Derry's City Walls
Derry's walls have never been breached, which is why the city is called the Maiden City. They are also among the last great town walls built in Europe.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Derry, Northern Ireland, enclosing the old city centre above the River Foyle
- Built
- 1613 to 1619
- Builders
- The Honourable The Irish Society, acting for the London livery companies
- Length
- About 1.5 km (roughly a mile) around the full circuit
- Original gates
- Four: Bishop's Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Butcher's Gate and Shipquay Gate
- Famous siege
- 105 days, from 18 April to 1 August 1689
- Famous cannon
- Roaring Meg, cast in 1642 and still on the ramparts
- Distinction
- The most complete city walls in Ireland, and you can walk the whole circuit
The city walls that never fell
Derry's walls were never breached. That record gave the city its nickname, the Maiden City, because no enemy ever broke in. They are also the most complete city walls in Ireland, and you can walk the entire circuit along the top. The ramparts are wide enough for a stroll, and the views change every few steps. You see the Guildhall, the Bogside, the Foyle and the rooftops of the old centre. They are among the last major town walls built in Europe, put up just as gunpowder warfare was making such defences old-fashioned.
A London-built city on the Foyle
The walls date from the Plantation of Ulster. In the early 1600s the Crown encouraged settlers from England and Scotland to take over land in the north of Ireland, and the City of London was pressed to help. The job went to The Honourable The Irish Society, which acted for the London livery companies. In 1613 the city gained the prefix London, and Derry became Londonderry on paper. The walls went up between 1613 and 1619 to protect the new settlement. The layout is a neat, planned grid. Four main streets run from a central square, the Diamond, to four gates. Walk those streets today and you are following a plan drawn up four centuries ago.
The 105 days that made the legend
The walls' great test was the Siege of Derry. On 7 December 1688 thirteen apprentice boys seized the keys and shut the gates in the faces of the Catholic army of James II. The Apprentice Boys of Derry still commemorate the moment. The siege proper began on 18 April 1689 and lasted 105 days. Food ran out, and thousands inside died of hunger and disease. The besiegers laid a boom across the Foyle to stop supply ships. On 28 July 1689 the ship Mountjoy broke through the boom, and the besieging army withdrew on 1 August. The event became a founding story for many Protestants in Ulster. It is remembered with parades, and the governor Robert Lundy is burned in effigy as a traitor, though the story is more complicated than the ritual suggests.
Roaring Meg and the cannon
Look for the cannon along the ramparts. They are the walls' best-known feature, and the most famous is Roaring Meg. It was cast in 1642 by the Merchant Taylors' Company of London and is named for the noise it made. It is one of a line of guns on the Royal Bastion and elsewhere on the walls. Many were gifts from the London companies, a reminder of who paid for the city's defence. Together they show how seriously Derry's founders took the threat of attack.
Gates, arches and the walls today
The four original gates have been joined by others. Newgate, Castle Gate and Magazine Gate were added later, which makes seven in all, and some of the older ones have been rebuilt over the centuries. Bishop's Gate was rebuilt as a triumphal arch in 1789. The walls also hold some of the city's key buildings. St Columb's Cathedral, finished in 1633, sits inside the circuit. On the Royal Bastion once stood a tall pillar topped with a statue of the siege's leader George Walker. It was blown up by the IRA in 1973. The bastion now offers a wide view across the Bogside. For the best experience, walk the full circuit slowly and check the outward views. The walls look down on the modern city, and that gives a sense of how Derry grew around its defences.
Notable people
- George Walker
- Robert Lundy
- James II
- William III