Thursday, July 28, 2016

British Isles Friday

Hosted by Joy's Book Blog.

April 2007 - Derry Northern Ireland


We took a day trip to Derry while we were staying in Belfast. We joined a walking tour.

Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest city on the island of Ireland.The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Daire or Doire meaning "oak grove" In 1613, the city was granted a Royal Charter by King James I and gained the "London" prefix to reflect the funding of its construction by the London guilds. While the city is more usually known colloquially as Derry, Londonderry is also commonly used and remains the legal name.

Derry War Memorial



The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, which is spanned by two road bridges and one footbridge. The city now covers both banks (Cityside on the west and Waterside on the east).
Derry has the most complete circuit of historic walls in Ireland and they offer the visitor one of the finest examples of the Walled Cities of Europe.

.






The Walls were built during the period 1613-1618 by the honourable, the Irish Society as defences for early seventeenth century settlers from England and Scotland.

The Walls, which are approximately 1.5km in circumference, form a walkway around the inner city and provide a unique promenade to view the layout of the original town which still preserves its Renaissance Style street plan to this day.

The four original gates to the Walled City are Bishop’s Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Butcher Gate and Shipquay Gate. Three further gates were added - Magazine Gate, Castle Gate and New Gate.


Castle Gate


Bishop's Gate







Overlooking Bogside.






The city claims Europe’s largest collection of cannon whose origins are known precisely. Many of them thundered in anger over the two seventeenth century sieges. In 2005 the surviving 24 cannon were restored, and under expert supervision and often by hand, craftsmen, cleared the barrels of centuries of rubbish, stripped off layers of paint and corrosion and bathed, sponged and waxed the cannon back to their former glory. The cannon are displayed throughout the City Walls with the impressive Roaring Meg located on the double bastion.












Court House




Random around the city.







The Bogside (Irish: Taobh an Bhogaigh) is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard FĂ©ile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are popular tourist attractions. The Bogside is a majority-Catholic area, and shares a border with the majority-Protestant Fountain neighborhood.

.



Click here to read about the murals.










Cute!







We visited the museum but weren't supposed to take photos.




Click here for the history of Bloody Sunday.

There is also a movie based on the events of that day called Bloody Sunday.



A movie, Sunday, Bloody Sunday has a slight part by 13 year old Daniel Day-Lewis.


U2 immortalized the events in this song, Sunday, Bloody Sunday.






4 comments:

  1. A lot of dark history there. The war memorial and the cannons particularly catch my eye.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great writeup after all the time. Fun to read.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad you posted the link for the murals, that's very interesting and sad. I love Badgers And want to stop in there. Great photos.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm fascinated by walled cities. I had no idea that Londonderry has so much of its wall intact!

    ReplyDelete

This blog does not allow anonymous comments.