About
The Derry Walls are the largest Monument in State Care in Northern Ireland. Constructed between 1613 and 1619, they have seen much in their 426 year history. Join DfC Principal Conservation Architect, and member of the Derry Walls Management Group, Manus Deery, on a 50 minute walk around the one mile circuit of the monument and hear about its long history and the work to conserve and celebrate the monument and nearby historic buildings over the last 50 years. Tour departs from the front steps of the Guildhall at 15:00.
Derry~Londonderry has the most complete circuit of historic walls of any town or city in Ireland: they stand up to 8 metres (26 feet) high and measure almost 1.6km (one mile) in circumference.
The walls were constructed between 1613 and 1619 to protect the English and Scots settlers of the new town that was established here as part ofthe Plantation of Ulster. King James Iordered this colonisation with loyal, Protestant subjects in order to bring the rebellious Gaelic region firmly under the control of the English crown in 1611.
The Honourable The Irish Society was founded to take charge of the plantation, and finance was obtained from the City of London to build the walls. The new City of Londonderry was laid out as the defensive wallswere being constructed. Still seentoday, the street pattern was regular, with four main streets crossing at acentral square, later called 'The Diamond', leading straight to the fourgates in the walls. In 1689 the Catholic King James II and his supporters (Jacobites) laid siege to the city for 105 days, as part of his campaign to reclaim the English throne from the Protestant King William III. Thirteen apprentices famously shut the city gates against the advancing Jacobite troops and despite fierce fighting over the weeks, the city successfully withstood the attack.
The walls are still owned by The Honourable The Irish Society, although they are now managed and conserved by the Department for Communities' Historic Environment Division.
