Roe Park: 1600 - 1720

In 1600 the area around this hotel was part of the O'Cahan lands who were the ruling clan in the Roe Valley and most of the present County of Londonderry. The O'Cahan's had held these lands from the middle of the 12th Century but were driven out by the Normans in 1212, who were in turn were defeated by Robert the Bruce in 1325 before the lands returned to the O'Cahan clan.

They ruled the Valley until around 1600 when, after the fight of the Earls in 1607, the lands were claimed by Sir Thomas Phillips in the name of the crown. As a reward for his efforts Phillips was granted 4,000 acres in the Roe Valley, Coleraine and Castledawson and came to reside at O'Cahan's Castle (which was situated in what is now the Roe Valley Country Park).

At this time he started to build a new town on the site of the present Limavady (calling it Newtown Limavady - the old town being situated around O'Cahan's Castle). In 1697 his grandson sold the Phillip's holdings which included Roe Park to Sir William Connolly (Speaker of the Irish House Of Commons) who came to live in Phillip's new house in Limavady.

This was not a very substantial house and when he sold his estate to Marcus McCausland in 1743 the McCausland family greatly improved the house (and changed the name to Daisy Hill), by creating the five bay structure which still forms the current hotel frontage.

In 1782 his son Dominick came into ownership and he added a fine dining room and built substantial office buildings which included a Coach House designed by Richard Castle in 1784. This building still stands today and houses the Coach House Restaurant and Golf Complex including Golf shop.

Dominick also extended his estate by purchasing adjoining town lands on both sides of the river. He proceeded to plant thousands of trees on his estate including the Celtic Fort at the Rough Fort. He also built a 10 foot wall, to surround part of the estate - parts of which are still visible today - and a foot bridge (known locally as The Spring Bridge) so that he could service the well which supplied fresh water to the house - known as Columba's Spring. Additional roads were added including what is currently the main entrance to the estate.

During this time, it's likely that the walled garden (now the driving range) and gazebo were built. This gazebo was slightly bigger than it is today and was the home of the estate's head gardener right up until the 1950's.

Roe Park: 1817 - 1886

In 1817 the estate was sold to John Cromie from Portstewart who renamed the house Roe Park. He in turn sold the estate to Sir Francis McNaghien of Clougher (Ballymoney) for £11,500.

His son Edmund sold the estate in 1847 to Archibald Rennie of Inverness (Scotland) for £12,000. Rennie mortgaged the property to Harvey Nicholson of Derry who came into possession in 1850.

In 1872 the estate was bought by S.M. Alexander for £12,150. As he brought extensive lands from his own estate this extended Roe Park to 5,229 acres stretching from the Limavady-Derry road as far south as the Carrick Rocks.

Roe Park: 1886 - Present

S.M. Alexander died in 1886 but as he had no immediate family, his estate was left to his two nieces. The part that included the Roe Park estate was willed to Elizabeth Jane Stanton who in 1887 married John Edward Ritter and thus Roe Park came into ownership of the Ritter family - probably the best known and most renowned family to live here.

J.E. Ritter died in 1901 and the estate passed to his widow who managed it until she died in 1926 when the estate passed to her son - Major John Alexander Ritter (RN). He continued to manage affairs until his death in 1931, followed by his widow, Mrs J.A. Ritter, until her death in 1951.

After the death of Mrs J.A. Ritter the estate was again, sold off. Sadly it was at this time that the estate was stripped of many of the fine trees planted by Dominick McCausland in the late 1700's.

Although luckily an application by the then owners to extract sand and gravel from 45 acres of the estate was turned down by local planning authorities.

The house was converted into an old people's home which closed in late 1980's and the house and lands were purchased by local business men and developed into the current Golf/Hotel complex.