly more modest pace. In the twenty years to 2001 the town's population increased by 22% to approximately 25,000 but the rate of increase fell from 12% in the 1980s to 8% in the 1990s.
The Troubles[edit]
Pre-1998 Belfast Agreement[edit]
During The Troubles 11 people were killed in or near Coleraine prior to 1998.
On 12 June 1973, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a car bomb on Railway Road, with inadequate warning. Six Protestant civilians, all in their sixties and seventies, were killed.
The second most fatal incident occurred on 2 October 1975 when four members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were killed when their own bomb went off as they travelled through Farrenlester near Coleraine.
Danny Cassidy, a Sinn Féin electoral worker, was shot dead by the Ulster Freedom Fighters in April 1992.
Separately, a non-fatal van bomb was detonated by the IRA on 13 November 1992 in the town centre. It resulted in extensive property damage and several major buildings were demolished. Coleraine Town Hall required major structural work, and was not reopened until August 1995.
Post-1998 Belfast Agreement[edit]
In 2001 John Henry McCormick (25), who was believed to be Catholic, was killed by loyalist paramilitaries in his home. His partner and children were in the house on the Ballysally estate.
In 2002 a teenager with no paramilitary connections was killed when he picked up a pipe bomb in the Heights estate in the town.
In 2009 Kevin McDaid (49), a Catholic community worker, was killed by a loyalist mob in the Heights estate on the Somerset Drive road, a mixed area with tri-colour flags. His wife Evelyn and neighbor Damien were also attacked, along with a pregnant woman who had pleaded with the attackers.
There is reason to believe that there is still substantial sectarian violence and paramilitary activity in Coleraine.
In 2021, the Police Service of Northern Ireland announced it had set up a special task force due to the rise in paramilitary shootings in the town.
In 2023, a man in his 30s was shot four times after being hooded and taken out of the town in a planned attack by a gang of masked men.
In 2024, the Police Service of Northern Ireland appealed for information after shots were fired at a house in the Ballysally estate.
