About
St. Augustine’s Church rebuilt in 1872 is a neo Gothic church with a unique history stretching back 1500 years to the time of the great Irish saint Columba/Colmcille. The present church sits on the footprint of the first monastery founded by the saint in 546AD and it was from here that St. Columba sailed to Iona with twelve companions in 564AD to become the powerhouse for the spread of Christianity to Northern Britain.
In 1600, the new settlers from Scotland and England used the Church as their Cathedral until St. Columb’s Cathedral was built in 1634 and in July 1689 during the Great Siege of Derry, a cannonball fell in the graveyard containing no powder but a piece of the paper - the infamous Terms for Surrender.
Many famous people lie in the graveyard and the oldest legible gravestone - The Welsh Stone - dates from 1567 and can be viewed inside the Church.
The Church is open for worship on Sundays and Tuesdays and remains a vibrant presence on the West Bank of the Foyle. Often called the Wee Church on the Walls, it is an oasis of peace in the centre of a busy city and visitors and residents alike are always struck by the beauty of the site.
