Origins
Among the many historic monuments in Derry, the massive City Walls on the west bank of the River Foyle are the most striking and memorable. Built between 1614 and 1619, the original Walls are almost perfectly preserved today, making Derry one of the finest examples of a walled city in Europe. Using earth, lime and local stone (some from ruined medieval monastery buildings), Peter Benson from London skilfully constructed the thick defensive ramparts and angular artillery bastions, following closely the design of Sir Edward Doddington of Dungiven.
 The entire cost of the building was met by the Irish Society comprising London businessmen who were responsible for the Plantation of Derry. It was their duty, under a Royal Charter of King James I, to build and maintain the Derry Walls to help control the local Irish rebels. In return they were given large parcels of land in the region for themselves. Despite sieges in 1641, 1649 and the Great Siege of 1689, Derry’s Walls were never breached – proof indeed of their careful planning and excellent construction, and reason for the title ‘The Maiden City’.
Originally there were only four entrances (Gates) into the walled city ie Bishop’s Gate, Shipquay Gate, Ferryquay Gate and Butcher’s Gate. These were arranged in a cross pattern with the Diamond at its centre. Drawbridges and portcullises were used to protect some of the Gates when under attack. Later were added New Gate (1789), Castle Gate (1803) and Magazine Gate (1865). The original Gates were themselves rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Walls have an almost unbroken 1.5km circuit and are approximately 5.5m wide in most places.
Touring the Walls
Guided tours of the famous Walls are now organised by Derry City Council. Contact Derry Visitor & Convention Bureau on T: 7126 7284 E: info@derryvisitor.com
Northeast Wall
At the northeastern corner of the Walls once stood Coward’s Bastion. It was removed in the early 19th century. This bastion was so named because of its distance from the heavy fighting during the Great Siege.
Also at this point is Magazine Gate. Between it and Shipquay Gate the visitor can see several cannons overlooking the Guildhall which were presented to the city by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590 and by various London Guilds. On the outside of this raised section of the Walls is a bronze plaque marking the heroism of Captain Michael Browning who captained the ship Mountjoy as it broke the boom in 1689. He relieved the city but fell, shot dead in his moment of glory. Past Shipquay Gate lies the Water Bastion where the River Foyle used to touch the Walls at high tide.
Several magnificently refurbished cannons are now placed on various bastions along the Walls such as Church Bastion and Double Bastion.
East Wall – Church Wall
At Newmarket Street there is a modern-day gap in the Walls (1861) beside St Columb’s Hall. New Gate Bastion is next, then Ferryquay Gate, both overlooking the Waterside across the Foyle.
Ferryquay Gate
Beyond Ferry Bastion and nearby New Gate, a stone watchtower can be seen set high up on the parapet wall. The external parapet was raised here during the 1689 siege to protect St Columb’s Cathedral from enemy cannon fire. Around the corner on the Church Wall is another similar watchtower. In between is the Church Bastion.
South Wall
Continuing on, the visitor arrives at Bishop’s Gate. From here can be seen the one remaining tower of the old Derry Jail, built in 1791, which is now part of the Fountain Estate.
During the 1689 siege, Bishop’s Gate had an extra defensive wall built out in front of it known as a ‘ravelin’. The Gate was completely rebuilt in 1789 into an ornamental triumphal arch with pedestrian passages in honour of King William III (William of Orange). Steps on either side of the Gate allow access onto the Walls.
Interesting features include the two facial images sculpted on both sides of the arch, representing the River Foyle (1689) outside and the River Boyne (1690) on the inside.
West Wall – Mall Wall
The first feature on this section of the Walls is the Double Bastion. So called because of a dividing wall built in 1689, it contains the famous ‘Roaring Meg’ cannon donated in 1642 by the London Fishmongers’ Guild. When used during the Great Siege, it was said that: ‘the noise of the discharge was more terrifying than were the contents of the charge dangerous to the enemy’.
It was on this bastion also that the siege Governors erected a gallows and threatened to hang all their prisoners if the besieging army harmed any Williamite sympathisers captured outside the Walls.
Moving on, the Royal Bastion overlooks the former bog below and St Eugene’s Cathedral (1873) sited on the sweeping hills to Creggan. On this bastion in 1826 was erected a 27m tall monument to the Reverend George Walker, Joint-Governor of Derry during the Great Siege. It was destroyed by a bomb in 1973 and replaced by a commemorative plinth in 1992.
Between Royal Bastion and Butcher’s Gate, just inside the Walls, lies the Memorial Hall. This building is the headquarters of the Apprentice Boys, who take their name and tradition from the thirteen Guild apprentices who shut the city Gates against King James’s troops in 1688 as their elders hesitated. This was the symbolic start of the Great Siege of Derry which lasted for 105 days, from 18 April to 28 July 1689.
Next is Butcher’s Gate, which bore the brunt of the Jacobite attacks, and, just beside it, the remains of Gunner’s Bastion. The master gunner’s house was near here.
Continuing past Castle Gate, there is a platform referred to as Hangman’s Bastion. This is so called because, during the Great Siege, a man tried to escape over the Walls at this point by getting his friends to lower him by a rope. Instead of helping him to freedom, it caught around his neck and almost hanged him. |
