Drenagh

[1] The Drenagh estate, then known as Fruithill, was acquired from the Bishopric of Derry by William Conolly (1662-1729), a wealthy self-made man and speaker of the Irish Parliament.

[5] Marcus and his wife, Marianne (née Tyndall) produced an heir, Conolly Thomas McCausland (1828-1902).

Their son, Maurice Marcus McCausland (1872-1938), lived through the Irish Land Acts, whereby the Government compulsorily purchased 75% of the estate.

[6] On 4 March 1972, this same Captain Marcus McCausland, aged 39, a retired Catholic member of the Ulster Defence Regiment, became the first UDR soldier murdered by the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA).

[8] On 5 May 1943 a Royal Air Force Vickers Wellington (LB241) crashed on the estate grounds shortly after taking off from RAF Limavady; all six crew died.

There are terraced gardens in the Italian style, an arboretum, and a fountain inspired by one at the Villa d'Este, near Rome.