The village lies at the intersection of the townlands of Moykeeran (from Irish Maigh Chaortain 'plain of the rowan'),[4] Moyheeland (from Irish Maigh Chaolain 'plain of the marshy stream'),[5] Cahore and Tonaght (from Irish Tonnach 'marshy place').[6][7]
Prior to this however the settlement was originally known as "Borbury" (from IrishBóthar Buí, meaning 'yellow road').[1][8] It was then recorded as being called "The Cross" in 1813 and "Moyheelan" in 1821.[8]
Despite the name given to it by the Drapers' Company, locals continued to commonly refer to the settlement with a variety of names:
The Cross, in reference to the crossroads where the market was held,[8]
Moyheelan, after the townland of Moyheeland (from IrishMaigh Chaoláin, meaning 'plain of the marshy stream'), which it was founded in,[8]
the Cross of Ballynascreen, after the fact that it was the main crossroads in the parish of Ballynascreen,[8]
The village began to emerge around the crossroads in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Prior to that, the crossroads was the location for occasional fairs. In the 1600s, at the time of the Plantation of Ulster, the expropriated land in the Ballinacreen area was allocated to two London Livery Companies. It was divided between the Drapers' Company who took possession of the land west of the crossroads (Straw, Sixtowns and Moneyneena) while the Skinners' Company took possession of the land to the east. Although settlers began to arrive, the livery companies did not develop the area until later.[citation needed]
In 1760, the original St. Columba's Church of Ireland Church was built near the crossroads. In 1798, Laughlin McNamee, a publican from nearby Moneyneena, opened a public house at the crossroads where the local fair was held. He also built several houses. A broad main street, now known as St. Patrick's Street, typical of Irish towns, began to develop along the road to Sixtowns (from Irish Na Sé Bhaile 'The six townlands').[9] At this time this settlement became known by several names including the Cross of Ballinascreen, Moyheeland and Burboy. McNamee is buried at St. Columba's Church in Straw (from Irish An tSrath 'The river meadow').[10] In 1812, the Drapers Company built a series of buildings including a courthouse at the other side of the crossroads from the main street. The company named it Draperstown, which was adopted by the Post Office as the official name of the village.[11] The Presbyterian Church opened in 1843[12] and St. Columba's Catholic Church at Straw opened in 1853.
The town largely acts as a service centre for the surrounding farming communities. The main store in the town is the EuroSpar. There are a range of other smaller shops. There is also a livestock mart in the town for the sale of cattle, sheep and pigs. The mart has weekly sales.[13]
The Roman Catholic Parish of Ballinascreen covers the town of Draperstown and surrounding district. The first church in the area dates back to at least the eighth century. It was a monastery church called Scrin Colimbkille (Columbcille's shrine) which is located in the townland of Moneyconey outside the town. The parish gets its name from this shrine the ruins of which are still visible. There are four active churches in the parish.
The new Church of the Holy Rosary located on the Derrynoid Road opened in 1979. This replaced St. Mary's Oratory which had opened in 1928.
The older St. Columba's Church which is located on the Sixtowns Road at Straw opened in 1853.
Draperstown is classified as a village by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). There were 1,638 people living in Draperstown in the 2001 census.[18] The village had a population of 1,777 people in the 2011 census.
On census day 27 March 2011, in Draperstown Settlement, considering the resident population:[19]
98.93% were from the white (including Irish Traveller) ethnic group
92.80% belong to or were brought up in the Catholic religion and 5.91% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' religion
10.47% indicated that they had a British national identity, 60.44% had an Irish national identity and 29.21% had a Northern Irish national identity*.
24.22% had some knowledge of Irish
3.25% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots
4.19% did not have English as their first language
The town lies at the junction of the B40 (High Street and Derrynoid Roads), B41 (Tobermore Road) and B47 (St. Patrick's Street and Sixtowns Road). There is a regular bus service through the town. Ulsterbus routes 112 and 112a are from Magherafelt to Draperstown via the B40. Route 403 is from Magherafelt to Omagh passing through Draperstown via the B40 and B47.[20]
Draperstown railway station opened on 20 July 1883, closed for passenger traffic on 1 October 1930 and finally closed altogether on 3 July 1950.[21] The Draperstown branch ran from Magherafelt with an intermediate station at Desertmartin.
Although the dominant language of the residents of Draperstown has been English for the past century, in the surrounding rural areas the Irish language was widely spoken up until the late nineteenth century. Indeed, there is evidence that it was still spoken in some households in the 1930s and later. Although the most prominent native Irish speaker was Éilis Ní Dhonnghaile (1857–1935) of Labby, records of other Irish speakers included the Murray sisters in Moneyneena (1931), Peig James (1943) and Hannah James (1947); Matthew Regan, Draperstown (1942); and Mary Anne Doherty, Moneyneena and Antrim (1965).[22] There have been attempts to promote the speaking of Irish in the area with the opening of an Irish language nursery and primary school. Pupils from the primary school can proceed to the Irish language secondary school Gaelcholáiste DhoireinDungiven.
According to the Ulster Towns Directory, the following were the ten most common surnames in the town in 1910: Bradley, Connor, Donnelly, Henry, Kelly, Murray, McKenna, McNamee, O'Kane and O'Neill.[23]
