Daire-CalgaichDoire to DERRY-LONDONDERRY

From Daire-CalgaichDoire 

to Derry-Londonderry

Pat Keenan has made two recent visits to Derry. 

He found it entertaining, enticing, enjoyable, even emotional.

View Derry-Londonderry in a larger interactive map

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA from Derry and Pat Keenan Editor of HOLIDAYezine

John Hume, from Derry recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, his wife Pat and Pat Keenan Editor of HOLIDAYezine John was one of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process

     Poor old New York so good they only named it twice. On the banks of the Foyle there's a city currently named UK City of Culture 2013 but over the centuries it has been named over and over again. 

     Travelling from the south all roadsigns point to Derry but over the border all signs point to Londonderry. In nationalist areas you will be reminded that this is sometimes a contentious issue as you note that some signs will have 'London' crossed out. 

     Despite all the contentions and the divisions, there is a positive view - all the names are part of the very history of the place, of its people of differing allegiance and history. Indeed all the names mark out  the citys path through history. It shows a varied and complex meld out of which a great deal of energy and creativity emerge. Negatively it informs of the how the troubled past festered.

     The earliest name for a settlement here was Daire Calgaich meaning oak-grove of Calgach. That became Daire or Doire  and that anglicized into Derry. 

     As part of the Plantation of Ulster, when England replaced the indigenous population with Scottish Protestants and secured it using the vast power and influence of London's wealthy city guilds. King James 1 in 1613 granted the city a charter, added the 'London' prefix  and there you have it - Londonderry. They constructed a defensive barricade that ringed the city, the Walls of Derry.  It remains today, the only completely walled city in Ireland and one of the finest examples of walled cities in Europe

Siege of Derry

 King James II rode up to the walls
demanding surrender: the answer is history

     The  significance of the walls in troubled and modern times is all about an event that took place in far off 1688 when the city was laid siege by the Earl of Antrim and the Catholic forces of English King James II, who just been deposed in favour of Protestant William of Orange. The protestant settlers barricaded themselves behind the walls and a group of apprentice boys from London locked the city gates. The story goes that King James himself rode up to the walls demanding surrender and the celebrated reply, oft repeated since, was "No Surrender"

     The Great Siege of Derry,the longest in British history, lasted 105 days and an estimated 30,000 died, some of starvation.

     Now walking the Walls is the perfect introduction to the city. I joined Martin McCrossan on his Walking Tour of Derry City Walls (Derry City Tours)

     Martin is anxious to point out that since the Good Friday Agreement there has been little or no trouble in Derry. Even as recent as this years Twelfth and the many hundreds of marches in and around Derry all ended peacefully. Belfast alone across Northern Ireland had any trouble. From just one spot along the walls Martin pointed here and there, "That's John Humes house and there, that's where Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness lives and there, my good friend musician Phil Coulter".

Martin McCrossan on his Walking Tour of Derry City Walls

     Martin  points out the small Roman Catholic St Columba's Church Long Tower built on the site of Roman Catholic place of worship going back to the 12th century. This present church, he points out, began in 1783 after many years of fundraising by a Father John Lynch with aid not just from Roman Catholics but also Protestant people in Derry at the time. So there was a earlier tradition of toleration. Over time and the events and conditions that led eventually to the Civil Rights Marches chanced all if that and we had the troubles

St Columba's Church Long Tower

     Earlier I had met and talked to Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness who was wholehearted in his praise for the ways Derry is handling any contentious issues over parades, marches or anything else. "We get together, we talk it over and reach mutually  agreed settlements" 

Indeed in front of the First Derry Presbyterian Church we discussed the very remarkable relationship build up between McGuinness, a former leader of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Rev David Latimer from First Derry Presbyterian Church. During the troubles his church overlooking the Catholic Bogside was almost burned to the ground in an IRA inspired petrol bomb attack in 1984. Eventually with cross-community support and funding from a range of bodies £2.5m was found and the church reopened 2010. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was among the congregation for the reopening. The Rev David Latimer attended and spoke at Sinn Fein's Ard Fheis in 2011 at the waterfront in Derry. He was invited by Martin McGuinness, with whom he said, he had a "very real friendship".

Some places of interest while walking the walls:

     Butcher Gate at Butcher Street was the original gate and the most damaged during the siege of 1689

St. Columb’s Cathedral

     Bishops Gate The original gate is gone but was replaced in 1789 by The Apprentice Boys of Derry to mark the first centenary of the closing of the gates. 

For a Dubliner like myself is of interest for the sculpted heads representing the River Foyle (on the outside) and the River Boyne (on the inside) by Edward Smyth, who had earlier sculptured the thirteen riverine heads on our own Dublin Custom House.

     Ferryquay Gate  Famously this was the gate closed by the Apprentice Boys of Derry in December 1688 against the Jacobite army of James II.

     St. Columb’s Cathedral This Planter Gothic Cathedral, built in 1633, is worth a visit for its fine stained glass windows, regimental flags, and a large collection of historical items from the time of the siege.

     The Masonic Hall Formerly the Bishop’s Palace, built in 1754 it gave Bishop Street its name. During the Rebellion - Rising of 1798 it was used as a barracks. Mrs. Cecil Francis Alexander, the Dublin born hymn-writer, died here in 1895. She wrote All Things Bright and Beautiful, There is a Green Hill Far Away, Once in Royal David's City and Saint Patrick's Breastplate. Also from the walls you will see, in Bishop Street, the building that was her Derry Home for Fallen Women.

St. Augustine’s Church 

      Opposite the Masonic Hall is the Courthouse, completed in 1817. It was damaged by bombs during the 1970s. The Courthouse re-opened in 1998.

     St. Augustine’s Church known as the “Wee Church on the Walls” and may be the site of the 6th Century Monastery of St. Columba or Colmcille (546 A.D.). After a fire in 1095. a new abbey was built in 1136 and it was known as the Black Church. The present church dates from 1872.

George Walker 

National Portrait Gallery, London

     Opposite St. Augustine’s Church the Royal Bastion is the remaining plinth of  Walker’s Pillar, a memorial to Rev. George Walker joint Governor of Derry during the Siege of 1689. The 90 ft. tall Walker Monument was destroyed by the IRA in August 1973. The Rev. George Walker stood "of of heroic size”, that was 20 ft. tall, with one hand pointing towards the river and in the other hand he clutched a bible. John Walker also fell in real life- While going to the aid of a wounded Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg, Commander-in-Chief of all Williamite forces, during the Battle of the Boyne he was

killed.

The Royal Bastion is the remaining plinth of Walker’s Pillar

Walker Pillar before the IRA bombing1973

The Apprentice Boys’ Memorial Hall was opened in 1877and is grandly called 'the world headquarters of the Apprentice Boys of Derry' and is also called a ’loyal’ institutions. Guided tours are available on request.

'The world headquarters of the Apprentice Boys of Derry'

First Derry Presbyterian Church dates from 1780, and is believed to be on the site of an earlier Presbyterian Church of 1690 which explains the Roman numerals M.D.C.X.C. (1690) above the centre door.

First Derry Presbyterian Church

http://www.derrycity.gov.uk/armada/

The Tower Museum is within the city’s walls at Union Hall Place.  The permanent exhibitions at the museum include The Story of Derry exhibition and the An Armada Shipwreck – La Trinidad Valencera exhibition. 
One of the largest ships in the Spanish Armada, La Trinidad Valencera, sank during a storm in 1588 in Kinnagoe Bay, Co. Donegal. Four hundred years later it was found by divers from the City of Derry Sub Aqua Club. The exhibition fills in the story those involved, soldiers, sailors and the divers and archaeologists who discovered the wreck of the ship.

On show: cannons, textiles, pottery, wooden and pewter dishes, goblets, coins and shoes. Audio guides of the exhibition are available in six languages. http://www.derrycity.gov.uk/armada/

Civil Rights Marches, Bloody Sunday

     I remember as a young man standing by a fire brigade in Merrion Square, Dublin watching the British Embassy go up in flames. The shootings of protesters by British paratroops in Derry on Bloody Sunday sent a huge emotional charge throughout Ireland North and South, I think this was the only real protest i ever attended. It was 1972 and 13 young men died on a civil rights demonstration in Derry, Northern Ireland. I remember the pent up feelings of rage of ordinary people on the streets of Dublin that day. The embassy had been evacuated but I recall the cheers of normally peaceful Dubliners as each petrol bomb smashed in frames against the walls. I remember looking up at the driver of the fire engine, all he could was shrug his shoulders. His fire engine could not move, surrounded in the sea of people just standing there.

     It had often been remarked that the burning of the embassy that evening actually had a useful or cathartic outcome in that it quelled the rage of anger and sympathy that if fully unleashed could have led to appalling results for Ireland as a whole.

John Kelly, Museum of Free Derry and Pat Keenan, Editor HOLIDAYezine

     Forty-one years on and I'm in the Bogside at the Museum of Free Derry talking with John Kelly, where outside the door and just around the corner, his brother Michael was shot dead by 'Soldier F' of the British Paratroopers. John was there that day, also marching, and helped carry his fatally wounded brother to the ambulance.
     The Museum of Free Derry displays a huge selection of photographs, video and recordings on the civil rights campaign which emerged in the 1960s and the Free Derry/early Troubles period of the early 1970s. It tells the people’s story of the civil rights movement, the Battle of the Bogside, Internment, Free Derry and Bloody Sunday. The museum has an archive of over 25,000 individual items, rubber / plastic bullets, blood stained banners and clothing - all relating to this period in the city’s history.
     It was an emotional visit but I came away with a enhanced respect for John Kelly and his fellow Bogsiders who have no political allegiances to and John tell me they have had visits from all over the world and locally they receive visits from unionists and Apprentice Boys and from British soldiers who served in Derry returning with their families. 

The Museum of Free Derry. Glenfada Park BT48 9DR   Tel: 028 7136 0880  www.museumoffreederry.org

The Death of Innocence mural

On the corner of Lecky Road and Rossville Street The Death of Innocence mural is of Annette McGavigan a fourteen years old schoolgirl from Derry became the first child victim of the troubles killed as she returned home from school during a shooting incident in the Bogside. The rifle was broken in two and the butterfly was coloured in 2006 to represent the change from violence to peace .

Shopping

Austin’s Department Store on the south corner of the Diamond is Ireland's first department store, believed to be the world’s oldest independent department store. It was rebuilt between 1904and 1906 after a fire in the original store.

Austin’s Department Store

The Craft Village, between Lowerr Shipquay Street and Magazine Street is a reconstruction of an 18th Century street with a variety of shops. It was opened by President of Ireland, Mary Robinson in 1992. Also here is the Genealogy Centre where you will find an extensive record of passenger lists from the 18th and 19th Century emigration periods.

Phil Coulter: "The town I loved so well"

     "The town I loved so well", is what native son Phil Coulter called Derry in the song. In the post Good Friday agreement they seemed to have, for now, settled on Derry-Londonderry (and because of that dividing stroke, the local wits call it 'Stroke City') I suspect it will go on and on but Legenderry is good enough for this visitor. 

TRAVEL FILE

By bus: the journey from Dublin is usually about 3.5 hours on all services. Bus Éireann Expressway, €35 return, buseireann.ie

Accommodation

I stayed at the Tower Hotel, 17-19 Butcher Street, Derry, tel: 0044 (0) 28 7137 1000, towerhotelderry.com. A four-star hotel inside city walls, rooms from £56 (approx. €65) a night.

Eating Out:

Custom House Restaurant, Queen’s Quay, Derry, customhouserestaurant.com, tel: 0044 (0) 28 7137 3366. Views of the River Foyle from large, plushly-decorated restaurant with food at reasonable prices.

Cafe del Mondo, 29 The Craft Village, Shipquay Street, cafedelmondo.org, tel: 0044 (0) 28 7136 6877. Tasty lunch and dinner menus in a charming restaurant.

Badger’s Bar Restaurant, 16-18 Orchard Street, Derry, tel: 0044 (0) 28 7136 0763. Polished-brass and stained-glass Victorian pub with quality pub grub.

Encore at the Millennium Forum, Newmarket Street BT48 6EB   www.millenniumforum.co.uk 
Tel: 028 7137 2492 

At La Sosta Ristorante met up with John Hume again
and Northern Standard writer George Keegan

La Sosta Ristorante, established in 1995, specialises in authentic 'cucina italiana'.  Run by husband and wife team Maureen, from Derry, and Claudio Antonucci,  from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Open Tuesday - Saturday from 6.30 p.m. until late. but closed Sunday and Monday.  45a Carlisle Road BT48 6JJ   www.lasostarestaurant.co.uk Tel: 028 7137 4817 

Transport:

Taxis: City Cabs Tel 0044 2871 264466  

Tours

Martin Mc Crossan Tours Leaving from 11 Carlisle Road BT48 6JJ Times: 10.00am, 12.00 noon, 2.00pm Every day, no need to book. Only £4pp Duration 1 hour approx.

Derry, Northern Ireland · http://www.derrycitytours.com

For more information on Derry go to www.derryvisitor.com 

Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau, 44 Foyle Street, Derry-Londonderry, BT48 6AT.   

Tel (028) 7137 7577,  Email: info@derryvisitor.com

For further information on Northern Ireland go to  www.discovernorthernireland.com 

or contact the Tourism Information Centre, Suffolk St, Dublin 2 

or Callsave 1850 230 230.