Coleraine

Coleraine. We are told in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, that a chieftain named Nadslua presented the saint with a piece of land on the bank of the river Bann, on which to build a church. It was a spot overgrown with ferns, and it happened at the moment that some boys were amusing themselves by setting them on fire. Hence the place was called Cuil-rathain [Coolrahen], which Colgan translates Secessus filicis, the corner (cuil) of the ferns. Cool-rain, Coolrainey and Coolrahnee, are similarly derived.