County Derry
Derry (Ulster's second largest city) was the home of the O'Donnell clan, who with the O'Neills, were known as the Earls of Ulster, and whose tales of conflict with the Crown forces would fill many books. Derry has been an important seaport for thousands of years, with a settlement on its site since the sixth century. Strategically close to the open sea and set on a hill on the banks of the Foyle estuary, Derry increasingly became the target of attacks which would continue for another thousand years.
In the late sixteenth century an English garrison was sent to conquer troublesome Ulster by Elisabeth I. Several decades later during the Nine Years War, another more successful attempt was made to secure the town. 1603 saw the establishment of an English trading colony which came under attack and was practically wiped out. Galled by the constant unrest, James I eventually put an end to the matter in 1609 by granting land to a selection of English and Scottish settlers. The City of London sent master-builders and money to rebuild the ruined medieval town which is where the name Londonderry originated.
In 1688, 13 apprentice boys took matters into their own hands, slamming shut the gates of Derry before the Catholic forces of James II. Several months later the siege of Derry began. 105 days of bombardment, hunger and disease followed, before a relief ship eventually broke the siege. An estimated 30,000 people had died at this stage. Colonel Baker, a governor of the city who died on the 74th day of the siege, shares a memorial in the cathedral with Captain Browning who was killed as his ship Mountjoy broke the boom across the river and relieved the city in July 1689. The chapterhouse displays the keys to the gates that were shut against James II.
Derry is mainly a hilly county, with scenic hills, glens and river valleys. To the south the Sperrin mountains, culminating in Sawel (2,240 feet), mass along the border with County Tyrone; in the north is the Atlantic coast, fringed with magnificent beaches of surf-washed sand. Derry city, on a commanding hill overlooking a broad tidal curve of the River Foyle, is an ancient and historic town. On the northern coast near Downhill is Benone beach, and throughout the county there are numerous tourist attractions.
Reminders of Derry's troubled past abound in the city, with murals commemorating Bloody Sunday and the civil rights movement in Bogside, however, thanks to a newfound cultural, political and economic prosperity an unmistakeable energy now pulsates throughout Derry.
