“A county steeped in history”
There is so much to see and do in Derry, which is an old Irish word ‘Daire’ meaning an oak grove.
Although suffering many sieges the walls remain complete today and still have old cannons pointing their black noses over the ramparts.
The great siege lasted for 105 days and on the 74th day, Colonel Baker, Governor of the City, died.
A memorial is shared in the Cathedral with Captain Browning who was killed when his ship, Mountjoy, broke the boom across the river and relieved the city in July 1689.
The keys that shut the gates against James II, in December 1688, are displayed in the Chapterhouse.
The Guildhall has stained glass windows which illustrate nearly every relevant episode of the City’s history and is a wonderful sight to behold.
The quay, behind the Guildhall, is where hundreds of thousands of Irish emigrants sailed from looking for a new life in the New World.
Now, this modern City has preserved the layout of the 17th century’s four main streets, which radiate from the Diamond into four gateways.
These are, Bishop Gate, Butcher Gate, Ferryquay Gate and Shipquay Gate with historic buildings within which include the 1633 Gothic Cathedral of St Columb. There is an inscription in the porch which reads,
“If stones could speake
Then London’s prayse
Should sounde who
Built this Church and
Cittie from the grounde”
Shipquay Street is the main thoroughfare and is extremely steep and has narrow streets running off it.
There is a craft village ‘hiding’ away behind the O’Doherty Tower plus lots more to see and do in this historic City.
Portstewart is a popular seaside resort with a wonderful stretch of sandy beach and extensive white dunes of Portstewart Strand.
The sand dunes provide shelter and habitat for a wide variety of plant and animal species, including exotic orchids nestled amongst the oldest dunes and fragrant herb-rich grassland which has established itself on the most stable areas behind the beach.
This area is also home to rare birds, insects and butterflies.
Portstewart is renowned for its magnificent golf courses and golfing holidays in this area are very popular.
There are many attractions to visit in the surrounding area; Roe Valley Park which is situated in an area which incorporates several spectacular peaks of the Sperrin mountains, Mussenden Temple, perched upon a precipitous cliff edge with breathtaking views over Ireland’s north coast and the Foyle Valley Railway Museum which contains many examples of locomotives, signal levers and other railway associated hardware used in the north west region of Ireland during the early 1900s when Londonderry was the centre of railway communications for the area.
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