Creeslough ( , locally ; ) whereas Creeslough village is outside the Gaeltacht and its English name has equal status. is usually interpreted as +; In the 1830s, John O'Donovan glossed the name as "Craoslaoch [sic] swallowing lake; throat lake", and Patrick Weston Joyce glossed it in 1875 as "Craos-loch — a lake that swallows up everything". In 2000, Lawrence Donegan wrote:

:Craos Loch in Irish, meaning Throat Lake or Gullet Lake. Why? Because there was a tiny lake at the top of the village that gathered a lot of rainwater from the surrounding hills and leaked only a little away through a tiny stream. Where did all the water go? It had been swallowed by the hungry lake, obviously. Why not call the village Hungry Lake? It wasn't poetic enough.

Suggested alternative derivations are + "duck[s] throat", "limit, border". Niall Ó Dónaill advised the Placenames Branch in 1962 that, although there was evidence that was the older Irish form, it had long been changed to .

History

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of ringfort, holy well, enclosure and burial sites in the townlands of Creeslough, Killoughcarran and Masiness. Ards Forest Park, to the north of the village, contains some megalithic tombs, ringforts and a Mass rock.

Nearby Doe Castle, a tower house with a surrounding bawn, dates from the 1420s. Historically associated with MacSuibhne clan, the castle was used as a base by Owen Roe O'Neill during the Irish Confederate Wars. It was restored between 2002 and 2005.

alt=St. Michael's|thumb|St. Michael's Church, designed by Liam McCormick in 1971

The local Catholic church, St. Michael's Church, is known locally as 'the chapel' and was designed by Derry architect Liam McCormick in 1971. It is reputedly designed to reflect the shape of the nearby table mountain of Muckish.

On 7 October 2022, an explosion at Creeslough destroyed a shop and Applegreen petrol station, as well as the adjoining apartment block, resulting in ten deaths and multiple injuries.

Transport

Creeslough railway station opened on 9 March 1903, closed for passenger traffic on 3 June 1940, and finally closed altogether on 6 January 1947.

Education

thumb|A view of the countryside around Creeslough with [[Muckish mountain in the background]]

The area around Creeslough is served by three primary schools:

  • Scoil Mhuire – Roman Catholic, 142 pupils (2011 figures)
  • Creeslough National School – Church of Ireland, 20 pupils (2011 figures) Donegan lived in Creeslough for a short time.
  • Bridie Gallagher, singer described as "Ireland's first truly international pop star"
  • Bernard Lafferty, butler and heir to Doris Duke
  • Neil McBride (Niall Mac Gioll Bhridé), poet, author, and lyricist
  • Martin McElhinney, Gaelic footballer
  • Colm McFadden, Gaelic footballer
  • James McNulty, activist for Irish Independence and father of Kathleen Antonelli
  • Christy Toye, Gaelic footballer
  • No News at Throat Lake is a memoir by Lawrence Donegan about his year living in Creeslough as a reporter for the bi-weekly newspaper, Tirconaill Tribune.