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Image:River Foyle 2004 SeanMcClean.jpg The River Foyle at night Derry or Londonderry (Irish: Doire or Doire Cholm Chille), often called the Maiden City, is a city in Northern Ireland. The old walled city of Londonderry lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, and the present city now covers both banks (Cityside to the west and Waterside to the east) and is connected by two bridges. The district extends to rural areas to the southeast of the city. The population of the city proper was 83,652 in the 2001 Census. The Derry Urban Area (including Culmore, New Buildings and Strathfoyle) had a population of 90,663 people and is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland, the fourth on the island of Ireland. Derry is near the border with the Republic of Ireland, and serves much of western Ulster, including County Donegal, as well as the west of County Londonderry. The district is run by Derry City Council and has an airport, City of Derry Airport, and a seaport, Londonderry Port.
NameThe city's official name is Londonderry according to the city's Royal Charter and, as stated in a recent High Court decision[2] in January 2007, remains so. It usually appears as such on maps.[3] The city is known by many as Derry, which is an anglicisation of the Irish doire. Doire means ‘Oak-grove’ and comes from the settlement's original name Daire Calgaich, translating as ‘oakwood of Calgach’.[citation needed] Calgacus or Calgacos, meaning "swordsman", was an ancient warrior of the Caledonian Britons; there is no reason to believe there is any connection. The name was changed from Derry in 1613 during the Plantation of Ulster to reflect the establishment of the city by the London guilds. However, most Irish people, at home and abroad, still prefer "Derry", so the proper name of the city remains a matter of dispute.
The city is also nicknamed the Maiden City by virtue of the fact that its walls were never penetrated during the siege of Derry in the late 17th century. It is also nicknamed 'Stroke City' by local broadcaster, Gerry Anderson, due to the occasional 'politically correct' use of the oblique notation Derry/Londonderry. A recent addition to the city has been the erection of several large stone columns on main roads into the city welcoming drivers to "the walled city". History
Derry is one of the longest continuously inhabited places in Ireland. The earliest historical references date to the 6th century when a monastery was founded there by St. Columba, but for thousands of years before that people had been living in the vicinity. Before leaving Ireland to spread Christianity elsewhere in the British Isles, Columba founded a monastery in the then Doire Calgaich, on the east side of the Foyle. According to oral and documented history the site was granted to Columba by a local King. The monastery then remained in the hands of the federation of Columban churches who regarded Colm Cille as their spiritual mentor. In the year 546 the area was rebaptised Doire Cholm Cille, Colmcille’s Oak Grove in remembrance. At this stage, in the 6th century, Derry was known primarily as a monastic settlement.
Londonderry was the first ever planned city in Ireland: it was begun in 1613, with the walls being completed 5 years later in 1618. The central diamond within a walled city with four gates was thought to be a good design for defence. The grid pattern chosen was subsequently much copied in the colonies of British North America.[7] The modern city preserves the 17th century layout of four main streets radiating from the Diamond to four gateways - Bishop's Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Shipquay Gate and Butcher's Gate. Historic buildings within the walls include the 1633 Gothic cathedral of St Columb. In the porch is an inscription:
Image:StColumbs.JPG St Columb's Cathedral Coat of arms and mottoThe devices on Derry's arms are a skeleton, a three-towered castle, a red cross and sword. The sword and cross are devices of the City of London and demonstrate the link between the two cities, in particular, the association with the Honourable the Irish Society which had been granted lands in and around the city in the past. The castle is thought to relate to a 13th or 14th century keep in nearby Greencastle belonging to the local native chieftains. There are many theories about the skeleton; the most popular being that it is that of a Norman De Burca knight who was starved to death in the castle dungeons in 1332. However, during the days of Gerrymandering and discrimination against the Catholic population of Derry, Derry's Roman Catholics often[citation needed] used to claim in dark wit that the skeleton was 'a Catholic waiting on the Council housing list'. The motto attached to the coat of arms reads in Latin, "Vita, victoria, veritas." This translates into English as, "Life, victory, truth." Climate
EconomyThe economy of the district was based significantly on the textile industry until relatively recently. For many years women were often the sole wage earners working in the shirt factories while the men predominantly in comparison had high levels of unemployment.[8] This led to significant male emigration.[9] In more recent times the textile industry jobs have increasingly moved to the Far East, leaving the district to bear an increased jobless total. The history of shirt making in the city dates back as far as 1831 and is said to have been started by William Scott and his family who first exported shirts to Glasgow.[10] Within 50 years, shirt making in the city was the most prolific in the UK with garments being exported all over the world. It was known so well that the industry received a mention in Das Kapital by Karl Marx, when discussing the factory system:
A long-term foreign employer in the area is Du Pont, which has been based at Maydown since 1958, its first European production facility.[12] Originally Neoprene was manufactured at Maydown and subsequently followed by Hypalon. More recently Lycra and Kevlar® production units were active.[13] Thanks to a healthy world-wide demand for Kevlar which is made at the plant, the facility recently undertook a £40 million upgrade to expand its global Kevlar production. Du Pont has stated that contributing factors to its continued commitment to Maydown are "low labor costs, excellent communications, and tariff-free, easy access to the UK mainland and European continent." Image:Seagate building Derry 2005.jpg Seagate Production Facility, 1 Disc Drive, Springtown Industrial Estate. In the last 15 years there has been a drive to increase inward investment in the city, more recently concentrating on digital industries. Currently the three largest private-sector employers are American firms.[14] Even though the city provides cheap labour by standards in Western Europe, critics have noted that the grants offered by the Northern Ireland Industrial Development Board have helped land jobs for the area that only last as long as the funding lasts.[15] This was reflected by 1990 questions to The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Richard Needham).[16] It was noted that it cost £30,000 to create one job in an American firm in Northern Ireland. Successes have included call centres and a large investment by Seagate, which has operated a factory in the Springtown Industrial Estate since 1993. It currently sponsors the city film festival, but more significantly employs over 1,000 people in the Springtown premises ,which produce more than half of Seagate's total requirement for hard drive read-write heads. A success for the Invest NI was Stream International, who opened an outsourced technology contact centre operation at Peninsula Hi-Tech's Ulster Science & Technology Park[17] in January 1995, it is now the third-largest employer in the district.[18] Other tenants on the Science Park include Homeloan Management Ltd from Skipton in the UK who opened a financial services centre employing up to 400 at Building 3 on 1 January 2004. A recent but controversial new employer in the area is Raytheon, Raytheon Systems Limited, was established in 1999, in the Ulster Science & Technology Park, Buncrana Road.[19] Although some local people welcomed the jobs boost some in the area objected to the jobs being provided by a firm involved heavily in the arms trade.[20] Following four years of protest by the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign, in 2004 Derry City Council passed a motion declaring the district a "A 'No–Go' Area for the Arms Trade".[21] The most significant employers in the region are: International:
Local:
Source (pdf) Image:Magee University Derry SMC 2005.jpg Magee campus, University of Ulster Londonderry Port at Lisahally is the United Kingdom’s most westerly port and has capacity for 30,000-ton vessels. The port played a vital part for the Allies in WWII during the war's longest running campaign, The Battle of the Atlantic, and saw the surrender of the German U-Boat fleet at Lisahally on May 8 1945. In spite it being the second city of Northern Ireland, road and rail links to other cities are below par for its standing. Many business leaders claim that government investment in the city and infrastructure has been badly lacking. Some have stated that this is due to its outlaying border location whilst others have cited a sectarian bias against the west of the province due to its high proportion of Catholics.[22][23] There is no motorway link with Belfast or Dublin. The rail link to Belfast has been downgraded over the years so that presently it is not a viable alternative to the roads for industry to rely on. Mr Garvan O'Doherty, local business man and board member of the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commission, stated in the Irish Times, October 2005:
Much has been made of the City of Derry Airport.[citation needed] Local ratepayers subsidise it through the council. Critics of investment decisions affecting the district often point to the decision to build a new university building in nearby Coleraine rather than developing the University of Ulster Magee Campus. Another major government decision affecting the city was the decision to create the new city of Craigavon outside Belfast, which again was detrimental to the development of Derry. Even in October 2005, there was perceived bias against the comparitvely impoverished North West of the province, with a major civil service job contract going to Belfast. Mark Durkan, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Foyle was quoted in the Belfast Telegraph as saying:
Image:Shipquay Street Derry SMC 2005.jpg Shipquay Street with a view of the Guildhall and the River Foyle Many observers note that politics will need to play a part in the future development of the economy of the city. Whether it is a future devolved Northern Ireland government or the British or Irish or European parliaments that will provide the impetus it is clear that cross border digital and physical infrastructure improvements are needed. In July 2005, the Irish Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, called for a joint task force to drive economic growth in the cross border region. This would have implications for Derry and Tyrone, and Donegal across the border. Given the affordability of housing in the city, the student population has boomed in recent years bringing a revival in the fortunes of Magee, the oldest campus within the University of Ulster established in 1865 as Magee College. In 2002 the 145-bedroom "City Hotel" opened. This four-star hotel, part of the Great Southern Hotels group, was built at a cost of £13.8 m - partly funded by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s Tourism Development Scheme and the International Fund for Ireland. In May 2006 it was used by the Conference of European Churches for the annual meeting of its Central Committee - the first time the meeting had taken place on the island of Ireland. ShoppingDerry is the north-west region's major shopping centre and helps to serve outlying areas including rural parts of the county, as well as Counties Donegal and Tyrone. Recent retail develovements in Letterkenny have, however, lessened cross-border traffic from north County Donegal. The city centre has two main shopping malls; the Foyleside Shopping Centre (also Northern Ireland's largest shopping centre) which has 45 stores and 1430 parking spaces, and the Richmond Centre, which has 39 retail units. The Quayside Shopping Centre also serves the city-side. These centres, as well as local-run businesses, feature numerous national and international stores. Derry is also home to the world's oldest independent department store; Austin's. Established in 1830, Austin's predates Jenner's of Edinburgh by 5 years, Harrod's of London by 15 years and Macy's of New York by 25 years. The store's five-story Edwardian building is located in the city centre's Diamond. Night-lifeThe city's night-life is mainly centred around the weekend. Waterloo Street is central to this. It is a steep street lined with various pubs, both Irish traditional and modern. Live rock and traditional music can frequently be heard emanating from the pub-doors and windows whilst walking up or down the street at night. Derry also has a Wetherspoons outlet, which is popular with punters as a pre-club drinking destination, as well as Lloyds No. 1 Bar (also owned by Wetherspoons). Protestant minorityConcerns have been raised by the Protestant community over the increasingly divided nature of the city. During the course of the Troubles, it is estimated that as many as 15,000 Protestants fled the cityside due to safety concerns. Fewer than 1,000 are now living on the west bank of the River Foyle mostly in the Fountains Estate and it is feared that the city could become permanently divided.[25] [1] However, concerted efforts have been made by local community, church and political leaders from both traditions to redress the problem. A conference to bring together key actors and promote tolerance was held in October 2006. Dr Ken Good, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, said he was happy living on the cityside. "I feel part of it. It is my city and I want to encourage other Protestants to feel exactly the same," he said. Support for Protestants in the district has been strong from the SDLP Mayor Cllr Helen Quigley. Cllr Quigley has made inclusion and tolerance key themes of her mayorality. The Mayor Helen Quigley said it is time for "everyone to take a stand to stop the scourge of sectarian and other assaults in the city."[26] TransportDerry’s transport network is built out of a complex array of old and modern roads and railways throughout the city and county. The city's road network also makes use of two bridges to cross the River Foyle, the Craigavon Bridge and the Foyle Bridge, the longest bridge in Ireland. BusesCity and suburbanMost public transport in Northern Ireland is operated by the subsidiaries of Translink. Originally the city's internal bus network was run by Ulsterbus, which still provides the city's connections with other towns in Northern Ireland. The city's buses are now run by Ulsterbus Foyle,[27] just as Translink Metro now provides the bus service in Belfast. The Ulsterbus Foyle network offers 13 routes across the city into the suburban areas. There is also an Easibus link connecting to the Waterside and Drumahoe, and a free Rail Link Bus runs from the Waterside Railway Station to the city centre. All buses leave from the Foyle Street Bus Station in the city centre. Long distanceLong distance buses depart from Foyle Street Bus Station to destinations throughout Ireland. Buses are operated by both Ulsterbus and Bus Éireann on cross-border routes and also by Lough Swilly buses to Co. Donegal. There is a half-hourly service to Belfast every day, called the Maiden City Flyer, which is the Goldline Express flagship route. There are hourly services to Strabane, Omagh, Coleraine and Letterkenny, and nine services a day to Dublin. There is a daily service to Sligo, Galway, Shannon Airport and Limerick. RailwaysNorthern Ireland Railways has a single route from Waterside station to Belfast via Bellarena, Castlerock, Coleraine, Ballymoney, Cullybackey, Ballymena, Antrim, Mossley West and Whiteabbey. The service, which had been allowed to deteriorate in the 1990s, has since been boosted by increased investment. However, many still do not use the train, due to the fact that at over two hours it is slower centre-to-centre than the 100-minute Ulsterbus Goldline Express service. Image:Map Rail Ireland Viceregal Commission 1906.jpg Rail-map-Viceregal-1906 At one time, Derry was served by four different systems which stretched throughout Northern Ireland, into Co. Donegal and deep into southern Ireland. At the turn of the last centuary, Clones was one of the major junctions from Derry, Omagh, and Belfast to north Leinster, in particular, the major market towns of Athlone, Cavan, and Mullingar. This back-bone rail infrastructure was administered by Midland Great Western Railway which also linked to other major centres namely, Sligo, Tullamore, via Clara, other destinations such as Dublin, Limerick, and other market centres of the south coast. Road networkThe road network has historically seen under-investment and has lacked good road connections to both Belfast and Dublin for many years. Long overdue, the largest road investment in the north west’s history is now taking place in the district with the construction of new dual-carriageways and roads to Dungiven and helping to reduce the time it takes to get to Belfast.[28] This development is bringing a direct dual-carriageway linking between Northern Ireland's two largest cities a step closer. The project is costing £111 million and is expected to be completed in 2015. In October 2006, the Irish Government announced that it was to invest €1,000 million in Northern Ireland;[29] and one of the planned projects was the complete upgrade of the A5 Derry-Omagh-Aughnacloy(-Dublin) road, around 90km (56 miles) long, to motorway standard. [2] TaxisThe city has the highest concentration of taxis in the province[citation needed]. The largest of these is Waterside Taxis, which operate from the Bond Street area[citation needed]. AirCity of Derry Airport, the council-owned commercial airport, has been growing in recent years with new investment in a new runway and £10 million towards redeveloping the site.[30] It is hoped that the new investment will add to the airport's already impressive array of domestic and international flights. Flights depart mostly to airports in the UK and Ireland, such as Dublin, London Stansted, Birmingham, Liverpool and Nottingham, though also serves some resorts on the southern coast of the Iberian peninsula. On 20 September 2006, the airport's main carrier, Ryanair, announced that it was starting flights to Glasgow Prestwick Airport to complement its flights to Stansted, Liverpool and the East Midlands. A previously successful route between Derry and Manchester was axed by British Airways in 2005 as part of its rationalisation of regional services. SportThe city is the home of many sporting establishments, teams and organisations, and football, both Association (soccer) and Gaelic is popular in the area. The main teams are Derry City F.C., who play in the Republic of Ireland's FAI National League, and Derry GAA respectively. Other soccer teams include Institute F.C. and Oxford United Stars F.C., both of whom play in the Irish League. There are many Gaelic teams in and around the city, for example Steelstown GAC, Doire Colmcille GAC and St Mary's Slaughmanus. The local soccer league is the Derry and District League and teams from the city and surrounding areas participate, including Don Bosco's F.C. and Trojans F.C. not forgetting Lincoln Courts. There are also countless boxing clubs, one of which the established Boxer, John Duddy, graduated from. There are countless gyms situated throughout the city, including Fitness First. Others include Pro Gym and Platinum also Extreme Fitness owned & run by Derek Lynch. Pro Gym is run by Dave Fox and Malika Zitouni. Dave is a native of Derry and is the Nabba Northern Ireland 1997/98 winner. Malika won the Nabba Universe Class 1 2006. Rugby is also quite popular in the city, with the City of Derry Rugby Club situated not far from the city centre. 2001 CensusDerry Urban Area (DUA), including the city and the neighbouring settlements of Culmore, New Buildings and Strathfoyle, is classified as a city by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population exceeding 75,000). On census day (29 April 2001) there were 90,736 people living in Derry Urban Area. Of these:
For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service Places of interestImage:Derry-Guildhall.jpg Guildhall Image:Hands Across the Divide sculpture, Derry.jpg 'Hands Across the Divide' sculpture, by Maurice Harron Tourism is set to be central to the future economic success of Derry. There are many museums and sites of interest in and around the region. Future projects include the Walled City Signature Project, which intends to ensure that the city's walls become a world class tourist experience.[31] Other existing attractions are:
Events
Famous people from Derry
The city in song
TriviaDerry/Londonderry are neighbouring towns in the state of New Hampshire, USA. Education
See alsoImage:Bogside Derry SMC 2005.jpg The Bogside area viewed from the walls | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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