Londonderry

The city of Derry has a long history going back fourteen hundred years. At the time of the plantation the City of London in England sent over builders and money to rebuild Derry. As a result, Derry was renamed Londonderry, but today both the long and the short names are used.

The best way to see the city of Derry is to walk along the famous city wall built by the planters in 1614. The wall is about 1 mile (1.5 km.) around and 21 feet (6.5 m.) thick. It is still unbroken - the only complete city wall in Britain or Ireland - in spite of the fact that it has stood against several sieges.

One siege in particular is famous - the Great Siege which started in December 1688 and lasted until July the following year. During this time the city was surrounded by James II's army. 7,000 people out of a population of 30,000 died of starvation before the siege was finally ended. This historical event is still very much alive in people's memories and every year there is a ceremonial closing of the city gates to commemorate the siege.

A tragic story

Near the City of Derry Golf Club, which lies to the north outside the city walls, a family called Knox still lives in a house called Prehen House, where a terrible tragedy took place in 1760.

A local gambler called John Mcnaghten tried to kidnap Mary Ann Knox but she resisted, and during the struggle he accidentally shot her. He was sentenced to death by hanging for the crime, but during the execution the hangman's rope broke. The crowd of people who were watching the execution shouted that he should be saved from the death penalty, since you couldn't hang a man twice. The prisoner, however, shouted that he did not wish to be known as 'half-hanged Macnaghten', climbed back onto the scaffold and hanged himself!

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 112