From Columba to Conflict

The early years of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street

Compiled by Mickey Cooper

Published in February 2012 Gasyard Heritage Centre 128 Lecky Road Brandywell Derry BT48 7NP T: (028) 7126 2812; (077) 9328 5972 F: (028) 7126 2812 E: freederrytours@gmail.com W: www.freederry.net The authors/photographers assert their moral rights in this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.

Copyright Š contributors, photographers, publishers and Gasyard Heritage Centre.

This publication has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is originally published and without a similar condition to this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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Dedicated to the residents, past and present, of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street area.

It is they who preserve a place’s culture, shape its history and are its very heartbeat.

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Acknowledgements

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he project co-ordinator would like to thank the following groups and organisations for their contributions and participation in this project:

The pupils and staff of St John’s PS, Bligh’s Lane; St Eugene’s PS, Francis Street; Nazareth House PS; Long Tower PS; Gaelscoil na Daroige, Ballymagroarty; Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir, Gasyard Centre; the staff of Free Derry Tours; Kevin Hippsley and all at Guildhall Press; the family of Willie Carson; Maureen Collins and the staff/members of the Gasyard Monday Club; Anne-Marie Gallagher and family; Jimmy Melaugh and the staff of Long Tower Youth Club; the staff at Brandywell football stadium; Joe Murphy and the staff of Celtic Park GAA grounds; Linda McKinney and all the Gasyard Centre staff; Mark Robinson and all at the Heritage Lottery Fund; Ulster Architectural Society; City Swimming Baths staff; A1 Coaches; Doagh Famine Village; Radio Foyle; Derry News; Derry Journal; Irish News and Belfast Telegraph.

Many thanks also to the numerous individual contributors including: Peter McCartney, Declan Carlin, Phil Cunningham, Tommy Carlin, Billy Kelly, Brian Mitchell, Brian Lacey, Eamonn Melaugh, Barney McMonagle, Paddy Kelly, David McIntyre, Mickey Bradley, Donncha Mac Niallais, Terry Lamberton, Eddie Breslin, Jim Collins, Charlie McMenamin, John Tierney, Mary McCallion, Maureen Morrison, Hugh McAuley, George Sweeney, Owen McGoldrick, Sean Dunleavy, John Bryson and Mairtin O’Cathain.

My sincere thanks to all of the above and anybody else who contributed to the project whose name I may have inadvertently omitted.

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Preface

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hat follows is a community record of the key historical and social events which shaped and defined the heritage of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street area of Derry along with an overview of some of its more notable individuals, groups and organisations.

The origins of the area covered include: Bogside: A tributary of the river Foyle originally flowed through the area where Lecky Road and Rossville Street are today. Over the centuries, water levels in the area fell, transforming the tributary into a bog at the side of the old island of ‘Doire’ – hence the name ‘Bogside’.

Brandywell: A number of wells were once located in the area and it was said that the water from some of these sources tasted as good as brandy – hence the name ‘Brandywell’.

Lower Bishop Street: Also known as Bishop Street Without (this section of Bishop Street was outside, or ‘without’, the city Walls), it derives its name from the fact that the Anglican bishop’s residence was located on a section of the road within the Walls. It was also the main route to Dublin, via Lifford, before the construction of Derry’s first bridge in 1791.

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Contents Introduction

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Chapter One

The Archaeology of the Bogside and Brandywell

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Chapter Two

The Architectural Development of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street

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Chapter Three

Early Christianity in Derry

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Chapter Four

Local Churches and Religious Sites

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Chapter Five

Schools and Scholars

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Chapter Six

The Plantation and its Impact on the Bogside

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Chapter Seven

The Industrial Heritage of the Bogside

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Chapter Eight

Migration to and from the Bogside since the Seventeenth Century

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Chapter Nine

The Bogside from Home Rule to the 1960s

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Chapter Ten

Community Development

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Chapter Eleven

Sporting Memories

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Chapter Twelve

Musical Memories

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Chapter Thirteen The People’s History

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Chapter Fourteen Redevelopment 176 Chapter Fifteen

Local Ghostlore

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Chapter Sixteen

Politics and the Media

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Chapter Seventeen Street Names of the Bogside, Brandywell

& Lower Bishop Street

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Introduction

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s someone who has lived within the vicinity of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas at various stages of my life I am proud to have been involved in compiling this book which concentrates on the history of all three districts before the outbreak of the political conflict in 1968 which caused so much hardship, pain and tragedy for the areas. The aim of this project is to highlight the enduring disposition and resilience shown by the people of these areas in the face of sanctioned and sustained policies of discrimination which ultimately spawned the modern conflict – ‘the Troubles’.

This book also highlights and pays tribute to the often unacknowledged and underestimated importance of the Bogside as the ‘cradle of Christianity’ in Derry, the backbone of industrial activity in Derry for over two centuries and the area from where most of Derry’s diaspora can trace their roots.

The three areas have also produced some of Ireland’s greatest sporting heroes, musical figures, actors and actresses, and major political figures. Add to this their key role in some significant events, including the siege of 1689 and the partition of Ireland, and you will get an idea of how important the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas have been in Derry’s pre-conflict history.

This publication complements a new exhibition at the Gasyard Centre which it is hoped will entice locals and tourists alike to visit the centre and perhaps help promote employment opportunities in the area.

Le meas Mickey Cooper

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Chapter One The Archaeology of the Bogside and Brandywell David McIntyre

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espite the fact that much of the Bogside and Brandywell areas were under sea level until relatively recently, a number of interesting and significant archaeological finds have been made in and around the district.

The Stone Age Two of the oldest sites in the Bogside/Brandywell areas are on the outskirts of the Brandywell; one at Nixon’s Corner and the other at the bottom of Milltown. These sites date back around 8,000 years. At that time flints were used for tools, hunting and fishing, the skins of wild animals were used for clothing and shelters and fish skins were used for shoes. Local woods were teeming with wild deer and wild boar – long since extinct – and these were hunted during the summer months; carcasses were also stored to sustain people through the winter months.

Examples of Stone Age flint heads found near the Bogside.

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The Bronze Age The Bronze Age emerged when man learnt how to combine copper and tin to make the alloy known as bronze. Bronze axes, swords, arrows and hammers were made to defend the river or hill where these people lived. Bronze Age articles unearthed have included tools and jewellery such as gold torcs (thought to bring good luck).

The Iron Age By 1000 bc people were using iron to make tools, swords, axes, buckles and horseshoes. They also ploughed their fields with iron ploughs. Iron could also be inserted into the ground to fertilise the soil.

Bronze Age jewellery found near the Brandywell/Lower Bishop Street area.

The Celts Over the years, Celtic artefacts have been found at the edge of the Foyle near the Brandywell: an area known today as ‘the line’. The artefacts were discovered just above the current walkway.

The Vikings The Vikings made several raids on the Derry area during the period spanning the ninth and tenth centuries. Homes were raided and burnt, rebuilt, and destroyed again. But many Vikings eventually settled here and even raised families. Not unlike the market traders in Derry today, the Viking settlers set up ‘stalls’ along sections of the Foyle’s riverbank where they traded with people from all parts of Europe. A range of Viking artefacts were uncovered in the Bishop Street and Letterkenny Road areas in 1970, including buttons, fasteners for cloaks and small bronze buttons worn on garments.

Bronze Age artefact found near the Brandywell/Lower Bishop Street area.

Item of Celtic jewellery found near the Brandywell/Lower Bishop Street area.

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The Siege of Derry (1688–89) Most tracts about the Siege of Derry record the desperate situation that prevailed inside the walled city. However, the people outside the Walls were also dying because the Jacobite army had confiscated so much of their food supplies. Effectively, there was famine both inside and outside the walled city. Plague, fever and sickness were everywhere and survival was ‘nigh impossible’. Those inside the Walls at least had some form of shelter; civilians outside often found their situation to be even worse. I have discovered a number of artefacts in the Letterkenny Road area where some of the Jacobite troops would have been based during the Great Siege of Derry.

This page: Artefacts dating back to the Great Siege, found close to the Bogside area.

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Chapter Two The Architectural Development of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street Mickey Cooper

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he main source for this chapter is the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society’s (UAHS) 1969 publication, Historic Buildings in and Near the City of Derry.

The first architectural structures of note in the Bogside were ecclesiastical edifices. In 1162 a new abbey church, 240 feet long, was commissioned by the Augustinian bishop, Flaithbhertagh O Brolchain, on the site of the present-day Long Tower Church. Additional buildings followed; in the thirteenth century a Cistercian nunnery, in 1274 a Dominican abbey and at a later, unrecorded, date a Franciscan friary. These buildings survived through the medieval period but were left in ruins as a result of the English suppression of Shane O’Neill’s rebellion in 1566 (the cathedral being destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder stored inside). Only the solitary round tower of the cathedral’s belfry remained intact and hence the name ‘Long Tower’ and its ‘long’ association with that area. When Sir Henry Docwra arrived in 1600 he used material from the ruins to build an English settlement on the island of Derry; this was itself destroyed prior to the building of the new ‘Plantation city’ between the years 1613–18.

The Bogside and Brandywell remained largely undeveloped throughout the seventeenth century. Only by the 1780s had Derry really begun to expand beyond the Walls.

By this stage Bridge Street was the residence of skilled tradesmen like printers, dyers, cutlers, glaziers and cabinet makers. At the same time a row of cottages ran from Butcher’s Gate to the ‘Gullet Dock’ (now Waterloo Place), with another line of cottages running down Fahan Street to the ‘Bog’. Linen making, clothes brokers and ropewalks all began to emerge in the Bogside area. Long Tower, Howard Street and St Columb’s Wells were also beginning to develop. With the construction of the first bridge in 1790 Derry’s port expanded. This saw the growth of Carrigan’s Lane, Ferguson Street and Bennett Street to house the families of the port workers. William Street and Fahan Street were also laid out.

By the early Victorian era the ‘professional class’ had located in Great James Street, Clarendon Street, Crawford Square and the Northland Road. This left the Bogside and Bishop Street Without areas ripe for industrial development and housing for local labourers. The 1969 UAHS publication succinctly describes developments at the time; 12

Thomas Street, occupied up to 1961. Each of these cramped dwellings had only four rooms and a lavatory in the back yard. ‘a huddled confusion of small-stepped roofs and chimneys sprang up below the southern Walls and on either side of the Bishop Street line. Shirt factories, rope works and a brewery were grouped round William Street, with flour mills and warehouses in Prince Arthur Street. The basalt and yellow brick gasworks’ wall went up in the Bogside in 1866 and the housing continued to expand. Most of the housing was drab and utilitarian, but in places, such as St Columb’s Walk, the Long Tower area, or in Fountain Street and Albert Street, the development achieved a picturesque miniature scale’.

The typical interior of a home in Adam’s Close in 1961, complete with open turf fire and hearth for cooking.

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Above and opposite: Views of the Bogside from the banking and the Walls in the 1960s.

A notable exception to these terraces was Brandywell cottage, undoubtedly one of the oldest homes still in existence in the city, dating back to at least the early nineteenth century, if not earlier. The cottage is a strange mix of gothic and classical design with classical moulded panels on the doorway and flat cornice hoods over the openings, the windows and fanlights are formed of pointed gothic heads; the scale of the house is unique.

The most noticeable additions to local architecture in the late nineteenth century were banks, warehouses and factories. Shirt factories in particular dotted the landscape with some fine examples built in the Bogside and on Abercorn Road and Bishop Street Without; these included Hogg and Mitchell (at the junction of Little James Street), Tillie and Henderson (Abercorn Road – at one stage the biggest shirt factory in the world) and the Star shirt factory (Foyle Road). The Star factory gets a special mention in the UAHS’s 1969 publication: ‘It is four storeys high with a continuous glazed dormer window going the length of the building, interrupted only by the squat little clock tower. It is not a large building. The fenestration on the main elevation is grouped in five pairs horizontally, each window finished with a segmental head and is carried round each gable though the rhythm is varied and in the spandrels of the gables are pairs of semi-circular windows.

The structure is built of rock-faced sandstone with dressed sandstone trimmings which sets it apart from the other factories in the town.’

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Churches also began to grow in stature in the Victorian period with two of note in the Bogside. The Long Tower, originally built in 1784, was redeveloped by 1909 in sumptuous fashion, whilst St Eugene’s Cathedral, at the top of William Street, ‘aimed high’ with the construction of the second tallest spire in Ireland (the highest being St Colman’s in Cobh).

By the end of the Victorian era the Bogside had begun to expand westwards with the construction of Westland Street, Laburnum Terrace and Westend Park, quickly followed by the Marlborough area’s development. The houses in these new streets stood apart architecturally from their counterparts in the lower Bogside. The houses in Laburnum, for example, built around 1884, had a unique first-floor level entrance, with the ground floor hidden from view to passers-by, whilst the houses on Westend Park and Westland Avenue stood out for their sheer scale, since three- and four-storey homes were uncommon in the area at the time.

Another architecturally noteworthy structure commented on in the UAHS’s 1969 report was the Great Northern Railway (GNR) on the Foyle Road: ‘consisting of five semi-circular arches glazed on either side; the space is spanned by exposed latticed iron girders and roofed with glass. From this space reaches the station platform with access on either side. Though now in disuse, this structure is worthy of retention’. The unfortunate reality is that the GNR building, like many other notable structures in the area, was not retained. Undoubtedly, the Bogside, Brandywell and Bishop Street areas needed to be cleared of their ‘slums’ it’s unfortunate, however, that many unique buildings did not survive the ‘demolition ball.’

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Chapter Three Early Christianity in Derry Tommy Carlin

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ecords show that a monastery existed in Derry from the sixth century ad and that credit for the monastic settlement is usually given to St Columba. Christianity was already widespread in Ireland from the previous century when St Patrick came to preach in Ireland. Prior to Patrick’s arrival, records also show that Pope Clementine had sent missionaries to Ireland as early as 431 ad.

Christianity first spread eastwards from Jerusalem, in the wake of persecution by the Jews and Romans. Christians at the time tended to live in the company of other Christians in deliberate isolation from nonbelievers and what they perceived as their sinful lives. This insularity formed the beginnings of the monastic way of life. The Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 313 ad and by 380 St Patrick. ad it had become the state religion of the entire Roman Empire. The Christian leadership adopted the language (Latin) and organisational methods of the Roman state, with control and regulation of the Church exercised through a hierarchical chain of pope, cardinals, bishops and priests.

Ireland was never part of the Roman Empire although many of its clans and tribes, especially in the north, considered the Romans as their enemy and often fought against them alongside their Celtic cousins in Britain – the Romans had been in Britain since 55 ad.

St Patrick was of Roman descent, he had been captured from the west coast of Britain when he was just 16 years old. He was initially brought to Slane and then sold as a slave to tend sheep in an area of Antrim near the hill of Slemish. He eventually escaped back to Britain and later journeyed to Rome where he was ordained as a priest.

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The Ireland that St Patrick first arrived in was governed by ancient laws and customs entirely different from those in Rome. The Brehon Laws affected every aspect of life in Ireland, from social order to political life and, importantly, religious beliefs. Brehon law prescribed the worship of the ancient gods of earth, water and fire. The laws were interpreted and controlled by the Druids, a group of scholars and poets who held as much power as many of the country’s ‘kings and princes’.

The Druids steadfastly maintained their privileged position in Celtic society. They ruled on matters such as the election of high kings and chieftains, marriage, divorce, hostages, and on the start of the seasons of the year. They were also considered messengers of the gods and zealously guarded the mystery of the ‘god of fire’ – for example, the lighting of ceremonial bonfires to announce important events such as the change of the seasons and feast days could only be performed by Druids.

In his life story, Patrick wrote of hearing a voice in his head which told him he should return to Ireland as a missionary to convert the Irish. He ‘listened’ and returned in 433 ad, landing first on the coast of Wicklow to pay a ransom to his former master. He then travelled to Dublin Bay before heading north to Saul in County Down. On his journey through Ireland he made a point of converting the kings, princes and members of the various clans to Christianity.

In 440 ad Patrick made his way to Ulster. In Armagh he converted the local chieftain then chose a site for a church on a hill known as the ‘Drum Salleach’ or ‘Sallow Ridge’.

This hill is now the site of the Church of Ireland cathedral in Armagh. Travelling west to Tyrone, he arranged for the building of a church in Ardstraw. Patrick then made his way along the valley of the river Laggan in County Donegal to Carndonagh before travelling across the Foyle to Faughanvale in County Derry then further north to the area of Coleraine. It is said that Patrick established over 350 churches in Ireland. He also ordained many priests and founded numerous nunneries. Most of those ordained were from a Celtic royal or noble background.

St Columba was one such member of the Celtic nobility who was drawn to the credo of Christianity.

Columba was a prince of the O’Donnell clan who controlled an area in the east of Donegal and the north of County Derry. Columba’s father was Phelim McFergus (a great grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages) whilst his mother Eithne came from Leinster. He was born in Gartan on 7 December 521 and educated in Crimthann (Kilmacrennan) where he made his decision to ‘dedicate his life to Christ’. Like many before him he felt that his way to ‘salvation’ was to withdraw from social life and engage in monastic life. Consequently, he was sent to the monastery of St Finnian in County Down. On his ordination he took the name of Columb (the dove) before eventually becoming St Columba. known as Colmcille (the dove of the Church).

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Whilst under the tutorage of Finnian, Columba secretly made a copy of a book of the Gospels belonging to the monastery. He had already asked for permission to do this but was refused; regardless, Columba worked furtively to complete the task. His insubordinate act would later result in his exile from Ireland to the Isle of Iona in Scotland.

According to local tradition, the monastery of Derry was founded in the year 546 ad near the present church of the Long Tower in the Bogside. Much of this belief centres on the discovery of ‘ruins’ by Fr William Doherty during renovations to the Long Tower in 1907-9. Fr Doherty claimed they were from the original Columban monastery and identified and interpreted particular entries from seventeenth-century manuscripts and maps as proof of his claim.

There actually is no direct evidence that Columba founded the monastery. In the Life of Columba written by Adomnán (his relative and successor at Iona) in 700 ad, there is no mention of him as the founder of the church at Derry. In fact Adomnán referred to the area as Derry Calgach and not Derry Colmcille, as it was later known.

Neither are there any other contemporary records from the period that refer to ‘Doire Colmcille’; rather, there are references to another relative, Fiachrach Mac Setna, as the founder of the monastery.

However, during the sixth century the Cenel Conaill (O’Donnell), Columba’s clan, had control of the island on the Foyle then known as Doire, therefore, it is much more likely that the monastery was built somewhere on this island. Writings suggest that the land used for the construction of the monastery was gifted by the king of the Cenel Conaill, Aed Mac Ainmired. Adomnán also mentions that the church was built in a clearing in the oak forest on top of the island. He states that it was built to lie north/ south instead of the traditional east/ west direction so as not to disturb the trees in the vicinity, since the pagan people believed that these held the spirits of their ancestors. The site of the monastery would almost certainly be that of the present-day St Augustine’s Church of Ireland; again just a stone’s throw away from the Bogside.

Apart from Adomnán’s manuscript the Life of Columba there is little evidence to connect the great man with Derry and, as previously stated, even less to confirm him as the founder of the Derry monastery.

Most of the manuscripts that mention Columba were written in the twelfth to sixteenth centuries. DurStained glass window from the city’s Guildhall ing this time local monasteries were depicting St Columba and the Oak Grove.

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seen as a prestigious symbol by the clan or tribe that controlled the area around them.

Therefore, it would be in the interest of the clan to ‘create’ a history that would increase the importance of these monastic sites. Claiming that the monastery was built by a famous figure like Columba was one way of exaggerating the site’s importance.

There are other references to the monastery at Derry contained in these old manuscripts but even they are relatively rare. Some provide the names of the abbots, higher clergy or the erenaghs associated with the site. Annals from Iona mention the death of a scribe of Derry in 724 ad. Another record shows that a major fire occurred in Derry around the eighth century. Viking raids in the ninth century are also referenced and there is mention of an attack on the settlement in 833 ad as well as further raids in 990 and 997 ad.

An insight into monastic life at the time may be of interest to the reader. It would have followed a quite specific format. As the monastery developed lay people would eventually have become involved in daily chores like the growing of crops, the keeping of livestock and beekeeping; all frequently mentioned in records of the period. This lay involvement would have encouraged the growth of a healthy settlement around the monastery. The work would have been supervised by an erenagh who might be either a cleric or a lay person. Erenaghs were also responsible for the protection of important artefacts. The Rabhairtaighs (whose townland was ‘Baile Mhic Rabhairtaigh’ or ‘Ballymagroarty’ as it is known today) were a well-known erenagh clan in Derry.

In the eleventh century a new name became associated with the monastic settlement. The Mac Lochlainns were descendants of a group of Vikings who had settled in the north. Under Domhnall, their king, they massively reduced the influence of the Cenel Conaill in the Derry area. One result of this campaign was the destruction of the mighty Grianan of Aileach. On taking control of the monastery in Derry they began to exploit its ‘links’ to Columba and Iona in an attempt to promote their own prestige and importance. This trend continued into the twelfth century during which the great rivals of the Cenel Conaill, the Cenel Eoghain, fought for control of the monastery.

Both clans were quick to associate themselves with the by then celebrated Columba.

Grianan of Aileach in Donegal.

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Chapter Four Local Churches and Religious Sites Mickey Cooper

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egardless of whether or not Columba actually built the monastery at Derry and whether or not it was situated on the site of the present Long Tower Church, the people of the Bogside still claim Columba as an ‘adopted son’. This is reflected in the many place names in the area showing the Columban link (Durrow Park, Iona Park, Kell’s Walk, Colmcille Court) as well as the yearly celebrations that still take place in the area on 9 June, when St Columba’s feast day is celebrated. During these celebrations the blue and yellow colours of Columba are most noticeable in St Columb’s Wells, from where Columba is said to have gathered water on a daily basis during his time in Derry.

It is known that a building on the Long Tower site became the headquarters of the Irish federation of Columban monasteries in the twelfth century and was rebuilt as Derry’s first cathedral, the ‘Teampall Mór’ or ‘Great Church’, from which the diocese of Templemore on Derry’s west bank gets its name. As stated earlier, the building of the Teampall Mór was followed by the building of a Cistercian nunnery in the thirteenth century, a Dominican abbey in 1274 and a Franciscan friary, at a later, unrecorded date.

All these buildings were destroyed during the English suppression of Shane O’Neill’s rebellion in 1566. The arrival of these troops in Derry was a precursor to the colonisation of Derry 40 years later during the Plantation of Ulster. The Plantation exacerbated the difficulties the Catholic Church in Derry had been experiencing since the reformation.

Ultimately, as the older church buildings in Derry were destroyed or fell into ruin, it proved impossible to replace them as a result of penal laws which were being phased in from the late sixteenth century onwards. Following the Plantation, it would be almost 200 years before Derry got a new Catholic church. As with so many previous church buildings, the Bogside was chosen as the location.

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The Long Tower Church The Long Tower Church was commenced in 1784 during the episcopate of Bishop McDevitt and was substantially completed in 1786 at a cost of £2,800. It was a talltype church with the altar against the east gable. The church had an earthen floor which could accommodate 2,000 people standing. The nave and galleries were added in 1810.

Ten years later the vestry was added and a wooden floor laid. The ceiling was added in 1821 and in 1823 new entrances completed. The high altar was now in the transept, on the main axis of the nave, marked today by a marble spot on the central aisle. This altar was identical to the present 2010 version except the fluted shafts of the columns were timber. The Corinthian capitals in the altar were obtained from the Anglican earl, Bishop Harvey. In 1829 the galleries were completed with the organ added in 1833.

In 1908 the church was extended and remodelled. Another transept was added and the high alter moved to its present position. The work cost £28,000 with EJ Toye involved in the design. The new design plan was T-shaped, with three large steeply stepped galleries. The interior, of neo-renaissance style, now had two pairs of marble columns with Corinthian capitals to match those on the original high altar. The sculptural piece at the altar front, depicting the death of St Columba, was by Edmund Sharpe of Dublin. The paintings on the walls, by McEvoy of Dublin, are copies of old masters in oils on copper. The Last Supper over the high altar is by Mrs McEvoy. The stained glass is mostly the work of Earley of Dublin with several, including the four tristyles on the east and west galleries, by Meyer of Munich. The opus sectile murals are by Kayll of Belfast and Leeds. The exterior is simple and dressed in sandstone. The random rubble stonework was obtained from the demolished Lifford Gaol, with some local whinstone mixed in. The slated roofs were surmounted by a small copper cupola crowned with a simple cross.

In 2009, renovation work to mark the centenary of the church was completed. This included the restoration of a burial plot in the church grounds which contained the remains of people whose bodies had been washed onto the main road during a landslide in the 1930s. The Long Tower remained the only Catholic church in the Bogside until 1873 when St Main entrance, Eugene’s Cathedral was completed.

Long Tower Church.

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St Eugene’s Cathedral St Eugene’s (pictured below) was designed by JJ McCarthy, who was also responsible for St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh. The foundation stone of the cathedral was laid on 26 July 1851 and a dedication by Bishop Kelly took place on 4 May 1873.

The carillon of bells rang for the first time on Christmas Eve 1902 and the turrets in the eastern gable and the statues in its niches were completed in 1904. In the same year the organ gallery was extended, the St Eugene’s Cathedral grotto. throne placed in the sanctuary and the pulpit erected to designs by Earley and Powell. The reredos and high tower were also added in 1904. In the following year the gate lodge and grounds were completed to the design of EJ Toye.

The cathedral is a simple plan of neo-gothic expression, with a lofty nave, simple lateral aisles, separated from the nave with pillars of octagonal cross-section supporting pointed arches, above which are clerestory windows, a chancel, a two-storey vestry and a soaring spire rising from a cluster of decorated pinnacles terminating the tower.

The walls are built of local whinstone and the buttresses and spire are of Newry granite. The cross on top of the spire is also granite and is eight feet high – the total height of the spire being 256 feet.

Over the high alter is a memorial window to Dr Kelly, the former bishop of the diocese. Erected in 1891, the stained-glass work was designed and executed by Meyer of Munich. Meyer was also responsible for the stained glass in the remaining windows and executed the carved oak throne. A canopy was added over the pulpit in 1906 along with a sanctuary lamp (these were later removed in the 1989 renovations). A heating system was also added in 1905. In 1955 a new organ was added, new light fittings provided and the interior decorated. In 1968 a travertine floor was fitted along with new vestibule doors. In 1989 further renovations were made including the remodelling of the altar.

Despite Derry’s strong links to St Columba, the cathedral derives its name from the ancient monastery of Ardstraw, which had been founded by St Eoghan (Latinised: Eugenius). The first seat of the bishopric which would eventually evolve into the diocese of Derry was at Ardstraw in Country Tyrone. The seat subsequently moved to Maghera in County Derry before moving again in the thirteenth century to its present

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location in the modern city of Derry. The reasons for all these moves had as much to do with the secular politics of the time as with ecclesiastical matters.

The diocese of Derry actually includes the Inishowen peninsula and other parts of County Donegal, as well as some areas in County Tyrone. This is due to the fact that medieval church boundaries pre-date the modern county boundaries (created by British administrators much later). The diocese of Derry most likely represents the territory claimed by the Ua Lochlainn kings (who lived in Derry itself ) in the twelfth century.

(Extract courtesy of UAHS’s Historic Buildings in and Near the City of Derry – 1969).

Internal view of St Eugene’s Cathedral.

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Above: Christ Church at the entrance to Brooke Park. Below: St Mary’s College Choir and orchestra performing in Christ Church.

Christ Church Just beside the cathedral is the older Christ Church. Dating to 1830, it was known as the Free Church (due to the fact that the payment of tithes by attendees was not compulsory). The church was built at the expense of the Anglican bishop of the time, William Knox. A gallery and vestry room were added in 1832, whilst it was further enlarged in 1882 and the galleries removed. The church is a simple neo-gothic structure with short transepts, a chancel and a square squat tower. It is built of whinstone with plain string courses, window reveals and mullions in sandstone. In 1969 the whole east nave wall had to be rebuilt, whilst in 1996 the church interior was destroyed during disturbances linked to the Drumcree dispute. A fund-raising effort saw it restored within a few years to its current condition.

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Brandywell Grotto The Brandywell grotto was built around 1945, just after WWII, ‘in thanksgiving that Derry suffered little during the war’. Trees for the grotto were brought from Banagher Dam near Dungiven. Amongst those involved in its construction were, Eddie Cooley, Dan Canning, Eddie McAdam, Frank McAdam, ‘Mucka’ Connor, Dickie Connor, Jimmy Doherty, Teddy McDonnell, Dan Logue, Alex Kerrigan, Willie Porter, Farren Bros Bricklayers, Paddy Hannaway, Johnny McGrory (bookie), Mickey Carlin, Denis Canning, John McAdams and Patsy ‘Stews’ McAdams. The statues were bought by the proprietor of the Brandywell Bar for £800 and painted by Gerard Radcliffe. The grotto has been maintained throughout the years by local residents, including Kathleen Gallagher, and remains a landmark in the Brandywell area.

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Views of Brandywell grotto.

St Columb’s Wells Today a nineteenth-century cast-iron pump is said to mark the spot of ‘St Columb’s Well’. There were originally three ‘holy wells’ in the immediate area dedicated respectively to St Adomnán, St Martin and St Colmcille – Adomnán was a relative of Colmcille, he became ninth abbot of Iona in 679 and he also wrote about the life of his illustrious ancestor; St Martin was bishop of Tours, in France, in the fourth century and was among the first to introduce monasticism into Western Christianity. Also to be seen near the pump are modern sculptures (below) by the Slovenian artist, Marko Pogacnik. Other examples of Pogacnik’s work, which he believes has a ‘healing’ influence on the landscape similar to the effect of acupuncture on the human body, can be seen at several other locations in Derry and its immediate hinterland.

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Chapter Five Schools and Scholars Mickey Cooper Religious institutions established most of the schools listed below: Nazareth House Nazareth House (below) first opened as a care home for the elderly and orphans of Derry in 1892. Designed by architect EJ Toye, and formerly named Sunnyside, it was purchased with the help of a bequest from a Madame Waters and established as a ‘home for children and aged folk’. The building was considered ‘revolutionary’ at the time, with gas, electricity and running water all having been installed. On Friday 4 October 1902, the corner stone of the school building annexe was laid to mark its completion.

The school was attended by children from all over Derry, while some of the children living in the orphanage attended schools in other parts of the city. The residential home for orphans closed in 2000 and this allowed the school to adapt it for a nursery unit; many of the school’s pupils now start attending from the age of three.

Notable past pupils of the school include: Ruth McGinley – classical concert pianist; Bronagh Gallagher – actress and musician; Tony Connelly – television journalist and broadcaster; Barry Molloy – professional footballer; Pauline Hutton – actress and Aaron Murray – biotechnologist.

A presentation, on behalf of the school staff and her pupils to well-known and loved Nazareth House teacher Mrs Patsy Casey on the occasion of her retirement.

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Nazareth House mummers, circa 1985. Includes: Ciarﾃ｡n Norrby, Paul Lusby, Kevin Hippsley, Catherine Bywater, Jolene Harkin, Michelle McGilloway, Monica King, Marion Mullan, Lee Moore, Annette McBride, Amanda Collet, Shannon Healy, Deirdre McDaid, ﾃ（ne Gallagher, Dennis Cassidy, Glen Cassidy, Bobby Doherty, Christopher McCay, Neil Mellon, Aaron Murray, Catherine Doherty, Ciara Bradley, Aisling Doherty, Eoghan Walls, Mark McCourt, Cathal Gallagher, Teresa Whoriskey, Janet Moran, Declan McGuinness, Roy Wilson and James Bradley.

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A St Eugene’s PS class of 1966.

St Eugene’s Convent School, Francis Street In 1854, the school was completed for use by the Christian Brothers and was subsequently taken over by the Sisters of Mercy who had moved to Derry from County Offaly. The terminal wings were added in 1895 and the entrance enhanced by architect EJ Toye. The whinstone construction is of neo-gothic style. The second building, on the opposite side of the street, was completed in 1914.

In March 2011, the children from Mrs England’s class at St Eugene’s PS on Francis Street had the task of interviewing two former teachers from the school, Mrs Crossan and Mrs Bradley. They were happy to recall their memories of teaching at the school from the 1970s to the 1990s and to reflect on the changes that had occurred since then.

Their interviews also shed light on the history of the school since its opening in 1854.

To begin with Mrs Bradley recalled the impact the Feis had on the pupils: ‘The children especially loved drama and I was tasked with preparing them for the Feis. It was a big undertaking to get everybody ready for their recitals as there were 54 pupils in my class alone and hundreds of others wanted to take part in the poetry recitals as well. But we always got them ready in time and there was a great sense of pride watching them performing. As well as the Feis we would have the Nativity and the Passion every year, which gave the children who didn’t do the Feis the chance to do some performance for themselves. We would also study the Pentecost when preparing for confirmation. I recall one year when the bishop of Derry was at the Nativity and the angels started kicking the shepherds, but luckily that didn’t happen all the time! Nevertheless, drama and poetry helped shy children to come out of their shell so it was really important.’

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St Eugene’s Senior School Choir, medal winners at Derry Feis in the 1970s.

St Eugene’s PS, winners of the Unison Choir U12 at Derry Feis in the 1970s.

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Successful St Eugene’s PS soccer players from 1978.

Mrs Bradley also recalled the different learning structure that applied 30 years ago: ‘Everything was written down. There was no noise allowed in the classroom and everybody faced one way. There were no calculators or computers in those days so we used “rote learning” which included times tables, sums or “arithmetic” as it was also known and essay writing, which was known as composition. The essays would involve simple questions like, “What would you like to be when you grow up?” or a piece about your pets or family. There was more emphasis then on composition and neatness as opposed to today when the children are encouraged to use their imagination, which I think is much better.

‘Other homework included spelling and memorising the catechism, which had to be learnt off by heart. We would also do needlework and embroidery at the end of the senior block. Science as a main subject was only introduced in the 1980s and Mr Marley taught it. History was also introduced. Today computers and technology are used all the time; the school didn’t get its first computer until 1982 and it was really basic. You had to load the programmes with cassette tapes which would take hours and sometimes wouldn’t even work! The laptops of today are a massive improvement and mean children can do their homework on their PC as well.’

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St Eugene’s PS day trip to the Ulster American Folk Park in the late 1970s.

Mrs Crossan was particularly keen on the school’s history: ‘You could teach the whole history of Derry from our classroom window as you could see the whole city. The school itself was built in 1854, with the other building completed in 1914. The original building was supposed to be for the Christian Brothers but it was too small and had no playing fields. At the same time, the Sisters of Mercy had come to Derry from Tullamore in Offaly and they decided to move in to Francis Street and establish a school. The Christian Brothers moved to the Brow of the Hill, beside St Columb’s College on Bishop Street, which is now Lumen Christi College. They made sure they took the new cross that was supposed to go onto the new school in Francis Street with them though! There were four classrooms in the original building until it was extended in 1895.

‘We actually discovered some of the old inkwells, roll books and writing slates in the old staff room on the top floor some years ago, which showed all the names of the children who were at the school in those days. In actual fact the inkwells were still being used when we started teaching but they were really messy so we were happy when biros became more easily available.’

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Right: Pupils from St Eugene’s PS, winners of the Sukie Suncap painting competition who all received Kodak cameras, being pictured by Patricia Harkin, one of the winners.

Also included: Mrs Rosemarie Bradley, teacher. Pupils from left: Dennis Crumlish, Sean Kelly, Fionnuala Page and Paul McAteer.

Right: Pupils from St Eugene’s PS who were successful at the Ulster Schools Minor Swimming Championship in the 1970s. Back: Anne Bergin, Deirdre O’Connor, Sonya Gormley and Jennifer Breslin. Front: Kieran Kelly, Brian Kelly, Brian P Kelly and Eamon Crossan.

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Mrs Bradley further recalled how some other things, which are now taken for granted, were not available in the past: ‘There was no canteen! Every day, whether in rain, hail or snow, a designated teacher had to walk the children up to St Anne’s School in Rosemount to get their lunch. Also, the school had no television in those days; we had a radio which we used to listen to educational programmes which were actually very good. When we did get a TV it was only used for educational programmes and it was kept in a big cupboard. You should also remember that up until quite recently we were using blackboards and one-to-one learning – again all because we didn’t have computers.’

Despite just basic facilities, there were still some benefits to be had from teaching in those days, as Mrs Crossan explained: ‘There were no restrictions on school trips like there are today. In fact you could decide last minute to take the children to Brooke Park to do art if the sun came out; it was a great excuse to get a quick suntan! I also smoked in those days as it was seen as exotic and no-one knew about the health problems. The children got a 15 minute break in the morning and we would get a chance for a smoke.’

Mrs Bradley continued with a humorous incident relating to the tea break: ‘Obviously we would get a cuppa at break time as well. Quite often we would get the senior girls to make the tea as one of their daily duties. We taught them all about putting in the tea bags, putting in the boiling water and all the rest, but we omitted to mention that the tea bags had to be thrown out when the tea was finished. Everything was going grand until one day a girl came to me and said they couldn’t make the tea properly as they couldn’t fit any more tea bags into the pot!’ She concluded: ‘In the early days all the families of the pupils lived close by so if there was an issue you could see them straight away and sort it out. That’s not so anymore. Today, children who attend the school hail from all parts of the city.’

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has fond memories of his time as a pupil at St Eugene’s PS.

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Long Tower Infants School Long Tower Infants School first opened in 1825 (six years before the National Schools Act of 1831) followed by Long Tower Girls School in 1893 and Long Tower Boys School in 1912. The original school buildings were constructed in the vicinity of the Long Tower Church whilst the newer buildings were constructed on the site of the old Albert market (indeed the arch to the old market still survives at the entrance to the school). The schools contributed to the rich scholarly heritage of the city over the years and many of their pupils were destined for success in later life, one such being the playwright Brian Friel.

Plans are currently underway to restore the now former school buildings in the grounds of the Long Tower Church to provide a Columban centre to promote and develop an understanding of the shared heritage and legacy of Colmcille. This ‘Aras Colmcille’ project will be housed in the restored ‘Wee Nuns’ school. This B2 listed building is the oldest surviving purpose-built primary school in the city, it derives its local and affectionate name (the Wee Nuns) from the fact that it was The old back steps leading from Long run by the Sisters of Mercy as an infants’ Tower School down to Long Tower Church. school for much of its existence.

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Above: P7 children from Long Tower Girls School with their teacher, Mrs Colette Dolan, all enjoying an outdoor class in 1986.

Left: Enjoying their milk are Rory O’Connor, Oliver Doherty and Brian Herron of Long Tower Primary School in 1982.

Below: Site of the Wee Nuns school.

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Front entrance of the new St John’s PS on Bligh’s Lane, circa 2005.

St John’s PS, Bligh’s Lane Although technically in the Creggan, Bligh’s Lane actually pre-dates the existence of the modern estate and ran from the present Stanley’s Walk area in the Bogside right up to where the Creggan Heights area is located today.

The project co-ordinator would like to thank St John’s pupils Eoin, Caitlin, Shay, Micheal, Caolan, Patrick, Ethan, Christian, Holly, Calvin, Jack, Ruairi and all the other pupils who contributed articles about their school’s history which have been incorporated within the piece following, much of which also features on the school’s website www.stjohnspsderry.co.uk.

‘In September 2000, dozens of young boys and girls took the first tentative steps in their formal education when they turned up for class as Year 1 students at St John’s in Creggan. Wide-eyed and innocent, uncertain and perhaps apprehensive, they were too young and too “new” to appreciate the improvement work that had begun around them.

‘One year previously, the school had embarked on a £4m building programme which would have dramatically transformed their surroundings by the time these youngsters moved onto the next stage in the learning process – whatever that might be. The Minister for Education had announced a review of the “Transfer Procedure” and, one way or another, its outcome would affect the future of each and every one of these young students. It was an uncertain but exciting time for education generally, and for St John’s in particular, and yet it could hardly be any more dramatic than the circumstances in which the school itself came into existence.

‘St John’s PS is located in the heart of Creggan, one of the communities that has suffered most as a result of the Troubles. For most of its history, the school provided an oasis of normality for its pupils amid the conflict that swirled around them. The streets outside have seen more than their fair share of death and destruction, but in the corridors and classrooms inside it’s been the priority of the teaching staff to prepare their young students for the challenges that lie ahead – in adolescence and adulthood – and to encourage them to realise the potential which lies within each and every one of them.

‘The school officially opened its doors in September 1971, although it actually took up residence a year earlier when 12 classes moved on site – it was constructed within

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St John’s PS football team players and fans celebrating their victory in the Northern Ireland Primary Schools Cup final in 2005.

12 months instead of the customary three years. Six months earlier, in June 1971, Mr Hugh Kelly, much to his own admitted surprise, was appointed as principal – he had previously taught for 24 years at Rosemount Boys School and as a Fulbright exchange teacher in Philadelphia. The school opened during a turbulent part of Derry’s history – the civil rights protests of the late ’60s had given way to widespread rioting and August that year saw the introduction of internment. It was against this background of upheaval and unrest that staff at St John’s went about their duties. When the school first opened the teachers used blackboards on easels and each class had around 30 pupils.

During the first few years the main subjects taught were mental arithmetic, English and music.

‘The school was situated on the perimeter of a “no-go” area, with British soldiers billeted a short distance away. Teachers sought to provide their pupils with a haven of normality in these most extraordinary of circumstances. The staff ’s philosophy was – and remains – children first, and this has been pursued throughout its history with the support and assistance of governors, parents, the parish and the community.

‘The proactive nature of the teachers also led to a keen interest in activities such as sport and drama. Mrs Mary Deery, who retired from the school over a decade ago, was head of stage productions. The school also had a Gaelic team managed by Mr Bradley. In 1982, pupils from the school travelled to England to see Liverpool play West Bromwich Albion; incidentally, Kevin Deery, now a star midfielder for Derry City FC, is also a former pupil. In the 1971/72 season the school team, managed by Mr Leo Doherty, won a five-a-side football league at Bishop’s Field. It was one of St John’s very first achievements. St John’s, captained by Anne-Marie Ramsey, was also the first Derry team to win the Northern Ireland Cup. ‘Hugh Kelly’s active involvement in St John’s ended with his retirement in the summer of 1992. However, he left secure in the knowledge that the project that he’d begun was in safe hands: his successor, Catherine Bradley, had been at the heart of the school community from its earliest days and the occasionally traumatic transition from one principal to another was completed almost seamlessly.

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‘Miss Bradley was appointed at a time when all schools were faced with the daunting challenge of educational reform. The high standards set by her predecessor were built upon and many innovative plans introduced. As well as ensuring the delivery of the “normal” curriculum, Miss Bradley oversaw the development of a wide range of extracurricular activities, including school shows, the forging of links with secondary schools and industry, and the introduction of new technologies to the classroom. The twentyfifth anniversary celebrations, in 1996, were a high point in the school’s history – an opportunity to reflect on and acknowledge St John’s contribution to the local community.

‘Like her predecessor, Miss Bradley had high expectations of her staff: she encouraged them to lead by example, hoping that their pupils would become successful in their chosen field, grow in self-esteem, develop lively enquiring minds and go on to become self-respecting and socially aware young adults.

‘The most satisfying point in her eight years at the helm came in 1996 when the school learned that it was to receive funding for a new building. St John’s was just one of many schools – all of them deserving – competing for a slice from the “meagre education budget cake”, and the news that its case had been successful was particularly gratifying. The wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly though and work didn’t get under way until September 1999.

‘Consistent with the school’s view that only the best is good enough for its pupils, the new development incorporated a unique design – laid out in the shape of a W – and offered pupils an attractive and stimulating environment in which to pursue their studies.

The completion of the project, in 2001, brought with it the retirement of Miss Bradley.

In September 2001, Patricia Ferry, another member of staff who had been “at the heart of the school community from its earliest days”, took over as Miss Bradley’s successor.

This again ensured an almost seamless transition from one principal to another.

‘In 2002 the official opening of the new building took place. This was an auspicious occasion, not just for the 700 pupils, but for the parish and for the community as a whole. The Minister for Education at that time, Mr Martin McGuinness, performed the opening ceremony and the building was blessed by The Most Reverend Bishop Seamus Hegarty.

‘St John’s ethos continues to be child-centred, and Christ-centred, which means in effect that its pupils are given the best preparation possible – in educational and spiritual terms – within the maintained (Catholic school) system. The partnership with the home, the parish and the community in Creggan has been a key element in the school’s success and has contributed enormously to the children’s development. Like her predecessors, Mrs Ferry believes that all the teachers’ work would be in vain were it not for the support and active participation of the parents and the broader community.

‘Now, many years after that first tranche of teachers and pupils moved into their humble new surroundings, St John’s and Creggan have gone from strength to strength.

True, Creggan remains an area of high unemployment – the number of local children availing of free school meals testifies to the need that still exists there – but the evident confidence of the people of Creggan augurs well for the future. Hopefully the next generation of pupils from St John’s will burst upon the world, ready to play their part in bettering their community, their city and society.’

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St Cecilia’s College, Bligh’s Lane St Cecilia’s College is a Catholic Maintained School built on Bligh’s Lane on a site overlooking the Long Tower parish in Derry. It was officially opened on 22 November 1967 (on the feast day of St Cecilia – the patron saint of music and musicians) with 369 pupils and a staff of 19 including principal and vice-principal.

Not long after, the school was, as many local schools were at the time, adversely affected by the impact of the Troubles. In the early years of the conflict the British Army took control of a section of the school as a billet (they later vacated the school and moved into a disused factory across the street). St Cecilia’s survived the Troubles mostly due to the committed efforts of the staff and the resilience of the pupils and today has an enrolment of 930 pupils aged 11-18 and teaching staff of 60. In March 2001, a programme for the extension and refurbishment of the College was announced under public-private partnership arrangements. As a result, the college temporarily moved to the Northland Road to facilitate the construction of the new building. In March 2006 it was announced that the College would be granted specialist status from September 2006. The new state of the art campus was completed and officially opened in September 2010 with the following modern facilities: Large multi-purpose hall, sports hall and dance studio; drama drum; music suite; independent learning centre; ICT facilities, fully wi-fi enabled; Century 21 science labs; technology suite; first-floor restaurant overlooking the city; Sixth Form study; library; boardroom; sports pavilion on Fanad Drive site (the site of the former St Mary’s College building), including pitches, running track and tennis courts.

St Cecilia’s has an excellent sporting and academic tradition and is celebrated throughout the country for its tremendous track record in the musical arts for which it has won many awards and commendations.

The new St Cecilia’s College, opened in September 2010, on Bligh’s Lane.

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Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir first opened its doors in 1998 with six pupils. At the time it was situated in Creggan, adjacent to Seán Dolan’s GFC. The school remained on this site until 2001 when it moved to its current site at the Gasyard Centre. The Department of Education granted the school official recognition in that year. Since its inception, Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir has continued to go from strength to strength.

In 2011 there were almost 150 children attending the Gaelscoil, 26 attending the Naíscoil and 12 children at the afternoon Sure Start programme for two-year-olds. In the same year it was granted ‘Statutory Recognition’ by the Department of Education and is now fully funded.

The school draws students from a wide geographical area across Derry and beyond, but its main catchment areas are Creggan, Bogside and Brandywell. Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir has a child-centred ethos which emphasizes the importance and centrality of the Irish language and culture in education. The school’s primary objective is ‘to ensure the holistic development of children through an education that nurtures their self-confidence and identity’. Irish is the working language of the school but there is a strong commitment to bilingualism and an appropriate grounding in English, as well as a specific commitment to introducing other European languages.

Pupils, staff and governors of Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir with visiting officials in 2010.

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St Columb’s College St Columb’s was initially intended to be a diocesan seminary educating young men mainly, though not exclusively, for the priesthood. The establishment of such a seminary was an obligation imposed by the Council of Trent (1545–63). Ireland’s political volatility and the suppression of Catholicism by the Crown, particularly after the Williamite Wars, resulted in a moratorium on establishing any diocesan seminaries in Ireland for centuries. St Columb’s College itself was preceded by several failed attempts to create such an institution in Derry, including one at Ferguson’s Lane in the early nineteenth century and another at Pump Street from 1841 to 1864.

Built in the vicinity of Bishop Hervey’s former ‘Casino’ residence, the foundation stone of the south wing, or junior house, was laid in 1877. St Columb’s finally opened its doors on 3 November 1879 with two priest teachers, Dr Edward O’Brien and Dr John Hassan. It had cost £10,000. In 1881 the former red brick gatehouse was added to plans and was started in 1892. The north wing, or senior house, was opened in September 1893 at a cost of £8,000. The museum, baths and recreation rooms were added within five years. In 1932 a large extension, consisting of the dormitory block, refectory and kitchen was erected. Four years later the old chapel, on the site of Hervey’s Casino, was demolished to make way for a new chapel.

The old St Columb’s College grounds at the turn of the twentieth century.

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St Columb’s College orchestra, circa 1925.

The school was considered to be quite large at the time and was expected to accommodate 20–30 boarders. It quickly gained a reputation for academic achievement. On 18 September 1931 the Derry Journal listed St Columb’s College’s academic results.

They were as follows: ‘Two University Scholarships, Three Exhibitions and Prizes, Six Calls in King’s Scholarship Exam (calls to teacher training), Two Pupil Teacherships, Eight regional Committee Scholarships, 31 Passed Matriculation, 26 Passed Senior Leaving Cert Exam, 52 Passed Junior Leaving Cert Exam’.

The ‘impressive results’ were testimony to the excellent teaching taking place at St Columb’s.

The Education Act of 1947 provided for free secondary education throughout the north. Entry to St Columb’s College would now be dependent on a child’s performance in the 11-plus. The immediate result was an explosion in pupil numbers, a shortfall in teaching staff and greater pressure on existing resources. In 1941 the student body numbered 263. By 1960 the number stood at 770, with a teaching staff of 35.

The UAHS described St Columb’s College in its 1969 publication as follows: ‘The college buildings constitute a pleasing composition, the junior house probably the better of the two large blocks with its comparatively small windows and dominant solid form, the double row of the dormer lights and the pleasing portico. The college chapel is in neo-gothic style with rounded apse, nave, aisles and clerestory windows. Over the connecting wing between the senior and junior houses, and behind the chapel, is a small bell tower with copper fleche. The mu-

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seum block, more or less based on the renaissance style of the Earl of Bristol’s Casino, has a fine museum interior with projecting bookstands with balcony access and cast iron spiral staircase. The coping of the boundary wall is finished with a cargo of lava blocks brought home by the earl bishop. To the north of the senior house there are the remains of a circular tower, shown in Neville’s map of the siege period as a windmill, in Porter’s map of 1799 as the old windmill and in the OS map of 1835 as a pigeon house’.

The introduction of the 11-plus meant that the school’s size had tripled within 20 years. It was now clear that additional facilities would be needed. In September 1973 St Columb’s College opened a new campus on the Buncrana Road in the city. The new site would cater for the senior years; its initial enrolment was 900. In 1997 the school ceased to be a split-site institution and reunited itself on the Buncrana Road, after the completion of a new senior block to the rear of the existing buildings. This two-storey structure would house the facilities for A Level instruction. (Lumen Christi College, a co-educational Catholic grammar school founded in September 1997, took over the vacated site of the St Columb’s College junior school on Lower Bishop Street.) By this time, more and more of the teaching staff at St Columb’s were female and fewer were priests. In September 2008, for the first time in St Columb’s 129-year history, a lay person became principal when Sean McGinty took over from Rev Eamonn Martin who had served for eight years as president.

Today, St Columb’s College has its own unique place in Irish history as the only school in Ireland that can boast of having two Nobel laureates as past pupils; John Hume (peace prize, 1998) and Seamus Heaney (literature prize, 1995). The college’s former pupils’ association makes an annual award (the Alumnus Illustrissimus Award ) to ‘a past pupil who has achieved something of major significance, or has made a considerable contribution in his own field’.

The cast of an operetta performed by St Columb’s pupils in 1925.

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Past winners of the award are as follows: 1994 Dr Edward Daly, former bishop of Derry.

1995 John Hume, former MP, MEP. 1996 Seamus Heaney, poet.

1997 Brian Friel, playwright.

1998 Professor Sean Mullan, neurosurgeon.

1999 Monsignor Brendan Devlin, cleric.

2000 Sir James Doherty, politician/businessman.

2001 Professor Raymond Flannery, physicist.

2002 Martin O’Neill, former football player, current football manager.

2003 Phil Coulter, composer.

2004 All alumni honoured as part of the school’s 125th-anniversary celebrations.

2005 James Sharkey, former diplomat.

2006 Sir Liam McCollum PC, Lord Justice of Appeal.

2007 Peter McCullagh/John Toland, mathematicians.

2008 Professor Patrick Johnston, director of the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB) and Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry, QUB. 2009 Professor Seamus Deane, poet and novelist.

2010 Sir Declan Morgan, current Lord Chief Justice.

Martin O’Neill Born in Kilrea in 1952, O’Neill began his career with Lisburn Distillery. He later moved to England where he spent most of his playing career with Nottingham Forest, with whom he won the European Cup. He was capped 64 times for the Northern Ireland soccer team.

O’Neill managed Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Leicester City and Celtic before moving to Aston Villa. He guided Leicester City to the League Cup final three times and was twice victorious. In his time as Celtic manager, between 2000 and 2005, he led the club to three Scottish Premier League titles and the 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville. He later took over as manager of Aston Villa where he remained in charge until 2010. He is currently manager of Sunderland.

Paul Brady Paul Brady was born in Strabane. Following his education at St Columb’s he took a degree in music. He joined the popular Irish band The Johnstons when Michael Johnston left in May 1967.

The band moved to London in 1969 and subsequently to New York City in 1972 to ‘expand their audience’. Despite some success Brady returned to Ireland in 1974 to join the Irish group Planxty. This was the band that was to launch the solo careers of Andy Irvine, Liam O’Flynn, Dónal Lunny and Christy Moore.

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Planxty dissolved and from 1976 to 1978 he played as a duo with Andy Irvine. Their first album was hugely successful and garnered much critical acclaim. The next few years saw him establish his popularity and reputation as one of Ireland’s best interpreters of traditional songs.

In 1978 Brady released his first solo album, Welcome Here Kind Stranger. It won him critical acclaim including the Melody Maker Folk Album of the Year award. It would, however, prove to be Brady’s last album with traditional material. He decided to delve into pop and rock music, which saw the release of Hard Station in 1981. By the end of the decade Brady was recognised as a respected performer and songwriter. His songs were being covered by a number of other artists, including Santana and Dave Edmunds. By the 1990s he was the songwriter of choice for artists such as Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt (who did a duet with Brady on his 1991 LP, Trick or Treat). A couple of Brady songs soon appeared on Raitt’s album, Luck of the Draw, including the title track.

After his Hard Station album, Brady worked with various major labels until the late ’90s when he started his own label, PeeBee Music. He released three albums in the 1990s: Trick or Treat, Songs and Crazy Dreams and Spirits Colliding, which all met with critical acclaim. By 2010 he had recorded 15 albums since going solo in 1978. In 2009 he also received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster in recognition of his services to traditional Irish music and song writing.

Seamus Deane Seamus Deane was born in the Bogside in 1940. On leaving St Columb’s he studied at Queen’s University, Belfast (achieving a BA and MA) and Pembroke College, Cambridge University (where he graduated with a PhD). At St Columb’s he became friends with fellow student Seamus Heaney. In the late ’70s and ’80s he taught American college juniors part-time at the School of Irish Studies in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin.

His first novel, Reading in the Dark (published in 1996), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won The Irish Times International Fiction Prize and The Irish Literature Prize in 1997. He is currently the Keough Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and a co-editor of Field Day Review, an annual Irish literary journal.

His nonfiction work includes: Celtic Revivals: Essays in Modern Irish Literature 1880-1980 (1985).

A Short History of Irish Literature (1986).

The French Enlightenment and Revolution In England 1789–1832 (1988).

Strange Country: Modernity and Nationhood in Irish Writing since 1790 (1997).

Foreign Affections: Essays on Edmund Burke (2005).

His poetry work includes: Gradual Wars (1972).

Rumours (1977).

History Lessons (1983).

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Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney was born on 13 April 1939 at the family home situated between Castledawson and Toomebridge; he was the first of nine children. In 1953 the Heaneys moved to Bellaghy, which is now the family home. Heaney attended Anahorish PS and at the age of 12 he won a scholarship to St Columb’s College. Whilst attending St Columb’s his four-year-old brother, Christopher, was killed in a road accident. The poems Mid-Term Break and The Blackbird of Glanmore focus on the death of Christopher.

In 1957 he travelled to Belfast to study English Language and Literature at Queen’s.

During his time in Belfast he read a copy of Ted Hughes’ Lupercal, which spurred him to write poetry, ‘suddenly, the matter of contemporary poetry was the material of my own life’. He graduated in 1961 with a first-class honours degree. After teacher training at St Joseph’s Teacher Training College in Belfast he went on a placement to St Thomas’ Secondary Intermediate School in West Belfast. The headmaster of this school was the writer Michael MacLaverty from County Monaghan. He introduced Heaney to the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh. With MacLaverty’s mentorship, Heaney began publishing poetry in 1962.

In 1963 Heaney became a lecturer at St Joseph’s and in the spring of that year, after contributing various articles to local magazines, he came to the attention of Philip Hobsbaum, then an English lecturer at Queen’s University. Hobsbaum went on to set up a group of young local Belfast poets (to mirror the success he had with a similar initiative in London) which would bring Heaney into contact with other Belfast poets such as Derek Mahon and Michael Longley. In August 1965 he married Marie Devlin, a school teacher, writer and native of Ardboe, County Tyrone. In 1994 she published Over Nine Waves, a collection of traditional Irish myths and legends.

Heaney’s first book, Eleven Poems, was published in November 1965 for the Queen’s University Festival. In 1967 Faber and Faber published his first major volume called Death of a Naturalist. This collection met with much critical acclaim and went on to win accolades such as the Gregory Award for Young Writers and the Geoffrey Faber Prize. Also in 1966, he was appointed as a lecturer in Modern English Literature at Queen’s University, Belfast and his first son, Michael, was born. A second son, Christopher, was born in 1968. That same year, with Michael Longley, Heaney took part in a reading tour called ‘Room to Rhyme’ which led to much exposure for the poet’s work.

In 1969 his second major volume, Door into the Dark, was published.

After a spell as guest lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, he returned to Queen’s University in 1971. In 1972 he left his lecturing post in Belfast and moved to Dublin, working as a teacher at Carysfort College, where he became head of English in 1976. In 1972 Wintering Out was published, followed by his fourth volume, North in 1975 and Field Work in 1979. Selected Poems 1965–1975 and Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978 were published in 1980.

When the Dublin government established Aosdána, the national Irish Arts Council, in 1981, Heaney was among those elected into its first group (he was subsequently

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elected a ‘saoi’, one of its five elders and its highest honour, in 1997). Also in 1981, he left Carysfort to become visiting professor at Harvard University. In 1982 he was also awarded two honorary doctorates, from Queen’s University and from Fordham University in New York City. Following the success of the Field Day Theatre Company’s production of Brian Friel’s Translations, Heaney joined the company’s expanded board of directors in 1981.

Between 1985 and 1997 Heaney was Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University and Ralph Waldo Emerson Poet in Residence at Harvard 1998–2006. In 1989 he was elected Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford.

In 1990 The Cure at Troy, a play based on Sophocles’ Philoctetes, was published amid much acclaim. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995 for what the Nobel committee described as, ‘works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past’. His 1996 collection, The Spirit Level, won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award; he repeated the success with the release of Beowulf: A New Translation.

In 2003, the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry was opened at Queen’s University, Belfast. It houses the Heaney Media Archive, a record of Heaney’s entire oeuvre, along with a full catalogue of his radio and television presentations.

Brian Friel Brian Friel was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, to Mary (a former postmistress in Glenties, County Donegal) and Paddy Friel, a primary school teacher and later a councillor on the corporation in Derry.

After attending St Columb’s College he received his BA from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth (1945–48), before qualifying as a teacher from St Joseph’s Training College in Belfast. In 1954 he married Anne Morrison, with whom he has four daughters and one son. Between 1950 and 1960 he worked as a maths teacher in the Derry primary and intermediate school system before taking leave in 1960 to pursue a career as a writer. In 1966 the Friels moved from 13 Marlborough Street in Derry to Muff, County Donegal, before eventually settling just outside Greencastle.

Friel was appointed to Seanad Éireann in 1987 where he served until 1989. In 1989 BBC Radio launched the ‘Brian Friel Season’, a six-play series devoted to his work; he was the first living playwright to receive such an honour. In 1999 he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Times. On 22 January 2006 he was presented with a gold torc by President Mary McAleese in recognition of his election as a saoi by the members of Aosdána. Only seven members of Aosdána can hold this honour at any one time and Friel joined fellow ‘saoithe’ Louis le Brocquy, Patrick Scott, Camille Souter, Seamus Heaney, Seoirse Bodley and Anthony Cronin.

In November 2008, Queen’s University announced its intention to build a new theatre complex and research centre to be named The Brian Friel Theatre and Centre for Theatre Research.

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To commemorate his eightieth birthday in 2009, the Gate Theatre staged three of his plays (Faith Healer, The Yalta Game, and Afterplay) during several weeks in September. Also in 2009, the Irish Theatre International journal published a special edition to commemorate the occasion, with seven articles devoted to the playwright. His most famous works include, Philadelphia Here I Come, The Freedom of the City, Dancing at Lughnasa (adapted as a Hollywood film in 1998) and Translations.

Phil Coulter Phil Coulter was born in Harding Street, off Bishop Street, on 19 February 1942. The presence of a piano in his home encouraged his love of music, which he pursued at the nearby St Columb’s College before studying for a music degree at Queen’s University.

Whilst at Queen’s he played in a number of bands and wrote several Irish hits before moving to London where he began a career as a musical arranger and songwriter. At the same time, he moonlighted as a piano player for acts such as Van Morrison, the Rolling Stones, Tom Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis.

His first big success was writing Puppet on a String for Sandy Shaw, which won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967. He also wrote the 1968 Eurovision runner-up, Congratulations, which was sung by Cliff Richard. The two records sold almost ten million copies between them and put Coulter on the song-writing map. Other successes quickly followed including All kinds of Everything (the 1970 Eurovision winner sung

by Bogside resident Dana and produced by Coulter), Back Home (a number one hit for the England football team) and several hits for Irish actor Richard Harris including MacArthur Park and My Boy, which was also a number one hit for Elvis Presley.

His next big project was writing and producing for a new ‘teeny-bop’ Scottish band called the Bay City Rollers who enjoyed huge success during 1974–76 with hits including Remember, Shang-a-Lang and Summer Love Sensation. He also enjoyed five top ten hits with the band Kenny and a number one with boy band Slik, fronted by Midge Ure of Ultravox and Live Aid fame.

Coulter also produced albums for Planxty (featuring Christy Moore) and hits for the Dubliners including Scorn Not His Simplicity (written about his own disabled son) and his most famous song The Town I Loved So Well written about the war-torn Derry of the early 1970s. In 1984 he launched his first solo album Classic Tranquillity which became the biggest selling Irish album ever, until his follow-up Sea of Tranquillity surpassed it. Numerous hit albums have followed right up to the present day and he continues to sell out arenas around the world.

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The old Christian Brothers Technical School building.

The Christian Brothers Derry was the location of one of the first Christian Brothers institutions in Ulster. Dr Kelly, the bishop of Derry, first applied for the ‘Brothers’ to set up in Derry as early as 29 January 1852. They eventually settled at the ‘Brow of the Hill’. The Brow of the Hill was a secluded, well enclosed area with a spacious garden situated at the edge of the Bogside. It was said that Columba and his monks dwelt here, offering up their prayers for the living and the dead under the wide-spreading oak trees which then covered the hill and surrounded the cells where they lived. It was also the scene of two battles during the Siege of Derry including the famous ‘Battle of the Windmill’. Local landlord William Hogg had already developed the area as his place of residence in the eighteenth century (hence the term Hogg’s Folly).

The premises were originally purchased in 1846 by the then bishop, Dr Maginn, with a view to establishing a diocesan seminary. An extension consisting of four large rooms was made to the original building, which continued to be the episcopal residence of Dr Maginn until his death, when he was succeeded by Dr Kelly. The four rooms were initially used as classrooms by the Sisters of Mercy who had set up residence in Bishop Street in 1848; from where they came each day to teach at the Brow of the Hill.

At the request of Dr Kelly, two Brothers were sent to Derry on 13 February 1854, one of whom, Francis Larkin, was appointed by their Superior General as the first ‘Local Superior’ of the new establishment. Around this time four new school rooms had been constructed beside the site for the new St Eugene’s Cathedral for immediate use by the Brothers. However, Bishop Kelly proposed that it would be better to give the new classrooms to the Sisters of Mercy so that the Brothers could have their private residence, primary and technical schools, grounds and gardens on a combined site at the Brow of the Hill. The change was made on 17 February 1854 when the Sisters of Mercy 50

Above and below: Images from the old CBS School in Derry.

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removed their school furniture from the Brow of the Hill and commenced teaching in the new primary school at Francis Street, which was named St Eugene’s.

On 13 March 1854, two schools were opened at the ‘Brow’. On 30 July a fourth Brother was sent to complete the teaching staff and around this time the bishop celebrated the first Mass in the Brothers’ Chapel. Teaching at the school was divided into primary and technical departments. The teaching in the junior or primary section was common to all Christian Brothers schools with all boys admitted to the primary department at the age of six. Each year the school was examined by an external inspector.

In normal circumstances a boy would have completed the fifth standard by the time he finished his twelfth year. He was then allowed to sit the entrance examination (held annually at the end of August which provided fifteen scholarships) to the technical department, and, if successful, he was admitted as a first year student. Boys who had completed the sixth standard in public elementary school could also be admitted as first year students at the technical department.

The subjects taught were listed in the school prospectus and included: ‘Chemistry, Physics, Mechanics, Drawing, Manual Instruction, Mathematics (including Arithmetic, Mensuration, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, and Graphics), English, Geography, History, a Modern Language, and Machine Construction and Design’. Pupils would also be expected to avail of physical education, with particular emphasis on GAA activities which took place in nearby Celtic Park.

Many of the teachers at the CBS, especially the Brothers, had a reputation for harshness and cruelty towards the pupils with corporal punishment a daily experience for many. Undoubtedly, there were others, including the teachers from secular background, who were much more lenient.

By the 1970s, comprehensive schools had been well established elsewhere with most pupils from the Bogside and Brandywell attending St Joseph’s and St Peter’s in the Creggan or, if they passed the 11-plus, St Columb’s College, which sat beside the Brow of the Hill site. Indeed the CBS classrooms were taken over by St Columb’s after 1976 when the school closed its doors on site for the last time. The Brothers continued to teach technical subjects at St Peter’s in Creggan until 1989, thus ending their 135-year academic association with Derry.

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Chapter Six The Plantation and its Impact on the Bogside Dr Billy Kelly Ulster Before The Plantation By the end of the sixteenth century, Hugh O’Neill, Second Earl of Tyrone, had emerged as the greatest single threat to English rule in Ireland. He took advantage of royal favour, exploited Crown assaults on vulnerable Gaelic neighbours and forged strategic political and marital alliances with the O’Donnells, Maguires, O’Cahans, O’Reillys and McMahons. In the process, he constructed a powerful confederacy in Ireland, which eventually became a political and financial threat to the Tudor dynasty. After stunning successes against the cream of Elizabeth’s forces, the arrival of the Spanish in Kinsale forced O’Neill to march from Ulster in the depths of winter in 1601. Fatigued after this long march, his troops were subsequently defeated by English forces and the Spanish were forced to retreat homewards. This defeat heralded a massive reversal in O’Neill’s fortunes.

Following his defeat, O’Neill returned to Dungannon where he waited for additional Spanish support. Under attack from all sides by land and water, he accepted the queen’s terms and signed the Treaty of Mellifont in March 1603, three days after her death. The ‘Nine Years War’ cost Elizabeth I nearly £2,000,000, eight times more than any previous war waged during her reign. O’Neill gained enormous prestige amongst European Catholic rulers and the greater Catholic populace due to his endeavours. Indeed Henry IV of France, who had led the French Protestants (Huguenots) in France’s religious wars, placed him among the top three European military commanders. O’Neill’s numerous victories were remembered by aristocrats and artisans as he made his way to Rome after ‘The Flight of the Earls’.

The Flight of the Earls, 1607 Although pardoned and received at court by James I in 1603, O’Neill nevertheless felt under threat by English settlers and Crown officials. They were unhappy with his lenient treatment, dissatisfied at receiving much less than they felt they deserved, coveted his lordship and manipulated his son-in-law, Sir Donal Ballagh O’Cahan, to undermine his position in Ulster. The political and legal intrigues of Lord Deputy Sir Arthur Chichester and Attorney General Sir John Davies, rumours and allegations

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of the earl’s treasonable links with Spain and an ominous royal summons to London ultimately led to his flight.

O’Neill left Ulster on 4 September 1607 along with Rory O’Donnell, First Earl of Tyrconnell, Cuchonnacht Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, their wives, families and followers, in one of the most iconic and significant events in Irish history. Today, this is referred to as The Flight of the Earls. It is difficult to overstate the historical importance of this departure. In effect, it sealed the political and military end of an independent Gaelic Ulster and laid the ground for the subsequent Plantation and Ireland’s full incorporation into the new Stuart monarchy. ‘The Flight’ has captured the imagination of generations of Irish-language writers including Fearghal Og Mac An Bhaird, Eoghan Rua Mac An Bhaird, Aindrias Mac Craith, Fearflatha O Gnimh, Eochaidh O hEodhasa and English-language authors such as James Clarence Mangan, William Butler Yeats, Sean O Faolain, Thomas Kilroy and Brian Friel.

The Native Population In 1603 Irish Catholics owned 90% of the land but by 1641, mainly as a result of the Plantation of Ulster, this figure had fallen to 59%. Some historians have argued that the Plantation replaced one élite, the Gaelic nobility, with another, the new English and Scottish lords and landlords. However, this process did not happen without inflicting suffering on the native population. Although land was allocated to ‘deserving’ Irish (those who had assisted in the war against O’Neill and his allies) few of them prospered in the new economic and legal system. Irish Catholics became ‘half-subjects’ (to use King James I’s own words).

The government attempted to resolve the problem of Irish swordsmen who had served O’Neill and his allies by sending them abroad and some 6,000 were sent to the service of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. Thousands more joined the ranks of the Irish regiments in Spain and Flanders. Those who remained on the land often failed to adapt to changing and often unfavourable circumstances. This resulted in a legacy of bitterness that would explode in the rebellion of 1641, leaving thousands dead.

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Sir Cathair’s Rebellion Sir Cathair O’Doherty’s rebellion, and the involvement and implication of the O’Donnells, O’Cahans and O’Hanlons, massively increased the scale and scope of the Ulster Plantation. Formerly, ‘the queen’s O’Doherty’, Cathair Rua, the young chief of Inishowen, had emerged as an ally of Sir Henry Docwra, commander at Derry during the Nine Years War. His co-operation assisted Docwra’s access to the Foyle and Swilly basins and he received a knighthood for his loyal service to the Crown.

However, he soon fell foul of Lord Deputy Chichester, who accused him of involvement with the fugitive earls. Verbal and physical abuse at the hands of Sir George Paulet, the new Governor of Derry, drove ‘the O’Doherty’ into rebellion. He captured Culmore Fort, burned Derry, seized a number of prisoners (including Bishop George Montgomery of Raphoe and his wife Sarah) and attacked Burt Castle. Although the rebellion spread across the Swilly into the lands of the Gallaghers and MacSwineys, the Crown rapidly responded with an assault on Culmore Fort and Burt Castle, which hastened the collapse of the rebellion. O’Doherty was ambushed and killed at Doon Rock, Kilmacrenan, the inauguration site of the O’Donnell’s. His quarters were sent to Derry and his impaled head soon emblazoned Dublin’s Newgate Gaol.

A Laboratory for Empire; Plans for the Plantation: The union of the English, Irish and Scottish crowns in the person of James VI and I both facilitated and heralded a monumental shift in English Crown policy. Since the ‘Scottish Wars of Independence’ of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, in which William Wallace and Robert the Bruce had fought to secure the independence of the Scottish Crown, successive English kings and queens had tried to keep the Scots, both settlers and mercenaries (Gall Oglaigh/Galloglass), out of Ulster. Elizabeth’s defeat of O’Neill and his confederates, the subsequent ‘Flight’ and the ensuing rebellion of Sir Cathair O’Doherty paved the way for the Crown’s seizure of nearly 3.8 million acres of land for a comprehensive ‘plantation project’. It also enabled King James to address a series of key political, religious, strategic, socio-economic and financial issues. His priority was strategic security.

An influx of English and Scottish settlers would hamper any attempts by hostile Catholic powers in Europe to use Ireland as a back door to invade the king’s Protestant realms. Similarly, the king could address the socio-economic, political and religious

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disturbances on the Scottish-English border through a wholesale transplantation of Scottish Planters to Ireland. Furthermore, the creation of new counties and the establishment of new towns and villages for the Plantation would provide a much needed financial boost to the Treasury. (It also allowed the king to pack the Irish House of Commons with Protestant MPs and reward courtiers.)

Undertakers and Servitors Elizabeth I’s Monaghan Plantation in 1591 and the successful ‘private’ Plantation scheme of 1606 initiated by Hugh Montgomery and Sir James Hamilton in South Clandeboye (the modern counties of Antrim and Down), provided templates for the Plantation of Ulster.

The remaining six Ulster counties of Armagh, Cavan, Coleraine/Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone had passed to the Crown, thus facilitating a Plantation that far outstripped previous ventures in Ireland. It could be compared in size and scope with the contemporary English, Portuguese and Spanish initiatives in the Americas.

The Honourable the Irish Society, established to oversee the investment of the London companies in the Plantation, played the same role as the East India Company and the Virginia Company in North America.

An Irish committee of the English Privy Council undertook extensive cartographical/ mapping surveys and stock-takes, before publishing detailed conditions and instructions for the Plantation. Lands were divided amongst: ‘Servitors’ (government officials and soldiers who had commanded and served the Crown during the Nine Years War); ‘Undertakers’ (English and Scottish venture capitalists and men of property who undertook to ‘plant’ their newly acquired lands with English and Scottish settlers); ‘Deserving Irish’ who had supported the Crown or changed sides in the 1590s.

Undertakers received 40% of the allocated lands, parcelled out in units of 2,000, 1,500 and 1,000 acres, on condition that they removed the natives, encouraged English and Scottish settlers, founded small towns and villages and erected castles or ‘bawns’ (fortified dwellings). The servitors received approximately 15% of the allocated lands and the native Irish retained 20% of the forfeited properties. Generous grants to the Church of Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin and the newly founded ‘free schools’ or ‘royal schools’ at Raphoe, Cavan, Armagh, Dungannon, Newry and Enniskillen (approximately 20%) furthered the king’s plans to advance the Protestant Reformation and ‘civilize the rude partes’ of his realm.

The Derry Plantation As part of the Plantation scheme, the British Crown assigned ‘O’Cahan’s country’ to the 12 livery companies (trade guilds) of the City of London in return for the necessary capital to sustain the Plantation. The City of London had received about 10% of the lands forfeited to the Crown after the Nine Years War and was invited, or ordered, by King James I to invest in the enterprise. For an original figure of £20,000, which would treble by the end of King James’ reign, the livery companies undertook to construct

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two new towns of 200 and 100 houses (Derry and Coleraine). Sir Daniel Molyneux, the ‘Ulster King at Arms’, bestowed a crest to the new citadel of ‘Londonderry’ which depicted a seated skeleton (an allusion to Walter De Burgh’s incarceration and death by starvation in 1332). He deemed the skeleton an appropriate metaphor for ‘The Derrie being raysed from the dead by the worthy undertaking of the noble cittie of London’.

The City of London established ‘The Society of the Governor and Assistants, London, of the new Plantation of Ulster, within the Realm of Ireland’ to oversee the activities of 55 livery companies and the implementation of the overall plan for the new colony. This new society was subsequently renamed ‘The Honorable the Irish Society’ and ultimately received over half a million acres. This was divided into lots of between 10,000 and 40,000 acres among the livery companies and their subsidiaries. As well as Derry and Coleraine, a number of other villages were established by individual guilds: Kilrea (Mercers), 21,600 Acres, Eglinton (Grocers), 15,900 Acres, Moneymore (Drapers), 38,800 Acres, Ballykelly (Fishmongers), 24,100 Acres, Newbuildings (Goldsmiths), 11,050 Acres, Dungiven (Skinners), 49,000 Acres, Macosquin (Merchant Tailors), 18,700 Acres, Ballycastle (Haberdashers), 23,100 Acres, Magherafelt (Salters), 23,250 Acres, Agivey (Ironmongers), 19,450 Acres, KIllowen-Articlave-Castlerock (Clothworkers), 13,450 Acres.

A 17th-century map of the walled city and surrounding countryside.

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Other grants included 29,900 acres for the ‘Irish Society’ and 116,400 for the Church of Ireland and the bishopric of Derry. Sir Thomas Phillips, a veteran of the French and Irish wars, custodian of Coleraine friary, Military Superintendent of Coleraine and one of the original sponsors of the London venture was apportioned 19,400 acres. He also received licences to distil ‘aqua vitae’ – the subsequent stills were the forerunners of the Bushmills and Coleraine distilleries. Finally, the new towns of ‘Londonderry’ and Coleraine received 7,000 acres each, while the natives retained 52,050 acres across the new county. These land grants contained a wealth of valuable natural resources including inland and coastal herring, eel and salmon fisheries on the Bann, Foyle and Lough Neagh and the extensive and valuable woods of Glenconkeyne and Killetra – these would provide the ‘pipe-staves’ and the wooden walls for the boats of the emerging Royal Navy.

Derry’s Walls Derry’s Walls are perhaps the most famous and ‘concrete’ legacy of the Plantation. Even before the reign of Elizabeth I, English officials recognized the strategic location of the site and established garrisons there in 1566 and 1600. Sir Henry Docwra, Elizabeth’s commander at Derry, remarked that the location provided a natural fortress bounded by the river and with steep embankments on three sides lying ‘in the form of a bow bent, whereof the bog is the string and the river the bow’. The ‘bog’ he referred to is now the area of Rossville Street and Lecky Road which, at the time of the Plantation was wet marshy ground, hence the term ‘Bogg side’ which the English used when they came to Derry. Docwra’s fortifications amounted to little more than an earthen rampart and two forts, a hospital and some houses.

The 1604 charter highlighted Derry’s obvious advantages: ‘by reason of the natural seat and situation thereof, a place very convenient and fit to be made both a town of war and town of merchandize’. Within two years of Docwra’s departure, Sir Cathair O’Doherty stormed and burnt the town during his ill-fated rebellion of 1608. In the following year a proposal to the king by the Earl of Salisbury, Lord High Treasurer, recommended the establishment of a colony at Derry (described as ‘the late ruinated’ city of Derry) ‘which may be made by land almost impregnable’. Four ‘wise, grave and discreet citizens’ from the London Guilds and the Common Council of the City of London arrived to report on the feasibility of the proposal. Although they were reluctant to become involved in what was widely viewed as a hazardous investment, the British king prevailed on the merchants, by persuasion and even outright threats, to take charge of the new city. In 1611, The Honourable the Irish Society was formally incorporated by Royal Charter to complete the building of the city. A new Charter in 1613 replaced that of Docwra’s in 1604 and renamed Derry as ‘Londonderry’ in recognition of their investment. The Irish, resentful of the Plantation and its consequences, refused to adopt the new name.

The Trade Guilds of the City of London financed the building of the city. Work began in 1613 under the supervision of Sir Edward Doddington of Dungiven and was completed in 1618 after an expenditure of £10,757. In 1619, Captain Nicholas Pynnar, Inspector of Fortifications in Ireland, reported that ‘the Cittie of London

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Derry is now compassed about with a verie stronge wall, excellentlie made and neatlie wrought’. With the addition of the cathedral, new housing, schools and gardens, the city eventually became the ‘jewel in the crown of the Ulster Plantation’. (The walled city is considered by some to be ‘the first major piece of urban planning in Ireland’ and remains one of Europe’s finest examples of a seventeenth-century citadel.)

Relations with the Crown did not, however, always go smoothly. Frustrated at the slow progress of development, the king regularly accused the London companies of being more interested in profit than implementing the terms of their grants. His son, Charles I, fined the companies the enormous sum of £100,000 in the 1630s. Small wonder then that when war broke out between Charles I and Parliament in 1642 the London merchants sided with Parliament. Their wealth was a key factor in securing eventual victory for Parliament.

For the Irish population of Derry, the arguments between the London companies and the Crown were of little consequence. Either way, the Irish population were living as second-class citizens as a result of the Plantation. Whilst some of the Irish had been expelled outside the town limits to an area still known today as Irish Street, others ended up renting ground in the ‘Bogg side’ mainly due to the fact that the land there was difficult to farm and therefore of no great use to the colonists. The irony is that due to a lack of settlers the colonists ended up relying on the labour of these Irish tenants to ensure that the Plantation project would continue to be viable.

The Irish were destined to remain a minority in the city until the 1830s when the arrival of large numbers of migrants seeking work from Donegal saw the Bogside

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become the area where the Irish majority would now reside, owing to the cheap rents that prevailed in that area. In all but exceptional circumstances these people were excluded from living or working inside the walled city. A bell was pealed each evening requiring those Irish in the city to leave.

The reaction of the Bogside residents to their exclusion from political and economic control has most recently been demonstrated by the modern conflict – the Troubles – which affected the Bogside more than any other area of the city. In essence, the descendants of the population living in the very same bog which was considered of strategic benefit by the London companies when they arrived in Derry (the boggy terrain would impede the approach of potential enemies), would eventually play a major part in ensuring that the descendants of those same colonists would lose their control of the city almost 400 years later. As the novelist Joseph Conrad remarked in Heart of Darkness: ‘Taking the land from one set of people and giving it to another is not a very nice thing when you look in to it.’

The Bogside and Brandywell During the Siege of Derry 1688–89 Tommy Carlin The origins of the Siege of Derry lie in the challenge of two contenders for control of the British throne in the year 1688. James II, a Catholic convert who was also a believer in the doctrine of the divine right of kings (and therefore averse to consulting with the English Parliament) had been deposed from the throne in 1688 by the Parliament in London and replaced by his daughter Mary (a Protestant from his first marriage) and her husband William, prince of Orange.

James, keen to reclaim the throne, travelled to France to seek advice from his cousin King Louis XIV. Louis advised James that the easiest way to reclaim the throne was to go to Ireland with some French troops and raise an Irish army using the ‘call to arms’ of defending Catholicism! His ultimate aim was to secure Ireland as a base from which he could mount a challenge to reclaim the throne.

Consequently, James sent emissaries to Ireland who were able to ensure that most major towns (especially in the mainly Catholic south) declared in his favour. In the north, this would prove to be a more difficult proposition as many of the towns were inhabited by Protestants whose ancestors had arrived 70 years before during the Plantation of Ulster.

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The biggest Plantation settlement at that time was the walled city of Derry. When James’ forces arrived at Ferryquay Gate in Derry on 7 December 1688 and attempted to enter, they were repelled by 13 trainee guildsmen or ‘Apprentice Boys’, who subsequently closed the four gates of the walled city. The decision to shut the gates was spurred by the fact that most people inside the Walls were supporters of Mary and William as monarchs and they also feared that James’ forces may attempt to massacre them.

The forces of James were initially confused at what they should do when the gates of the city were closed against them. As a gesture of goodwill the Earl of Antrim (the leader of James’ troops) allowed a ship named Deliverance to bring some supplies and weapons into the city. He also allowed a Protestant garrison led by Colonel Robert Lundy to enter the city.

A standoff then developed which lasted until the following April when James arrived at Derry in person for the first time. James had arrived expecting to accept the surrender of the city; the surrender plan had been drawn up between the Earl of Antrim and Lundy who probably believed the city would not be able to survive a military onslaught. However, the plan was rejected by the citizens inside the Walls and Lundy was forced to flee the city as a traitor – his effigy is still burned every December during the Apprentice Boys ceremonies commemorating the shutting of the gates. When James arrived at Bishop’s Gate to enter the city and accept the surrender he was denied access and attacked by cannon. On leaving the city he left orders that a low level siege of the city be commenced. The French and Irish troops, led by General Rosen and the Earl of Antrim, then embarked on this new campaign of besiege.

The Jacobite forces launched their first attacks from Strong’s Orchard (now the site of Ebrington barracks) but also mounted cannon on the hills of the Creggan and Gobnascale. The Walls offered little cover from these high hills which dwarfed the island on which the Walls had been constructed. By the time of the siege, the Foyle still flowed on its present course east of the walled city.

On the western side of the Walls the river bed had become a wet bog; a small tidal stream also ran through the bog and entered the Foyle at the present site of the City Hotel. The fact that there was wet ground in the ‘Bogg side’ (which was obviously difficult to cross) was an important defensive aid for the inhabitants inside the Walls.

The main road to and from Derry at that time ran from Bishop’s Gate to the Letterkenny Road, through the area currently known as Bishop Street Without. This was the only route to Dublin (via Lifford) as there was no bridge across the Foyle at that time. A windmill (which still stands today in the grounds of Lumen Christi College) was held by the ‘Williamite’ defenders of the city. The mill was fortified during the siege and was attacked on numerous occasions by Jacobite troops.

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The old windmill at the Brow of the Hill in the former St Columb’s College grounds.

On one occasion they took control of the fort only to lose it again the following day during the ‘Battle of the Windmill’, the battle cost the lives of many troops.

Another attack on a mill took place on 21 April 1689. This time ‘Williamite’ troops sallied forth into Pennyburn to attack the mill which stood at the bottom of the presentday Duncreggan Road. The mill was used as a base by Jacobite troops and during the attack the French commander of James’ troops was slain; his deputy suffered the same fate four days later. To access Pennyburn the ‘Williamite’ attackers would first have crossed the stream that ran through the Bogside. There had been a small bridge across this stream – roughly where Free Derry Corner is located today – but it was destroyed by the defenders of the walled city to reduce the chances of the Jacobites attacking the Walls. A number of other houses around this area were also destroyed to stop the Jacobites from using them for cover.

In the last few months before the siege ended James’ armies were reinforced by more French and Irish troops as well as mortars and cannons. Many of these cannons were placed in the lower Creggan, overlooking the Bogside and Brandywell, in the areas now known as Eastway and Southway, and a Jacobite camp was established at the Cropie, at the top of present-day Westway. The Jacobite troops also set up camp at Ballougry to guard the approaches to Derry from the south. The French, now commanded by General Rosen, established a camp at Culmore to guard the approach to the boom, a large wooden barrier constructed near the site of the present-day Foyle Bridge. The boom was put in place to prevent supply ships reaching the city in an attempt to starve the defenders into submission. Although this did have an effect and the cannon fire continued, the besieged refused to surrender.

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The Relief of Derry window in the city’s Guildhall.

At the end of June, the Jacobites made an attempt to enter the Walls near Butcher’s Gate. The strategy failed when ‘Williamite’ troops entered the Bogside via Bishop’s Gate and set upon the Jacobites in a rearguard action as they were attacking Butcher’s Gate. It was one of the most serious confrontations of the entire siege and saw the largest number of deaths in one single incident. The result was a lowering of morale amongst the Jacobite troops already exacerbated by the continuous rain during that summer. The French, particularly affected by the poor weather, were also frustrated with Hamilton, the Irish leader of the Jacobites who did not want to inflict too much bloodshed on the inhabitants of the walled city.

Meanwhile, an English fleet sent by William to relieve the city had anchored at Lough Swilly and established a base on Inch island. It was believed that a number of sunken boats were lying under the boom on the Foyle which would make it impossible to breach it. Eventually, the fleet discovered that there were no boats under the boom.

Sensing the Jacobites’ lowering morale, they moved into Lough Foyle and attacked the boom. Finally, the Mountjoy and a number of other ships broke through and brought supplies into the city. The Jacobites, demoralised and their numbers greatly reduced by deaths and desertions, decamped and moved south to winter and eventually reassemble at the Boyne for the famous battle of 1690.

The outcome of the siege had far-reaching repercussions. The Irish population, including those in the Bogside, were persecuted through the penal laws which were introduced as a direct consequence of the ‘Williamite’ victories at Derry, the Boyne and elsewhere. Although the laws were finally revoked in 1829, the Irish would remain second-class citizens for generations to come. This saw continuing resentment in the Bogside towards the annual Apprentice Boys commemorations of the siege; resentment which would eventually lead to the seminal Battle of the Bogside and other serious confrontations during the Troubles.

The marching issue has now been largely resolved in Derry and less attention is paid to the Apprentice Boys commemorations by the Bogside residents. Nevertheless, they will doubtless be surprised to learn that the ‘boggyness’ of the area at the time of the siege played a crucially defensive role in favour of the besieged and in many ways actually helped the ‘Williamites’ to gain their ‘victory’ in 1689.

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Chapter Seven The Industrial Heritage of the Bogside Mickey Cooper

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ndustrial activity in the Bogside would have been restricted in the period up to the Plantation of Ulster due to the fact that large parts of it would have been below sea level. Nevertheless, we do know of the existence of several monasteries in the area which were likely to have had their own ‘economic activities’. It is also said that the current location of Hasson’s garage on the Lecky Road was the site for a small jetty which was used to catch fish swimming through the channel that flowed through the area.

Undoubtedly, the upper Bogside, which was much more ‘solid’ compared to the fields around the river at the lower end, could have been used for the grazing of cattle and possibly the growing of certain crops. However, it is clear from the Pynnar survey of 1622 that there was no great concentration of people living in the area, which in part was probably due to the poor nature of land generally in the Bogside area. The land thereabouts would have been rented from two main sources; firstly, the Church of Ireland, which would have owned sections of land around the present-day Brandywell area (hence ‘Deanery Street’ in the Brandywell, so called as the Dean of St Columb’s Cathedral would have been the landlord), and secondly, secular landlords, who would have controlled large swathes of the Bogside.

Left: Hasson’s Forge in recent years. Right: The remains of a horse harness found near the Bogside, possibly made or used in Hasson’s Forge at the turn of the century.

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Traditional industries of the old Bogside: smithcraft, rope making and weaving.

Brian Mitchell states in his article on immigration (see Chapter Six) that the first large influx of people to the area settled close to the Long Tower Church which had only been constructed in the 1780s as the penal laws were relaxed. Those who settled in the area included weavers who manufactured linen in their small cottages and other artisans. Examples of the type of work undertaken by these skilled labourers can be gleaned from the local street names. Nailor’s Row, for example, takes its name from the residents who made nails for the ever expanding number of boats using Derry port.

Another commodity required for these boats was obviously rope. This resulted in a number of ropewalks being developed in the Bogside which, by necessity, meant the streets being used had to be long and straight. It’s from this ‘requirement’ that we get the origins of Westland Street as well as the more obviously named Cable Street. Another common trade was in horses which also required the production of horseshoes.

This led to the growth of the blacksmith trade in the area; the old section of Hasson’s garage is today still known as the ‘Forge’ as a result. Catholic immigrants tended to live as close as possible to a church and after the building of the Long Tower Church, and up until 1825, it would appear that the Irish were to be found in larger numbers in the nearby streets.

The end of the Napoleonic Wars witnessed serious recession in Europe. This resulted in severe pressure on the Irish agricultural economy, with many landlords raising their rents to exorbitant levels to cover their costs. Many tenants were evicted because they couldn’t pay their rent; however, others were evicted simply because their landlord wanted to make a bigger profit from using the forfeited land to graze blackface sheep from Scotland. These evicted tenants inevitably came to Derry, the nearest industrial city and port where they might find a job and somewhere to stay in the Bogside, or from where they could emigrate to North America, England, Scotland or even Australia. Those who stayed in the city endured atrocious living conditions in the overcrowded and damp infested cottages that prevailed in the Bogside. Despite this, so many Irish moved into the area that they represented a majority of the population by the 1830s.

Nevertheless, it was the British colonial population that remained in economic control of the city. Some of these businessmen developed housing in the Lower Bishop Street area along the riverbank for workers in the local port or the GNR. In many cases the streets were named after the developers themselves. Meanwhile the Bogside developed a middle-class quarter around the William Street area that housed merchants and 65

at one stage the bishop of Derry. These three-storey town houses were only demolished in the late 1980s. In the meantime, the rest of the Bogside remained full of small cottages occupied by the peasant Irish.

By the 1850s these cottages were being replaced by long rows of terraced houses funded by local businessmen who rented the houses out to their mainly Irish workers.

The result was twofold; firstly, the owners got the wages they had paid out back as rent and secondly, the owners got votes for each property they rented out which, down the line, would lead to ever increasing demands for ‘one person, one vote’.

These terraces in the Bogside and Brandywell housed both male and female workers, with each gender usually working in certain types of industry. The advent of steam power in the Industrial Revolution led to the growth of a wide range of factory-based businesses in the city. The largest factory system was undoubtedly shirt making, which employed mainly females. As with linen production, shirt making was originally a cottage industry, employing the traditional craft of ‘sprigging’ which involved sewing white embroidery onto a white linen background. This all changed with the advent of steam engines which allowed the mechanisation of processes like collaring, cuffing, cutting and sewing. The fact that Derry had a large port was especially helpful given that the north of Ireland, save for Ballycastle and Coalisland, had very little natural coal supplies and the port could facilitate large imports of coal from England and Scotland to power the factories.

William Scott opened his first factory in 1831 in the area of the Foyle Road once known as Weaver’s Row. The following article from Geraldine McCarter’s Shirt Tales (Guildhall Press) relates the reasons for his new initiative: ‘In the autumn of 1831, an elderly gentleman carrying a parcel of hand-made linen shirts boarded the steamer Foyle for the 20-hour voyage from Derry to Glasgow. William Scott was already 66 years old but he was a man of great energy and enterprise and, far from planning a peaceful retirement, he was about to put a new business idea into effect. William Scott, born in Balloughry in County Derry, had spent all his working life as a weaver in the city, first as an apprentice to Mr Gilmour of Artillery Street and then in his own business in Weaver’s Row. ‘He was part of the great linen industry for which Ulster was famous. For generations farmers had grown and bleached flax which was spun into yarn by their wives and daughters and then sold to weavers who produced linen cloth. The cloth was in turn sold in drapers’ shops and made up by housewives, domestic servants or professional seamstresses. This was the traditional way in which clothes and household linens had been made for hundreds of years.

‘But in the early decades of the nineteenth century enormous changes took place which affected peoples’ lives not only in Ireland but throughout the world. The Industrial Revolution meant that goods which had traditionally been made in the home were now being produced in factories. The invention in 1825, by James Kay, of a new wetspinning method led to the collapse of the domestic spinning industry and women who had earned their living as spinners had to seek other means of livelihood. Many of them turned to sprigging or flowering, a special sort of white embroidery on white linen. In

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counties Derry, Donegal and Tyrone there were thousands of spinners, all expert needlewomen, looking for work. The growing populations of large industrial cities, and of America and the colonies, wanted to buy ready-made clothes. Men in particular wanted inexpensive, ready-to-wear shirts which could be bought without delay in a drapery shop or man’s outfitters.

‘These new shirts, however, were not the old style linen or flannel garment. Previously for the fashionable Regency Buck, a shirt had been an item of underwear and was hardly visible. The space between the waistcoat and neck was filled with an enormous stock like those worn by King William IV. The new nineteenth-century look dictated a lower-cut waistcoat, a smaller tie, a stiff collar and a starched white linen shirt-front. A man’s shirt was now an article of fashion.

‘As industry, banking, transport, retailing and many other commercial activities expanded, the new army of “white-collar-workers” created a demand for ready-to-wear shirts. Fashionable gentlemen, bank clerks, American cowboys, all wore the new style of shirt and would buy them in huge quantities.

‘William Scott was convinced that he could meet this demand and so, in 1831, he took a small consignment of garments to his principal Glasgow customer, William Gourlie and Son of 8 South Frederick Street. Scott’s idea paid off and further orders from Glasgow followed. A second market was found with a draper in business in Australia.

‘The women of the Scott family worked hard to complete this order. William Scott’s daughter-in-law was one of those who helped and a descendant of hers, JP Scott, writing in the 1920s, described her memory of that time, “In long after years I often heard

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her tell the story of how resolutely and unweariedly the four women worked to finish the consignment and how well the shirts were made”.

‘Although the early orders were small and could be met by the women of the Scott household, William Scott soon found it necessary to employ needlewomen in Derry and throughout the surrounding countryside. As his business expanded the cloth was cut in Scott’s weaver’s shop – imported cotton for the body and sleeves of the shirt and linen for the collars, cuffs and fronts. These pieces of cloth were then collected by stitchers or taken by horse and cart to outstations as far away as Limavady, Donemana and Moville where they were, in turn, collected by women who made up the shirts in their homes. The finished shirts were then returned to Scott’s premises where they were examined, packed and dispatched by steamer to Glasgow. Demand for Scott’s shirts soon spread beyond Glasgow and a London agent, William Robinson of 32 Addle Street, was duly appointed.

‘In 1840 the firm moved to new premises in the old military hospital in Bennett’s Lane where there was ample space for weaving, cutting, examining and packing and where the yard and stables could accommodate the expanding fleet of horse-drawn carts. In 1845 the Londonderry Journal reported that William Scott “gave employment to no fewer than 250 weavers and upwards of 500 persons making shirts”.

‘Scott was not alone in recognizing the potential of the new industry. Entrepreneurs throughout Britain were seeking a source of ready-made men’s shirts and they saw in Derry two main attractions. Firstly, there was in the area a pool of expert and experienced needlewomen. Secondly, the steamship service from Derry to Glasgow (and later to Liverpool) meant that regular and prompt delivery could be guaranteed. Cloth, sometimes already cut, could be brought in through the port of Derry and sent out again as finished shirts. Some of these newcomers to the city bore names which have become synonymous with shirt making in Derry.

‘Peter McIntyre established a wholesale shirt-making firm in Glasgow and Derry in 1844 and in 1853 joined with Adam Hogg to form McIntyre and Hogg at 109 Foyle Street. Joseph Welch and JS Margetson were London manufacturers of stocks and braces. Their business expanded into supplying gentlemen’s hosiery and shirts and they came to Derry when they were forced to seek a new source of supply. In 1847 they established premises in Spencer Road and then moved to Foyle Street in 1850. William Tillie and John Henderson, who had been shirt and collar manufacturers in Glasgow, opened up in Little James Street in 1850.

‘When William Scott retired to his farm in Burt in 1850, Derry was already an established centre of ready-to-wear, hand-made shirts. The founder of Derry’s greatest industry died at the age of 93, the father of at least nine children and an elder of the Presbyterian Church for 70 years.

His tombstone can be seen in the graveSite of the original William Scott factory. yard of St Columb’s Cathedral, Derry.’

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Star factory workers outside the Foyle Road premises, circa 1950.

Within a few years Derry was a virtual powerhouse of shirt making with a third of the population employed in the industry by the 1920s. Numerous factories were built around the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas, including: Star Factory: Built in 1899, it has since been converted to ‘quality’ apartments.

Tillie and Henderson: Opened in 1857, the now demolished Tillie and Henderson shirt factory once dominated the Foyle Road/Abercorn Road junction on the city side of Craigavon Bridge. Opening in 1857, it featured a grandiose French-chateau-like design. William Tillie (from Glasgow) and his partner, John Henderson, were the first to introduce the USA-invented portable sewing machine to Derry in the 1850s. Their business was mentioned by Karl Marx in Das Kapital, in his discourse on the transition of work from the home to the factory setting in the nineteenth century. His daughter Eleanor had actually visited the factory and was able to relate the working practices employed there to her father.

Sinclair’s Factory: Built in 1863 on the opposite side of the street from the Tillie and Henderson site. It still retains its prominent clock face and is noted for its unusual configuration on a tight corner site.

Hogg and Mitchell: Built on Great James Street in 1896, this five-storey factory building now includes a flower shop, a hair salon and a travel agency on its ground floor, while the remaining floors have been converted to apartments.

Lloyd, Atlee and Smith: On Great James Street, later used as the BT and Post Office Social Club until its closure in 2011.

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Ben Sherman Shirt Factory.

Hogg and Mitchell Shirt Factory.

Sinclair’s Shirt Factory.

Tillie and Henderson Shirt Factory.

Lloyd, Atlee and Smith Shirt Factory.

Mitchell’s Factory.

The City Factory.

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Mitchell’s: Built in 1896 on Great James Street. Originally Strand Girls School; now vacant.

Ben Sherman: Formerly Leinster Brothers on Maureen Avenue; demolished 2001.

Rosemount Factory: Built in 1904; now retail units and office space.

City Factory: Built on Queen Street in 1863 for Messrs McIntyre, Hogg and Marsh.

Since January 2005 the Void Art Centre, an artist-led company with charitable status, has been based within the building. It is also used by the NWRC. William Scott’s: Bennett Street (demolished).

William Burns and Co: Ferguson Street (demolished).

By the 1920s, 18,000 people (mainly female) were employed in Derry’s shirt industry. Although there was a decline in the industry during the Great Depression there was another boom during World War II. Eventually, synthetic materials like polyester were introduced into the factories and production continued apace until the 1980s. By then, cheaper costs in the Far East economies saw more and more factories lose orders and as a result closures became a regular occurrence. Today only two factories still operate in the city on a much reduced scale.

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Brewster’s deliverymen with their carriages in the 1930s.

Mechanisation also saw the development of a range of other businesses which tended to employ a male workforce. These included, Brewster’s, Doherty’s and Wilkinson’s bakeries; only Doherty’s remains in business with retail outlets in William Street and Foyle Street.

John Brewster, Bread and Biscuit Manufacturer The article following was published in the late nineteenth century in the Londonderry Sentinel and describes the state-of-the-art processes employed by Brewster’s bakery at the time, when the business was at its peak: ‘Mr. Brewster’s “Model Bakery” is one of the recognised institutions of domestic industry in Derry. It is now nearly six years since this enterprising gentleman created a sensation (and a pleasurable sensation too) in Derry by opening his Model Bakery, although the business was first established in Londonderry in the year 1872 upon a scale of completeness in equipment which was not surpassed anywhere at the time.

‘All the latest improvements in the shape of machinery and appliances for the clean and scientific making and baking of bread were brought into requisition in this wellnamed Model Bakery, which we may here mention is entirely lit by the electric light; and since the place first came into active operation it has been further improved from time to time in several of its most important features. Early in 1889 Mr Brewster made another move in advance, and immensely increased the volume of this business and the public usefulness of his establishment by the addition of a large and splendidly appointed biscuit manufactory. This very important annexe to the other premises in James Street has made the entire place one of the largest and most interesting establishments of its kind in the kingdom. We should be carried far beyond the limits of space

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imposed upon us here did we attempt to describe in detail the various fittings and special features of this new biscuit bakery, but we need hardly say that, like the bread bakery, it is absolutely “up to date” in every respect.

‘Indeed, there are many special arrangements here which we have not seen in any other bakery, and all the machinery and appliances bear the names of makers whose reputation is widely recognised and whose work is unimpeachable. So far as we can judge, there is not a fault to be found with Mr Brewster’s establishment as it now stands.

The conditions under which the baking industry is here carried on are of a character satisfying every requirement in cleanliness and hygiene, and at the same time they are favourable to the attainment of the very best results in the goods produced.

‘Mr Brewster’s resources enable him to turn out with equal ease great quantities of the finest biscuit confectionery and immense supplies of plain and fancy bread of every kind. His bakeries are equally well adapted for the production of the most delicate wafer biscuits, the substantial ship’s biscuit, and the homely household loaf. The “gay Sally Lunn” and “the rollicking bun” (as Mr Gilbert has it) are duly represented in the output of this house, in company with countless other toothsome members of the great family of bakers’ wares; and in all cases the public find to their satisfaction that the high standard of purity and quality with which the name of Brewster is worthily associated in this trade is fully and adequately maintained.

‘We need hardly add the self-evident information that Mr John Brewster does an immense and steadily increasing business, giving employment to a very large force of hands. The success of his undertaking was a foregone conclusion almost from the day of its inception, and none of the confidence so honestly gained is likely to be forfeited as long as Mr Brewster retains the helm of the concern in his own capable hands. Those who are at all interested in the progress of the trade in Derry will not be slow to agree with us, and with many others who have visited the Model Bakery in James Street, that this establishment in all its aspects is no less a credit to the charming city on the Foyle than it is to the enterprising citizen who has so vigorously and successfully organised and developed it. Telegrams for the house we have herein briefly reviewed should be addressed “Brewster, Derry” and the telephone number of the Model Bakery is 37.’

Brewster’s breadmakers taking a break from their hard graft in the 1930s.

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Bottles being labelled and boxed in Watt’s Distillery in the Bogside in the early 1920s.

Watt’s Distillery Derry’s suitability for whiskey production on a major scale was facilitated by the area’s easy access to supplies of good clean water, good quality barley and the presence of mills to grind the malt needed for distilling.

The Watt family had originally moved to Derry from Ramelton in 1762. Their business interests in the city increased substantially in 1839 when the then wine and spirit merchant Andrew A Watt bought the Waterside Distillery and established another distillery in the Abbey Street area. One of his most significant decisions was to install the Coffey still, which was installed under Aeneas Coffey’s personal supervision. The device greatly increased the volume of production and before long Abbey Street was home to the largest distillery on the island, capable of producing 2,000,000 gallons of whiskey a year. The firm focused on three main brands with ‘Tyrconnell’ undoubtedly the flagship brand of the company.

In 1876 the Watt family entered a chestnut colt named ‘The Tyrconnell’ in the Irish Classic ‘National Produce Stakes’. Incredibly it won at 100 to 1. This spectacular achievement inspired the Watt Distillery to celebrate the occasion with a special commemorative Tyrconnell label, which remains in existence to this day. Prior to prohibition, Tyrconnell was one of the biggest selling whiskey brands in the US. Pre-prohibition photos of Yankee stadium in New York show Tyrconnell billboards in positions of prominence at the venue. Tyrconnell was a great success in the export sector. It sold in England, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, the West Indies and the US and helped put Derry on the ‘commercial map’ of the world. As an interesting aside; in 1988 the Cooley Distillery acquired the rights to the Tyrconnell brand and effectively ‘resurrected’ the historic Irish whiskey. It remains the only physical link to what was an important world renowned company with its epicentre in the Bogside.

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By the turn of the century Watt had amalgamated his interest with two other Belfast distilleries to form United Distillers Company. Things worked perfectly until conflict arose between UDC and Scottish giants DCL based in Edinburgh. This was the beginning of the end for the huge Derry operation. The final straw was a strike called by the workers at the Abbey Street distillery in 1921. When Watt arrived at the site and the workers refused to open the gates he promptly informed them that they would stay shut. In one fell swoop the ‘legal’ whiskey industry in Derry was brought to an end.

The distillery buildings remained in the Bogside until redevelopment in the 1970s saw the last sections demolished.

As well as the legal whiskey trade, illegal whiskey distilling also flourished in and around Derry for many years, as Brian Lacy related: ‘On a map drawn for the purpose of a Revenue Commission in 1836, Derry and Donegal are shown as the principal centres of the poteen industry in the north of Ireland. “Illicit distillation can scarcely be said to exist south of the Liffey or the Shannon”, the report stated. In that year in Derry there were 174 spirit licenses and 165 for beer and, the report went on, “the public houses are of different degrees of respectability; in some of the inferior type gambling prevails but all are useful in diminishing the number of unlicensed houses and checking the sale of illicit spirits which is very extensive and on the increase”.’

The heyday of the poteen ‘industry’ was around the early nineteenth century, shortly after the Act of Union. In 1815, when whiskey was selling for 9s/6d a gallon, the excise duty was 6s/11d. Such prohibitive taxes forced many legal distilling businesses to close; others resorted to using inferior ingredients invariably resulting in an unpalatable beverage. Indeed there were many at the time that could afford the price of ‘Parliament whiskey’ but preferred the ‘craythur’ for its flavour and potency. Poteen was so much nicer and so much cheaper!

The risk of detection determined the mode of distribution of the poteen. In Derry during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, when the excisemen had been transferred to duties at coastal defence garrisons, poteen was openly sold from tubs on the streets.

Twenty years later, cover was supplied by turf men who hid kegs under their loads and ’tradesmen’ ostensibly selling eggs or butter always had ‘extras’ secreted away. Poteen production reached its peak during these years; at one stage nearly two-thirds of all spirits consumed in Ireland was poteen. The government retaliated by recruiting an excise force of 1,000 men who within two years had seized 16,000 stills. As the illegal trade gradually declined distillers like Watt’s were grateful to see their business pick up.

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Gallaher’s were extremely popular in the city and beyond throughout the last century.

Gallaher’s Tobacco Gallaher’s tobacco was originally founded in 1857 by Tom Gallaher (originally from Eglinton) in the Sackville Street area of Derry on the edge of the Bogside. By 1896 he had opened the largest tobacco factory in the world at York Street in Belfast. The business was incorporated on 28 March 1896 to ‘carry on in all their branches the businesses of tobacco, cigar, cigarette and snuff manufacture’.

By the year 2000, Gallaher’s completed acquisition of Liggett Ducat, Russia’s number one cigarette brand. In January 2002 the company also acquired Austria’s biggest tobacco company, Austria Tabak. In 2002, US tobacco firm Reynolds formed Reynolds-Gallaher International to access cigarette markets in the European Union. Japan Tobacco became the sole owner of the company on 18 April 2007, in the largest ever foreign acquisition in Japanese history.

Gallaher brands now include Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut, Sterling, Mayfair, Nil, Kensitas Club, Senior Service, Amber Leaf, Sobranie and Hamlet Cigars; a far cry from its small beginnings in Sackville Street all those years ago.

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Old City Dairy The Old City Dairy on the Letterkenny Road was for many years a successful (Deery) family-run business which supplied much of the populace of the Bogside area with freshly bottled milk. The old horse-drawn milk floats were a common sight around the city and further afield with their friendly drivers delivering their wares in the early morning, come rain or shine.

The industry changed in the 1950s/’60s and milk lorries were employed on the main routes. Competition from other providers, especially supermarkets, led to a decline in business. In 1974 the Old City Dairy Ltd on Foyle Road was acquired by Leckpatrick and operated successfully for another few years until it was wound up in the early 1990s.

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The derelict GNR building on Foyle Road in the early 1970s.

Great Northern Railway The Great Northern Railway (GNR) of Ireland, originally known as the Irish North Western Railway, existed independently for 77 years and was the second largest of the Irish railway systems. Its origins lay in the need to link Dublin and Belfast by rail – it took longer to travel between Dublin and Belfast than it did to cross to Liverpool in a boat as the only means of travel was by coach, a 100-mile journey over rough roads.

The Dublin-Belfast rail link was developed over quite a long period through a staged amalgamation of smaller railway companies, culminating in the formation of the Great Northern Railway Company. The first amalgamations came in the mid-1830s with the creation of the Ulster and the Dublin and Drogheda Railway companies. The Ulster Railway connected Portadown to Belfast by 1842; Portadown then became connected to Armagh and Monaghan. At the Dublin end, Drogheda became the first link in 1844. A third company, the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway, connected Drogheda to Portadown by 1853.

Rail access to Derry was also accomplished in stages with the Derry and Enniskillen Railway and the Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Railway joining forces to complete a series of links. Using these links the Ulster Railway was able to reach Clones which was already on the course of the Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway. Secondary and branch lines supplemented the main routes.

Amalgamation of the four main railway companies came in 1875–76, leading to the Northern and eventually the Great Northern Railway. Later, both the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (at Cookstown) and the Belfast and County Down Railway (at Castlewellan) were amalgamated.

The Great Northern Railway was at its most prosperous in the 30 years or so preceding World War I. Nevertheless, the company’s fortunes changed following the partition of Ireland, civil war, tariff restrictions and, above all, the development of road transport.

By the end of World War II, falling receipts and soaring operating costs had further exacerbated matters. Five years of shared nationalisation followed during which most of the network was shut down. In 1958, what was left was divided and administered by the Ulster Transport Authority and Coras Iompair Eireann in the six and 26 counties respectively.

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The GNR line closed in 1965. It had been located in the Foyle Road area of Derry for many years, partly because it could avail of the connection provided by the lower decks of the Carlisle Bridge (1863) and its replacement, Craigavon Bridge (1933), to the Donegal County Railway terminal on the other side of the river. Although there had been a sense of inevitability about the GNR closure among its workforce, the people of the area were incensed that another cross-border link had been cut between Derry and Donegal.

Gasworks In 1822 a Gas Prospectus for Londonderry recommended its adoption as a ‘cheap, clean, safe and brilliant’ source of fuel. By 1829 the gasworks was fully operational on its original site in the Foyle Street/Bridge Street area. It then transferred to the Lecky Road in 1866 where it remained in operation until its closure in the late 1980s.

By the mid-nineteenth century most large towns and cities in Ireland with a waterfront had their own gasworks. In Derry, coal was imported to the local docks to manufacture the gas which was then piped through a labyrinth of tunnels to light the street lamps and provide an economically viable fuel for homes and industries.

By September 1853 the Londonderry Standard was encouraging the Derry gasworks to look to its neighbouring company in Strabane as an example of managerial innovation and competence. The people of that borough were, it asserted, ‘in an unrivalled position of being well lighted with gas and supplied with water, without it costing a single shilling in the year, except for the cost of the gas consumed in their houses and places of business’. The report went on to praise the ‘judicious management of the Town Commissioners and their wisdom in electing the presidents (of the gas company)’.

Financial considerations aside, the directors of the Derry gasworks were often accused of discrimination for failing to employ more than a token number of the indigenous male population of the Bogside/Brandywell areas; a practice which it’s alleged continued up to the end of World War II. Post 1945, the employment profile appears

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Local children collecting bags of coke at the old gasworks in the 1940s. to have become more representative, particularly with the recruitment of Catholic exservicemen, though allegations of bias would continue to overshadow the firm until its closure.

By 1911 Derry’s population had grown to some 40,780. Records from the time show that foremen, chargers and stokers were earning 25 shillings for a six-day week; they also had the ‘luxury’ of one week’s paid holiday a year. Second men and drivers took home one pound, which could rise to 26 shillings (more than their supervisors) if they worked overtime or Sundays.

By 1932, Derry’s population had swelled to some 47,000. At that time the gasworks was supplying homes and industry via a staggering 197 million cubic feet of pipeline.

Some 30 years later, the increased level of processing required for coal, combined with the strong competition from both oil and electricity, led to the gasworks changing to oil gasification. A new system of pipes was laid in 1965 to accommodate the new processes.

The gradual redevelopment of the Bogside/Brandywell areas in the 1960s and 1970s saw former residents re-housed in developments such as the Rossville flats which were connected to the electricity supply network only. The general consensus about this new form of heating and cooking was favourable. It was clear that the gasworks’ days were numbered. The Derry gasworks ceased operating in 1986. Apart from a few newspaper articles, its passing went largely unnoticed, overshadowed by the political turbulence of the time.

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Above: A gasworks’ social club outing in the 1950s.

Right: Gasworks’ employees take a break in the 1970s.

Below: Slack being bagged at the base of one of the large gasometers.

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John C Drennan of Carse Hall, Limavady, with his prizewinning Clydesdale in the Brandywell Grounds at the North West Ireland Agricultural Society’s Summer Show.

In the background is the wooden grandstand which was replaced in the mid-1950s.

Horse Fairs Derry’s oldest horse fair takes place each year on 17 June in the Brandywell Showgrounds and attracts hundreds of visitors.

Despite the obvious popularity of this well-established event, it’s still a well-kept secret outside equestrian circles. The fair has survived the Troubles and was encouraging cross-community and cross-border relations for a long time before it was fashionable to do so.

The event has remained unchanged for decades – keeping the traditional Irish Horse Fair alive in the North West. Anyone who has ever been will tell you it’s a great day’s craic, and even if you are not interested in horses, it’s fascinating to watch the deals being done and the amazing horses on display.

The best of Ireland’s craft traders also attend without fail, making the June Fair a unique event in the local calendar. Despite that, you will not find it on any tourist maps or guides.

Local horse enthusiast Noel Gallagher explained the attraction of the horse fair: ‘The fair is part of Derry’s cultural heritage, but part of its charm is that it’s a hidden gem and has remained unchanged. That’s why people like it. Horse dealers were coming to the Brandywell to visit the June Fair when very few people were visiting Derry. It’s a traditional horse fair in the truest sense of the word and is always a great day for horse dealers and spectators alike. The community in the Brandywell and Derry in general have always been hugely supportive of the event and have always welcomed all the visitors that attend.’

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Sacks of potatoes being carefully loaded by hand into cargo boats headed for England at the docks in the 1930s.

The Docks and Associated Industries The growth of the Derry docks coincided with Derry’s industrial expansion and increasing exports of livestock – most of the cattle were sold at a market which was based in the area where the Rossville flats were later built in the 1960s. The livestock that weren’t exported were slaughtered in local abattoirs in the Bogside and Lower Bishop Street areas which caused obvious problems in terms of smell and hygiene. Obviously, such labour-intensive work was also ‘thirsty work’, hence the large number of bars that traded in the Bogside, Brandywell and Bishop Street areas.

Cranes dropping coal into hoppers to load coal lorries in the 1960s.

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Men working in the hold of a coal boat at the quay in the 1960s.

Workers rolling and wrapping pork in preparation for overseas distribution in the 1930s.

The old cattle pens/ markets near the quay.

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Local inns and innkeepers.

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Industrial Decline With many of the employees of the docks hailing from the Bogside area and other workers and industries based there, the Bogside could well have been considered the industrial hub of the city at the beginning of the twentieth century. However, as the century progressed things soon took a turn for the worse. Watt’s Distillery, hurt by prohibition in America and the belligerence of its owner, closed its doors in the 1920s.

The declining use of railways to transport cargo and passengers, combined with the desire of the Stormont Government to reduce Derry’s infrastructure, saw the closure of the GNR in 1965. The change of focus from gas to electricity also saw the closure of the gasworks in 1986. For the shirt making industry, lower costs in Asia meant that by the 1980s many of the contracts for shirts were going elsewhere – as previously stated, today only two shirt factories remain open in the city.

Crucially, the patience of the Bogside residents, denied a vote and decent housing due to the prevailing political and economic system, finally ran out in October 1968.

The resulting riots caused damage and destruction on many of the streets that had been built to house the workers and managers of the factories in the previous century. Those homes that weren’t destroyed were long past their best anyway and by the 1980s all but a few of the Victorian terraces were demolished. Nevertheless, many of the older residents of the area still fondly recall working in the local factories and docks at the time when the Bogside was the engine that drove the Derry economy.

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Chapter Eight Migration to and from the Bogside since the Seventeenth Century Brian Mitchell – Genealogist, Derry City Council

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he information following has largely been extracted from John Hume’s authoritative Derry Beyond the Walls – Social and Economic Aspects of the Growth of Derry 1825–1850 (Ulster Historical Foundation, Belfast, 2002) and supplemented by an examination of Hearth Money Rolls of 1663; Maps of 1689 and 1799; Trade Directories of the city for 1820, 1824 and 1839; and the 1831 census.

The Bogside was named as a district in the Hearth Money Rolls of 1663. This source names 49 householders residing in ‘The Bogside’. Thomas Phillips’ map of 1689 shows Fahan Street linking Derry, via Butcher’s Gate, to Inishowen, with housing shown extending along ‘Fahan Street’ across ‘Meadow and Bogg’ and ‘Nailor’s Row’. Creggan Road is marked as ‘the Road to Birt’ and Northland Road as ‘Kilmore Road’. The area between Fahan Street, Rossville Street and William Street is identified as ‘Gardens’.

Robert Porter’s map of 1799 shows Fahan Street as ‘Long Bog-side’ with housing on both sides of the street, stretching from Butcher’s Gate through ‘Fox’s Corner’ and ‘Devils Diamond’ (ie Little Diamond) to the junction with William Street. William Street was laid out with some housing between ‘Rope Walk’ (later to form part of Chamberlain Street) at Mary Blue’s Burn (recorded as ‘Drain thro’ the Meadows’) and the bottom of the ‘Cow Bog’ (later to form part of Waterloo Street/Place).

The first signs of population growth outside the Walls of Derry were evidenced with the extension of Bishop Street on the southern side of the Walls and Fahan Street in the Bogside on the western side of the Walls. These corresponded to the routes into the city from the Raphoe, Letterkenny and Inishowen districts of Donegal. It was only natural that the native Irish should form the nucleus of the population in these areas as, being unwelcome within the Walls ever since the seventeenth century, it was to be expected that they would settle outside them on the Donegal side.

As in other Irish towns, Catholic immigrants tended to live as close as possible to a church and after the building of the Long Tower Church in 1784, and up until 1825, it would appear that the Irish were to be found in larger numbers in the nearby streets.

These traders, linen weavers, flax spinners and publicans had gathered near the Long 87

An early map of the tenements in the Bogside.

Tower to serve those who came from the country districts to sell their linen cloth and other produce.

The modern development of the main Bogside area can be dated between 1815 and 1830 with William Street (c.1815) built as a new suburb for the merchant classes. By 1830, a well-developed residential district along Fahan Street, William Street, Rossville Street and various lanes in between, had developed in an area that, 20 years before, ‘was occupied as meadow ground without a house’.

The Commercial Directory of Ireland (published 1820) identifies 20 tradesmen operating in the Bogside; Pigot & Co’s Directory of 1824, 31; and the New Directory of 1839, 113. In its early years, the dual character of Rossville Street and William Street was reflected in its housing and inhabitants. William Street contained quite a few of those classified as ‘nobility and gentry’. In Pigot & Co’s Directory of 1824, for example, William Street was home to the Roman Catholic bishop of Derry, Peter McLaughlin, and to Rev Charles Galway and Rev John Hayden, curates of St Columb’s Cathedral.

Initially, St Columb’s Wells joined the Long Tower suburb (which included Long Tower Street, Priests Lane (Howard Street) and Henrietta Street) and the Bogside suburb (bounded by William Street, Cow Bog (Waterloo Street/Place), Fahan Street and Bogside (Little Diamond)). As the population grew, the two areas spread and essentially merged with the similarly expanding Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas to form a common block of population in the south and west of the city.

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In the 20-year period from 1831 to 1851 the population of Derry doubled (9,313 in 1821; 10,130 in 1831; 15,196 in 1841; and 19,888 in 1851). Derry’s growth was matched by a decline in the population of the rural areas immediately surrounding the town. Donegal migrants came to Derry for much the same reason that others went to Britain or crossed the Atlantic.

Throughout the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, Derry had been an important market centre for a flourishing linen industry which provided employment and much needed income for many people in Derry’s rural hinterland. Its collapse between 1825 and 1850 coincided with the development of various forms of manufacturing industry in the city. As such, in the 1830s the town began to grow. It needed labourers to service this growth (in manufacture and trade); these labourers came largely from Donegal and they all settled in the same district – the Bogside.

By 1839 Rossville Street was the recognised residential area for ships’ captains, probably due to its proximity to the port (these captains were also known as ‘pilots’ hence ‘Pilot’s Row’). In The New Directory of 1839, seven master mariners were listed as living there, not to mention it was home to five public houses and all three of the town’s pawnbrokers. William Street, in 1839, was home to seven public houses and three grocers and spirit sellers as well as three butter merchants and seven ‘nobility and gentry’.

Outside of William Street and Rossville Street, the Bogside consisted of generally inferior housing. The whole district had a rural feel/atmosphere what with the profusion of ‘the typical Irish cottage’ and the presence of many small piggeries. This tradition of pig rearing was boosted by the presence of a distillery in the district, since its waste material or ‘pottle’ provided cheap pig feed. A commission of 1845 also listed a large number of cattle and poultry in the city.

Cow Bog (now Waterloo Street/Place) and Fahan Street served the business needs of the poorer community with a concentration of second-hand clothes dealers and publicans. Of the 37 businesses listed in the Cow Bog in 1839, ten were clothes dealers, 14 publicans and two spirit dealers. In Fahan Street, of 17 businesses, six were clothes brokers and five publicans.

Rope makers, sail makers and ship chandlers were all part and parcel of a seafaring town such as Derry. Creggan Road and Westland Street started life as ropewalks and are clearly marked as such on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of the city published in 1830. Here, ropes were constructed in so-called ropewalks, consisting of long buildings where strands the full length of the rope were spread out and then laid up or twisted together to form the rope. The cable length was thus set by the length of the available ropewalk. A cable length is a nautical measure equal to 100 fathoms (600 feet). Long ropes were necessary in shipping as short ropes would require splicing to make them long enough to hoist and control sails.

Mid-nineteenth century industrial growth, however, had a social cost in terms of crowded working-class districts. The area enclosed by Fahan Street, William Street and the Walls housed the workers for Derry’s growing industrial base while the area between Great James Street and Asylum Street, amongst a criss-cross of streets, housed its prospering merchant and professional classes.

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Ships and steamers berthed at Derry quay before departing for distant ports.

Lack of steady employment and low wage levels for labourers resulted in poor living conditions and an inquiry at the time reported that ‘poverty and wretchedness’ pervaded the Bogside district. There were few other means of adding to a labourer’s income; pig rearing was one option; seasonal migration to Scotland or England another; the pawnshops a further option, although that source of cash was limited by one’s possessions. Begging was the last resort!

By 1831 there were 854 households residing in the Bogside in the area enclosed by Fahan Street, William Street and Rossville Street: Bogside Households (Source: 1831 Census) Street Abbey Street Ann Street Cow Bog Creggan Street Fahan Street Frederick Street Rossville Street Sterling Row (Union St?) Tanner Row Thomas Street William Street Total

Number of Households 62 21 42 70 399 10 68 15 9 18 140 854

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An examination of the most common surnames in the Bogside in 1831 and their ancestral homeland, confirms the Donegal origins of many Bogside residents: Surnames of the Bogside (Source: 1831 Census) (Number refers to the number of heads of household)

Surname Doherty McLaughlin Gallagher Kelly Farren Friel McDaid Campbell Connor Harkin McGonagle Quigley Lynch Boyle Bradley Brown Coyle Hegarty Johnston McCarron Smith Barr Collins Devenney Devlin Gillespie Kerr McColgan O’Donnell Toland Wilson Cannon Cassidy Kennedy Murphy Walker

Number 46 31 16 14 12 12 12 10 9 9 9 9 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5

Rank 1 2 3 4 5= 5= 5= 8 9= 9= 9= 9= 13 14= 14= 14= 14= 14= 14= 14= 14= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 32= 32= 32= 32= 32=

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Sept Homeland Inishowen, Donegal Inishowen, Donegal Raphoe/Ballyshannon, Donegal South Derry Inishowen, Donegal Kilmacrenan, Donegal Inishowen, Donegal Donegal Derry Inishowen, Donegal Killybegs, Donegal Inishowen, Donegal Derry Cloughaneely, Donegal Derry/Donegal/Tyrone border Mevagh, Donegal Inishowen, Donegal Inishowen, Donegal

Donegal Tyrone Kilcar, Donegal Donaghmore, Donegal Kilmacrenan, Donegal South Donegal Donegal Fermanagh Tyrone

Emigration Some 32.6 million Americans, nearly 12% of the population, reported some Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey, conducted by the US Census Bureau, with a further 3.5 million Americans identifying more specifically with Scotch-Irish ancestry. German Americans form the largest self-reported ancestry group in the US; they account for 50 million people, or 17% of the US population. Six million Germans immigrated to America between 1820 and 1914.

From the early 1700s to the onset of World War II in 1939, when the last transatlantic steamer sailed from the port, Derry was one of the principal emigration ports in Ireland. Between 1717 and the start of the War of American Independence in 1775, 250,000 Ulster-Scots (ie descendants of seventeenth-century Scottish Planters) emigrated through the ports of Belfast, Derry, Newry, Larne and Portrush for the British colonies in North America. The Ulster-Scots tended to enter America through Philadelphia and then headed for the frontier. It is estimated that in 1771 and 1772, during a slump in the linen trade, 17,150 emigrants departed on 61 ships from the five principal ports of the north of Ireland. 22 of these ships, of which 16 were destined for Philadelphia, carrying 6,300 emigrants or 36% of the total, left from Derry.

Belfast, the next largest emigration port, carried 4,200 emigrants or 26% of the total.

The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 is seen as another significant landmark in the story of Irish emigration. From 1815 to 1845 it is estimated that one million Irishmen and women crossed the Atlantic for North America. In this period Canada, not the USA, was the initial destination of these emigrants. It is estimated that 80% of passengers who sailed to North America from Irish ports landed in Canada, though perhaps half that total may have travelled on to the United States.

Prior to the Famine the cheapest way to get to the US was by way of Canada, through St John’s, Newfoundland, Saint John, New Brunswick or Quebec.

With the depressed conditions following the end of war in 1815, many small farmers and rural tradesmen in Ireland saw emigration as the only solution to their declining economic prospects. In the absence of alternative sources of employment, and in a time of rising population, it was clear that subdivision of the family farm among children inevitably led to deteriorating standards of living.

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A typically large Derry family emigrating in the 1930s.

The Great Famine resulted in unparalleled emigration. Between 1846 and 1851 over one million people left Ireland for North America. From the 1830s the port of Liverpool emerged as the preferred port of embarkation for Irish emigrants. By the time of the Famine, the Liverpool-New York route was the main artery of Irish emigration.

New York received about 67% of the total number of Irish who immigrated to the US between 1848 and 1851. In the same period nearly 74% of Irish emigrants departed from Liverpool with Irish ports transporting only 20% of Famine emigrants.

In Ireland the potential emigrant was most likely to be a farm labourer: in the USA the Irish immigrant’s principal role was to service industrial expansion. In the nineteenth century and early twentieth century the economic and social cornerstone of Irish society was the family-operated farm.

In 1851, 83% of the Irish population lived in the countryside with tenant farmers’ families accounting for over half of the rural population, and the families of landless labourers the bulk of the remainder. As subdivision of the family plot was no longer seen as a viable economic solution (from well before Famine times) it effectively meant that ‘surplus’ sons and daughters of tenant farmers had to migrate in search of marriage and employment opportunities. In the post-Famine period, David Fitzpatrick noted, only about one-third of a typical family of six children could hope to inherit or marry into land. Emigration was, in these circumstances, the only opportunity on offer in Ireland.

Emigration thus acted as a ‘safety valve’, enabling young men and women with little economic prospects to escape Ireland.

The official enumeration of emigrants from Irish ports did not commence until 1 May 1851. Based on the Returns of the Emigration Commissioners to the Registrar General we know that, between 1851 and 1920, 4,338,199 people emigrated from Ireland; of which 407,781 were from the North West of Ireland (ie Derry, 116,265; Donegal, 141,432; and Tyrone, 150,084). In other words, 9.4% of Irish emigrants in

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this period originated from the North West of Ireland. These numbers don’t include Irish migrants to England, Scotland or Wales as Ireland was part of the United Kingdom during this time, hence Irish migration to Britain was not enumerated.

In the period 1851 to 1921, some 84% of Irish emigrants sailed to the United States (again this figure doesn’t include Irish emigration to Britain).

Number of Overseas Emigrants from Ireland, by Destination, 1851–1921 Destination United States Canada Australia/New Zealand Other Overseas Total Overseas

Numbers 3,794,852 313,622 342,842 62,701 4,514,017

Percentage 84% 7% 7.5% 1.5%

Derry’s importance as an emigration port increased throughout the nineteenth century. It was a profitable trade. Merchants in Derry soon became ship owners as opposed to agents for American and British companies. An outward cargo of emigrants and a homeward cargo of timber, flaxseed or grain, twice a year, one in spring and one in the autumn, ensured a sizeable profit. By 1833 seven merchants in the city owned 15 vessels, all engaged in the North American trade; and by the 1850s two local companies, J & J Cooke and William McCorkell & Co, had built up sizeable shipping fleets.

Prior to the 1860s and the establishment of a railway network in Ireland, the port of Derry served as the emigration port for counties Derry, Donegal and Tyrone. Saint

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Derry was a key emigration port for many years with Irish families leaving their homeland by the thousands in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century.

John (New Brunswick) and Quebec in Canada, and New York and Philadelphia in the USA were the destination ports for these emigrants. In 1847, 12,385 emigrants set sail from Derry, 41% of them on ships owned by local merchants J & J Cooke.

By the 1870s sailing ships could no longer compete with the speed, comfort and reliability of the transatlantic passenger steamers. In 1873 the Minnehaha, the flagship of William McCorkell & Co, which was known in New York as ‘the green yacht from Derry’, made the last transatlantic passenger voyage by a Derry-owned ship.

From 1865 right through to 1939 liners anchored at Moville in the deeper waters of Lough Foyle, some 18 miles downstream from Derry. Emigrants were now carried from Derry quay in paddle tenders to connect with the ocean-going liners of the Anchor Line of Glasgow and the Allan Line and Dominion Line of Liverpool. In 1883, 15,000 people left through Derry, by steamship, for Canada and the USA. By the turn of the twentieth century Derry was the major emigration port for the northern half of Ireland, with emigrants being brought to Derry quay by an extensive rail network. Indeed the railway companies in Ireland were offering cheap rail tickets to those intending emigrants, embarking at Derry, who boarded trains at railway stations north of a notional line which stretched from Sligo on the west coast to Dublin on the east coast. In effect, it was assumed that if you lived north of this line you emigrated from Derry and if you lived in the southern half of Ireland you embarked at Queenstown (now Cobh).

Official passenger departure lists (which record UK addresses from 1922) of emigrants who sailed from Derry to North America exist from 1890 and these can now be searched online at www.ancestorsonboard.com by name, port, ship and date.

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For example, this database reveals that 4,364 passengers with the surname Doherty (the most common surname in Derry today) sailed from Derry to North America in the 50-year period 1890 to 1939 inclusive: Doherty Passengers Sailing from Derry via Moville Decade 1890 to 1899 1900 to 1909 1910 to 1919 1920 to 1929 1930 to 1939 Total

Number of Passengers 1092 1170 653 1048 401 4364

This database also demonstrates that the United States and, in particular, New York was the favoured destination of the vast majority of Dohertys: Destination of Doherty Passengers from Derry 1890 to 1939 Destination Country USA Canada Total

Number of Passengers 4198 166 4364

Destination of Doherty Passengers from Derry to USA 1890 to 1939 Destination Port in USA New York Boston Portland Philadelphia Total

Number of Passengers 3403 749 25 21 4198

Destination of Doherty Passengers from Derry to Canada 1890 to 1939 Destination Port in Canada Quebec Halifax Montreal Saint John NB Total

Number of Passengers 76 73 14 3 166

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In this period no emigrants would have sailed direct from Derry to either Australia or New Zealand. Emigrants from the North West of Ireland bound for Australia and New Zealand would have departed from major British ports such as Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Plymouth; their journey, however, would have begun with the steamer connection between Derry and the ports of Glasgow and Liverpool. In this instance it is clear that London was the preferred port of embarkation for Dohertys immigrating to Australia: Departure Ports for Doherty Passengers to Australia 1890 to 1939 Departure Port London Liverpool Southampton Plymouth Tilbury Avonmouth Glasgow Total

Number of Passengers 243 21 15 6 3 2 2 292

The steamer connections established from the 1820s between Ireland and the ports of Liverpool and Glasgow also explains the high proportion of Irish emigrants who settled in these parts of Britain during the nineteenth century.

Over 20 million emigrants who arrived at New York’s Ellis Island Immigration station between 1892 and 1924 can be identified online at www.ellisisland.org. An examination of this database, by name of ship, reveals that the City of Rome, an Anchor Line ship, carried 24,910 emigrants in the ten-year period between 1892 and 1901 from Glasgow and Derry to New York. The emigrants boarding at Glasgow were mostly from the Glasgow area although one recorded sailing arriving in New York on 5 September 1892 also carried a significant number of emigrants from Scandinavia, in particular from southern Sweden. These included emigrants from Gothenburg (now Goteborg), Jamtland, Jonkoping, Kristianstad, Linkoping, Malmo, Ostergotland, Smaland, Stiby and Varmland; this sailing of the City of Rome was also carrying passengers from Copenhagen in Denmark, Trondheim in Norway, Berlin and Hamburg in Germany, and Zurich in Switzerland. There were also passengers on board from different parts of Ireland including counties Leitrim, Sligo, Longford and Meath.

The majority of emigrants boarding at Derry, via Moville, came from Derry’s traditional catchment area of counties Derry, Donegal and Tyrone and from the other six counties of Ulster (Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Down, Fermanagh and Monaghan).

It must, however, be said that throughout the nineteenth century there were not the same pressures to emigrate for the residents of Derry and its hinterland as there were for those living in other parts of the country. As previously noted, Derry began to grow from the 1830s; it needed workers to service this growth in industry, trade and shipping 97

and as a consequence many migrants from Donegal settled in the Bogside district of the city. For example, the outworker system in shirt production supplemented the income of many small tenant farmers in counties Derry and Donegal. The Londonderry Sentinel of 19 October 1912 reported that the £40,000 paid annually to these workers was a major factor in staving off emigration.

A number of emigration studies such as Bruce Elliott’s Irish Migrants in the Canadas: A New Approach (published by the Institute of Irish Studies, Belfast, 1988), which traced the movements of 775 Protestant families from North Tipperary to the districts of London and Ottawa in Ontario, Canada in the period 1815–1855, have demonstrated that although the decision to emigrate was influenced by economic and social conditions at home, the locations of family members who had gone before was the major determinant of emigrant destination.

From its earliest days Irish migration has been a family affair. The Irish either moved with kin or moved to join kin. By the nineteenth century the emigrant trade depended to a large extent on people in North America paying the fare to bring out family and friends. These ‘engaged’ passengers insured the viability of the passenger trade for Derry shipping firms, such as J & J Cooke and William McCorkell & Co, in the middle years of the nineteenth century. The selection of future emigrants, therefore, lay largely with those who had gone before.

Finally, the ‘American Letter’ had an important role to play in the encouragement of the Irish to emigrate. The letter, with details of the voyage and conditions in their adopted country, would have been read aloud to friends and members of the family group. It played its part in changing the Irish attitude to emigration from one of resignation to one of acceptance and even excited anticipation.

In conclusion, it is clear that emigration played a key role in bringing a large rural population to the Bogside area of Derry. For those that did find work the area became, by necessity, their place of residence. For those that could not secure employment, embarkation on a ship bound for Canada, America or Britain became the only alternative.

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Chapter Nine The Bogside from Home Rule to the 1960s Tommy Carlin

B

y the year 1900, Derry had experienced a certain amount of prosperity in the preceding 40 years. This was mainly due to expansion in the shirt making and shipbuilding industries. This growth had brought many people into the city from Donegal and Inishowen in particular. The fact that these migrants were Irish and of low income meant the only area of the city that was viable for them to reside was the Bogside. Their arrival boosted the population of Derry to 40,000 by 1900 and 45,000 by 1915.

Nevertheless, changes were on the way that would bring about a reduction in employment. Firstly, the Belfast railway was bringing cheaper goods into the city which was undercutting local traders’ wares. Secondly, the port began to decline as the number of emigrants leaving the city began to fall. Thirdly, the shirt trade in Derry was also in decline due to overseas competition. In terms of housing in Derry, some new houses had been built in Rosemount (to accommodate Scottish shipyard workers) as well as in Pennyburn and the Waterside. Nevertheless, conditions in the Bogside remained desperate with overcrowding and poor sanitation rife.

The railways did more than just transport people; they allowed access to cheaper goods from Belfast, which undercut the traders in Derry.

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In politics the focus was on Home Rule, a long running proposal that Ireland should have a degree of autonomous government with its own parliament in Dublin although remaining under British jurisdiction. This was opposed by the unionists in the north who rejected the idea on the grounds that their religious, economic and political interests would be damaged under a parliament controlled by a mainly Catholic and southern-based administration. Two attempts to pass the bill through Westminster had already failed but the idea was still very much on the political agenda.

In 1912 a third attempt was made to bring Home Rule to Ireland. The bill was passed by the British House of Commons but its implementation was suspended until 1914 by the British House of Lords. Many unionists came to accept that some form of Home Rule was inevitable but they then insisted that the northeast of the country, with its large unionist population, be exempted. Opposition in Derry to their demand was led by the Catholic bishop, Dr Charles McHugh.

In 1914, World War I began. Both supporters and opponents of Home Rule enlisted in the British army with thousands dying at the Somme and other locations across Europe. The war regenerated industrial output in Derry. The recently closed shipyard reopened to work on British navy boats whilst the shirt factories were involved in the production of uniforms for British troops.

In April 1916 the Easter Rising erupted in Dublin. The actual rising had little impact on Derry. Nevertheless, the execution of the rebellion’s leaders and the rise in support for Sinn Féin strengthened the opinion of the British Government that a form of partition was the only viable solution to the Irish problem. In 1917, John Redmond (leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminster) advocated that partition should be accepted as a temporary arrangement, however, locally, Dr McHugh opposed the idea and attempted to form his own political party in the city to oppose the measure.

The real fear that now emerged was that the nationalist vote would be split. During this period Sinn Féin had set up a Pearse Club in Derry and brought Eoin McNeill (an Antrim republican who had helped to organise the Easter Rising) to the city as their proposed candidate in the forthcoming British general election. As a compromise, Bishop McHugh accepted McNeill as the ‘nationalist’ candidate; he subsequently defeated Robert Anderson, the unionist candidate, and won one of 73 seats for Sinn Féin out of the 105 Irish constituencies. Most of the nationalist victories were in the south, with unionists taking Eoin MacNeill. the majority of the seats in the north.

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In January 1919 Sinn Féin’s new MPs held a meeting in the Mansion House in Dublin and announced the formation of a new independent parliament (Dail Eireann) and a new executive. The British Government responded to Sinn Féin’s electoral success by introducing a ‘PR’ (proportional representation) system of voting for local government elections in Ireland in the expectation that unionists would get more councillors elected and thus reduce Sinn Féin control of local government across the country. Ironically, in Derry the introduction of PR ensured that for the first time a nationalist majority was returned to the local corporation and Hugh C O’Doherty, a nationalist councillor and local solicitor, was elected mayor. The headline in the Derry Journal after the election read, ‘No Surrender: citadel conquered after centuHugh C O’Doherty, Derry’s first ries of oppression, overthrow of ascendNationalist mayor. ancy’.

Tension grew in the city and in April 1920 riots broke out at the Bishop Street ‘interface’ between unionists from the Fountain area and nationalists from the Bogside.

The situation was exacerbated in November 1920 when the Special Constabulary (later known as the B-Specials) was founded to counter the growing IRA presence. By December the Government of Ireland Act was passed and Ireland was effectively divided with separate parliaments in Dublin and Belfast. The partition arrangement was confirmed when Michael Collins signed the Anglo-Irish treaty in December 1921.

Derry was now officially part of the new ‘Northern Ireland’ state although many nationalists expected this would only be a temporary arrangement. Their hope was based on the idea that the newly established Boundary Commission would decide that Derry, with its nationalist majority focussed around the Bogside, should be part of the new ‘Free State’. This hope was dashed, however, when a report leaked in 1925 recommended that the border should be extended further west into County Donegal where a substantial number of unionists still lived. Many local manufacturers also opposed Derry ending up in the Free State as most of their trade was with Britain rather than within Ireland; this was another justification used for keeping Derry within the Northern Ireland state boundary. The Boundary Commission’s official report was suppressed until 1969; in the interim, none of its recommendations were implemented and the new northern state remained a six-county entity.

Initially, people in the city did not appreciate what changes partition would bring.

The most obvious changes were the siting of customs posts on either side of the new

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land border at Killea, Bridgend and Muff. These caused much confusion and irritation for people travelling between the two new entities. Firstly, most people now found travelling into Donegal involved checks on their identity and restrictions on the movement of goods. Secondly, many people from the Bogside who had relations in Donegal now found themselves cut off from other members of their family. Thirdly, the people of Donegal found themselves isolated from the Free State Government as only a small land corridor at Ballyshannon connected them to the other 25 counties of the Free State.

The new border also severely affected train services. The railway network unavoidably crisscrossed the border at numerous points, for example, the train from Derry to Portadown crossed the border, back and forth, many times on its journey. Rather than check the carriages at each location where this occurred, the customs’ solution was to seal all the goods carriages in Derry and so they remained until the train reached Portadown. This adversely affected the Great Northern Railway, which was located at Foyle Road on the edge of Lower Bishop Street, as it meant no goods could be transported by rail to the Free State from Derry. The Lough Swilly Railway, which had its depot at the bottom of Strand Road, had to construct a customs post at Galliagh Halt to comply with these restrictions as this was the only point at which its trains crossed the border on their journeys to and from Buncrana. Such a pity there were relatively few cars then!

Economic life within the city was also severely affected; Watt’s whiskey distillery in the Bogside had closed in 1920 and now cross-border trade had almost ceased. Farmers could no longer freely herd cattle from Donegal to the port; cattle crossing points had been established where cattle were ear punched once duty had been paid. Luckily the punt (the new currency in the Free State) was ‘tied’ to sterling so there was no difference in their respective values. However, taxes and duty levels varied on goods and services which resulted in new jobs as extra customs clerks were needed to calculate the duty on each item and fill in the relevant forms – for a fee.

The Lough Swilly Railway yard at the top of the Strand Road with Pennyburn Church in the background.

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The dole queues lengthened as unemployment rose dramatically among the people of the Bogside in the period after partition.

Almost immediately cross-border smuggling began. Many farmers had land which straddled both sides of the border and cattle would simply wander from one side of the border to another. This led to disputes between farmers and customs men regarding the payment of duties. This in turn led to the formation of a special ‘mobile’ unit of the Inland Revenue which patrolled the border, often accompanied by the Special Constabulary. Until then, the only mobile branch of the Inland Revenue had operated around seaports and was nicknamed the ‘Water Rats’; the new unit soon earned the same nickname.

The Great Depression of the late 1920s further increased poverty levels and unemployment in the Bogside, which were already dire due to the impact of partition. The shipyard closed again whilst a number of businesses moved across the border. Brewster’s bakery on William Street in the Bogside was particularly badly hit. Until partition it had traded as far south as Sligo but this effectively ended when the new trading restrictions were introduced. Also, a large number of Bogside residents left for work in Scotland and England. Around 3,000 alone left in the period 1926–36.

In 1932, growing dissent at the worsening economic situation and lack of work opportunities in the area – work on the only major project in the city – the Craigavon Bridge – was drawing to a close – resulted in a march by the unemployed through the streets of Derry, finishing at the Guildhall. In response to this and other demonstrations the British Government introduced more restrictions and tariffs on the importation of goods across the border so they couldn’t compete as well with locally made items. This led to a much more organised smuggling trade which in turn led to more customs and B-Special patrols.

Nevertheless, many were still able to outwit the system. The border was so close to Derry that many people simply walked across the unapproved roads carrying goods back and forth, especially around Christmas time when many goods such as toys and cosmetics could be bought for less in the south. Old greatcoats from the wartime period

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were also used for smuggling as their numerous large pockets could conceal a range of items. A large amount of the smuggled goods were brought to and from the Bogside/Brandywell areas due to their proximity to the border at Killea.

In reaction to the British restrictions and tariffs on Irish goods, de Valera threatened to remove the right of the British navy to use the treaty ports at Lough Swilly in Donegal and Crosshaven in Cork. The British retaliated by banning the export of coal to the Free State which caused severe hardship for many Irish citizens, especially during winter. Trains in the state had to be adapted to burn turf and this new reliance on peat fuel Poster urging Six County Unionists to buy local led to the Dublin government estabdrinks instead of purchasing Free State produce. lishing Bord na Mona to oversee the necessary increase in turf production.

Nevertheless, many people in Donegal still wanted coal as it was warmer and burned longer, consequently, coal smuggling between Derry and Donegal became a regular occurrence – the gasworks in the Bogside was a key location for the storage of coal and many Donegal residents would purchase a supply there before trying to get it across the border.

The ‘tariff war’ escalated in 1939 when de Valera announced that Ireland would leave the Commonwealth and become a republic. He also insisted that the British would have to leave Lough Swilly. This led to talk of war between the two states and

De Valera on a visit to the Bogside in the 1950s.

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Shaun, Angela and Noeleen Doherty outside the Black Hut in the 1960s. fears that the British would reoccupy the south. However, it all came to nothing when World War II began and the British became involved in the Allied campaign. The Free State Government remained neutral and referred to the period as the ‘Emergency’. The port of Derry now became strategically important to the British since they no longer had access to Lough Swilly.

The war encouraged even more smuggling to counteract the severe rationing that was then in force. Hard to get goods like butter and cigarettes were smuggled into the Six Counties whilst bicycle tyres, which were scarce in Donegal, would be secreted across the border from Derry. As customs officers were much more reluctant to search females, girls from the Bogside and Brandywell regularly walked out the Killea back road and across the border with bicycle tyres around their waist, hidden from view under their long winter coats, and then return with butter, sugar and eggs again concealed under and in their coats; indeed they wore their coats even in the height of summer to ensure they got as many goods back as possible! The smuggling along the Killea route was aided by the existence of the ‘Black Hut’, a small building which sat right on the border. The hut was still being used up to the early 1970s when the 26 counties and Britain joined the European Common Market and free trade became the norm.

In 1941 the USA officially entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Even before this attack, however, the Americans were sending ‘civilian’ contractors to Derry to work on developing the capacity of the harbour and build accommodation for the ‘anticipated’ arrival of troops in the city. In fact most of these ‘civilians’ were members of the US Navy’s Construction Branch, or ‘CBs’ for short. Gradually they 105

US Navy personnel on parade in Waterloo Place in the 1940s. began to appear more frequently in uniform; the US Navy had now made Derry ‘their’ first port within the British Government’s jurisdiction.

In February 1942 the US base was officially opened and the city began to flourish economically once again. The local shirt factories, employing thousands of workers from the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street, introduced shift work to supply the demand for navy and military uniforms; there was a much welcomed increase in disposable incomes as a result. Much of the female population of the Bogside was also ‘intrigued’ by the American GIs who possessed such luxuries as tipped cigarettes, lighters and aftershave. This fascination with the GIs proved to be a sore point with the male Bogsiders who regularly ended up scrapping with the Americans in local bars such as the Grand Central, which happened to be situated beside the port and just around the corner from the Bogside.

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Thousands of US Navy personnel left the cramped environs of their bunk rooms and flocked into the citycentre pubs, dance halls and cafes in their droves during their ‘shore leave’ or rec time.

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The US Navy kept a sizeable presence of personnel and ships in the city for many years after World War II, with a major docking port at Lisahally and several other camps and command HQs scattered across the city.

Officially the Free State was out of bounds to the British and American military and navy. Nevertheless, many sailors and troops crossed the border to Buncrana in civilian clothes to escape the entertainment restrictions in the Six Counties. This was particularly common on Sundays when they were able to bring back restricted goods such as alcoholic drinks.

Post World War II the slump returned to Derry. Short time was introduced in the shirt factories and many other businesses closed; the people of the Bogside, who relied on employment in manufacturing and the port, were sorely affected. The old cycle of smuggling cheaper goods across the border soon returned. As mentioned earlier, this remained the case until the introduction of the European Free Trade Agreement which enticed Britain and the 26 counties to join the European Common Market in the early 1970s. Although this led to an easing of the economic problems faced by residents of the Bogside in terms of accessing goods from across the border, there were more pressing political and economic matters facing the area, not least the ongoing gerrymandering of local government and the deliberate policies being pursued by the Stormont Government in the 1960s to ensure that Derry would not be able to develop to its full potential. Dark clouds were now on the horizon.

The city’s commercial docks went into decline in the 1970s.

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Chapter Ten Community Development Mickey Cooper

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he debilitating duo of discrimination and deprivation affecting the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas, forced the creation of a number of self-help projects to assist the local population and provide an outlet for the many young people in the area.

Long Tower Boys Club Long Tower Boys Club was established by Fr Henry O’Kane in 1943. Originally based in Hamill’s Hotel in upper Linenhall Street, the club moved to the Ashfield Hall in Tyrconnell Street in 1945. Early activities included debates, table tennis, billiards, singsongs and mock trials. In the same year the club added boxing to its programme – its list of pugilists have since included some of Derry’s greatest boxing talents such as Billy ‘Spider’ Kelly, Jackie ‘Flash’ Bonner, the Donnelly brothers and George McCann. An

The committee who organised the 1956 soccer competition in ‘The Dump’. Picture includes: Jackie Cooley, Willie Meehan, Eddie Mathewson, Jimmy Lynch, Lexie McLaughlin, John McCafferty, Freddie Henry, Lexie Lynch, Tuggie McLaughlin, Bill Nellis, Johnny Gillespie, Eddie Crossan, Joe Radcliffe, Jackie McCool, Harry Gallagher and Bobby McGilloway.

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Long Tower Boys Club prize-giving presentation, 1967. amateur dramatics society was formed and a number of productions were staged in St Columb’s Hall and other venues. Soccer tournaments were also held in the College Field which attracted local teams such as Foyle Harps, Foyle Rovers and Fulton Rovers.

Club magazines were also initiated.

When Fr O’Kane moved to another parish the club moved to Deanery Place whilst the soccer tournaments venue changed from the College Field to Iona Park, affectionately known as the ‘Dump’ before renovations were completed in the late 1950s. The first match in the new ground was kicked off by the great Freddie Gilroy, one of Ireland’s most famous boxers, who had brought a team from the Ardoyne to play a Long Tower select.

Inspired by the success of the new pitch at Iona, the club embarked on a plan to build new headquarters. Subsequently, Our Lady of Lourdes Hall was opened on 11 February 1955, the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. The hall was built on the site of Johnnie ‘Shoat’ Kerrigan’s rag store; his son Alex kindly donated the site to the Long Tower parish. When completed it seated around 600 people and was the venue for acts such as Joseph Locke and the Wolfe Tones. By the early ’60s a proper club structure had been put in place and a range of courses including woodwork, leatherwork and gymnastics introduced.

In 1966 the club employed Frankie Campbell, Derry’s first full-time youth club leader. Frankie encouraged the further development of the soccer team which won many honours in the late ’60s The old Lourdes Hall in the Brandywell. and early ’70s. By 1970 he had

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amalgamated the separate boys and girls clubs. He also secured the old auxiliary fire station in Ann Street for new club premises and the building was eventually rebuilt in the mid-’70s with a main hall, saunas, showers, pool room and snooker room. Lourdes Hall had a fleeting moment of international prominence in June 1972 when the IRA leadership hosted a press conference there concerning a proposed ceasefire. The Lourdes Hall was eventually vacated and demolished in the early ’90s.

Around the mid-1970s it also became clear that youth groups from the wider area who did not have a direct connection with the club were suffering due to their inability to access government grants. As a result, the Long Tower Youth Association was set up to assist these groups to access funding. As a direct consequence, minority sports like judo (taught by Ann and Jimmy Lyttle), karate, basketball and volleyball were able to be introduced. The club continued to operate throughout the 1980s but by the mid’90s it was clear improvements to the venue were needed. These renovations were completed in early 2000 and today the venue is used by a host of local groups. The youth club also uses separate premises on Bishop Street.

The ‘Over The Hill’ Club The ‘Over The Hill’ Club was conceived by a number of elderly Bishop Street residents who regularly gathered at the bottom of the street to have a chat and reminisce.

However, the onset of winter and inclement weather meant it was difficult for the men to continue their meetings. When Mickey Doherty from Brooke Park Centre offered them a room in the Brandywell Sports Centre for a nominal weekly rent their problems were solved. Having secured meeting premises the men swiftly formed a membership club where the only criteria was age; if you were over 55 you were in!

Since 1992 the club has offered regular activities including snooker, billiards, darts, cards, dominoes, checkers and pontoon, with regular competitions organised amongst members. The summer still sees frequent ‘danders out the line’ by its members. The club has also gathered a large collection of sporting memorabilia which is on display on the walls of the meeting room. Gatherings take place daily between 3.00pm–10.00pm, except weekends, and everybody is welcome (as long as you’re over 55!).

Members of the ‘Over The Hill’ Club in the 1990s.

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Dove House pioneered community services and self-help in the Bogside.

Dove House Over the last three decades Dove House Community Trust has provided many vital services and support for the people of the Bogside, Brandywell, Creggan and the wider Derry City Council area. Indeed many now well-established organisations throughout the city started out as ‘embryonic visions’ within Dove House. Examples include Conradh na Gaeilge (whose work led to the establishment of Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin on Great James Street), the Nerve Centre, the Gasyard Development Trust, Gasyard Wall Féile and The Bogside and Brandywell Initiative, to name a few.

Dove House was established and subsequently ‘brought to life’ by Mary Nelis, Frankie McMenamin, Gerry Toner, Paula Martin, Carmel Enright, Paul Barwise and Jemma Meenan. Their journey to establishing Dove House began by ‘squatting’ into the premises at Dove Gardens and staying put. This action proved successful and these courageous ‘strategists’ became founder members of Dove House Community Trust, advocating and promoting the philosophy of individual and community selfsufficiency.

In those early days a community development model was utilised to ensure that the concept of self-sufficiency became a core ingredient in all the services provided by the centre. Dove House was officially opened in November 1984 by Herman Verbeek, MEP and initially staffed by a committed, passionate and enthusiastic team of volunteers who provided a range of education and arts classes to local people. 1985 brought ACE-programme funding which enabled the management committee to employ a number of staff, although they were still supported by a voluntary core. At one stage Dove House employed 42 ACE workers who delivered a variety of services such as advice, gardening, youth provision and care for older people within the community.

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Friends of Dove House celebrating the centre’s 25th birthday in 2010.

However, like many aspects of community development it wasn’t without its problems and 1986 brought with it its own tribulations. Political vetting and the withdrawal of public funds on the basis of suspected political allegiance was the dominant problem that year. However, this injustice mobilised a number of individuals to ‘fight the system’ and the funding was restored. The ACE programme was by no means a panacea for the increasing levels of poverty, unemployment and socioeconomic deprivations impacting the area but it did assist over the next decade and Dove House continued to deliver a vital service to the local people. At this time the political landscape had begun to change – the 1994 IRA cessation had created a climate focussed on moving communities beyond conflict.

It was in this context that Dove House, through its then manager Donncha Mac Niallais and the management committee, began the process of considering the strategic future of the organisation. This saw the publication of ‘Gnás Úr’ (A New Departure) which was launched in 1996 by Patricia McKenna, MEP. Gnás Úr enabled Dove House to substantially extend the number and scope of its services. Dove House Community Trust soon became the leading community and voluntary sector service for advice provision in the Derry City Council area. In addition, its development of youth orientated activity saw its Youth First project become recognised as the leading and most innovative youth service provider in the Bogside and Brandywell areas. After a successful fouryear period in charge, Donncha handed the reins to Marie Boyle who became ACE manager for a one-year period before the phasing out of the ACE programme.

From the mid-’90s the Trust was led by Charles Lamberton. At this time the vision of Dove House focussed on targeting social need and neighbourhood renewal – a major success of this approach has been the physical regeneration of the immediate Dove Gar-

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dens area and the allocation of state-of-the-art homes for Bogside residents. In addition, Dove House also became a key player in supporting the development of new initiatives such as the Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum, Gasyard Arts and Culture Centre, Iona Enterprises, Triax and, most recently, the Ilex city-wide regeneration plan.

Current projects supported by Dove House include: the Neighbourhood Assist project, which provides a comprehensive advice service informing residents of their welfare entitlements; the Divert project, which provides drug and alcohol education, prevention and early intervention services for children, young people and families; the Derry 20/20 and Learner Access Engagement project, which promotes and provides education and training courses and employability support. Youth First also continues to provide a range of activities for the young people of the area. Dove House also works to improve the local aesthetic image of the area by animating public open spaces to instil and promote a sense of civic pride and ownership amongst residents.

Underpinning many of the Dove House projects is the necessity to enhance local people’s lives through the provision of initiatives and programmes which best serve the needs of the community and its service users and to date Dove House has had considerable success impacting on and creating noticeable change in local people’s lives. These successes can be measured in relation to individual’s up-skilling, people moving into employment, people addressing and modifying their substance misuse issues, as well as people becoming more informed as to their entitlements, which at times has been the stimulus for moving them in the direction of seeking employment.

Pilot’s Row Pilot’s Row Youth and Community Centre is a joint provision facility funded by the WELB and Derry City Council. Situated in the heart of Derry, it primarily services the needs of the Bogside, Brandywell and surrounding areas. The centre offers a wide variety of activities for all ages and abilities in a neutral environment and is open to the public from 8.30am until 10.30pm, six days a week.

The centre was officially opened on 17 April 1980 during a period of political unrest and provided respite to the people of the area from the ensuing trouble on their streets.

Initially there was some opposition to the construction of the building as some of the local residents were unhappy with housing conditions in the area – the nearby Rossville flats being a case in point – and wanted the site to be used for the development of more modern housing. Once the building opened this opposition quickly changed to support as the local people came to appreciate the services offered by the new centre.

Initially, the core aim of the project was to entice large numbers of young people ‘off the streets’. It provided a space for activities such as martial arts, indoor football, dressmaking courses, hairdressing classes and a snooker room for some of the older residents of the Chris and Lizzy in Pilot’s Row in 2004.

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Tom Hippsley and friends enjoying the craic at Pilot’s Row in 2008. area. Irish-language classes were also held in the centre. These classes were the forerunner of later projects such as An Gaelaras and Cultúrlann Uí Chanáinn. Gradually, however, services began to expand and the focus of the centre widened to meet the changing demands and needs of the local population.

A new ‘Youth Wing’ was officially opened in February 2009 providing a space dedicated to young people. This purpose-built area is used exclusively by the youth of the Bogside and the surrounding areas. It houses an internet café, social and recreational areas. The Youth Wing has its own separate entrance at the front of the main building which allows it to be accessed exclusively by the young people of the area.

Today the centre has a dedicated manager and community development worker in place to oversee the provision of new and innovative programmes – both work in conjunction with the area youth worker. An advisory committee is also in place to offer guidance on the operation of the centre; this is made up of local councillors, WELB employees and community representatives. The aim of the committee is to provide support to the management and staff and it meets on a monthly basis for an update on how the centre is progressing.

Gasyard Development Trust A number of years after the demise of the Alternative Planning project (based in Dove House) a renewed interest was shown in the potential to redevelop the Derry gasworks site, which had remained unoccupied since its closure in 1986. In 1992 two surveys of the area were carried out; one by the newly established Bogside and Brandywell Development Association (BBDA), based again at Dove House, and the other by Derry City Council. The results of both surveys were very similar in that local people expressed the need for the site to be retained for community use such as a neighbourhood building and parkland.

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The BBDA was made up of a small core group of people including Donncha MacNiallais, Tony Doherty, Declan Kearney and local architect Michael Hegarty. Between 1992 and 1995 members of the BBDA and others, most notably Paddy (‘Bogside’) Doherty, sat on the Gasyard Working Group. The main purpose of the group was to fully analyse and disseminate the results of their survey and decide which aspects could be realistically incorporated into a development plan.

In 1993 the first Gasyard Wall Féile was held on the site in order to promote the concept of community ownership and use of the green space. By 1995/96 the Working Group had agreed the main building requirements for the development and sought entries via an architectural competition from firms in Derry and beyond. The competition was won by FM Corr & Associates.

In this same period the Gasyard Development Trust was established as the vehicle for ‘delivering the development’, now with a projected capital cost of £2.5 million. Paddy Doherty became chair and Christine Whiteman vice-chair. Kick-start funding was secured from Derry City Council, North West Development Office and Dublin-based charity the St Stephen’s Green Trust. In September 1996 Tony Doherty was appointed project manager.

Once the remaining underground gases from the old gasworks had been decontaminated work began on the site. The first sod was turned in 1998 to begin the major landscaping phase of the development and in 1999 construction commenced on the new Neighbourhood Education and Cultural Centre – later to be called simply the ‘Gasyard Centre’. The new centre was officially opened in August 2001 by Brian Cowen, TD, then Minister for Finance in the Dublin government. The opening became the focal point for a series of celebratory events throughout the Bogside and Brandywell that summer.

Today the centre caters for thousands of local patrons and houses a range of groups and projects including Free Derry Tours, BBI, Bogside and Brandywell Forum, Apollo project, Gasyard Heritage Centre, Bluebell Arts, Arts Factory, Volunteer Investment Programme, Surestart Edenballymore, Gasyard Cafe, the Monday Club, Gasyard Feile and Gaelscoil Eadainmhor. There are currently major plans afoot for an expansion of the centre to meet the ever growing demands by locals and visitors on the centre’s services.

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Projects housed and facilitated by the Gasyard Development Trust in recent years.

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Functions and events organised by the Gasyard Development Trust in recent years.

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Bogside/Brandywell Initiative The Long Tower Trust (formerly the Long Tower Neighbourhood Association) was established in 1983 to concentrate on such issues as poverty, unemployment, social deprivation and environmental decay; all long associated with the Brandywell area.

In 1996 the Trust advocated the establishment of an all-inclusive area-based partnership for the Bogside/Brandywell areas; the result was the launch of the BBI (Bogside/ Brandywell Initiative) on 3 February 1996. The BBI is currently housed in the Gasyard Trust building on Lecky Road.

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An Irish language class underway in Dove House in the 1980s.

Irish Language Development A key aim of community development in the area has been the promotion of the Irish language. For many years, groups like Conradh na Gaeilge held classes in the homes and halls of the Bogside and Brandywell. Eventually, the classes moved into venues like Pilot’s Row with many of the tutors from the 1970s onwards being republican exprisoners who had learnt the language in Long Kesh and other prisons.

Since the establishment of Gaeláras in the 1990s, the language has flourished; the confirmation of this came with the opening of Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin, a state-of-theart venue in Great James Street on the edge of the Bogside which has brought a twentyfirst-century dimension to the teaching and promotion of the language.

Donncha Mac Niallais presents a fáinne to a participant in one of the Irish classes.

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Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin The Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin building, opened as part of the An Gaeláras group in Great James Street in 2009, has been described as, ‘an extraordinary architectural addition to the city’s cultural landscape’. An Irish-language cultural centre, it offers Irish-language courses that cater for learning needs ranging from beginner to proficient. Its performance spaces also allow the centre to host prestigious concert presentations.

It is a hub for a variety of different organisations throughout the Northwest region. Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin features: a multipurpose Arts centre including classrooms, youth club and 200 seat theatre, (An Croi) Irish language bookshop, Café, Business incubation suite and Office space.

The building was included as one of Ireland’s entries in the 2008 Venice Biennale and was nominated for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Award.

Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin also won the Architectural Association of Ireland Special Award (2010) and a Royal Institute of British Architects Award in 2011.

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The Museum of Free Derry Established by the Bloody Sunday Trust, this museum was officially opened in January 2007 in Glenfada Park, an area where several people were killed or wounded on Bloody Sunday in January 1972. It houses a unique and comprehensive multi-media collection of artefacts, documents, posters, images and recordings capturing the events of the civil rights era of the 1960s and the Free Derry/early Troubles period of the 1970s. The museum is an important addition to the cultural and social capital of the area and has proven to be a popular attraction for schools, locals and tourists alike. It is open all year round.

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Chapter Eleven Sporting Memories Various Contributors Derry City FC leven years after their creation, Derry Celtic were voted out of senior soccer in Ireland in 1913. This left the city without a senior team, a situation which was to last for some time due to World War I, the Easter Rising and the partition of Ireland.

The division of the country led to the creation of two football leagues; clubs south of the border broke away from the Irish Football Association and Irish League to form the Free State Football Association and Free State League. The people of Derry were irate that a city the size of Derry did not have a senior team, especially when near neighbours Coleraine, with only a quarter the population of Derry, had been elected to the Irish League in the mid-1920s.

In 1928 a group of football fans got together to rectify this situation. On 9 May 1928 Derry City affiliated to the North West Football Association and, in a link with the past, Norman McClure, son of a Derry Celtic director, was appointed club secretary. On 25 May 1928 William Arthur led a delegation to a meeting of the Irish Senior Leagues Committee to attempt to secure Derry’s senior status. During the final of the McAlinden Cup being played between Derry Celtic and Richmond in the Brandywell on Friday 31 May 1929, the announcement that Derry City had achieved senior status was greeted with a chorus of cheers and applause. Queen’s Island were out, Derry City were in.

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Derry City train in the Brandywell, circa 1930s. Inset: DCFC legend Jimmy Kelly.

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Derry and District Football Association Council, 1927–28.

On 22 August 1929 Derry City ran on to the Brandywell turf for the first time in claret and blue shirts with white shorts. Joe McCleery’s full-time professionals lost 2–1 to Glentoran. Their first point in senior football came soon after in a 1–1 draw in the Brandywell against Ballymena and a crowd of 12,000 saw Derry get their first Cup win when they beat the dominant Linfield side 3–1 in the Gold Cup. They ended the season in fifth place and came third in the City Cup; not bad for their first season.

The following year McCleery signed the legendary Jimmy Kelly. It took him four matches to get on the score sheet. That goal against Glenavon was the first of 380 for Derry City in a career spanning almost 21 years. During that time he was capped by the IFA, the Free State FA, the Irish League and the League of Ireland. Unfortunately, his arrival did not inspire Derry who ended the League campaign in seventh place.

The next season saw a brief upturn in their fortunes, which could very well have been directly related to Derry’s signing of the club’s second legendary figure, EDR Shearer, who pulled on a City shirt for the first time in a match at Coleraine Showgrounds and ‘never looked back’ in a career spanning eight seasons.

In June 1932 McCleery was sacked after his most successful season and Billy Gillespie, after 20 years at Sheffield United, took over. During this period the board decided not to go ahead with a suggested plan to buy Bond’s Field in the Waterside as A section of the Brandywell crowd in the 1940s.

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A championship-winning Derry side from the 1940s. it was too far away from their fan base. They also had first option on Derry Celtic’s old ground, Celtic Park, but hesitated on a decision and the GAA bought it ten years later.

Thus they remained at the Brandywell, a situation that prevails today.

Before the 1934/35 season the directors decided on another change of strip, opting for the red and white striped shirts and black shorts of Sheffield United as a tribute to Billy Gillespie. This was to be the strip that became synonymous with Derry City for the next 70 years, the only break being the gold and black of Wolves which they wore in the late ’50s. It was in the candy-striped tops that Derry lifted their first major trophy.

Hugh Carlyle lifted the Dunville Cup for Derry City in 1934 as winners of the City Cup by a clear five points over 12 games.

Derry were to repeat this feat in 1937 but had to wait 12 years to lift another major trophy. In 1949 they won the IFA Cup for the first time. Barney Cannon’s goal seven minutes from time secured a 3–1 win for Derry in front of a crowd of 27,000.

In 1954 Derry came third from bottom in the league. Nevertheless, progress was made with the signing of Jimmy Delaney, formerly of Glasgow Celtic, Manchester United, Scotland, and, in the early days of 1954, Falkirk. Derry had thus secured one of the greatest players ever to play on Irish soil. That year Derry met Glentoran in the IFA Cup final. The third replay saw a crowd of 28,000 witness Derry win 1–0 with a

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Derry City FC team in 1965.

Con O’Neill strike from a Delaney assist. The three finals saw a combined attendance of 93,000 – a figure unimaginable in today’s domestic Irish soccer.

In the late ’50s Derry lost key players; Jobby Crossan to Coleraine, Jim McLaughlin to Birmingham City and Matt Doherty junior to Glentoran. Local man Fay Coyle transferred from Coleraine and proved to be a more than worthy addition. In 1964 Derry City lifted the Gold Cup and the IFA Cup once again. Another legend arrived in 1964 when Belfast man Jimmy McGeough signed from Stockport County. Matt Doherty returned and yet another legend, Willie Curran, made his debut that year. As a result, Derry set off on an unbeaten run of 47 games spanning two seasons.

Steaua Bucharest beat Derry 5–1 on aggregate in the European Cup Winners Cup the following year but they made up for it by becoming the Irish League Champions for the first and only time in their history. In April 1965, a 5–1 victory over Ards in the Brandywell saw captain Fay Coyle lift the League Championship trophy in front of a packed Brandywell stadium. Within weeks Dougie Wood was named ‘Northern Ireland Player of the Year’ and Derry performed admirably in a 3–1 defeat to a team made up almost entirely of Spanish internationals in Madrid’s Vicente Calderon.

A section of the Brandywell faithful with ‘Hawker’ Lynch, resplendent in white, seated in the front row.

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Tommy Houston leads out the Derry City team at Solitude for a Cup Semi-Final against Linfield in the late 1950s.

The following season Derry became the first Irish League team to win a European tie over two legs by beating FK Lynn 8-6 on aggregate. The second round was never played due to the IFA banning the match from taking place at the Brandywell. The decision was largely based on Derry’s refusal to travel to Belfast to play the tie. The club told the IFA that if they didn’t lift the ban they wouldn’t play and represent the Irish League in Europe. Anderlecht pleaded with Derry to play the away tie and they subsequently travelled to Belgium and were hammered 9-0! The second leg was never played and relations between the Irish League and Derry never improved.

By the early 1970s relations between Derry and the Irish League and IFA deteriorated further when the IFA used the civil unrest as an excuse to force Derry to play their home matches in Coleraine. There was of course unrest in Belfast too but the playing of matches at Windsor Park and other venues was never questioned. When Portadown put forward a proposal to go back to playing at the Brandywell, Bangor, Cliftonville, Ballymena United and Derry City voted in favour of the motion. Crusaders, Ards, Glenavon, Glentoran, Distillery and Linfield all voted against. Coleraine abstained; the proposal was defeated by a single vote and Derry were ordered to play at the Coleraine Showgrounds. The 40-minute journey to ‘home’ games reduced the Derry crowd considerably; gate receipts dropped drastically and the club could no longer finance itself.

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The treble-winning players and staff celebrate with their trophies in 1989.

The Irish League and the IFA eventually got what they had been orchestrating for all along when, on Friday 13 October 1972, Derry withdrew from senior football. The directors remained hopeful that the door to the Irish League would open again soon, but only if the club were permitted to play in the Brandywell again.

To keep the club ‘alive’, Derry City plied their trade in the local ‘Saturday Morning League’ until the mid-’80s when local football legends such as Terry Harkin, Tony O’Doherty, Eamon McLaughlin and Eddie Mahon secured senior status once again for the club with Derry’s accession to the League of Ireland First Division in May 1985.

Derry’s first game in the League of Ireland in September 1985 saw thousands descend on the Brandywell to be treated to a 3–1 defeat of Home Farm. When Jim Crossan was replaced as manager by Noel King a number of ‘flair players’, including Brazilian Nelson Da Silva and South African Owen Da Gama, were introduced to the team. These new talents, combined with the stalwart Declan McDowell in defence, Kevin Mahon on the wing and Tony O’Doherty in midfield, helped Derry clinch the Shield in their first year back in senior football after a 6–1 aggregate victory over Longford Town.

Within a year of that victory Derry left Shelbourne in their wake to win the First Division. Despite defeat to Dundalk in the 1988 FAI Cup final the team continued to

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Chairman Ian Doherty with Jack Keay and Paul Carlyle in 1989. progress under the new direction of the most successful manager in League of Ireland history, Derry man Jim McLaughlin. He helped the team to secure the elusive treble of League Championship, League Cup and FAI Cup in 1988/89, undoubtedly Derry’s most successful season ever.

Derry won the League Championship again in 1996/97 and have been runnersup on several occasions. They have also won the FAI Cup on four other occasions (1989, 1995, 2002 and 2006). In addition the club has enjoyed unprecedented success in the League Cup with nine victories between 1988 and 2011. The club was faced with another major challenge in 2009 when they were expelled from the Premier Division by the FAI over allegations of extra payments to players. Nevertheless, the club bounced back under their second term of management by Dubliner Stephen Kenny to win the First Division title in 2010. At the time of writing the club are under new management, with local man Declan Devine taking over the key role and ably assisted by assistant coach, former candystripe, Paul Hegarty. The club have a host of new local talent involved in the team and plans are afoot for the redevelopment of the stadium. Things are again looking up for the club as they approach their centenary in 2028. (Extracts from the club’s website - www.derrycityfc.net) The Derry City side from 2010/2011.

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An early GAA display in Celtic Park.

Celtic Park The new look Celtic Park is now one of the top GAA stadiums in the country and can look forward to an exciting future. The following extract from an article by Ciaran O’Neill exploring the history of the famous old ground, was taken from the GAA website www.derrygaa.ie ‘It all started on 15 November 1943. That was the day that a leaflet was distributed around homes in Derry asking for help to raise 10,000 shillings to pay for a piece of land for Gaelic games in the city. Thus began the eventful journey which has led to the creation of one of Ireland’s top GAA stadiums. A small committee had been formed in Derry in the early 1940s to promote Gaelic games in the city. The committee soon realised that a base for such games was vital if they were to compete with other sports, most notably soccer. A piece of land in the Bogside/Lone Moor Road areas was identified as a possible solution. The land had previously been home to Derry Celtic Football Club from 1900 to 1913. After being voted out of the Irish League in 1913, the club folded.

‘Derry was to be without its own soccer club until 1928 when Derry City was formed and set up home at the Brandywell. Following Derry Celtic’s demise, their former ground lay unused for many years. However, in 1943 approaches were made by the new Gaelic games committee to the city’s governing body, Londonderry Corporation, the then owners of the land, about the possibility of buying it. When positive soundings came back, the committee decided to launch their appeal for funds around the local area and soon purchased the land outright. The original intention had been to name the ground Colmcille Park in honour of the city’s patron saint but it was eventually decided to keep the Celtic Park title.

‘With the land secured, the committee set about using it to promote Gaelic games. Unlike today’s state-of-the-art facilities, this simply amounted to putting up two sets of goalposts – without nets! This was enough, however, to attract local youths in their droves and a very successful street league was launched which included the

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GAA clubs in Derry at the time such as Eire Og, Sarsfields and St Patrick’s. However, throughout the remainder of the 1940s and the 1950s Celtic Park existed basically as a ‘field’ where people gathered to play Gaelic games.

‘There was certainly no master plan in terms of developing the site. The idea of making something more out of Celtic Park was first mooted in the mid-’60s, but a serious proposal didn’t emerge until early in the 1970s. By that stage a new committee had been formed to raise the funds needed to develop the park in line with other GAA stadiums of the time. The committee, led by well-known medic Dr Domnhall MacDermott, started a weekly bingo session at the Stardust in Derry as part of their fundraising effort. These bingo games were to play a key role in the future of Celtic Park.

‘Meanwhile, the committee were involved in negotiations with the owners of the gasworks site to the rear of Celtic Park about the possibility of buying a 20-yard stretch of the Bluebell Hill section, where the main terracing currently sits at the stadium. However, the Department of the Environment threw a spanner in the works by vesting land on the Lone Moor Road side of the park for a road widening project. This meant that the committee had to purchase more of the Bluebell Hill section than they had originally planned. These various problems led to many setbacks for the Celtic Park redevelopment plans but finally, in the early 1980s, with the support of the GAA Central Council, the Ulster Council and the Derry County Board, concrete plans were put forward.

‘On a sunny afternoon in May 1990, the years of hard work by so many local people finally came to fruition. Bishop Edward Daly performed the opening ceremony of the new Celtic Park before an inter-county game between Derry and Fermanagh. By that stage the pitch had been re-laid and a clubhouse and changing rooms built along with a seated terrace area on one side of the pitch. The famous old ground soon established a reputation as an excellent venue and the development work continued throughout the ’90s, with additional terracing being built around other parts of the stadium.

Celtic Park, 2009.

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The Oak Leaf County’s famous All-Ireland winning squad of 1993 celebrating their victory in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin.

‘Celtic Park went on to play host to many great games, including the classic 1994 championship encounter between Derry, the then All-Ireland champions, and Down, who would go on to win that year. The clash is still regarded as one of the best football games ever played. As well as being a great setting for inter-county games, Celtic Park was also being put to great use by GAA clubs in Derry for the promotion of Gaelic games in the city, particularly in the wake of the 1993 All-Ireland success.

‘The committee, led by men such as Seamus Mullan, Charlie Bonner, Jack Gorman and Joe Murphy, wanted more. In 2006 they secured a grant from the Sports Council of Northern Ireland to upgrade the stadium. Today, the former seated terrace has been replaced by a modern covered seated stand which provides the level of comfort now demanded by many sports fans. New terracing, when fully completed, will bring the capacity of the ground up to around 18,000. A building containing a state-of-the-art control room and press box has also been constructed at a fantastic vantage point overlooking the pitch. “We can now proudly say that we in Derry have one of the best GAA stadiums in Ireland”, these words, spoken by Seamus Mullan, would no doubt please those who handed out a bunch of leaflets way back in 1943.’

It should also be noted that one of the county’s greatest Gaelic footballers hails from the Bogside; Tom McGuinness, brother of Sinn Féin leader Martin, won three Ulster Senior Football Championship medals, as well as Ulster Under 21 and All-Ireland Under 21 Championship medals in the 1970s.

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A well-attended greyhound meet in the Brandywell Showgrounds in the 1980s.

‘Doggy Men’ Creggan dog track opened in 1941. Up to then Celtic Park had been the mecca for followers of the sport, but the Catholic bishop’s disapproval was enough to have racing terminated there. Apparently he had reached the conclusion that the lure of ‘the dogs’ was proving too great an attraction for weaker church members who, when faced with a choice between religion and the track, chose the excitement of the track.

The search for a new venue for the dog-racing fraternity began. Applications to organise racing in the Brandywell Showgrounds were initially rejected by the corporation and Creggan was one of a number of alternatives pursued. A field owned by William McCafferty and situated near the present Rinmore Drive was duly prepared as a 325-yard sprint track and for a few years hosted the noble sport. Two meetings were held every Sunday and one every Friday. Serious competition was encountered from another venue; meetings clashed with those in Boundary Park, well named as it was situated at Springtown within sight of one of the customs posts. However, Creggan’s track never lasted the distance! The Derry Journal published details of an order

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informing the public of the government’s intention to vest land for a new housing estate in Creggan. This was to include McCafferty’s land, on which stood the Creggan Park Racing Track. Thus, while racing continued for some time after, the fate of greyhound racing in Creggan had, in a few short weeks, swung from that of a healthy enterprise to one facing extinction.

The racing soon moved to the Brandywell Showgrounds and the dog racing fraternity enjoyed many well attended meets in the ensuing years. The war years brought a new crowd of amateur gamblers and enthusiasts in the form of Allied troops and naval personnel to the Brandywell Showgrounds which further increased the popularity of the sport in the area. For a period of 14 years, between 1971 and 1985, only greyhound meetings and junior football were held at the venue, as both the police and the Irish League imposed a ban on Derry City using the stadium as their home ground due to the Troubles.

As a local greyhound racing venue, the stadium is equipped with an ovoid running track encircling the football pitch. The dimensions of the pitch itself measure 111 yards in length by 72 yards in width. The Bogside has a history of ‘doggy men’ – the affectionate name given to greyhound racing and breeding enthusiasts. Nowadays the racing meets occur less frequently (twice a week) but are still well attended. It is still a common sight, albeit in the early hours of the morning, to see doggy men from the Bogside and Brandywell walking their racing dogs for many miles in all kinds of weather.

Greyhound racing was a hugely popular sport among the residents of the Bogside, Brandywell and Bishop Street areas over many years.

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Six favourites... Kennel Girls in the Brandywell, circa 1960s.

Checking the betting slips.

Above: A Brandywell man walks his greyhounds in the early hours of the morning.

Left: Shut your trap! Brandywell dog track in the 1980s.

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City Baths The following extract was taken, in part, from the City of Derry Swimming Club website www.derryswimming.com.

‘The City of Derry Swimming Club was established in 1959 shortly after the opening of the City Baths in William Street. Ever since, the Friday night club sessions at “the Baths” have marked the official start of the weekend for generations of Derry families!

‘Some 50 years on, the personalities associated with the club may have changed but, come Friday night, there will still be swimmers of all ages and abilities at the traditional club session in the City Baths. The more competent swimmers will be thrashing up and down in the big pool, while next door in the learner or “wee pool” the learners and improvers will be splashing around, with the usual quota of overanxious and overprotective parents looking on.

‘Among the club’s founding committee members were Baths Superintendent and City of Derry’s first coach Frank Bradley, who lived on the premises. Gerry MacManus – who cut a dashing figure at the poolside in his plus fours – was another stalwart of the club in the early days. He patiently taught youngsters to swim in the shallow end and when he felt they were confident and competent to swim a length of the pool he would get into the water and swim alongside them from the deep end as far as the rope.

‘As the club gathered momentum many others – far too numerous to mention individually – got involved. Suffice to say that one of the strengths of the club in the early days was its strong family ethos and that’s still its hallmark today. Indeed many past and present members, now themselves parents and even grandparents, are still involved with teaching young swimmers.

‘Before long, the early morning training sessions – still a feature – began to pay off and City of Derry started to produce its first competitive swimmers. They soon put down a marker for future generations, setting club, Ulster and Irish records, at least one of which not only still stands but can never be beaten – Charlie Hegarty set the Ulster record for 50 yards freestyle just before all records went metric!

‘When Englishman Alan Pollard took over the reins as coach in 1968, he brought with him fresh ideas and training regimes and introduced the senior squad to callisthenics, lifesaving and even synchronised swimming. Alan left Derry in December 1971 and was replaced by Dubliner Carmel Gorman, who has been chief coach and mainstay of the club ever since.

‘Over the years the William Street club has produced countless provincial and national champions, as well as many swimmers who qualified for the European Championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. One of the club’s best-known members was the late, great, Liam Ball who swam for Ireland in both the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and in the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

‘The organisers of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations are working on a history of the club and would like to hear from former swimmers. One of the first to get in touch with them was Michael MacManus, who is now living in Japan where he lectures in Miyagi University of Education. He swam with City of Derry in the early ’60s and says he is forever grateful to the club for teaching him the basic swimming techniques.

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Derry Olympian Liam Ball distributing prizes at the City Baths in the 1970s.

‘Now in his sixties, Michael is a regular competitor in Masters Swimming competitions and is currently ranked number one in Japan in the 200 individual medley (60–64 age group) and holder of the 200 metres and 100 metres backstroke titles. He usually trains about four times a week, swimming between 2,500 and 3,000 metres.

He commented; “Frank Bradley filled us with dreams and I try to continue his work by encouraging my students on the university swim team to reach national level. When I was younger, while I did figure in the medals, I was never a champion like Charlie Hegarty or Conal Casey, nor did I manage to emulate my father Gerry who was Irish backstroke champion for three successive years. But every time I get a medal these days, I dedicate it to him and Frank Bradley”.

‘Michael says that he never fails to impress his Japanese colleagues and students with stories of the City of Derry’s “Spartan training” and basic facilities, like the time his father “threw them off piers into the freezing waters around Ireland”, or how they had to swim without goggles and dive off handmade wooden starting blocks. But despite the undoubted hardships of no goggles and cold dips, Michael has very fond memories of the William Street pool; ‘I remember with a full heart the support of everyone at the Baths: a gruff Charlie Ming and a quiet young Mickey Doherty, along with Eddie who looked after our clothes. McDaid’s shop in William Street across from the Baths and Harley’s fish-and-chip shop in Creggan Street were our nutritional and dating support agencies! We were looked after by an organising committee made up mostly of parents from all sections of the community, just as we were. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the club throughout the last 50 years and helped give the same pleasure we enjoyed to hundreds maybe even thousands of young people from the city”.’

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Brandywell Mural The Brandywell ‘Sporting Heroes’ mural project was devised by the Long Tower Youth Club and was unveiled in 2008. The project highlights many of the well-known sporting figures who were born and bred in the Brandywell area. The figures on the mural include: Soccer PANEL Fay Coyle A Derry City reserves player by the age of 18, Fay Coyle made his senior debut for Coleraine in the 1952/53 season against Ards. In the 1954/55 season he topped the Irish League scoring charts with 20 goals and also won a City Cup winner’s medal. In March 1958 he transferred to Nottingham Forest following numerous attempts by the club to secure his signature. However, he played just three times for Forest before homesickness hastened his return to Coleraine in the summer of 1958.

He was influential in Coleraine’s winning of the North West Senior Cup in 1959 and 1960. In 1963 he returned to his hometown club in Derry and captained the team during their most successful period in the Irish League. Success first came with victory in the 1964 Irish Cup final against Glentoran followed by European football for the first time in the club’s history. In 1965 Derry claimed their only Irish League title and also won the Gold Cup. This period represented the pinnacle of Coyle’s club career.

Internationally, Coyle made his Northern Ireland debut in a 2–1 ‘home nations’ victory over Scotland in 1955, and retained his place for the following month’s defeat

by England. He also won a place in the squad for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. His sole World Cup appearance came in a 3–1 defeat against Argentina which turned out to be his last cap. Following his retirement Fay saw his son Liam emerge as a key player for Derry City in the League of Ireland. He died two days before his seventy-fourth birthday in 2007.

John ‘Jobby’ Crossan Jobby Crossan was born on 29 November 1938. He began his career as an inside-forward with Derry City before signing for Coleraine. In 1959 he signed for Sparta Rotterdam, during his time there he was chosen for the Northern Ireland squad. He later transferred to Standard Liège where he played in the semi-final of the European Cup against Real Madrid. In 1963 he signed for Sunderland and helped them win promotion to the old First Division. He later repeated this feat as captain of Manchester City before being sold to Middlesbrough after a 139

loss of form following a car crash and other health problems. Internationally, he was capped 24 times by Northern Ireland and scored ten goals. Following his retirement he took the top job at League of Ireland club Sligo Rovers but resigned soon after. He subsequently opened a sports shop in Derry which has traded for many years.

Jim McLaughlin Jim McLaughlin was born on 22 December 1940. Following a spell with Derry City he signed for Birmingham City in the late ’50s. After two years of reserve team football he moved on to Shrewsbury Town where he netted 20 goals in his first season. He scored on his international debut against Scotland in October 1961 before ultimately winning 12 caps and scoring six goals.

During the 1963/64 season McLaughlin moved to Swansea Town (he scored the winner in their FA Cup quarter-final tie against Liverpool at Anfield) before moving to Peterborough United in the 1966/67 season. He subsequently moved back to Shrewsbury for three more seasons and eventually became the team coach.

In 1972 he moved back to Swansea initially as player-coach and then club secretary.

In November 1974 he became player-manager at Dundalk. His nine-year stay at Oriel Park saw the team win three league titles and FAI Cups, including the double in the 1978/79 season. In the 1979/80 season they reached the last 16 of the European Cup where they suffered a narrow 3–2 aggregate defeat against Celtic. In the 1981/82 Cup Winners Cup campaign they once again reached the last 16 before losing 3–2 on aggregate to Tottenham Hotspur.

In June 1983 Jim took over at Shamrock Rovers. He led the Milltown club to three League Championships and two FAI Cups in three seasons, including two back-toback doubles. In May 1986 he left Rovers to manage Derry City where he steered the team to a domestic treble in 1989. He resigned in 1991 and moved to Shelbourne FC where he co-managed the team to win the 1992 league title. In November 1993 he took over at Drogheda United before returning for another, less successful, spell with Dundalk; he retired from club management in May 1999.

McLaughlin won the FAI Manager of the Year award in 1986. In February 2002 he also won the FAI Special Merit Award in recognition of his achievements and dedication to the domestic game. In January 2010 he was awarded the SWAI Special Merit Award in recognition of his contribution to Irish football. His son Paul has played for Dundalk FC, Newry City FC, Derry City FC and Drogheda United FC.

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Tony O’Doherty Tony O’Doherty was born on 23 April 1947.

His class was spotted early by those in control of the Irish game. Combining part-time football with his job as a clerk, he was honoured by the Irish League and was selected as captain of the Northern Ireland Under-23 side that faced Italy in March 1969 – this despite the presence in the team of Allan Hunter, Pat Rice and Brian Hamilton. The Italians won 2–1, but Billy Bingham was impressed enough to include O’Doherty in the panel for that season’s Home Nations Championship.

Capable of playing as either a creative winghalf or a centre-back, O’Doherty had to wait until April 1970 for his first full cap. That came as a midfielder in front of 100,000 people at Wembley as Northern Ireland lost 3–1. Four days later he made his only other international appearance as a second-half substitute for Billy Campbell in a 1–0 defeat by Wales in Swansea.

O’Doherty collected a clutch of medals and a host of admirers with Bertie Peacock’s highly successful Coleraine side of the late ’60s and early ’70s. He was continually linked with moves across the Irish Sea, but was so valued by Coleraine that they stuck a £20,000 valuation on the talented Derryman and he never made that major transfer in his career.

O’Doherty rejected all overtures to play full-time football and when he did eventually leave Coleraine in 1971 it seemed that he had given up the game altogether.

However, he re-emerged with Finn Harps a year later and is still regarded as one of the greatest-ever players to grace the field at Finn Park and was a key member of the Harps side that won the 1974 FAI Cup, their only major honour. During O’Doherty’s time with the club they also finished runners-up in the League of Ireland three times and in the League Cup twice.

After nearly 200 appearances for Harps, O’Doherty left for Dundalk. Although he spent only one season at Oriel Park, he is fondly remembered for it was another remarkable campaign for Jim McLaughlin’s men. The FAI Cup, President’s Cup and League Cup were all won, runners-up spot in the League was claimed and a UEFA Cup matchup with Porto was lost narrowly 1–0 on aggregate.

Later, O’Doherty played for Ballymena and for Derry City in their first season in the League of Ireland, helping them to the First Division Shield. He was also manager at the Brandywell from October 1993 to December 1994. Since severing his ties with the everyday game, O’Doherty has worked as a media football pundit and is active in community relations in the Derry area.

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Frankie Campbell The late Frank Campbell was Derry City’s captain when they won the Irish Cup in 1964, beating Glentoran in the final. He was also a member of Derry City’s Irish League Championship winning squad the following season (1964/65).

Jimbo Crossan A member of the local Crossan footballing dynasty, Jim played for Derry City in the 1960s before taking over as its first League of Ireland manager when Derry re-entered senior football in September 1985. He has also been heavily involved with the local Ancient Order of Hibernians for many years.

Felix Healy Felix Healy was born on 27 September 1955. As a teenager he played for Sligo Rovers first-team before transferring to Distillery in 1976. Within a season he returned to the League of Ireland with Finn Harps.

In October 1978 English club Port Vale paid £8,000 for his services. He returned to Coleraine in July 1980 and narrowly missed out on a league and cup double in 1982. In the same year he went to the 1982 World Cup with the Northern Ireland squad where he came on as a substitute against Honduras (he eventually won four caps).

He later won an Ulster Cup winner’s medal with the club and scored a penalty in their 1986 Irish Cup final defeat Felix with young Derry fan Donovan to Glentoran. During his time at ColMcKeever in 1997. eraine he also played in seven European ties and scored on two separate occasions in the UEFA Cup. In 1987 Healy moved to his hometown club of Derry City and helped them win the ‘treble’ in 1988/89; indeed he scored the winning goal in the FAI Cup final. In October 1993 he returned to Coleraine as player-manager before returning to Derry as manager in December 1994. In his four seasons as Derry City manager he led the club to League and FAI Cup successes before resigning in 1998. He later secured promotion for Finn Harps but was released in July 2005 following a poor showing in the Premier League.

Felix has also appeared as a football pundit on Setanta Sports and is a station manager for Drive105.3FM. He also performs regularly as a singer and actor in Derry.

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Eddie Crossan Eddie Crossan was born on 17 November 1925. A mercurial inside-forward, Eddie Crossan played for Glentoran and Derry City during the Second World War. In November 1947, he signed for Blackburn in a £3,000 deal and he made his Football League debut on 31 January 1948 in a 4–3 win over Sunderland. A week later he scored the first of his 98 goals for the Ewood Park club but his arrival could not save Rovers from relegation. His best season in front of goal came in 1954/55 when he scored a total of eighteen League goals. That season’s haul included a hat-trick against Rotherham in October and a brace in a 9–0 win over Middlesbrough in November.

Crossan’s international career spanned six years but he earned only three caps. He made his Irish debut, as stand-in for Peter Doherty, in an 8–2 defeat by Scotland in October 1949. A year later, he played in a 4–1 defeat by England, but it was his last cap for nearly five years. At the time, Ireland boasted some top inside-forwards; as well as the legendary Doherty, Wolves’ Sammy Smyth, Fulham’s Bobby Brennan, Celtic’s Charlie Tully and Barnsley’s Eddie McMorran were all vying for the number eight and ten shirts. Finally, during his successful 1954/55 season, Crossan was recalled by then manager Peter Doherty. He deputised for Jackie Blanchflower at inside-right, scoring his only goal for his country in a 3–2 defeat by Wales.

Renowned for missing ‘sitters’ almost as much as scoring spectacular goals, Crossan’s close control and dribbling prowess made him a real fans’ favourite. He left Blackburn in the summer of 1957, having played 302 first-team games, falling just short of a century of goals. All but his first season at Ewood Park was spent in the Second Division, as the club just missed out on promotion time and again. At 32 years of age, he signed for Division Three (North) Tranmere Rovers, playing a single season at Prenton Park before returning across the Irish Sea. With his playing days behind him, Crossan returned to his native Derry to raise his nine children and keep an eye on his younger brother Johnny’s fledgling playing career.

Eddie Crossan died, aged 80, in June 2006 after a lengthy illness.

Liam Coyle Liam Coyle was born on 21 May 1968. One of Derry City’s most gifted players, his first notable achievement was scoring a hat trick on his club debut against Cobh Ramblers on 6 November 1988. He was targeted by Manchester United and Benfica during his early years before a serious knee injury almost brought his career to an end at the age of 21. Following a short-lived early retirement he revived his career at Omagh Town where he scored 26 goals in the 1992/93 season. This led to a return to Derry where he stayed until 1995 before moving to Glentoran to win an Irish Cup medal.

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Since Derry’s entry into League of Ireland football, Coyle remains Derry’s top scorer with his tally of 112 goals in 390 competitive appearances. One of these was the FAI Cup winning goal in 2002; he also scored in his final ever game for the club, a relegation play-off against arch rivals Finn Harps. Like his father, Fay, Liam also played for the Northern Ireland international team. His one cap came against Chile in 1989.

Joe Healy Local man and fan favourite Joe Healy played for several Irish League and League of Ireland clubs throughout his career. He spent several successful years at Coleraine and Finn Harps. Joe was on the Coleraine team that won the Irish Cup in 1972, beating Portadown 2–1 in the final.

John ‘Johnny’ Peter Campbell ‘Johnny’ Campbell was born on 28 June 1923. An Ulster sprinting champion over 100 and 200 metres, he originally signed for Derry City before moving to Belfast Celtic in 1945, with whom he won Irish League and Irish Cup winner’s medals. He also scored both goals in a 2–0 win over Scotland during Belfast Celtic’s tour of America. He eventually left Belfast Celtic to sign for Fulham with whom he played in 62 league games before his career was ended by injury early in the 1952/53 season. On his retirement he returned to Belfast to work as a scout for Fulham. He died from bowel cancer at the young age of 44.

BOXING PANEL Spider Kelly Senior Jimmy Kelly turned professional in 1928, the first of two Derry ‘Spider’ Kellys to launch a successful boxing career. On 23 November 1938, a packed King’s Hall in Belfast with over 8,000 spectators rose to acclaim the new British and Empire Featherweight Champion, Jimmy ‘Spider’ Kelly. When referee Jack Dare from Liverpool finally totted up his card and moved across the ring to raise Kelly’s hand, the enthusiastic audience went wild. The Duke of Abercorn entered the ring to present Kelly with the Lonsdale Belt. Such were the scenes of jubilation that Kelly needed a police escort to get back to his dressing room.

After 10 years as a professional, Jimmy ‘Spider’ Kelly was quick to admit it had been a winding road to

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the summit. ‘It has been a long fight to the top but I have attained my ambition,’ he declared. There were also enthusiastic scenes in Derry when the newly crowned champion arrived in his native city. He was greeted at Craigavon Bridge by three bands – ‘two Nationalist, one Unionist’ was how one newspaper of the day described the musical line-up – and a huge crowd.

Seven months later, 28-year-old Jim Kelly lost his hard-won British and Empire titles – on 28 June 1939 – when the referee stopped his fight with Johnny Cusick of Manchester in Round 12 at the King’s Hall. Some in the crowd, estimated at around 10,000, thought the referee, Londoner Jack Hart, had been premature in calling a halt.

Kelly had been momentarily down in the seventh and he was dropped again in the ninth, before being floored at the start of the twelfth. The referee’s decision was greeted with loud booing.

His son Billy, one of the most popular Irish fighters ever, made history by winning the same British and Empire Featherweight titles as his father several years later and continued on the proud name of ’Spider Kelly’ in the boxing tradition.

Spider Kelly Junior Billy Kelly was born in April 1932. He is credited with winning 56 fights, losing 23 and drawing four, although he always maintained that the total figure was short by six as it didn’t include his amateur fights. The ‘Spider’ addition came from an opposing fighter’s description of his boxing style.

‘Spider’ Kelly junior made history in October 1954 when he emulated his father Jimmy Kelly by winning the British Empire featherweight title at Belfast’s King’s Hall. He also won the British title three months later before losing a European title bout against France’s Ray Famechon on points in Dublin. The Derry man’s defeat to Charlie Hill in February 1956 led to a riot at the King’s Hall in Belfast. The judges’ decision denied him the British title belt despite him having the Scotsman on the canvas on two occasions. Billy continued to box until 1962; he died in 2010 after a prolonged illness.

Tommy McCann Former amateur and professional boxer Tommy McCann has been active in the boxing world for over half a century. His professional career began in the 1950s and he was highly thought of as an excellent prospect in his early years. A former County Board President, Mr McCann has been influential in developing the sport in the local area and throughout Ulster for many years.

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George McCann George McCann was a successful amateur and professional boxer hailing from the Brandywell/Bogside area. Fondly remembered as a gentleman boxer of the post-war era, his ring exploits are the stuff of many local sporting memories.

JUDO PANEL Jim and Lisa Toland Jim Toland is the leader of the Long Tower Judo Club and is also the senior coach of the six-county judo team. He has won a number of awards for his coaching work and under his management the six-county judo team came second out of 21 competing teams in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He has been very successful in competitive judo and still competes in masters judo.

The Wednesday classes at the club are sometimes taught by Jim’s wife Lisa (née Bradley) who is also a very successful judoka. Lisa has twice been World Masters Judo Champion, was a silver medallist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has travelled the world competing at the highest level. The Long Tower Club attracts a large number of children who are very competitive at all levels and in all age groups (second-place at the European Masters, UK school games champions, etc).

The club hosts three adult classes each week. There are also children’s classes on Monday and Thursday. Credit for the club’s existence is mostly due to Jimmy and Anne Lyttle who trained and mentored local youngsters for many years in the disciplines and skills of judo. Their dedication ensured many local children had some dynamic distraction from the conflict taking place on the streets of the Bogside and Brandywell.

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Joe Murphy of the Celtic Park management committee conducts a guided tour of the ground and facilities for St John’s Primary School children visiting the home of Derry GAA as part of a project to learn about their area’s sporting heritage.

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St John’s Primary School children visiting the Brandywell, home of Derry City FC.

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Chapter Twelve Musical Memories Mickey Cooper

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number of musical genres owe their development, at least in part, to the social, political and economic circumstances particular to the wider Bogside/Brandywell areas. For example, the marching band ‘phenomenon’, which was still going strong up to the 1970s, can be traced back to the temperance movement of the late nineteenth century. They promoted their message of total abstinence to the accompaniment of a band and effectively popularised the music if not the message!

Ceili and traditional Irish music have been popular in the homes of the Bogside since the eighteenth century, not least because most of the area’s population hailed from rural Donegal. In the 1940s the music moved out of people’s homes into the local halls in the Bogside; partly due to the efforts of the Green Cross, a republican prisoner support group formed to raise money for the internees imprisoned during World War II. These fundraising concerts helped popularise the ‘ceili band scene’ and soon there were sixand seven-piece bands playing in such venues as the Ashfield Hall and Westend Hall.

Among the bands who played in these halls from the ’40s to the ’70s were the Charlie Kelly band, the Doire Colmcille band, St Eugene’s Boys Club band, the Four Provinces, the Willie Campbell band, the Oak Leaf band, St Mary’s Boys Club band and a band from Nazareth House who even appeared on Opportunity Knocks and the Ed Sullivan TV show in America. The onset of the Troubles curtailed ceili concerts somewhat, but the music still enjoys a degree of popularity today in venues like the AOH on Foyle Street.

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Irish folk musician Tommy Makem entertains the crowd at the Liberation Fleadh in the Bogside in August 1969.

Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, which actively promotes Irish cultural and musical expression, was established in 1952 to formally organise and represent the interests of the large number of traditional musicians around the country. Throughout the ’60s local interest in ‘trad’ increased greatly; the most obvious sign of this was the popularity of the Liberation Fleadh which was held in the Bogside in August 1969 as a welcome respite for the local population after the ‘Battle of the Bogside’.

Throughout the Troubles Comhaltas continued to be active locally, forming a branch in Pilot’s Row Community Centre in the 1980s. Since the onset of the ‘peace process’ and the encouraging increase in visitors to the city, traditional music has enjoyed a surge in popularity; a visit to Peadar O’Donnell’s pub or Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin will certainly confirm this! The next stage in the ongoing development of Comhaltas in the city will be their hosting of Fleadh Ceoil na hEireann in 2013 which could potentially attract thousands to the city. The success of their efforts to bring the All-Ireland Fleadh to the city for the first time is a fitting tribute to the ‘activism’ of the many residents of the Bogside and Brandywell areas who strove to ensure that traditional music remained vibrant in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Traditional musicians performing at the Liberation Fleadh in 1969.

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It would be remiss not to mention the local affection for choral and church music and the many award winning choirs Derry has produced over the years, not least the Colmcille Ladies Choir (formed in 1970), The Brow of the Hill Past Pupils Choir (formed in 1990), the Long Tower Folk Group and the St Eugene’s Cathedral Choir.

Many of their awards were secured at the Derry Feis which has attracted thousands of participants from the local schools of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street over the years, including many who went on to greater things like Dana, Fearghal Sharkey and many others.

Above from top: The TA Marching Band from the 1940s; the Long Tower Church Choir, c.1950s; and the reformed CBS Choir, 1989.

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Venues The Cameo/Stardust The following extract was taken from Willie Deery’s personal collection of memories of his dancing days published in Derry’s Dance Halls of Romance (Guildhall Press, 2011).

‘In the week beginning Monday 16 December 1963, the tradesmen of local builder Frank O’Connor were working day and night, in a race against the clock. Their aim was to have the Bogside’s first purpose-built ballroom in decades ready for the gala opening planned for the following Monday.

‘Just as Frank O’Connor’s men left no stone unturned to have this new modern ballroom ready on time, the same can be said of the owners, who had organised a spectacular line-up of top-notch showbands who would supply a superb week of opening entertainment. The Bogside, and indeed the whole of Derry, was buzzing with excitement as the date for the opening of this new venue drew closer. The prospects of seeing international superstars as well as Ireland’s top showbands playing in their own back yard was something the young people of the city relished.

‘So as planned, on Monday 23 December 1963, the Cameo Ballroom opened its doors in a blaze of publicity to the sound of Strabane’s showband pioneers, the Clipper Charlton. Also on stage that night was the Derry City Showband. The crowds came in their droves and the ballroom was full to capacity within one hour of opening. The Cameo was owned by the McIvor family from Muff who also owned the massively popular Borderland dance hall.

‘Two nights later, on Christmas night, the legendary Capitol Showband became the first southern band to play there. Eileen Reid and the Cadets took the stage six days later when they played at the first New Year’s Eve dance. What a line-up to launch Derry’s newest dance hall!

‘The name was changed four years later to the Stardust. The hall continued in use well in to the ’70s but at the height of the troubles the showband dances ceased and the hall closed. It was then bought by the Catholic Church for a sum of £80,000 and Raymond Rogan was appointed manager. Raymond successfully managed the hall and it was used for many community functions. At that time Raymond obtained several grants which enabled him to employ 16 local people in the hall.’

The hall was closed by the Catholic Church in 2004 and was bought by the Derry Credit Union in 2011 for a sum in the region of £75,000. The old hall played host to many international stars like Roy Orbison, The Tremeloes and The Fortunes, as well as every Irish showband star in the country. It remains closed, its future uncertain.

The site of the former Cameo/ Stardust in the Bogside.

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The Gweedore Bar on Waterloo Street.

Waterloo Street As well as community venues like the Stardust, Lourdes Hall and the Westend, the bars in the Bogside also hosted countless gigs and performances over the years. In the last 40 years one street in particular has developed a reputation for live music. The buildings on Waterloo Street were originally used, amongst other purposes, as lodging houses for those who had travelled to Derry from Donegal in search of work often only to find themselves with no choice but to emigrate from Derry quay when their employment hopes were dashed. Those who did find work almost inevitably ended up living in the Bogside.

Later, these same buildings housed many bars with some, including the Gweedore, the Dungloe and the Rosses (which later became the Bound for Boston) adopting names linked to either the place of origin of the former short-term residents of the street or their eventual destination upon emigrating. Today the pubs on Waterloo Street cater for a range of musical tastes; the Rocking Chair has a nightly mix of performers covering classic and modern hits, the Castle, Tracey’s, Dungloe and Peadar’s offer Irish traditional music and the Gweedore showcases top cover bands like the Jaywalkers and new singer-songwriters.

The Gweedore, in particular, developed a reputation as a live music venue in the 1980s and early ’90s hosting acts like Tie the Boy, That Petrol Emotion and Ash the Prodigy. It introduced the Battle of the Bands competition in the late ’80s which attracted massive crowds and continued annually until the early ’90s. Eventually, the opening of the Nerve Centre in 1999 provided new performers in Derry with better facilities to rehearse and play and the Gweedore concentrated on hosting more cover bands, although original acts still make appearances in the downstairs bar. The Bound for Boston (which has traded since the nineteenth century under various names such as ‘Molly’s’ and the ‘Rosses’) has also become a popular venue for new acts and won the ‘Best Live Music Venue’ award in 2005.

Bound for Boston on Waterloo Street.

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Musical Personalities Josef Locke Josef Locke was born Joseph McLaughlin in Creggan Street in 1917. One of Ireland’s most popular musical exports, he sang regularly on TV, film and radio and topped the bill at Blackpool for 19 seasons. From a family of nine, he initially joined the RUC before leaving to become a full-time performer in Dublin. He later moved to London where his success grew rapidly leading to appearances on numerous TV shows and the sale of over one million records. Following a dispute with the Inland Revenue in 1958, he returned to Ireland where he bought several bars and continued to perform until his semi-retirement in the 1970s. He found new fame in 1992 when the film Hear My Song (named after his most famous song and loosely based on his life story) was released. Joe died on 15 October 1999 in Clane in County Clare. A memorial dedicated to him was erected in 2005 and still stands today outside the City Hotel.

Dana Born Rosemary Brown in London in 1951, Dana moved to Derry as a child where her family eventually settled in Mura Place in the Rossville flats complex. A keen fiddle player and pianist, she got her first break competing in the Irish National Song Contest in 1969. Her classmates at Thornhill College suggested the name Dana (Gaelic for ‘bold’ or ‘mischievous’) as her stage name for the contest and the rest is history. Although she didn’t win the honour of representing Ireland at Eurovision that year, she won the contest outright in 1970 with the Phil Coulter produced All Kinds of Everything. Still aged only 17, she embarked on a music career which to date has included more than 30 hit singles and albums, appearances in films, and numerous performances in London’s West End. In 1991 she moved to Birmingham Alabama where she worked as a presenter on Christian Television. As a result of her strong anti-abortion and divorce stance she was asked to stand as a candidate in the 1997 Irish presidential election; she came third. Her involvement in politics continued with her election as an MEP for Connaught–Ulster in 1999. After losing the seat in 2004 she resumed performing and accepted a role as a judge on the popular RTE series The All-Ireland Talent Show, with which she is still involved today. She again unsuccessfully contested the Irish presidential election in 2011; remarkably, a fellow Derry person, Martin McGuinness, also contested the same election!

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Gerry Anderson Born in Sackville Street on the edge of the Bogside, Gerry began his career in showbands playing alongside Gay McIntyre. He later played with Ronnie Hawkins (formerly of The Band) before joining Toe Jam with Jim Whiteside and Colm Arbuckle. His career in the media flourished in the 1980s resulting in anchor roles with Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Four and Radio Foyle where his exchanges with the late Bogside resident Tommy Kelly became legendary. He continues to present on radio and television today.

Eamonn Friel A teacher for 15 years, Eamonn decided to pursue his love of music in 1987 when he started to write songs full time. His compositions, which often parodied events in the news headlines, became popular on Radio Ulster and other BBC stations. This led to a new career as presenter of Friel’s Fancy (winner of a 1993 Sony award) and other popular programmes on Radio Foyle. Eamonn has also recorded a number of albums since 1985 which have all received critical acclaim.

Michael O’Duffy Born Michael Duffy in Brooke Street, off Bishop Street, in 1918, Michael worked at the Great Northern Railway before winning the ‘Golden Voice’ competition at the Adelphi theatre in 1939. Thus began a career which included six albums, numerous international performances, film roles in The Rising of the Moon, Gideon’s Days and Johnny Nobody, and regular gigs with fellow Derry men Josef Locke and Patrick O’Hagan, which saw the three men being dubbed The Three Irish Tenors. Michael died in 2003 in Hertfordshire aged 84.

Patrick O’Hagan/Johnny Logan Born Charles Sherrard, Patrick was raised in William Street in the 1920s. After honing his singing skills in St Eugene’s Cathedral Choir, he won a competition in Castlebar singing There’s Only One Killarney which gained him national fame. He went on to record numerous albums and singles, performed at the opening night of RTE in 1961 and was the only Irish singer to perform for three successive American Presidents at the White House.

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Michael moved to Australia for a short period where his son Sean was born. On returning to Ireland he continued to gig with Josef Locke and Michael O’Duffy as The Three Irish Tenors. Worsening arthritis made performing increasingly difficult although with the help of his son Sean he continued to appear at various concerts. Sean later adopted the stage name Johnny Logan, famously winning the Eurovision three times Frances Campbell with Johnny Logan in the 1980s.

– twice as a performer (in 1980 with What’s Another Year? and in 1987 with Hold Me Now) and once as a writer (penning Why Me? for Lynda Martin in 1992). Michael continued to perform until his death in 1993 and Johnny remains active in the music business as a performer and writer.

Jimmy McShane Jimmy McShane, from Bellevue Avenue, off Bishop Street, was lead singer with Baltimora, an Italian ‘new wave’ dance outfit active in the mid- to late ’80s. They are best known for their 1985 hit single Tarzan Boy. Released in the summer of 1985, Tarzan Boy was a huge success, peaking at No. 6 on the Italian singles chart as well as entering the top five in numerous European countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, France, the Netherlands and Norway. The single also reached No. 3 in the British chart in August 1985 and peaked at No. 13 on the US Billboard chart in the early spring of 1986. Their second single Woody Boogie, which also gained notable success, entered the top 20 in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.

The group eventually disbanded in the late 1980s. Nevertheless, Tarzan Boy, following its use in a Listerine commercial, re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1993 as a remix, peaking at No. 51. The song was also featured in the films, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) and Beverly Hills Ninja (1997).

Following the break up of the band, Jimmy settled in Milan, where he was diagnosed with the AIDS virus. A few months later he returned to Ireland where he decided to spend the last year of his life. He died on 29 March 1995 at the age of 37.

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Rory Gallagher Rory Gallagher was born on 2 March 1948 in Ballyshannon, County Donegal. His family moved to Derry, where his younger brother Dónal was born in 1949, before moving to Cork – his father remained in Derry, living in the Foyle Road area. Rory’s father had played the accordion and sang with the Tir Chonaill Ceile Band and his mother Monica was a singer and had acted with the Abbey Players in Ballyshannon; so there was talent in the family and Rory certainly wasn’t short of it. Initially successful with the blues band Taste, his solo career as a guitarist saw him sell in excess of 30 million copies worldwide. He received a liver transplant in London in 1995 but died of ‘complications’ later that year on 14 June. He was 47 years of age.

The Undertones In February 2011, Mickey Bradley, bass player with the Undertones, explained the history of the band to a large group of school children from Long Tower, St Eugene’s and Gaelscoil Eadainmhoir in the Gasyard Centre. During the chat he also showed a number of photos of the band as their career progressed. After the talk many of the children got the chance to play the hook of Teenage Kicks, the band’s most famous song, with the assistance of Mickey on his bass guitar. The following is a general outline of Mickey’s talk.

‘I wouldn’t have had any great musical background compared to the likes of Fearghal who had won trophies for singing at the Feis. It all really started with us all sitting in John and Damien’s house in Beechwood talking about music. Next thing, we decided to buy some guitars to try things for ourselves. John and Damien both went for six-string electric guitars so I ended up with the bass which only had four strings – I couldn’t be trusted to play six strings at once!

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‘Eventually we decided that we needed some publicity if we were to progress as a band. In the earlier photographs you’ll always see John turning his face away as he hated getting his photo taken. I’m usually smiling in the pictures almost out of happy shock that someone wants to photograph me just because I’m in a band!

‘As things progressed we started to get gigs with our first ever taking place in St Joseph’s Secondary School on Westway before we moved on to playing a regular set at the Casbah pub at the top of Orchard Street. At this stage we were still all 18 or 19 years of age; some of us were at the Tech on the Strand Road whilst some of us worked at F6, a big civil service building in Campsie.

‘Next thing, we recorded probably our most famous song, Teenage Kicks. It was released on an EP and a copy ended up in the hands of John Peel who had a really popular new music show on Radio One at the time. He liked it so much he played it twice on the same night; this was the first occasion he’d done this for any record and he actually said that he’d cried with joy when he heard it for the first time (indeed the opening line “Teenage dreams so hard to beat” are inscribed on John’s headstone).

Obviously that was some publicity and next thing, an American record producer who’d heard the song rang us up and offered us a record deal!

‘The producer sent his agent over to Derry to meet with us; he then arranged for me and Fearghal to come over to London to sign a contract. Obviously we hadn’t got a clue about recording contracts and all the talk about percentages and we ended up signing a very bad deal which it took a while to get out of.

‘The publicity generated by John Peel around Teenage Kicks got so big that eventually it went into the top 40 chart in Britain. The result was we got invited to appear on Top of the Pops which was a massive show at the time. We also did a tour around England; if you look at some of the photos from that time you’ll see me looking happy since I’m getting paid for playing music. The other four usually look miserable as they’re homesick and missing their girlfriends back home.

‘Our first LP then got launched on the back of all this activity. The front cover shows us sitting on a wall in Bull Park close to the O’Neill’s house. It was taken by Larry Doherty from the Derry Journal and the wall with the band’s name on it was still in the park until it was redeveloped a few years ago. We made the album in London and it got great reviews. We released a single from it called Jimmy, Jimmy which is still one of our favourite songs to play. The front cover shows Fearghal as a young boy holding a trophy he’d just won at the Feis. When it was released people would slag us in the street by shouting “Jimmy, Jimmy” over and over at us!

‘The cover for Here Comes The Summer is from a postcard I bought in a shop in the Strand Road which had a nice summery image on it. I sent it to the record company and they used it with no questions asked. The cover for My Perfect Cousin shows a Subbuteo man wearing Derry City’s colours. It was really popular and got to number nine in the charts. It’s actually about John and Damien’s cousin who wasn’t too pleased about it. He’s now a solicitor but hopefully he won’t be suing us over it after all this time!

‘Another big thing for us was getting on the front cover of Smash Hits magazine which was a big deal at the time. They would print the lyrics to all the chart hits as

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well so we could see the words to our songs in print which was a proud moment. In general I’m happy in most of the photos from that time simply because I was playing with my friends, getting paid for doing it and getting a real sense of achievement from our popularity and success.

‘In the end up we lasted for seven years before we split. By then we’d launched four albums (Undertones, Hypnotised, Positive Touch and Sin of Pride) and got seven singles into the British top 40. By 1983 it was becoming less fun and more like a job. Eventually Fearghal said he wanted to leave and we all decided that winding up was the best way to go.’

In 1999 the Nerve Centre management contacted the ‘ex-Undertones’ (minus Fearghal who was now based in England) and asked them to reform for the launch of their newly completed performance area at their Magazine Street venue. The band, keen to have a proper front man, asked Paul McLoone to take on Fearghal’s role. The result was a ‘rebirth’ of the band and new albums and numerous successful concert appearances followed on from what had naively been assumed to be a one-off reunion!

Appropriately, Mickey now works as a producer and presenter on Radio Foyle and enjoys the luxury of having his own weekly programme during which he plays his choice of punk classics. Although he now plays other people’s songs more so than perform his own, he’s still getting paid for playing music, which he’s more than happy to do for many more years to come.

Phil Coulter Phil Coulter was born in Harding Street, off Bishop Street, on 19 February 1942.

While at Queen’s University, he played in a number of bands and wrote several Irish hits before moving to London where he began a career as a musical arranger and songwriter. His first big success was writing Puppet on a String for Sandy Shaw, which won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967. He also wrote the 1968 Eurovision runner-up Congratulations, which was sung by Cliff Richard. The two records sold almost ten million copies between them and put Coulter on the songwriting map. Other successes quickly followed, including All Kinds of Everything (the 1970 Eurovision winner sung

by Bogside resident Dana), Back Home (a Number One hit for the England football team), several hits for Irish actor Richard Harris, and My Boy which the inimitable Elvis Presley also took to the top of the charts.

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He later wrote and produced for the Bay City Rollers who enjoyed huge success during 1974–76 with hits including Remember, Shang-a-Lang and Summer Love Sensation. He also enjoyed five Top-Ten hits with the band Kenny and a Number One with boy band Slik, led by Midge Ure. Other work included producing albums for Planxty (featuring Christy Moore) and hits for the Dubliners including Scorn Not His Simplicity (written about his own disabled son) and his most famous song The Town I Loved So Well written about the war-torn Derry of the early 1970s. In 1984, he launched his first solo album Classic Tranquility which became the biggest selling Irish album ever until his follow up Sea of Tranquility out-sold it. Numerous hit albums and musical shows have followed right up to the present day with his Celtic Thunder productions and he continues to sell out arenas around the world.

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Chapter Thirteen The People’s History Various Contributors

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lthough the written recorded history of the Bogside, Brandywell and Bishop Street is undoubtedly of great importance, the gems of information which can be gleaned from the recollections of local residents are of similar significance and indeed embellish that history. This chapter recounts the reminiscences of a number of local residents who began life in the old slums of the area. As the old streets were cleared and demolished, many of these residents moved to the Creggan estate or the newfangled Rossville flats.

Although many have since ended up living in other parts of the city today, they still retain fond memories of growing up in the Bogside, Brandywell and Bishop Street.

Owen McGoldrick Owen McGoldrick (below) was born on the 25 September 1926 in King Street in the Waterside. After the tragic death of his father when he was five years of age he moved with his mother to Lundy’s Lane, directly opposite the gasworks on the Lecky Road.

So began an association with the Bogside and Brandywell that continues to this day: ‘My mother was McKee from Deanery Street but my father came from Strabane Old Road and when they got married they stayed in the Waterside where my father was a shop assistant in Walker’s shop in Bond Street. Unfortunately, he died when I was just five so we ended up in Lundy’s Lane staying with two aunts and an uncle.

‘My mother worked in Hamilton’s shirt factory on John Street where she remained for 30 years as a cuff stitcher. She often brought work home with her and I helped her by holding the material while she stitched it.

She would do two to three dozen cuffs at home once a week, added to the work she did in the factory. Who said working from home is a modern invention?’

In the days before Playstations and the DS what did he do to keep occupied? ‘Well in my younger days we played hopscotch and we’d also swing from the lampposts on tyres. If you had a bicycle tyre you weren’t up to much, if you had an ordinary tyre you weren’t bad, but if you had a bus tyre you were top dog as half the street

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could play on it at once!’

Soccer was played on Watt’s Field (named after the Watt family who ran a whiskey distillery nearby for many years) whilst another more mischievous hobby was also popular: ‘We often rang the doorbells on Abercorn Road before running off! You couldn’t do it in the Bog as no-one had a doorbell. Abercorn Road had wealthier residents who could afford them so that’s where we went. I also remember two Jewish families living there although they left after World War II.’ In terms of schooling, corporal punishment and religious devotion dominated Owen’s memories: ‘In October we would be marched up to the Long Tower for devotions and on St Patrick’s Day and Corpus Christi there would be a procession to the cathedral and back. We always had to go to 10 o’clock Mass as a teacher would be there to check that you weren’t skipping it. You would get a slap if you didn’t know your prayers in Irish. If you didn’t salute the religious statues you got six slaps. At bible history class the teacher would dig you in the back and say “next word” – if you didn’t answer straightaway you got a slap. One fella in our class had a stammer so he was always getting clipped for not answering right away – the Brothers were rough alright.’

Religion didn’t just have an influence in school; the area was transformed for the celebration of the feast of St Columba: ‘A local spark called McDevitt would put a light above each door in the Wells and arches would be erected. It was almost a tourist event with people coming from far and wide to see the decorations. This was in the days before the grotto was built in the Brandywell. Back then there was a shop called Kerrigan’s on the site along with swing boats attached to the trees.’

These swing boats were located just up the street from Owen’s home in Lundy’s Lane: ‘The house stood on its own site. We had two attic bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen, both with open fires. We also had a gas cooker but no hot water. We eventually got electricity in the ’60s – a handyman ran a feed from the street lamp outside. The house was originally owned by a Captain Wilton and it was unusual in that it was made from stone – not the usual Belfast brick used for the other houses in the area. It had a spring well beside it, my aunt remembers soldiers using the water to bathe their eyes as it was said to have medicinal qualities. The water flowed from a natural stream near St Columb’s College but when the flyover was built they diverted the stream and the well dried up. You can still see the culvert today beside the republican dolmen memorial across the street from the Gasyard Centre.’

So where did the name Lundy’s Lane originate? ‘There was a local legend of a cave at the bottom of the lane that Lundy went to after he fled the walled city during the siege.

It was said his friends met him there and helped him swap clothes with a drunk man who was then apprehended when he walked back into town and burned alive by locals who believed he was Lundy.’

During a discussion on soccer Owen revealed how the Brandywell stadium had been used for more than hosting matches: ‘I remember the British army used the ground for military tattoos in the 1930s. They paraded from Ebrington and down Hogg’s Folly to the ground. The Christian Brothers also held an annual sports day there. Pupils would

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Lundy’s Lane. do demonstrations in their PE uniform and you would actually have to pay to get in.’

Owen also recalled that Celtic Park was used as a greyhound track – his friend sold lemonade at these races – and the ‘hare’ used was simply a piece of fur driven round the track on a rope hanging from a car! The doggy men also held meets on tracks in the Creggan and the Branch Road where Seagate stands today.

Owen spoke further about times gone past: ‘Before the City Swimming Baths were built there used to be communal baths at the corner of Pilot’s Row run by a man called Ming. They were private cubicles which would be rented out individually – a far cry from their replacement. There was a dancehall called the Westend which stood near the old RUC station at the bottom of Westland Street. It stood on the floor above Morgan’s rag store. Morgan’s would pay you based on the weight of the rags you brought in. We would always put a brick at the bottom of the bag to add weight – of course we always got caught! There was also a man called “Slabbery” Mickey who went round with a cart collecting jam jars which he would exchange for small model windmills. If you had a crockery jar instead of glass you got a bigger windmill!

‘As we got older we would go to the Harps Hall on the Lecky Road on a Sunday night where they showed old westerns on a projector. The Lourdes Hall also showed films and held Irish dances during the week. The old time waltzes were taught by a Mr McCloskey who worked in a laundrette on William Street. We also went to the Ritz dancehall on Sundays where Charley Kelly’s ceili band would also play. The Ritz later became the original House of Value building which had the big painting of Uncle Sam on the side.

‘The cinemas then included the Palace, St Columb’s Hall, the Opera House on Carlisle Road, the Strand and the City on William Street. I remember the first time that “Rock Around the Clock” was shown in the City. Frankie Roddy and another girl

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were arrested for jiving in the street. The cops said they were obstructing traffic which seemed heavy handed – there wasn’t much traffic on William Street in the ’50s – especially at 11 o’clock in the evening!’

On the topic of music, Owen displayed a remarkable knowledge of the numerous marching bands who hailed from the wider area: ‘There were eight marching bands as I recall. The Owen Roe hailed from Hamilton Street, the Wolfe Tone silver band from Southend Park and St Mary’s accordion band from Dove Gardens. Jospeh Street had the Plunkett’s Flute band whilst Fahan Street had the Johnny McBride pipe band.

The Sons of Ireland practiced in Bridge Street and then you had the St Columb’s Total Abstinence brass band. Sarsfields flute band hailed from Rosemount whilst St Pat’s flute band came from Spencer Road. St Mary’s didn’t like the idea of admitting girls to the band so a breakaway faction was set up called St Pat’s. They later moved to Rosemount and renamed themselves the JFK memorial band.’

Owen’s sharp memory was evident when it came to his detailed naming of the numerous bars in the local area: ‘Well, you had the First and Last in Hamilton Street, the Greyhound in Nelson Street, the Corner Bar in Anne Street, the Brandywell Bar, Mailey’s, Breslin’s in Stanley’s Walk and O’Brien’s at McKeown’s Lane. The Inishowen stood at the junction of the Old Bog and Lecky Road. Duffy’s was in Joseph Street, Toland’s in Union Street, Dalton’s near the current Kell’s Walk and Harten’s near Pilot’s Row. Con Bradley’s stood at the junction of William Street and Rossville Street and there was also the Lion, the 720 and Tracey’s. And that doesn’t even include the bars in Waterloo Street!’

Industry is a topic close to Owen’s heart due to his work with Craig’s Engineering works which was opposite the Technical College on the Strand Road. Working on the mothballing of World War II corvettes and minesweepers, his tasks included scraping Toland’s in Union Street.

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barnacles from the hulls before repainting them for future use. Another job was to cover over the ‘Azdic dome’ at the front of the boats; the dome contained a sensor which was used to scan the ocean for U-boats during the war: ‘Craig’s worked in conjunction with Brown’s foundry on Foyle Street. Both firms had nine boats each to repair. One of Brown’s boats was called the Amethyst which had narrowly escaped a Chinese attack on the Yangtze river during the war. It was refurbished along with the others only for the entire fleet to be shipped to England for breaking up – what a waste of time!’

Older Derry residents may remember Old Stalker which was berthed at the quay near Baronet Street. A huge ship, repairs on other boats could be carried out in its hold which could also double as sleeping quarters. Owen’s job was to install freshwater tanks in its base; it later came to prominence when the IRA tried to blow it up during their 1956–62 border campaign.

Owen continued: ‘The Bogside had its fair share of industry as well. The cattle pens sat where the Rossville flats later stood. They stank and you’d be woken at eight in the morning when a man called Harkin drove the sheep through the Bog from the pens. I also worked with Paddy Toland on a milk cart. He had a mare called Katie who needed new shoes from Hasson’s forge. As Alec Hasson tried to shoe her back leg she kicked out and I ended up in the smith’s fire – backside first! Hasson’s always did big business when Duffy’s Circus came to town and when the Gallagher’s held their horse fairs. By the ’60s cars were replacing the horse so they moved into car mechanics.’

Local characters undoubtedly played a big part in the life of the Bogside, and some familiar names came easily to Owen’s mind: ‘There was Johnny “Cuttems” who worked with “Hawker” Lynch. I remember “Piggy Tealight”, “Joe the German” and “Walk a Bike” – he was a solicitor who brought his bike everywhere with him but never seemed to actually use it! Another local name was “Wheeler” Gillespie who famously used to go into hysterics every time the air raid sirens went during World War II. When the sirens went there was always a mad rush for Killea Hall which was used as an unofficial air raid shelter. A local firm called Woodies would do a run to the shelter on a four-wheel cart pulled by horses. “Wheeler” was always the first in the queue as he was so highly strung. I remember the week Messines was bombed, he was obviously even more nervous than usual. The cart was waiting to go but his wife wanted to go back to the house to get her false teeth and told the cart driver to wait. “Wheeler” cracked up with her and shouted – “Wise up and get on the cart – what do you think they’ll be dropping – German buns?”’ The mention of World War II brought back memories of the GI’s and other international naval visitors to the city: ‘The Yanks would drink in the local bars and walk round the streets. The Portuguese would also wander around although they wouldn’t go into the bars – instead they would chat to the locals or shop for silk stockings. They were rarely drunk – unlike the Yanks, the British and the Norwegians who fought with everybody once they’d had a few!’

Today Owen lives happily in Coshowen but still attends weekly events at the Gasyard Centre just across the street from the site of his former home where so many of these happy memories stem from – memories which he was happy to share during our chat.

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Mary McCallion Mary McCallion was born on the 24 May 1945 at 6 Sloan’s Terrace, just off the Foyle Road, from where her mother also hailed. As a resident of the Foyle Road/Lower Bishop Street areas for 65 years she is well placed to recount the history of the area before the redevelopments of the last 30 years.

Mary began by explaining her parents’ work background: ‘My mother worked for years in Tillie’s as an overlocker, basically ensuring all the shirts that were produced were perfect. My father took over a shop in Walker’s Square from Pat Hegarty. He later bought another shop beside the Star factory and then a fish shop from Joe McDermott on the Foyle Road. After all that buying and selling he actually ended up working in DuPont!’

Her early memories include playing in the Pat’s Field and around the ‘prefabs’ which, in common with other areas of the city in the ’40s and ’50s, were used as permanent homes by families – the Archibalds, Kellys, McPeakes and Rushes, to name but a few.

Hopscotch, skipping and spinning tops also provided entertainment, whilst visits to the local bars to ‘tap’ the cork bottle tops gave them extra material with which to devise other games to pass the time.

Other memories, common amongst other residents too, include visits to the Lourdes and Harps Halls where Mary’s mother played ‘housey’, an elaborate version of bingo, as well as visits to the Palace and City cinemas (remembered by Mary as the ‘bug house’ and ‘flea house’ respectively!). Mary briefly hinted at her sporting prowess in her younger days: ‘I used to go to judo classes in North Edward Street, off Clarendon Street. An Australian taught us all the codes and we had all the proper white gear. We learned The Palace Cinema on Shipquay Street.

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above all else that the harder you hit the mat in a fall the less painful it would be!’ She well remembers playing around Meenan Park where the local RUC station was located: ‘One day I was walking home and found a cheque for £50 on the ground. I left it into the police station and it was returned to the owner who gave me £10 as a reward – big money in those days!’ This was certainly a step up from winning a glass of lemonade in the lucky dip at McFadden’s shop near Hogg’s Folly which cost a penny to enter!

Local characters which have stuck in Mary’s mind include ‘Smokey’ Rodgers, who would habitually sing when drunk at the bottom of her street, and a man named Bonner from Walker’s Square who also enjoyed a singsong in the street after a few too many. She also recalls ‘holidays’ in Buncrana every summer which consisted of a day trip organised by her mother: ‘The bus would be absolutely overloaded with children.

I remember one year we were all sat on the beach when my mother remembered we’d left one of the children behind in Derry – she had to send a taxi to get them which cost a small fortune in those days!’

Mary attended Long Tower Girls School and fondly remembers most of the teachers with the exception of a Ms McPhilips: ‘If you couldn’t read or write she would rap your knuckles with the side of her glasses case until they bled, which wasn’t nice, but the rest of the teachers were okay and I enjoyed school, especially when the teacher sent me to my father’s shop for buns!’

Obviously the Church played a big role in Mary’s childhood and some funny incidents resulted: ‘We were sitting in Mass one day when I started singing “St Columba broke a window and he blamed it on St John – St John blamed St Peter but Peter never let on!” I thought it was funny but whoever was sat behind me obviously didn’t as I got a clip on the ear for my troubles! I also remember the priests wore hats with tassels which they always sat on the table when they visited your house. There was Fr McGarvey, Fr Lafferty, Fr McGaughey and a Fr McMonagle who would always ask for his tea in a bowl instead of a cup! I also enjoyed the ‘retreats’ which meant you had to go to Mass at 6.30am in the morning. We would always leave the Mass ten minutes early to get the buns from McDaid’s bakery – the priests ended up getting McDaid’s to drive their vans up to the church with the buns so that everybody would stay to the end of the Mass!’

Local industries played a big role in the lives of Mary’s family. Her uncle Leo and grandfather both worked for the Great Northern Railway based just across the street from their family home. Mary worked in a few of Derry’s shirt factories; her first job was as a message girl in the Star factory aged just 14: ‘I eventually trained up on every single job you could possibly do in a shirt factory. The one job I hated was banding (dealing with the shirt collar). I went to Hogg and Mitchell’s from the Star factory. One day the navy were in Buncrana and we midged off work to see them come in. When we went back to work the boss asked where we had been. Everybody said they had a toothache but he wouldn’t believe us. Fortunately I’d been to the dentist that morning for a checkup so I was covered – the rest of them got punished! My final job was in Ben Sherman’s where I marked the shirts for buttons. There would be two shifts – one from 8.30am to 5.00pm and the other from 5.00pm to 10.30pm. If my mother didn’t turn

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up for her late shift I would have to stay on to cover her work, which meant some very long days! I ended up “retiring” from the factories at the age of 25 to start a family – there are graduates today who haven’t even started working by that age!’

Mary’s husband was the late Jackie ‘Moat’ Mullan. Jackie was an electrical engineer by trade who worked all over Ireland. A self-employed man, his work colleagues included an Indian man called Fiji and a Chinese man called Tommy Ho who lived in the Rossville flats. The Fijis also had a general store on the Abercorn Road for many years.

Their first home was at 238a Clarke’s Terrace in the Bogside. In a story all too familiar for many older residents of the Bogside, they were forced to squat in the house to ensure they had a roof over their head. Mary explained: ‘It was owned by a Mrs Donaghey. She wanted us to move in but Housing Executive rules at the time meant she couldn’t give us the keys. We had no alternative so when she moved out of the house through the front door Jackie broke in through the back door and the squatting began. We eventually became legal tenants but it was demolished during the redevelopments in the late ’70s. The next house we got was one of the old houses in Southend Park where we stayed for three years until it was knocked down for redevelopment as well – it seemed every time we were just getting settled into a new house it was being put on the demolition list! Eventually we were offered this house in Foyle Park where I still live today. Ironically, when we arrived to move in a family called Gormley were squatting in it as they were still waiting for their own house. They eventually moved to the Brandywell so I’ve been here ever since!’

So what is Mary’s impression of the area today? ‘Well, certainly I have lots of fond memories of the old streets that we grew up in but the homes today are much more comfortable. Despite the media image of the Bogside, Brandywell and Bishop Street areas, these streets are very quiet and I still love living here – basically I wouldn’t change it for the world!’

George Sweeney George Sweeney was born on 7 February 1936 at Fitter’s Row at the bottom of Bishop Street. The street was named after the fitters who worked for the Great Northern Railway based on the other side of the street. The GNR played a major role in George’s life, as he recounts in this article: ‘We lived in a one-storey house which was shared between me, my parents and my two brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, one of my sisters died of diphtheria and scarlet fever in Foyle Hill Fever Hospital in 1944. When she got sick for the first time she went to Waterside General Hospital (now the Waterside library) but she recovered only to end up back in Foyle Hill. When she died we couldn’t wake her as the fever was contagious so she was buried straight away in the city cemetery.’

George lived in one of the smaller houses on Fitters Row with a kitchen and sitting room downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. The only other facilities were a gas meter, an outdoor water tap and a fireplace in every room, although these were seldom used: ‘We never thought that the houses were too bad until we visited people’s houses in the Creggan which had luxuries like an inside toilet and bath; that’s when we realised we should be living in better conditions.’

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George attended Long Tower Boys School where his teachers included Mr McCabe, Mr McLaughlin, ‘Wee Da’ Doherty and Mr Schleindwein (whose family eventually opened a chemist’s shop in the Creggan estate). The headmaster of the school was the father of playwright Brian Friel: ‘His nickname was “Scobie”. He was quite strict but he was fair enough. Mr McCabe taught singing last thing each day but I couldn’t sing so I always got to go home early! Mr Schleindwein was our art teacher; he would sometimes let us go up to the viewing points around the school on a Saturday morning to do our work in the sun. “Wee Da” Doherty was a character. He had two sons at the school as well. He usually taught the children from the Lecky Road and Bogside; they weren’t expected to be interested in academic pursuits but he would put their names down anyway for the three exams which pupils were supposed to take before leaving the school and they would always do well enough.’

The results of these three exams decided whether you would go to the Christian Brothers, the Tech on the Strand Road or St Columb’s College. For George the Tech was much too far away to walk to so that was out. Instead, he decided to go to the Christian Brothers: ‘My biggest regret was that we had to go to school on Saturday mornings as well, meaning we had two sets of homework over the weekend! Regardless I enjoyed the CBS, especially woodwork and science. Brother Rowe was the head teacher. He was the most feared man I ever met. On one occasion I was off sick for two weeks. When I came back all the poetry books had been given out so when we were reading the poetry in class I had to look into another pupil’s copy. Brother Rowe landed one day and asked why we were sharing books. When we said the store had run out of books he asked had we actually checked with the store, we admitted that we hadn’t and had just assumed it to be the case. At that he gave us a slap each – you could get a whack for anything in those days.’

Another teacher was Brother McGreevey. A keen GAA supporter, he refused pointblank to allow soccer played at the school. Not being a keen sportsman, George decided on a visit to Celtic Park that he would have to try and trick the Brother in order to get away from the action: ‘I made a point of talking to Brother McGreevey before we started. Then, as soon as I could, I sneaked off. Of course he noticed I’d gone but when he confronted me afterwards I of course insisted that I was there the whole time. He reluctantly accepted what I said even though in reality he probably knew rightly I was lying through my teeth!’

After 18 months at the CBS George left to start work. Although he ended up in the GNR he could have had a different career. Whilst still at the CBS George had taken an exam in soldering with the aim of becoming a watchmaker: ‘Myself and Danny Cooley ran into each other walking down the Strand Road one night. We both discovered we were going for the same interview to Faller’s jewellers for an exam in soldering. I passed and the week that I started in the GNR I received a letter asking me to come down to start my apprenticeship. I had already committed to the GNR so turned it down; now Danny has a shop on Shipquay Street – a reminder of what might have been for me!’

George’s employment at the GNR was almost inevitable given his family background. His grandfather, who had moved to Derry from Kilmacrenan, was an em-

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ployee as was his father who was an engine driver. His two uncles were also locomotive men. George well remembers his first day at work at the GNR: ‘I started on St Patrick’s Day 1952, the same day the RUC baton charged the St Patrick’s Day parade in the city centre. It had been organised by Brian Friel and Seamus Johnston of the Nationalist Party. I would probably have been there had I not started work that day.

My first job was an engine cleaner. This role helped me learn how the engines and furnaces worked. It was a hard job involving a lot of shift work; you could either do a shift from 6.00am–2.00pm, 2.00pm–10.00pm or 10.00pm–6.00am, although you almost always ended up working over the hours. Seniority also applied at the GNR. If you worked over 300 hours at a different job from your own as cover for someone, you would get an increase in wages which would remain the case even if you stayed in your old job until you got a new post. Promotion was hard come by and if you did get promoted you could end up in a different depot; my brother Johnny ended up in Clones, Portadown, Enniskillen and Omagh. If you ended up being shifted you would have to wait until you went to the top of the list for a transfer back to Derry.

‘There was good comradeship in the railway. There were two or three Belfast men but most of the men were local. There were lots of young and old drivers who all had different priorities. The younger drivers preferred to avoid working at night as it meant they’d miss the chance to go out and socialise. For example, one shift saw you travel through Strabane and Omagh to reach Pomeroy by 2.00am. Just as you arrived you’d see the people leaving the dances and it would drive you mad with jealousy!’

Smuggling was always a factor of railway life although George insists very few made a living out of it: ‘There were different methods used to try to stop the smuggling but they didn’t always work! Goods trains weren’t allowed to stop at Carrigans or St Johnston as there were no customs facilities open during the night. Some people would pass their bottles of whiskey or cigarettes to the drivers who would hide them in the engine bay. Of course there was always a customs man based in Derry but they never really bothered the drivers so you could get different items through.’

By the 1960s talk of the GNR closing began to circulate, this was obviously of great concern to the local families whose relatives worked there. George elaborated: ‘The excuse used was that the increased use of lorries to carry freight meant the railway wasn’t viable. Regardless, we felt it was a political decision to cut off the crossborder link and hurt nationalist areas. It got to the point where people were feeling it was inevitable given the amount of talk about closing. Eventually, they gave formal notice that they would close but they said that all workers would get compensation for every year’s service. That good news was tempered by the fact that they were including some of the local busmen who wanted to take early retirement in the scheme meaning there was less money available per person. It was done fairly in the sense that if you had left just a short time before the scheme was introduced you could still benefit from it. There were very few people left out on the street; most joined the Ulster Transport Agency (UTA) but I ended up in the LMS (Belfast) line driving a crane. I later went to Hutchinson’s which was a relatively good job with the same pay rates as DuPont.’

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George joined Hutchinson’s around the same time as the civil rights campaign began. One beneficial result of the campaign was the accelerated improvement in housing conditions during the early 1970s: ‘I got married in 1966. The redevelopment began to speed up in the late 1960s. My wife lived with me in Fitters Row until we got a letter to say that redevelopment was going to take place but at that stage nobody wanted to move. After a year the tenants association did a survey; by then the new housing plan for Carnhill was being mooted and suddenly only four people said they wanted to stay!

All the memories of the area were dumped in skips at that time – there was no archive kept for old photographs and items which was a big shame.’

At the time of the redevelopment George’s youngest son was about to start school.

His parents had already moved to a new house in the Clooney estate and George was working in the LMS in the Waterside, so it was a natural decision to apply for a home in the Waterside. As a result he moved to Clooney with his family. By then many of his neighbours had already moved out of the Bishop Street area so there was less of a wrench about moving from the area.

Today George is happily retired but remains active. Overall, his memories of growing up in the Bishop Street area are fond ones: ‘We had a good life in Bishop Street. There was no shame in being poor as everybody was in the same boat. Everybody helped each other and the Daisyfield and walk along the Foyle were right on your doorstep. If you were painting your house and had paint left over you would paint your neighbour’s door and they would do the same for you. You could leave money in the pot for the rent man and use the other pot for the insurance man’s money and you never worried that the money would disappear. Although there’s been progress in terms of living conditions over the last 40 years, I think that the sense of community has disappeared to a degree. That’s why facilities like the Gasyard Centre are so important to allow that sense of community to continue.’

Willie Carson The late Willie Carson was one of the Derry Journal’s most celebrated photographers from the 1960s to the 1990s. He was also responsible for a number of publications focussing on the ‘old Derry’ which disappeared during the redevelopments of the 1970s; these included So This Was Derry, Yesterday and Derry Thru The Lens. As a resident of Deanery Street in the Brandywell he was particularly well placed to recount on the character of the area. In one article Willie detailed his journey to work every morning at the Derry Journal office on Shipquay Street: ‘I left at nine in the morning, turned left onto Lecky Road, past Willie Keys’ butcher shop, past Bob Mathewson’s shoemakers at the top of Donegal Place, then on past Bella McCafferty’s shop. From there it was up the Folly, past O’Kane’s pub at the top of Kildara Terrace, then Mellon’s sweet shop and Sammy O’Neill’s bookmakers – across the road from him was Artie Carter’s barber’s; Jackson had a shop at the corner of the Dark Lane and Wee Ann Farren’s was another shop where we bought sen sen sweets, lucky dips and, my favourites, jelly babies. Next, it was past the Long Tower and right into Long Tower Street where Patsy Owens’ shop was a must for a couple of fags, then on past

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Willie Carson with pals Patsy O’Hagan, John McBride, Ben Martin, Neal Lynch, Jim McGilloway, Paddy Matheson and Jim Devlin in 1954. the pawnbrokers on the left hand side of the street, next was the Elephant Bar, then through Bishop’s Gate.’

Willie wrote fondly of the old Bogside and Brandywell: ‘No longer there are the Westend Hall, Morgan’s rag store, the Lecky Road RUC barracks, the Greyhound Bar, The Cabin for the best value fish and chips, Westend bakery. Move further up Lecky Road towards the Brandywell and there you’d find Neil Doherty’s barber’s shop, the most popular in the whole of Derry – where else would customers get the offer of a cup of tea or coffee or perhaps a bowl of soup? This was the sort of fare served up on a Saturday after a Derry City home game. It was packed to capacity. The game, which had just finished a few minutes previously, was replayed over and over again and the arguments went on until midnight when Neil’s wife Bella would eventually come in and call full time, or as she would say, “lift the ball”. Other sadly missed landmarks include the billiard hall at the back of Brandywell Road, behind Johnnie McGrory’s bookies and not far away was the butcher’s owned by Joe “time enough” Doherty, who used to comment to his customers, “My sausages have meat in one end and sawdust in the other. Why? Because I can’t afford to make both ends meat!”’

This final passage relates to Willie’s exhaustive knowledge of Bogside nicknames: ‘I regret to say that my source of information about the characters in the Bogside, which made very interesting reading in my second book, Vanishing Derry, is no longer with us; the late Nassie McCaul. Nassie could tell you stories, and all interesting, till the cows came home. Meeting him on the streets of Derry was an education as he knew so much of the history of the city, not about who won the Siege of Derry, but about the people who made our city such an interesting place to be part of. Nassie rhymed off hundreds of names; let me start with “Cock” Coyle, Johnny “the Foreman” who kept horses and carts, “Shortie” Cassidy, “Cutler” Doherty, father and son duo “Admiral” and “Emperor” Doherty and Ned “the Chronicle”, aptly named as he was always engrossed in reading the papers. The most unpopular of those named was Hughie “F**k” or as the girls in town called him, Hughie “Bad Word”. In one of the lodging houses there was Johnnie “Lookup” who was the “cock lodger” being the longest serving resident, and his two pals Joe “Cowlspud” and Arthur “Scab”. As I have already said, there were literally hundreds of nicknames in the Bogside. Who knows, maybe someday someone will write a book about them.’

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Phil Cunningham Phil Cunningham has written a number of books recording his memories of Derry from the 1930s to the 1970s. The following passages reference some of those writings: ‘I still have happy memories of growing up at the back of the Walls and its lovely character and people; Con Bonnar and his wife Sally in Walker’s Square, Paddy and Maggie Strain, Annie Barr’s lodging house at the top of the street and all the men who stayed there over the years, Bobby Piggott from Howard Street, Danny Feeney who once drove the horse-drawn hearse for McCaughey’s undertakers, Andy and Bosco Hegarty, Bella ‘Butts’ Doherty who sold the ha’penny plates of peas and beans in her front room, the Scanlon brothers, ‘Gander’ and ‘Spider’, ‘Ducky’ Carlin who carried bags of slack on his back every week from the gasworks to his elderly neighbours, Paddy Deane who was reputed to be the tallest man in Derry and ‘Wee’ Johnny Nicholl from Nelson Street.’

In his writings Phil mentions other characters associated with the general area such as Eddie ‘Tipperary’ Canavan, Andy Hegarty, Eddie ‘Gackawacka’ McLaughlin and Paddy ‘Neck’ O’Neill; they were the ‘street drinkers’, a label which stripped them of their humanity (and still does when applied today) and failed to reflect their individual courteousness and good humour. Also amongst their number was Dan Gallagher, father of world famous guitarist Rory, who was another unfortunate local man afflicted by alcohol dependence. Phil recalls Dan trying to sell his son’s records to the young people around Orchard Row; not believing he was Rory’s father, the youngsters made constant fun of him. Phil also remarks on Sheila Brennan and Sammy Wray, who many readers may recall from their daily visits to Frankie Ramsey’s cafe on William Street.

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Paddy Deane, reputedly the tallest man in Derry.

Eddie ‘Tipperary’ Canavan, Andy Hegarty and Eddie ‘Gackawacka’ McLaughlin sharing the craic in the 1960s.

Derry Olympian and European champion Charlie Nash signing autographs in the 1970s.

Aside from the tenuous Rory Gallagher connection, rock music was well represented in the Bishop Street area. Louis O’Neill, father of Undertones guitarists John and Damien, had a fruit shop near the front of the Long Tower Boys School and the ‘tones’ would often practice in a storeroom at the back of the shop. Phil writes of some other ‘diversions’ for youngsters in the area including a boxing club which was started in a vacant house in Alma Place by the Donnelly brothers, John, Tommy and Len. Len, a professional in the days of ‘Spider’ Kelly, went on to manage Charlie Nash, Derry’s own lightweight champion of the 1970s. Phil himself took a keen interest in the local scout movement and joined the Seventh Derry CBSI unit taking part in their weekly scout exercises at Moore’s Quay and availing of their occasional overnight trips to Ards in Donegal.

Phil makes the point that residents of the Bogside, Brandywell and Bishop Street were never short of places for a ‘few swallies’: ‘Bishop Street had the Elephant, the Arch, the Bell, the Barrel, Gormley’s, Bryson’s (where alcohol wasn’t served to women), O’Hara’s (owned by the parents of Hunger Striker Patsy), Lynch’s, Doherty’s, the Silver Dog, the First and Last (so named because it was the first pub you met on the way into Derry and the last one you passed when you left) and the Derry City FC and the British Oxygen Company social clubs.’

One last story recorded by Phil is quite well known in the Bogside area and, he believes, sums up the humour and character of the area to a tee: ‘One day a shoe repair shop opened up in Creggan Street, just opposite the main gates of St Eugene’s Cathedral. This event caused a bit of alarm in Houston’s shoe shop because not only was it competition but the owner of the new shop, Alfie Hay, who lived on the Lower Road, was a Protestant. As it so happened Hay’s new shop never affected Houston’s

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trade because there was ample work for cobblers in those days and Alfie, by dint of his good manners, hard work and quality of his repairs, gradually gained enough custom to make a livelihood for himself and his family.

‘At nine o’clock one morning, Harry Milligan, an employee of Houston’s, was hunched over his shoemaker’s last, mending a boot when Jim Healey, a customer, came into the shop and casually said, “It’s not hard to know that the twelfth of August is next week for I see Alfie Hay has put a sign in his shop window insulting our bishop.” Harry paused his hammering and asked Jim what he was talking about and Jim said, “A big sign with words in thick black print that says Cobblers to Bishop McHugh. What do you think of that then?” “I don’t believe it,” answered Harry as he stopped working. Harry went up the street to have a look for himself. His jaw dropped when he read the notice inside: Cobblers to Bishop McHugh. He was very annoyed and rushed down to his own place, whereupon he immediately got a large piece of white card and proceeded to write on it with thick black crayon. When he completed the notice, he stood the card in the window.

‘Mr Houston, on his way to his shop that morning, saw the sign in Hay’s window.

Unlike his employee Harry Milligan he didn’t misinterpret it, but he was curious about Alfie’s new found association with the bishop and went in and asked. Alfie told him that the bishop had come in a few days before and in a gesture of ecumenical goodwill had requested Alfie to mend four pairs of his finest leather shoes, which he did, and that’s when he got the idea to put the sign in the window. Mr Houston, slightly miffed the bishop had given his business to Alfie instead of him, nevertheless wished Alfie well and left the shop knowing full well that Bishop McHugh would resume having his shoes repaired at his shop, as he had been doing since he came to the diocese.

‘Mr Houston was later than usual arriving at his shop. He bid Harry good morning as he always did and asked, “Did you read the notice in Mr Hay’s window?” “I did,” Harry answered. “And did you read the better notice that I put into our shop window, Mr Houston?” Mr Houston frowned questioningly then quickly made for the street to look into his shop window to read the sign: Bollocks to the archbishop of Canterbury. He couldn’t believe what he read, he strode back into the shop fuming and roared, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, are you trying to ruin us Harry?” The sign was quickly removed from the window and Mr Houston was relieved that not too many people had seen it; he warned Harry, in no uncertain terms, never to place another notice in the window without letting him see it first.’

Phil Cunningham’s (on right) books (Derry Down the Days, Echoes of Derry, Reflections of Derry and Derry Memories) are available from Guildhall Press. Willie Carson’s updated Derry Through The Lens (2006), which includes a selection of photographs of Derry from the 1960s to the 1990s, is also available from Guildhall Press.

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Chapter Fourteen Redevelopment Various Contributors

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hanks to Terry ‘Lammy’ Lamberton, Charlie McMenamin, Eddie ‘Eccles’ Breslin, Jim ‘Hawks’ Collins and Mairtin O’Cathain for providing much of the material for this chapter. Thanks also to John Tierney and all those willing to be interviewed about their experiences of living in the Rossville flats.

By the 1960s many of the streets in the Bogside were being cleared to make way for flats and apartments. At this time the construction of high-rise flats was a common trend across England, Scotland and other European cities. However, it soon became clear that inherent construction flaws meant many of these high-rise buildings were prone to constant dampness and other problems.

The most notorious example in Derry was the Rossville flats complex in the Bogside.

The three nine-storey blocks which made up the complex were completed in 1966.

There was, to say the least, a strong suspicion that the flats had been built to ensure a large number of the nationalist population in the area would remain living in the overcrowded Bogside, instead of moving into other electoral areas of the city and thus disrupt the carefully designed gerrymandering system which prevailed in Derry at the time. However, suspicions aside, it became clear very quickly that the flats were seriously flawed. This gradually saw the development of a campaign to get the flats demolished. In the article below John Tierney, a past mayor of Derry and former resident of the flats, explains how the campaign succeeded.

John Tierney HMP Rossville ‘The process which led to the demolition of the Rossville flats began when the residents started to approach the Housing Executive to complain about their living conditions.

Only when the residents started talking to each other did they realise that it wasn’t just their own flat which was damp. As a result the residents began to organise as a group for protests at the Housing Executive and at council meetings; the key demand being that the flats should be demolished.

‘The dampness in the flats wasn’t the only problem. Residents living on the upper floors had to bring their groceries and prams up and down the stairs for weeks on end

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A protest by Rossville Flats’ residents against the building of Pilot’s Row community centre, preferring the money to be spent on better housing instead. as the lifts had broken down. On some occasions the coffins of deceased residents had to be carried down the stairs for the funeral service, which was really undignified.

‘The presence of the British army on the roof of the flats brought other obvious problems. There would be shootings at the soldiers in the flats whilst they would also fire out; in fact at one point an elderly woman was shot during a gun battle. Some troops were actually shot or attacked with bombs in the complex.

‘Soon after the protests started the lifts broke down again, which worked to the advantage of the residents. Someone in the flats had been sick and had sent for the doctor.

When the GP arrived and saw that the lifts were out of order he wouldn’t go upstairs to see the patient. As a consequence Dr McClean, who was also a local councillor, got all the local doctors to sign a petition calling for the demolition of the flats.

‘It was well into the campaign before a committee was actually set up to run the protests properly. Until then everything had been done on a day-to-day basis. If someone said “Let’s go down to the Housing Executive to protest” or if we found out there was a council meeting, then we would all decide to go instinctively. When the committee was formed we were able to draw up a constitution with different people allocated different tasks.

‘Ironically, it was the local unionist mayor who got us a lot of publicity when he visited the flats at our request and said he wouldn’t even keep “pigs” in them. It looked like things were moving when we persuaded John O’Gorman, the chief executive of the Housing Executive, to visit the flats with other board members. There was bitter disappointment when he said that it would be too expensive to demolish the flats and

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re-house the residents. He announced instead that £1.5 million would be spent on a new roof and windows to remove the damp conditions. Both the residents and the council protested that this was the wrong decision and that the Housing Executive was just throwing good money away. This became clear when the work was completed and the problems with dampness persisted.

‘We knew that we had to keep the pressure up to ensure the demolition went ahead.

We met with the Housing Executive board in Belfast as well as British ministers; in fact on one occasion a British minister came to see the flats for himself. Some of the flats got so bad that the Housing Executive decided they were uninhabitable and decided to board them up. This was obviously a victory of sorts but then the young people began to remove the boards to use the empty flats to drink in which was a nuisance for the residents living next door. The residents knew they had to keep the campaign going or they would never get out.

‘Eventually the Housing Executive decided they would knock down the block facing onto Rossville Street but keep the other two blocks. Their logic for keeping the middle block was that the shops on its ground floor were needed by the local community. The residents opposed the decision with the support of the shop owners who also wanted the flats knocked down. As a result the HE said they would knock down two blocks but leave the section on the Fahan Street side. This was despite the fact that the residents in the Fahan Street block were getting regular harassment from Apprentice Boys who would throw missiles from the Walls to break the flat windows and shout abuse.

The Rossville Flats in the late 1970s.

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View from the upper levels of the Rossville Flats in the late 1970s.

‘Eventually the Executive were left with no choice but to demolish all three blocks.

This decision meant that all the residents of the flats had to go onto the priority list to be re-housed in the local area. At the time the housing list was very long and I can understand the frustration of people already on the waiting list who were told that the residents coming out of the flats now had priority. Nevertheless, I think there was a general acceptance in the whole area that the flats had to go and that this was one of the inevitable consequences.

‘I have to give full credit to the residents of the flats. They were the people who began and persisted with the protests and who made it clear that they weren’t going to accept their atrocious living conditions. If you talk with many of them now they will say that they actually miss the flats. In actual fact when you dig deeper you discover that they actually miss the friendships that they had developed in the complex with the other residents; things like sitting out on the balcony chatting until two or three in the morning. These memories are stronger than their thoughts about the conditions they were living in which couldn’t be tolerated in the long term. Nevertheless, it’s good to remember the good times and the good neighbours we had; that’s what we really miss about the Rossville flats.’

The following snippets have been randomly selected from interviews with former residents of the flats which were conducted just after the demolition of the flats. They show that despite the terrible conditions the residents experienced they still retain some fond and funny memories of their neighbours and friends who lived beside them in the Rossville flats complex.

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Don Carlin ‘There were a great bunch of people living in the flats. Not many people shut their doors in those days; your neighbours called in regularly and everybody kept an eye on each other.’

Lizzie McGarrigle ‘Tommy McCauley was some character. He would be out singing to the local girls on the balcony at four o’clock in the morning. “Do you want walked home girls?” he would shout at us; our answer was always, “Naw thanks!” His bedroom window faced our flat. There were nights you would see the silhouette of him trying to get his clothes off for bed but he never knew we could see him!’

Billy Carlin ‘Bertie Roddy was some boy. He was always into everybody’s business and had an answer for everything. He was wile civil but could always drop you in it; you’d hear some story about yourself and wonder, “Where did they find that out?” It turned out it was usually from Bertie!’

Don Carlin ‘Annie O’Neill used to live in the flats. Her father Bernie would always have a few at the weekend. He would be out on the eighth floor singing Marguerite and other great songs. Nobody would ever tell him to stop; in fact we would all sit out on the landing listening to him!’

Marie Johnston ‘If you left your front door open when you were out visiting or at the shops some of the locals would sneak in and move all your hall furniture and pictures to the balcony or even to another flat for a joke! Mr Carlin would do it, my brother Sean would do it and Winnie Pickett’s children as well!’

Lizzie McGarrigle ‘I got a call from a neighbour asking were we alright as she’d heard there’d been trouble and that a cooker had been thrown from the flats and had landed on an RUC jeep. I said, “Aye, we’re alright, but your da’s cooker’s wrecked!”’

Friends talking about Annie Ryan, resident 1972-82 ‘Annie only had boys. She’d always say to my daughter, “I’m taking you cuz I’ve no girls!” My daughter Cathy would always reply, “Naw, I’m staying with me mammy.”

One day myself, Annie and Cathy were down at Quigley’s shop on the ground floor collecting for the 15 August celebrations. Danny Quigley was the quietest man you would ever meet. Our Cathy was a cheeky wee one when she wanted to be – she’d come out with all sorts. She turns round to Danny and says, “Danny, would you give Annie a baby?” We didn’t know where to look and neither did Danny Quigley!’

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John Tierney ‘Dana was coming to visit the flats. This was some time after she’d won the Eurovision and my nieces were very excited. For a bit of craic I told them I used to go out with Dana when she lived on the fifth floor, which was obviously a complete lie! So anyway, Dana arrives for the visit and, in full view of everybody, my nieces turn round and shout, “Dana, didn’t you use to go with our uncle John?”

In fairness to her she just said, “Aye, that’s right!” But talk about me getting caught out!’

Lizzie McGarrigle ‘There was one phone box at the bottom of the flats. I was coming back from bingo one night when I saw Johnny Pine standing inside it. He was pressing away at the buttons. I shouted into him to make sure he was alright.

“I’m grand,” he says. “I’m just waiting for Children playing in the area around the the lift to come down to take me to the fifth flats in the 1970s. floor.” I just walked on and said nothing!’

Annie O’Neill ‘Philomena McLaughlin would be down at the ground-floor shops. She’d shout up her father’s name, “Johnny McLaughlin, Johnny McLaughlin,” until somebody from her flat would shout, “What’s wrong?” The usual response was something like, “Molly Byrne’s charging us another penny – gone throw one down!”’

Lizzie McGarrigle ‘There was a whole commotion. The window was hanging open in one of the flats and all you could see were a pair of woman’s legs hanging out. Even the cops had landed up to see what was going on. A man was walking past and asked somebody what was going on. Somebody said, “There’s a woman up there about to jump.” Like everybody else, he stood around waiting for something to happen until eventually he got so bored he shouted up, “For f**k’s sake woman are you gonna jump or not?” All of a sudden the woman shouts out, “How dare you tell me what to do in my own home!” and she pulls her legs back into the flat and slams the window!’

Philly Wilson ‘A nice old woman had died. You always went to the wakes in case you got a few cigarettes. Anyway, we all went to this wee woman’s wake. The Johnstons and the Carlins were all there sitting round. There’s me sitting with my cigarette when the chocolates

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start to be passed around. Our Mary lifts one; just as she puts it in her mouth the old woman’s son suddenly says, “God, they were my mother’s favourite chocolates.” Mary’s gut reaction was to jump up and run to the toilet to spit out the chocolate!’

Billy Carlin ‘I remember the first time I went drinking and had to come back to the flats.

My father was off the drink and always told us that if we did go drinking we should come back in a decent condition. Of course on this occasion I was steaming drunk. I met my brother Kevin on my way in. We went in along the steps at the Fahan Street side. About five flats from our own place we took off our shoes and when we got into our flat Children playing in Ann Street with the Rossville we started to creep down the stairs to Flats under construction behind in the 1960s. our bed. All of a sudden Kevin falls back on top of me and we end up in a heap outside our father’s bedroom door. We got up just before our father comes out from his room and shouts, “What’s going on?” “Aw, nothing, just carrying on,” we replied.

Anyway, I got into my bed but after a few minutes my head started to spin. I knew I was going to be sick but couldn’t run to the toilet in case I woke my father. Instead I opened my window and threw up; about five seconds later I heard a splash down below. All of a sudden a man’s voice shouts up, “Ye dirty wee bollocks, that splashed all over me!” I’ll never forget that five second delay until I heard the splash!’

Billy Carlin ‘There were some stories about Dicky Valley. He had a big Alsatian and if you mentioned Paisley’s name it went mental. There are some great pictures of him coming from the old bomb sites with shopping trolleys full of stuff. He’d bring the stuff home and clean it up; he ended up with some great stuff too!’

Lizzie McGarrigle ‘We looked out the window and saw Dicky Valley coming from Butcher’s Gate with a mantle that it would have taken six men to carry. I’d keep seeing him bringing his stuff through and wonder where was he putting it all since he only had a two bedroom flat on the eighth floor!’

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Annie Bradley ‘He’d always dye his hair jet black with boot polish. He went out one day with the polish on his hair. He was coming back in through the flats when it started to rain; all you could see was the polish running down his face – and sure he wasn’t even bothered!’

Cathy Doherty ‘I was in Dick Valley’s flat one day and was complimenting him on the new television he had in the corner. “That’s not a TV,” he replied, “that’s my cocktail cabinet.” In those days the expensive TV sets came with a cabinet which had double doors on the front.

He’d covered one of them with tin foil on the inside and filled it with his sherry – that was his cocktail cabinet! He had eight mattresses piled up in one of his bedrooms which he called his bunk beds; they were nearly piled up to the roof. Then I looked into his cloakroom and found his uncle lying there in the middle of the coats. “Jesus Dicky, he’ll be smothered,” I said. “Aye, he’ll be grand,” he said!’

Eileen Collins ‘The flats had no heat in them at all. One room had a gas heater and that was it. There were no facilities for children and lots of the tenants had big families; there was nowhere for drying nappies or anything.’

Jim Meenan ‘One day Keith English was in the lift. It was supposed to stop at the fifth floor but kept going to the eighth instead before breaking down completely. He ended up being stuck and the fire brigade had to be called out to get him out. We were all standing round in stitches laughing when they carried him down!’

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Annie Bradley ‘The mayor, a unionist called Mr Craig, visited the flats. My flat was soaking with damp and me and my daughter had ended up as front page news over the conditions we were living in. “I wouldn’t let pigs live in here,” was his reaction when he saw my flat, which helped our campaign to get them demolished.’

Montea Earnshaw ‘I eventually had to move my bed into the sitting room. A man had come to fix the heat and told me not to switch it on when it rained as the damp could create a fire hazard.

The water was coming in through the hot press as well. I told them this in the Guildhall and they couldn’t believe it.’

The following extracts have been selected from interviews which were recorded with former residents of the flats during 2011. As with the previous snippets, they highlight the fact that although the conditions in the flats and the Troubles caused obvious problems, there is still a degree of fondness for the flats retained by many of the interviewees.

In some cases the interviewees have also recalled the living conditions in the ‘old Bog’

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before they moved to the flats. Their accounts of the slum housing that existed in the area explain why the Rossville flats were seen as the ‘lap of luxury’ when they were first opened.

Sean Dunleavy Sean Dunleavy was born on 22 September 1972 in 15 Mura Place, Rossville flats. His grandfather John was the caretaker for the entire complex from their opening until just before they were demolished. As such, Sean has quite a few stories to tell: ‘My grandfather got the caretaker job by accident although he definitely had plenty of work experience. He got his first job at the age of 14 in the docks, which also wasn’t planned.

He was sitting in school one day when the teacher asked him what age he was; “I’m fourteen today,” he replied. “Well you shouldn’t be here,” said the teacher.

“Get down to the docks and find yourself some work,” and that’s exactly what he did. Later he became a barman on the Burns & Laird boat which travelled regularly from Derry to Scotland. That’s how he met his wife who was from Glasgow.’

John’s father (Sean’s great grandfather) was one of the first bus drivers in Derry. He originally drove a coach and horses between the old City Hotel on Foyle Street and the train station in the Waterside. The coaches were eventually replaced by buses and John’s father got Sean with his grandfather John Dunleavy, one of the new bus driving jobs: ‘He the Rossville Flats caretaker. didn’t get much training; he had to sign a form in the Guildhall which was followed by ten minutes instruction and that was it!’

John Dunleavy eventually became one of the first tenants of Rossville flats, moving in to number 11 Garvan Place. He then got the caretaker job, partly as a result of being a resident. Although this sounded ideal in theory, actually living and working in the same place caused its own problems: ‘Because my grandfather lived in the flats he never got a day off; there was always something that needed doing. His workmates, Paddy and Eddie, didn’t live in the flats so they didn’t have the same problem.’

As caretaker, John was one of only a few residents who had a telephone and people regularly called on him to phone for a doctor if a resident was ill. The lifts also proved to be particularly problem prone: ‘People would get stuck in them and granda would have to get them out. The British army were often to blame. The lift shaft came through their quarters on the top floor and they would stick a bar in the shaft to jam the lift. I

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actually got stuck one day myself. I was in there for about ten minutes when I heard sniggering and I realised it was soldiers up above. They eventually let me out, but plenty of others got stuck because they couldn’t get the bar back out of the shaft again and we’d have to go up to release the mechanism. I still remember the strange smell from their quarters – a mixture of sandbags and sweat.’

Unknown to many, the lifts had a small door inside which could be opened to accommodate a coffin. On some occasions, when the lift was broken, the coffin would have to be carried down the stairs: ‘There was also a large gap underneath the lifts.

One day my granda found a pup in the space and he named it Kim. It lived with him right through to the time when he moved to Creggan Street. Its favourite pastime was running after the ball during the Bull Park Sevens which was a popular summer soccer competition that ran for a number of years in the ‘80s. The rubbish chute would also attract youngsters who would be hiding there for whatever reason. My granda would check if there was anybody inside by dropping a stone down from the top. If he heard the stone landing at the bottom he knew it was empty – if he didn’t hear it land he knew somebody had just got a sore head!’

For Sean, doing the rounds with his grandfather became part of his daily routine. In fact his very first job was doing some repair work in the flats: ‘I was seven at the time.

The stairwells had rows of wooden slats which occasionally came loose. My granda called me up the stairs one day and made me stand on his shoulders. He then gave me his hammer and nails and I knocked them back into place. There’s no way you would get away with that today with all the health and safety laws.’

The Troubles had a major impact on the residents of the flats, with nearby riots a common occurrence: ‘I remember going out with granda to do the rounds after dinner.

We would be standing on the balcony and watching the crowds gathering underneath.

Next thing the British army would start to come down the flyover, “The wagons are coming to round up the cowboys,” my granda would always say! It was the clearing up afterwards that was the main problem as that could take ages.’

Sean recalls one particular day when Rossville Street was blocked off with hijacked vans and buses. Two post office vans were among the commandeered vehicles. Given the fact that the vans may have contained some valuables and cash, the RUC put particular effort into getting them out of the area: ‘They spent ages getting to them by using their riot shields as hoods to cover them from being hit by missiles. Eventually they got to the vans and tied some rope round their wing mirrors. The rope was then attached to two of their Land Rovers which were supposed to drag them up the street.

The problem was the minute they started pulling the wing mirrors came straight off and they were back to square one!’

Some of Sean’s other memories of the Troubles include the palpably sickening atmosphere in the area after Stephen McConomy was killed just behind the flats, in 1982, by a plastic bullet deliberately fired at him by a British soldier. He also recalls being pulled into the flat occupied by John Tierney (who became Derry’s first unemployed mayor whilst he was a resident of the flats) when a gun battle broke out in the complex: ‘I also remember the day the soldiers left the flats for the last time. I heard

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a really loud rumbling noise one morning and looked down into the courtyard where scores of British army jeeps were lined up. We thought there was going to be a raid but gradually all the equipment from the top floor started to be loaded onto the jeeps and we realised they were going.’

The August 12 bonfires feature in Sean’s recollections: ‘There’s a row of houses at the top of Fahan Street today. The site behind the houses used to be a square where we used to play rounders. One day there were soldiers patrolling along there when a group of Brandywell fellas came past rolling some tyres which they’d collected for their bonfire.

One of the fellas from the flats told the soldiers that the Brandywell boys had stolen the tyres from them; the next thing the soldiers took the tyres from the Brandywell crew and gave them to the boys from the flats – the Brandywell crowd were raging! That night they came down to the flats to get their own back. One of them threw a stone which hit me in the eye and I’ve had to wear glasses ever since.

‘The rivalry over the bonfires was intense – we all wanted to have the biggest fire.

On one occasion we were stripping out the timber from the old derelict tenements on William Street; it was a miracle that no-one fell through the floorboards as they were absolutely rotten. I also remember one year when a fella arranged for us to get 500 tyres and 700 tubes which were lined up in front of the circus mural in the courtyard of the flats. “Porkie” O’Neill made a hut in the middle of the bonfire pile which he stayed in all night to make sure no-one came raiding. It just shows the rivalry that was there.’

Sean elaborated on the courtyard circus mural: ‘It must have been the biggest mural in Derry; it was done in the late 1970s. Artists were brought in to paint the outline then we were allowed to paint in the animals and beach ball. We had to climb up scaffolding to get the job done – again there’s no way you would be able to do that today!’

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The lack of local play and social amenities in those days was commented on by Sean in the course of his interview: ‘The only play equipment in the complex amounted to four swings in the playground. Given the fact that there were probably 400 or more children living in the complex, it was often difficult to get a proper go. One morning me and my sister decided to get up at the crack of dawn so we could get down to the swings before anybody else. The next thing, I heard my mother screaming down at us to get back up to the flat. The squeaking from the swings had woken up everybody in the flats! There was one memorable occasion when a music festival came to the flats, it seemed to go on for days and had all sorts of bands – traditional, rock – you name it.

I also remember when the Pilot’s Row centre was built. We would go to drama classes and I remember we put on a show which packed the hall out. On another occasion I was tagging along with my sister who was going to gymnastics. I got bored so I started playing on a trampoline in the store. I came out an hour later and the place was in darkness – the centre had already closed! I got out through the fire escape and only then realised that everybody was out looking for me!’

The flats and surrounding area may have lacked certain facilities but there was certainly no problem getting food supplies as the bottom row of the flats had a wide selection of shops. One of these units was a Chinese restaurant and Sean recalled a particular incident concerning it: ‘I was up on one of the balconies one day when a fella ran past me with a pile of meat under his arm. He turns around and asks me where he could catch a bus to Shantallow so obviously I told him to go to the depot. It was only later that we heard that the meat had been robbed from the Chinese restaurant. The thing is the Chinese was on the bottom floor and he ran past me on the balcony with the meat – to this day I still can’t work out how he got there!’

By the early 1980s everybody seemed to be moving out of the flats: ‘I remember the McGarrigles calling round to say they had got a new house which had a garden.

The only garden we had was a patch of grass above the circus mural!’ Aware that the flats were going to be condemned, Sean’s family knew they would have to find another home. At the time, Sean’s aunt and uncle had a caravan behind the City Swimming Baths on William Street. They moved in there for a while and were eventually offered a house in Ballymagroarty. The house wasn’t suitable so Sean’s aunt and uncle took it instead. Eventually they got a house in Northland Parade where Sean still resides today.

Although it’s been years since he lived in the flats he obviously still has fond memories: ‘There was a great spirit in the flats. The women all kept their homes in pristine condition and all kept the same routine – they’d hang the washing out at the same time, clean their front doors at the same time, go to the shops at the same time – you could set your watch by them. If you went out all day to play you could come back and get your dinner in someone else’s house – the neighbours always made you welcome. Then, come bedtime your mother would shout from the balcony, “Where are ye?” and you’d answer back before going home. We had a neighbour called Mrs McDowell who would come out and chat to us at the front door every day. I only worked out later that she was doing it to keep us occupied before our parents came back from work. The neighbours were always looking out for you like that – great memories.’

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Maureen Morrison Maureen Morrison was born on 22 August 1945 in Nelson Street, in the heart of the Bogside. Her mother (nee Quigley) was a Derry woman and her father was from Limavady: ‘I was born in number 22 Nelson Street but ended up in number one. It had mice and bugs everywhere and I definitely thought it was haunted! There wasn’t much room either; a man lived upstairs while me, my parents and my two sisters lived downstairs. We eventually got a house in Rinmore Drive in the Creggan which was a great improvement.’

Maureen went to school in St Eugene’s PS before moving to the newly opened St Mary’s Secondary School. Her time there was short: ‘I stayed for six months. In those days it was still common to go to work at a young age but you couldn’t actually leave school till you were 15. On my fifteenth birthday I went to work in the Hogg and Mitchell shirt factory on Great James Street as a collar worker. I would walk up and down to the factory every day which was great exercise as well!’

Maureen worked at the factory for five years before leaving to start a family with her husband Joe. The couple’s first house was in the Bogside, an unwelcome return to the poor living conditions Maureen had experienced as a child: ‘We moved into Joe’s one-bedroom flat in Abbey Street. The house was so low you had to step down into it.

In one room we had a sofa, a TV, a cooker, a bed and a chest of drawers – to say it was a bit cramped was an understatement. You had to step out to the hall to use the water tap and the toilet was outside – it certainly wasn’t ideal, especially when we had our first two children.’ Their next abode was not much better; two attic rooms in a large house owned by PJ Kelly, who also owned a fish-and-chip shop in the Bogside: ‘Since we were in the attic we had to sleep beside the water tank which meant sleep was a problem if the people down the stairs decided to use the toilet!’

When the Rossville flats were built, Maureen fought hard to get a flat and was eventually offered a place at 38 Mura Place: ‘It felt like a palace compared to what we were used to – we even had hot water and a bath! To give you a comparison, when we lived in Abbey Street we had to use the City Swimming Baths in William Street to get a bath which was better than the alternative; using a tin tub in the kitchen! It was also great to have proper heating – that was a real luxury. We had four more children while we were in the flats and we got to the point we realised we would need a house as our family had outgrown the flat. Eventually we got a house in Drumleck Gardens where we lived until we moved to Norburgh Park where I still live today.’

Hugh McCauley Hugh McCauley was born on 1 October 1945 in Anne Street, in a house so small that according to Hugh: ‘You could put your hand down the chimney to open the door! The house was that small, the edge of the roof was at head height, but sure you’d still find 15 people living in houses that size.’

Although it’s over 50 years ago, Hugh still has vivid memories of his childhood: ‘I went to the Wee Nuns in Rosemount. I still have the old missal which we used for going to weekly Mass and I remember Mr Duffy the headmaster, or “Duffs” as we used to

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call him. I have a lot of memories of Mickey McConnell, a great republican who lived in Joseph Place. I remember on one occasion he wanted a copy of the Proclamation and he was told Bundoran was the place to get it. So he gets a bus to Bundoran and goes into a shop to buy one. “We’ve none in stock but you might get one down the street in the hotel,” he’s told. He walks into the hotel and asks do they do proclamations. The receptionist replies, “We might – do you want chips with them?”

Eventually the family got a house at 84 Rinmore Drive. Hugh remembers pushing the furniture from Ann Street up Bligh’s Lane to the new house: ‘Our furniture couldn’t have been up to much; a man stopped me when I was pushing the cart and asked, “How much is your firewood?”’

Today the Creggan is considered by some to be virtually in the city centre but for Hugh’s mother this was definitely not the case: ‘She thought it was too isolated. There were green fields all around us so she felt like she was living in the countryside. We eventually got a house in Dunree Gardens for a few years, which was a bit more “urban” but my mother had her heart set on getting a bay window. She eventually got one when the warden of the Creggan reservoir had to move from his house on one side of Westway to the new bungalows on the other side so he could be closer to his work. We stayed there for ten years until 1968 when we moved to the Rossville flats which weren’t long opened.’

There were good reasons for the move. Hugh’s mother was blind and often had trouble getting into town from Creggan, especially when it snowed and the steep hills were slippery. In addition, he had lost his job in the Creggan when Monarch Electrical (the renamed BSR) closed down in 1967: ‘It was the only place that you could get a job with no questions asked. I had gone to loads of other businesses in the town asking The tape deck assembly section of the BSR in Creggan in the 1960s.

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for work but the first question was always, “What school did you go to?” When you said you went to a Catholic school you automatically got turned away. The BSR took on anybody as they weren’t run by a local firm so weren’t as concerned about the background of their workforce. Unfortunately, Mr McDonald, the owner, didn’t like unions and after a few strikes he decided to shut up shop and that was it.’

At that stage the two blocks of flats facing onto Rossville Street were finished and the block looking onto Fahan Street was nearing completion. Hugh’s mother had initially approached her old friend Murphy in the corporation to get a flat but he wasn’t able to help as the flats were run by the Housing Trust. Instead, she considered trying to buy Dinny Harley’s house in William Street. Hugh explained: ‘We went down to clean it and discovered it was full of woodworm so the deal fell through and we thought we were back to square one. At that time there were big tenement houses beside Derry First Presbyterian Church. There were 11 families in one house which caught fire one night leaving them homeless. The Housing Trust had to re-house these families but they were reluctant to put them in the flats as they weren’t seen as suitable tenants. Instead the Trust asked could they be housed in corporation houses.

Murphy said he would sort them but only if my mother was given a home in the new Rossville flats and that’s how we eventually got into 54 Mura Place.

‘It was a whole new world getting a flat. We discovered that a lot of the other families were our old neighbours from the Bogside. There was a big difference in the entertainment available as well. In Creggan we had two TV stations – BBC and ITV – but the reception was bad and they both stopped transmissions at 11 o’clock anyway and then everyone would go to bed. When we moved to the flats everybody would sit up until two or three in the morning chatting and singing on the balconies – it was the best of craic!’

Such was the residents’ pride in the new complex that a few of them even painted the rubbish chute: ‘The Housing Executive left some paint behind them one night when they were painting the railings on the balconies. All the families got together and painted the chute – we even put an off-cut of carpet into the entrance to the chute! We all had a singsong afterwards – it just shows the pride that existed. People put a lot of effort into doing up the flats themselves; some had plush carpets and perfect decor. Apparently, a doctor from the Waterside arrived at the flats to treat a patient and he was amazed to discover the well-kept interior of his patient’s flat!’

When Hugh got married he and his new wife rented a flat above the Lion Bar in William Street which was owned by Charlie McCafferty – but they didn’t stay there long. At the time the Troubles were well and truly underway – the couple moved in during August 1971 (when internment was introduced) and moved out on Bloody Sunday: ‘We had to move out. There was such a bad atmosphere after the shootings, we knew that William Street was going to become a battleground. We moved back into my mother’s flat that night – I had to take the TV over as it was from Radio Rentals, but had to leave most of our other possessions. I had a clear view of what happened on the day and saw a number of the bodies. It was unbelievable.’

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Hugh and his wife eventually got their own flat in April 1972: ‘I was coming back from work at half five in the evening. My wife was in hospital about to have one of our children. My father walked up to me with a set of keys for 42 Donagh Place which had been left for me. I had to go back to work at 6.00pm so I got my brothers to move our stuff down from my mother’s in case anybody tried to squat while I was away. I had £120 saved at the time. A few days later I went down to Hines’ furniture store on Abbey Street, which was housed in part of the old Watt’s distillery. I handed Mr Hines the money and asked him what I could get for it. I got a three-piece leather suite, a double bed, a double wardrobe, a dressing table and a bathroom cabinet – all for £120!

That wasn’t the only good deal I got in those days. We had our wedding reception in the Woodleigh Hotel on Asylum Road in 1971. We got a steak dinner for 70 people for £69! On top of that, Willie Curran did us a wedding album which played Here Comes the Bride when you opened it – for just £15!’

Once they’d moved into the new flat with their new baby in tow, Hugh decided to renovate it from top to bottom – his wife and child stayed in his brother’s flat in Mura Place until the work was done. They then settled down, although it was far from a quiet life given the events going on at the time. Rioting regularly erupted in the afternoons. On one occasion Hugh was walking home from his work at Desmond Motors, as he passed the Tech on the Strand Road he caught the distinctive acrid whiff of CS gas. When he reached Sackville Street a full-scale riot was in progress and he had to dodge rubber bullets on his way to the flats. On arriving home he found his wife had all the windows in the flat open and their baby in its pram, he explained: ‘It was a summer’s day so the wife had opened the windows to let the heat out but instead the gas was getting in! She had actually planned to take the baby out for a walk in the pram in the middle of the rioting – it might seem surreal now but that’s how you lived in those days. I also remember Operation Motorman being launched.

I was working nightshift that evening and when I came back up the Strand Road to William Street I was stopped and searched by British soldiers. When I came to the flats the whole car park was full of army “Pigs” and every flat was being raided. They eventually put an observation post on the top floor where the caretaker’s office was located and ended up staying for years. Despite all the hassle it might be surprising to know that the only time that we were evacuated from the flats was the night that Walker’s Pillar was blown up in 1973.’

So what about the local characters? ‘There were plenty of them alright. There was one fella called “Baffles” who was a brother of another fella called “Chalkin Water” – don’t ask me how they got the nicknames! Anyway, John Tierney’s mother, who lived a few doors up, came knocking one day to say that there was water coming from “Baffles’” flat. So me and Bertie Roddy head over to see what’s going on. I looked through the letter box and saw a suitcase floating down the hall; that’s when I knew we had to get inside! I broke down the door and found a set of artificial roses lying in “Baffles’” sink – for some reason he thought he had to water them so he’d put them in the sink and headed to the pub but forgot to turn the tap off; one of the roses had blocked the plughole and the result was a submerged flat! Mrs Tierney had another son called

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The aftermath of the explosion which destroyed Walker’s Pillar in 1973.

Brian. He’d always hang around the Bogside Inn and every night at 10 o’clock she’d shout out to him to come home. I’d always wait for her to shout first then I’d call out, “Brian, would you f*****g hurry up!” She could never tell who it was doing the shouting and she’d always shout back complaining about the bad language. This went on for a couple of years and only me and Mickey McConnell knew who was doing the shouting.’

Hugh has fond memories of another neighbour called Molly Muldoon who lived in the flat next door. Hugh always helped Molly as she was a pensioner who lived alone: ‘Molly liked to go for a wee drink in the Rocking Chair or Stardust. She’d come back singing at one in the morning, so we always knew when she was back home! One night she landed back from a party for the older residents of the flats which was taking place on the bottom floor. She knocked at my door and said she’d left her key in her bag down at the do. So away I go traipsing down seven flights of stairs until I meet Maisie Schwartz at the party. “Where’s Molly’s bag?” I asked. “Sure two of our boys took her up to her flat and made sure she got in – they even left the key on the fireplace,” says Maisie. She’d only walked straight back out of the flat and locked herself out! She was supposed to go to a do in the Stardust the following night so I told her to leave her key with me and she could collect it when she came back.

So sure enough she lands back at 2.30am. She hands the wife a big lump of chicken from her bag wrapped in a blue napkin which she’d obviously got from the Stardust.

All the dye from the napkin had run onto the chicken and turned it purple so we had to throw it in the bin. So eventually she heads home only to call round the following night so she could play her new Lena Zavarone LP on my record player. She turns to Bridie and says, “Did you enjoy that chicken I brought back last night?” All of a

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sudden our youngster turns round and says, “Sure we threw it in the bin Molly!” Talk about being shown up by one of your own!

‘My mucker Mickey McConnell enjoyed music like myself. He got a tape recorder at one time which he’d use to record LPs. The recorder wasn’t linked directly to a radio or turntable so he’d have to turn up the turntable as loud as possible and record the sound of the LPs as they were being played into the recorder’s microphone. We were doing the recording one night and the music from the turntable was even louder than usual. We were just waiting for one of the neighbours to complain. Sure enough a knock comes to the door and we’re expecting a bollocking from somebody. I answer it and who’s standing there but Molly, “Have you got Mexicali Rose?” she asks – the noise obviously didn’t bother her anyway! We were the first to find Molly when she died in her flat. It was Christmas time and she was supposed to go to her daughter’s. Her daughter landed up on Boxing Day to see where she was so we went down to her flat to check. I saw the living room light on through the letter box and decided to break the door down. We found her lying beside the bed. She must have tripped getting out of bed and banged her head; it was terribly sad.

‘There was another family called Barr; I think Maureen still lives down the Glen.

Anyway, she comes running out to the balcony one night complaining that there was a Peeping Tom looking into her window from the Walls while she was putting on her stockings. A crowd of boys went up onto the Walls with torches to see the craic. When they came back they said they’d reported it to a policeman (this was all before the Troubles) who said it was probably street drinkers looking down. “Why did she not pull down her blinds anyway?” the cop had asked and then said, “Cuz if I’d seen someone getting changed I’d probably have looked myself!”’

Another local resident called Johnny Schwartz was always welcome in Hugh’s flat for a very specific reason: ‘Johnny was a Dutchman in the merchant navy. He would get bottles of whiskey for next to nothing on his travels and bring them back to his flat. When he came for a drink he’d pour you a beer glass full of whiskey!’

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Crowds surround Dana on her return to the city after her Eurovision success in 1970.

The bathrooms in the flats were all aligned directly on top of each other which allowed Hugh to play tricks on one of his other neighbours: ‘Heaney Harkin’s mother would always sing in the bath and you could hear her from our bathroom. The steam vents ran through the bathrooms so when we heard her sing, me and the brother would shout down, “Get your clothes on ye dirty so and so!” but she could never tell who it was! Her son was always bringing French students over to Derry on exchange visits.

He’d bring the French boys to the flats and all the girls would be swooning over them; we’d have to keep them apart because the French boys were always expecting that they would get their wicked way with the girls who wouldn’t have known any better! I also remember the night that Dana came back to the flats after she won the Eurovision. I was one of the men who had to guard her as she made her way down from a car which had parked beside the Rocking Chair. It was absolute pandemonium but also a very memorable night and a great respite from all the political problems.’

People began to move out of the flats from 1977 onwards. Hugh and his family moved out in 1981. By that stage maintenance work on the flats had virtually ceased and the roofs were starting to rot; indeed the next tenant of Hugh’s former flat was only there four weeks when the ceiling caved in. Hugh and his clan moved to Ballymagroarty where he still lives with his wife Bridie today. Although it’s been 30 years since he lived in the Rossville flats his recollections remain vivid and mostly happy.

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The following is a list of the tenants who occupied the flats from their opening in 1967 until their demolition in the late 1980s – of course this is the ‘official’ list from the files of the Housing Executive. In later years many people who had difficulty finding a home squatted in the flats. The list is bound to stir a few memories for former residents.

Each flat number shows the names of the families who occupied that flat in chronological order – can you spot your name?

Flat Number/Families: Garvan Place: 1: McGuinness/Henderson 2: Swart/McConomy/McCarron 3: Cunningham/Maguire 4: Bridge/Meenan 5: Dunleavy/Johnson 6: Gallagher/Lynch/Canning/Connor 7: Doherty 8: McDermott/McDermott & Gallagher/O’Hagan/McKinney 9: Doherty/Bonney/Gillespie 10: Henderson/Kennedy/Birtley 11: Dunleavy/McCafferty/McCarron/ McNoone 12: McCrudden/Casey 13: Murray/McLaughlin/Doherty 14: Sheils/Rodden 15: Morris/Roddy/McDaid 16: Kelly/Wilson 17: Nash/Quigley/Rooney 18: Patterson/Gilmore/Collins 19: Friel/O’Hagan/McConnell 20: Collins/Kelly 21: Doherty/McShane/McConnell/ McGinley/Devine 22: O’Reilly/Conaghan/McGinley 23: Gilmore/McConomy/McKeever/Strain 24: McLaughlin/Hillen/Patton 25: Kineton/Carlin/Magill/McClelland

26: Ryan/Coyle/Deehan/Harkin 27: McLaughlin/Carlin/Doherty 28: Nelis/McDaid/Ryan/Devine 29: Bonner/Meehan/Ryan 30: Doherty/McConnell 31: Tucker/Kelly/Deery/Meenan & Harkin 32: Smith/Cassidy/McClintock/ McIntyre/Doherty 33: Watts/O’Hagan/O’Connell/ McLaughlin/Conaghan 34: Logue/Bonner/Healey/Sheils & Donnelly 35: Connolly/Ogle/Green/Lawrence 36: McGowen/McShane/Doherty 37: Housing Trust (later Housing Executive)/Rossville Flats Community Centre Mura Place: 1: Dalton/Strain 2: Pyne/Gorman/McBride 3: Sheerin/Jones/Harkin 4: Sheerin/Flanagan/Glen/O’Neill/ Duddy/Graham 5: Moore/Moore 6: Long/Scarlett/O’Brien 7: Higgins 8: Unwin/McCafferty/Lynch/Robinson 9: McClintock 10: Moore/Moore/Harkin/Fox/O’Neill 11: Ward 12: Curran/Goode/McCafferty/Friel/ Jackson/Doherty

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13: McCafferty/Green/Barr/McDaid 14: Donaghey 15: Kavanagh/Farrell/Gallagher/ Dunleavy/Friel/Conaghan 16: McDowell/Birtles/McConnell 17: Gallagher/Campbell/Doherty/ Scarlett 18: Doherty/McCauley/McCauley & McIntyre 19: McAnea/Jones 20: McLaughlin/Norris/Tierney/ O’Donnell 21: Harkin 22: McGilloway/Barr/Long/Butterfield 23: Ramsey/Hannaway 24: O’Neill/Moore/Lindsay/Deeney 25: O’Connor/Coyle 26: Faulkner/Hannaway/Devine 27: Turner/McLaughlin 28: McDermott/Begley/Doherty 29: Horner/Casey/Murray/Hegarty/ Donnelly/Boyle/McGee 30: Brown/Johnston/Gallagher 31: Wood/McCarron 32: O’Neill 33: Hutton/Brown 34: McGinnes/O’Donnell/Deery/ McCarron/Henry/Gorman 35: Boyle 36: Norris/Rouse 37: Tyre/Box/McCann 38: Morrison/Green/Radcliffe/Dauncey 39: Cairns/Hamilton/Gallen/Donaghey 40: McCallion/Lynch/Robinson/ Conaghan/Bonner 41: Sheerin/Bonner/Quigley/McFarland/ Glenn/Bonner/Dunleavy

42: McCarron/Roddy 43: Glenn/Morrison/O’Hagan/Mallett 44: Cassidy/McClelland/Warron/ McCarron 45: Carlin/Sheehan/Seacon/Friel 46: Harkin/McNulty/Etman/Wruck/ Kelly/Doherty 47: Rouse 48: Doherty 49: Johnstone/McCarron/Quigley/ McConnell 50: McCauley/Diamond 51: Divin/O’Neill 52: Eaton/McLaughlin/Coyle/O’Hagan 53: Harkin/Gallagher/Anderson 54: McCauley/Hegarty/Kalkman & Hegarty 55: McCarron/O’Reilly/McGarrigle/ Vallely & McCauley/Birtles 56: Diamond/McCourt/Ryan/ McLaughlin/Hegarty 57: Ball/O’Donnell 58: Nash/Gallagher/Goode/Barlow & Smith 59: Crawley 60: Chambers/Hogan/Forbes/Moore 61: Hegarty/Moore/McCay/Ramsey/ Mackie 62: Meehan 63: O’Hara/Henry/Kineton 64: Duffy/Donaghy 65: Barr/Conaghan 66: Shiels/Ryan 67: Casey/Barlow/Palmer Donagh Place: 1: McCauley/Moore/Tierney/Doherty 2: Doherty/Mull/McNoone/Rodden

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3: McIntyre/Havlin/Donohoe/Leggett 4: Doherty/Smith/McCourt/Murphy/ Duddy/Harkin 5: McLaughlin/Gallagher/Campbell 6: McFadden 7: McGahey/Valley/Harkin 8: O’Neill/Carlin/Doherty 9: McGilloway/Friel 10: Hegarty/White/McCrossan/ McNoone/Campbell 11: Kyle/Roddy 12: Kennedy/Tierney/Stevenson 13: Doherty 14: Doherty/Roddy/Quigley/Shiels/ Toland 15: McKnight 16: Cunningham/Noone/Duffy 17: Doherty/Doherty/McMahon/ Bonner/Quigg 18: McFadden/Millar/Earnshaw 19: Gargaro/Deery 20: McGrory/Doherty/Farren/O’Neill/ Quigg 21: McGuinness/Meenan 22: Mooney/O’Comain 23: McCann/Rodgers 24: Meenan 25: Wade/Marie/Casey/McLaughlin 26: Fox/Gilmore/McGrory/Campbell 27: Stewart/Donnelly/Kelly 28: McGavigan/Green/O’Kane/ Fitzpatrick/Hannaway/McFadden 29: Irwin/McGavigan/Mould/Rodgers 30: Carlin/McNulty/McCluskey/Rudd 31: Boyle/Meenan/Roddy 32: McConomy/Ryan/McElhinney 33: O’Kane/McGovern/Dunbar

34: McGowan 35: Fox/Billington/Gallagher 36: Higgins/Bonney/Kirk/O’Neill 37: Harley/Travers/Carr/Campbell 38: McCarron/Jackson/Gallagher/ McFadden/Rudd/Gormley 39: Frazer/Muldoon/Tierney/O’Kane 40: Boyle/McKinney/Green/Doherty 41: Thompson/Muldoon/McFadden/ Moran/Doherty 42: McCarron/Wilson/McAuley/ Campbell/Griffith 43: Morrison/McCarron/Barr/Bradley/ McCann 44: Moore/McNulty/Doherty 45: McCallion/Gillen/Kirk/Bradley/ Matthewson/Flynn 46: McDermott/Ferguson/Tierney/ McKernan/Crossan/Bradley 47: Lamberton/O’Kane/Deane 48: Green/Ryan/Doherty 49: McCann/Brennan 50: Organ/Hegarty/McAuley 51: O’Kane/McCool/Rodgers/Graham 52: Devlin/McMenamin/Shiels/ Gallagher/Herrick/McCarron/Deeney 53: Bonney/Doherty & Hume/Boyle 54: Downey/Clift/O’Neill/Ferguson/ McGilloway 55: Hegarty/Cassidy/Boyle/Devine 56: Friel/Doherty/McFerran 57: Downey/Bell/Quinn 58: Dalton/Higgins/Rooney 59: Connor/Brogan 60: Maguire/McConnell 61: Meenan/Phillips 62: McMenamin/Collins 198

63: Keogh/Jackson/Maguire 64: Collins & Harris/Keogh/Melly 65: Doherty/Strain/Canning 66: McIntyre/Ferguson/Coyle/ Billington/McClay 67: Goode/Healy 68: McCay/Lynch/Kivelehan/Clift/Boyce 69: McGowan/Moore/Meenan/Devine 70: Murphy/Bradley/Friel 71: Meenan/Tierney/O’Hagan 72: Doyle/Donnelly/Doherty/Dazell/ Doherty 73: Harkin/Boyle/Ziff/Pritchard/McCarthy 74: Moore 75: Kirk/Wallace/McSheffrey/McShane

Ground Floor (shops and restaurants) 1: Elizabeth McCrudden/Coyle’s chemist’s/butcher’s and woollen shops 2: Brendan Barr/Molly’s newsagent/ Dorrian’s newsagent 3: Andrew Sheerin’s grocers/Quinn’s chemist 4: Hugh Quigley’s grocers 5: Robert Brown’s barber’s/Playschool 6: Kathleen Gallagher/Ann Loughrey/ Anne Harley – Joe’s fish and chips/ Tommy Hoe’s Chinese restaurant 7-9: William Doherty – Nora’s bakery and grocery shop/Frank McCoy’s fishand-chip shop, co-op and arcade 9a: David Allen advertisement stand

The last of the flats were demolished in 1989. Their replacements were conventional red-brick houses which still occupy the site today. Further along the Bogside at Dove Gardens another set of 1960s’ flats were cleared away in recent years and replaced with new housing which incorporates modern design features such as solar panels.

Both housing developments are a far cry from the ‘dream homes in the sky’ of a halfcentury ago which, in terms of living conditions, ended up as living nightmares for their tenants.

The demolition of the flats in 1989.

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Chapter Fifteen Local Ghostlore Peter McCartney

C

onsidering the antiquity of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas, it should come as no surprise to learn they are a rich source of ‘ghostlore’. The tales following are mostly abridged versions of stories taken from Parade of Phantoms

by Peter McCartney (Guildhall Press, 2011). The project co-ordinator would like to express his gratitude to the author and publisher for their permission to reproduce extracts from the book.

The first stories in this collection concern Watt’s distillery which stood in the area of William Street, Abbey Street and lower Fahan Street (below). One of the largest in Ireland, it was built on the site of an old monastery and began distilling in the 1700s.

During World War I a fire on the premises claimed the lives of several men. Between that time and its closure there were several reports of ‘screaming’ being heard from the area where the fire had occurred. It was also said that the ghost of a young victim of the fire haunted certain areas of the distillery.

Another story concerns a young plumber at the distillery called Bobby Morrison – his father was a manager at the distillery. Apparently he woke one morning and saw his doppelganger standing at the bottom of the bed. He told his mother who, believing it was a warning of some sort, refused to let Bobby go to his work that day. Later that night Bobby’s father returned from work in great distress. A boiler had exploded killing the plumber on duty. If Bobby had been there he would undoubtedly have been killed.

Bobby’s mother was adamant that seeing his own wraith that morning had saved his life.

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Watt’s Distillery in the 1930s.

The Watt family also feature in a story about the police barracks which once stood at the bottom of present-day Westland Street. The building was originally owned by ‘Daddy’ Watt, a member of the distilling family who owned large tracts of land in the Bogside. ‘Daddy’ was extremely protective of his property and would regularly patrol the boundaries of his domain with two sinister black dogs. When the house was taken over by the RIC and converted for use as a barracks many visitors contended that a small waiting room in the building was home to a ‘sinister presence’. This was dismissed by the police until an incident involving one of their own constables.

Late one evening, a woman living across the street from the barracks heard someone pounding on her door. When she opened it she found a bruised and trembling policeman anxiously demanding holy water! It transpired that the constable had been in the waiting room alone when he was apparently slapped, punched and kicked by an invisible presence. The householder accompanied him back to the barracks where she too sensed a presence in the room. Shortly after the incident the room was sealed up. Locals were adamant that the assailant was the spirit of ‘Daddy’ Watt showing his anger at the ongoing RIC occupation of his territory! Indeed, even after the barracks had long gone, locals reported sightings of ‘Daddy’s’ dogs prowling around the Rossville Street, Lecky Road and Wellington Street areas – the boundaries of his former ‘kingdom’!

This isn’t the only story concerning the local constabulary. Another concerns a man who rushed into a wake-house on Windsor Terrace, on the edge of the Bogside, screaming, ‘I saw the ghost of the sergeant!’ at the top of his voice. The assembled mourners knew exactly what he was referring to. An RIC sergeant had been assassinated at the nearby junction of Infirmary Road and Creggan Road during the political upheaval of the early 1920s and this sighting was just one of many reports of a figure wearing a police uniform being seen in that area.

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Wellington Street.

The aforementioned Wellington Street lays claim to two similar tales concerning evil entities. The first concerned a woman who, on answering an annoyingly persistent knocking at her door one day, encountered a dark, shrouded figure which walked straight past her and disappeared through her closed kitchen cupboard. It appears the entity remained in the house until its eventual demolition; in the intervening period it was said to have inflicted physical injury on members of the household and forcefully flung one down the stairs occasioning permanent partial paralysis.

The other house in question was occupied by a reclusive man who apart from venturing out to buy food remained in his home with the curtains drawn. A week had elapsed since the man was last seen going shopping so some neighbours decided to check up on him. Receiving no answer, they forced the door only to find the man hanging from the ceiling of the living room. After his burial, neighbours reported hearing moaning and moving noises coming from the now vacant house. The house was later re-let but each new resident never stayed long due to the ‘forbidding atmosphere’ and it was eventually bricked up. During the redevelopment of the area in the 1970s the house was being cleared of electrical fittings prior to demolition. A workman who had been in the house just half an hour ran out screaming, later claiming that he had felt someone following him around the house and he’d eventually bolted for the exit when he felt an icy breath on his neck!

Just across the street from the bottom of Wellington Street was St Columb’s Wells.

One particular story was related to Peter McCartney by a Bogside resident whose grandmother had lived in the Wells many years ago. On moving into the Wells the lady in question discovered the grate in the fireplace filled up with a pile of stones, which in local folklore terms signified that a curse had been put on the new tenant. Meeting in the street a few days later, the new occupier rebuked the former tenant for such a gesture, only to be told in the strongest terms that nothing but coal had been left in the grate.

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The lady soon settled in with her large family, including three daughters who shared a makeshift bed in front of the hearth. Each morning arguments would start over who had pulled the blankets off the bed the night before. On one particularly cold night when the blankets had again come off, the three girls resolved to stay awake to discover who among them was the culprit. Within minutes the sheets were removed by an invisible force possessing an unbelievable physical strength. All three girls ran from the room resolving never to sleep there again.

On another occasion one of the girls was sitting on the sofa in front of the hearth with her boyfriend. Her mother, on hearing a loud bang from the sitting room, ran down to find her daughter in hysterics and the boyfriend gone. Apparently the couple had been sitting on the sofa when, inexplicably, it violently upended and literally threw them onto the floor – the boyfriend hadn’t waited around for an explanation!

These incidents confirmed to the new tenant that the former occupant had indeed left coal in the hearth on her departure; it was the malevolent presence in the house that had changed the contents to stone!

It’s unknown whether the couple who were thrown from the sofa in the Wells ever got married. If they did, it’s doubtful they could have had worse luck than the newly married couple in the next tale who rented a flat in Lower Bishop Street in the 1940s.

Rumours about a spirit in the smaller of the two bedrooms in the flat had existed for years, arising from the fact that some time before, a girl living there, who was engaged to be married, had died suddenly in that very room while trying on her wedding dress.

The tragic girl was buried in the dress and her parents moved out of the house which was then converted to flats. The new occupants, despite deliberately not using the small bedroom, were nonetheless constantly troubled by strange noises and movements coming from it.

A few months after they moved in the couple, now with a baby boy, went to visit relatives. While they were away a young girl passing the flat saw a ‘slim figure in a white dress’ waving and beckoning her to come up. Curious, the girl moved closer only to see the figure’s evil leering face pushed right up against the window. The girl fainted but was quickly found by a passing policeman who also saw the waving figure, whom he assumed was seeking help. The policeman broke down the locked door of the flat only to find it empty. On learning of the incident the occupants decided to seek the help of the local parish priest. The priest attempted to exorcise the ‘fiendish presence’ in the room but told the couple he had only been able to banish it temporarily. He advised them to leave the flat, which they did. The house remained unoccupied until its demolition many years later.

Another story concerning a young child relates to an incident in Nelson Street many years ago. The story begins with a woman found dying on the street with her young child in her arms. The lady and child were brought into a house on the street and realising she was at death’s door, the unfortunate woman begged the people of the house to promise to look after her child after she died. They gave their word. The woman sighed contentedly and passed away. The promise wasn’t kept and the child was woefully mistreated. Strange occurrences began; objects were found to have been

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mysteriously moved and ‘wailing’ was often heard around the house. Ominously, one of the occupants died tragically, another suffered serious injury and the householder fell into debt. It seemed the family were suffering the ‘grave’ consequences of having broken their promise to the dying woman.

A local priest was consulted but he advised that there was nothing he could do – the dead mother of the child was destined to ‘forever haunt their home’. The house was duly abandoned by the family. It failed to attract any subsequent long-term residents and was eventually boarded up. Over the years the house became dilapidated and right up until the time it was demolished in the late 1960s, local people made a point of actually crossing to the other side of the street if they ever had to pass by it.

This poltergeist-style activity was mirrored in a home in Bluebell Gardens in the Brandywell. The activity in this case centred on a single man in his late thirties who lived in the family home with his parents in the 1970s. Like the St Columb’s Wells story, the man regularly woke to find his bedclothes crumpled on the floor and it soon became apparent an invisible presence was yanking the clothes off the bed. In this case, however, the presence responsible actually revealed itself as a ‘haggard old woman’.

The petrified man constantly pleaded with his parents for help but they dismissed the haggard old woman appearances as alcohol-induced nightmares. On one occasion the man was thrown down the stairs by the entity. His mother, sceptical until then, started to believe his story when she witnessed red finger marks on his arm. A priest was duly summoned.

The priest sat beside the terrified man whilst he went to sleep. Suddenly the sheets were yanked off his bed. This convinced the priest of the man’s honesty and he sent word to a colleague to join him at the house. The two clerics entered the bedroom; the man, now sporting fresh raw wounds on his arm, was staring in terror at an old hag who stood at the bottom of the bed! The priests promptly escorted the victim out of the room and proceeded with their only option; exorcism. After six solid hours of prayers and exhortations a loud bang was heard as the bedroom window slammed shut. The glass broke and the spirit fled. This brought an end to the man’s torment but the question, ‘Who was that fiend?’ remains unanswered!

A short distance from Bluebell Gardens is the site of an old well, now covered over, which may have had a bearing on the experiences of a Brandywell man in 1973. The story begins a few years before that when the man, then aged eight, began to hear sobbing coming from the direction of the backyard of his home – the location of the former well. His parents assured him he’d most likely heard cats crying but moved him to another bedroom anyway. It took another ten years and a particularly disturbing incident to spur his parents into revealing what they really thought he’d heard in their backyard when he was only eight.

The man described the incident, ‘I was coming back from a disco or dance in town.

I came in by the back of the house because the back door key was always left under the mat if you were going to be late home, and I saw this woman in the corner of the yard. She was bent over and had her arms outstretched as if she was leaning on something, but there wasn’t anything there and her feet were off the ground about a

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foot or so. She had a scarf or shawl on her head and she wore some kind of cloth or cloak tied up in front as well.’ On relating this to his parents they admitted that they and several family members had seen the figure before and they disclosed the tale associated with her ‘appearances’.

The origins of the story could be traced to a tragedy which had occurred in the early 1800s when a local woman, tired after picking apples, went to the well for a drink. The lady forgetfully left her child by the well; tragically the infant crawled into the well and drowned. The grief-stricken woman maintained a vigil beside the well until the child’s body was recovered. She never forgave herself for leaving the child, right up until she died. After the well was covered up sightings of a ‘strange figure’ in the area began to be reported and before long locals were convinced the figure was that of the woman haunting the spot where the well used to be located, the site of her tragic loss.

We have mentioned several priests thus far, but only in human form! However, it seems that phantom priests may well also exist. Numerous stories relate to sightings of a robed, hooded figure around the Abbey Street area. The clue may be in the name of the street; we know that a Franciscan abbey stood there many centuries ago as its ruins were discovered over 160 years ago along with ‘enough human bones to fill seven carts’.

These remains were eventually reinterred in the Long Tower graveyard but clearly one of the former residents of the Abbey is still hanging around his old ‘haunt’! Another spectral priest apparently appeared in the Long Tower Church on a number of occasions. It seems his ghost haunted the altar late at night asking for someone to say Mass with him. The parish priest, after hearing several of these reports, invited all the locals to a special Mass to be said in honour of the dead priest; afterwards the appearances abruptly came to an end.

Another flat which seemed to attract unwanted attention is located in Waterloo Street. Events began in late 1991, affecting the four lodgers in the flat at the time.

Objects were found to have disappeared or been moved, footsteps were heard moving around empty rooms and ghostly apparitions were encountered in the entrance hallway and attic bedroom. On several occasions all four lodgers were sitting in the living room – three flights up – when they heard the sound of footsteps moving gradually up the flights of stairs before coming to a halt outside the living room door – invariably no-one was ever there when they checked!

Ghostly reports have also been made about homes in Fahan Street, Little Diamond, Holywell Street, Lundy’s Lane and Harvey Street, where an exorcism conducted by a local priest apparently caused his hair to turn sheet white. Several stories have also emerged about the appearance of deceased figures beside their living relatives. In one case a Brandywell woman was chatting at Fox’s Corner when her friend asked her to stop grabbing her shoulder. Turning round she saw a lady in brown burial robes standing behind her friend, ‘Men had to lift me off the road,’ she said. ‘I’d watered the middle of the street and conked out. I knew who the figure was – it was my friend’s dead mother!’

Perhaps the most ‘famous’ Irish ghost is the banshee or ‘fairy woman’ reputedly always seen or heard when a death is imminent in a home. There are a number of stories

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which continue to be told in some areas of the town concerning experiences with banshees. One such story concerns a young girl who was visiting an elderly ill relative who lived on Fahan Street. After she’d been there some time she heard a knock on the back door and asked if anyone else had heard it but was told no. She heard the knock again, this time followed by a low moaning sound. An old woman sitting opposite noticed her startled expression and instinctively told her to go to the door exclaiming, ‘He’ll have no rest until the knock is answered!’ The young girl went to the door and opened it. All at once she screamed and collapsed in a faint. The people inside came rushing out and found her lying on the ground in an obviously distressed state. They brought her back inside, calmed and comforted her, then asked what had happened.

The girl explained: ‘When I opened the door and looked across the yard I could see an old hag-like woman with long white hair and a long white dress. She appeared to be crying and moaning and wringing her hands. She began to come towards the door.

I screamed and she just seemed to vanish.’ The old man passed away later that night.

As far as all the people present on that occasion were concerned, the house had been visited by a banshee.

Parade of Phantoms by Peter McCartney is published by Guildhall Press and is available in all good book stores.

The old Bogside was the spiritual home to a number of ghostly accounts over the years.

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Chapter Sixteen Politics and the Media Mickey Cooper

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he following section includes a series of brief biographies of the many past and present residents of the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas who have gained various levels of recognition due to the modern political conflict of the twentieth century: David Dunseith David Dunseith was born in Ivy Terrace, off Lower Bishop Street, in 1935. Initially an RUC member in Derry, he moved into broadcasting in the 1970s. His first high profile post was as a news anchorman with UTV when the Troubles were at their height. He moved to the BBC in the early 1980s and became presenter of the seminal Talkback Radio Ulster show in 1989. He remained as its presenter until 2009 when he was replaced by Wendy Austin, a member of the Austin family whose famous department store (now owned by the Hassons) still stands in the Diamond in the city centre. He continued to present Seven Days on Radio Ulster until his retirement in March 2011. Following a brief illness he died on 30 June 2011.

Nell McCafferty Nell McCafferty was born in Derry on 28 March 1944 to Hugh and Lily McCafferty and spent her early years in the Bogside. Following her graduation from Queen’s University she had a brief spell as a substitute English teacher in the north. Following a stint on an Israeli kibbutz she took up a post with The Irish Times. It was her career in journalism, com-

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mentating on northern life and republican politics that brought her to public attention.

Her outspoken opinions on abortion, sexuality, feminism and contraception has made her one of Ireland’s best-known journalists.

As well as writing for the local press she has written for The Irish Press, The Irish Times, The Sunday Tribune, Hot Press and The Village Voice. In 1990 Nell won a Jacob’s Award for her reporting on the 1990 World Cup for RTÉ Radio One’s The Pat Kenny Show. She published her autobiography Nell in 2004. She now lives in Ranelagh, a comfortable suburb in North Dublin.

Martin McGuinness Martin McGuinness was born in Derry on 23 May 1950. He was educated at St Eugene’s PS on Francis Street and the Christian Brothers at the Brow of the Hill. As a teenager he participated in many of the civil rights marches that had been taking place in Derry since October 1968. Like most of his contemporaries he also played an active role in the ‘Battle of the Bogside’ in August 1969. During this time he was also working as a city-centre shop assistant.

Following the shootings of Seamus Cusack and Dessie Beattie (July 1971) and the introduction of internment (August 1971), he left his work in a local butcher’s to become a full-time republican activist. By the start of 1972, at the age of 21, he was second-in-command of the IRA in Derry, a position he held at the time of Bloody Sunday.

In June 1972 McGuinness was flown to London as part of a republican delegation for negotiations with the British Secretary of State, Willie Whitelaw. The ceasefire which resulted from these talks was short-lived and the British army launched a mass invasion of Free Derry and the no-go areas of Belfast on 30/31 July 1972 (Operation Motorman/Carcan). McGuinness subsequently went on the run across the border but was eventually caught. During his trial in 1973 he refused to recognise the Dublin court and was sentenced to six months imprisonment.

Following the 1981 Hunger Strike he was elected to the short-lived ‘Prior assembly’ in 1982. From the Hunger Strike onwards he was also involved in a number of direct and indirect contacts with British Intelligence. Through a series of Derry-based gobetweens he arranged a meeting with MI6 operative Michael Oatley. These discussions played a key role in persuading the republican movement that the British Government was keen to initiate a peace process.

Following the 1994 IRA ceasefire, McGuinness became Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator in the talks which led to the Belfast Agreement. He was also elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996 representing Foyle, before becoming MP for Mid-Ulster in 1997 (he still holds the seat today). He was also returned as a member of the assembly for the same constituency in the 1998 assembly election. Nominated by Sinn Féin and

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duly appointed as Minister for Education in the new power-sharing executive, his last act as minister before the collapse of the executive in 2002 was to scrap the unpopular 11-plus.

Despite the collapse of the executive, McGuinness and others were involved in concerted attempts to revive the institutions. The 2005 decision by the IRA to formally end their campaign and put all their weaponry beyond use greatly assisted these efforts.

The St Andrew’s agreement of 2007 saw their attempts finally bear fruit when the DUP for the first time indicated their willingness to fully participate in power-sharing structures.

When the newly elected assembly met on 8 May 2007, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness were nominated as First Minister and Deputy First Minister respectively.

Martin has remained in this role to the present day. In October 2011 he stood as a candidate in the Irish presidential election; he finished third.

Martin married Bernadette Canning in 1974. They have four children, two girls and two boys. He is a keen follower of Derry City FC and Gaelic games – he grew up just 50 yards from Celtic Park. His brother Tom played Gaelic football for the County Derry team and is regarded as one of the county’s best ever players. Martin is also a keen fisherman and has often said his favourite method of relaxation is to sit by the river Moy or Crana with his fly rod.

Raymond McCartney Raymond McCartney was born in the Brandywell area in 1955. He joined the republican movement after the killing of his cousin James Wray on Bloody Sunday. His first period of incarceration was in the cages of Long Kesh where he was accorded political status. He was convicted in 1977 of the killing of RUC Special Branch man Patrick McNulty and industrialist Jeff Agate. On arrival at the newly constructed H-Blocks he immediately embarked on the Blanket Protest against the withdrawal of political status which had been enforced in March 1976.

In 1980 Raymond joined Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney, Tom McFeeley, Sean McKenna, Leo Green, and John Nixon on a Hunger Strike – he was on Hunger Strike from 27 October to 18 December. The strike was eventually called off when the prisoners were promised a document from the British Government regarding possible changes to the prison regime. When the document turned out to be a vague series of half-promises the prisoners voted for another Hunger Strike to begin in March 1981; ten Hunger Strikers died before the British Government granted the prisoners de facto political status.

From 1989 to 1991 Raymond was Officer Commanding of the IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks. He was released in 1994 and became active with ex-prisoners’ groups Tar Abhaile and Coiste na n-Íarchimí. On 5 September 2002 he became the first for-

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mer IRA member to appear before the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. He has been an MLA for Foyle since 15 July 2004 when he replaced Mary Nelis. On 15 February 2007 both Raymond and Eamonn McDermott had their murder convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal in Belfast. In 2011 British Law Lords agreed that they were entitled to compensation for their wrongful imprisonment.

Martina Anderson Martina Anderson was born and raised in the Bogside in a family of ten. At the age of 18 she was arrested leaving a furniture store in Derry and was subsequently charged with possession of a firearm and causing an explosion. Released on bail after spending two months in Armagh Women’s Prison, she fled across the border to Buncrana in County Donegal to avoid trial in a Diplock Court, which would inevitably have led to imprisonment.

She was again arrested, along with four others, on 24 June 1985 at a flat in Glasgow. On 11 June 1986 all five were convicted of conspiring to cause explosions in England. In 1989 Martina married fellow IRA prisoner Paul Kavanagh at Full Sutton Prison near York. In 1994 she was transferred from Durham Prison to Maghaberry Prison from where she was released on 10 November 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

In 2007 she was elected to the Stormont Assembly as a Sinn Féin member for Foyle.

In May 2007 she was also appointed to the new Policing Board along with fellow party members Daithi McKay and Alex Maskey. She also contested the Foyle Westminster seat for Sinn Féin in the 2010 British general election. In 2011 she was appointed a junior minister in the new executive following the May 2011 assembly election.

Mary Margaret Nelis Mary Nelis was born in Wellington Street in 1935, the eldest daughter of the late Catherine and Denis Elliott. Mary was educated at St Eugene’s Convent School, leaving at 14 to work in the Hogg and Mitchell shirt factory. In 1955 she married William Nelis. They had nine children, eight sons and a daughter. Their eldest son was tragically killed in a road traffic accident in 1974.

In the early 1960s Mary organised the first community association in the Foyle Hill estate in the Creggan, where she had been allocated a house by the corporation. She also became active in the civil rights campaign. After training as an adult literacy

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teacher she helped found the Derry Reading Workshop, set up to assist those with literacy needs. In 1976 she became active in the Relatives Action Committee; at the time two of her sons were imprisoned in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. Her work with young people led to the setting up of Dove House, a resource centre in the Bogside. She later established the Templemore Co-op, a craft co-operative for women.

In 1993 she was elected to Derry City Council and served two terms as a Sinn Féin councillor. She was elected to the Belfast assembly in 1998, one of only 14 women out of 108 members. She was re-elected in 2003 but resigned a year later to care for her husband who had sustained injuries in a road traffic accident. She is the current honorary president of Sinn Féin in Derry, the second person and only woman to receive the honour. She has also been awarded the Paul O’Dwyer Award by the IAUC for her work for peace and justice in Ireland.

Patsy O’Hara Patsy O’Hara was the former leader of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners in the H-Blocks. He joined IRA Volunteer Raymond McCreesh on Hunger Strike on 22 March 1981, three weeks after Bobby Sands and one week after Francis Hughes.

Shortly after Bloody Sunday, Patsy joined the Republican Clubs and was active until 1973. From this time onwards he was continually harassed, taken in for interrogation and assaulted.

After his seventeenth birthday he was taken to the notorious interrogation centre at Ballykelly. He was interrogated for three days and then interned with three others who had been held for nine days.

Shortly after his release in April 1975, Patsy joined the ranks of the fledgling Irish Republican Socialist Party. He was free only about two months when he was stopped at the permanent checkpoint on the Letterkenny Road while driving his father’s car from County Donegal. The British army planted a stick of gelignite in the car (such practice was commonplace) and he was charged with possession of explosives. Remanded in custody for six months, his first trial was stopped due to unusual RUC ineptitude at framing him. At the end of his second trial he was acquitted and released after spending six months in jail.

In September 1976 he was again arrested in the north and, along with four others, charged with possession of a weapon. During the remand hearings he protested against the withdrawal of political status. The charge was withdrawn after four months, highlighting how the law then was being manipulated to effectively intern people by remanding them in custody for long periods of time and then dropping the charges before the case came to trial.

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In June 1977 he was imprisoned for the fourth time. On this occasion, after a sevenday detention in Dublin’s Bridewell, he was charged with holding a Garda at gunpoint.

He was released on bail six weeks later and was eventually acquitted in January 1978.

In January 1979 he moved back to Derry but was arrested on 14 May that year and charged with possessing a hand grenade. In January 1980 he was sentenced to eight years in jail and went on the Blanket Protest.

Patsy O’Hara died at 11.29pm on Thursday 21 May 1981 – on the same day as Raymond McCreesh with whom he had embarked on the Hunger Strike 61 days earlier – he was 23 years of age. Even in death his torturers would not let him rest in peace.

When the O’Hara family received his corpse it bore several burn marks inflicted after his death. His comrade Mickey Devine from Creggan became the last of the Hunger Strikers to die on 20 August 1981.

Barney McFadden Barney McFadden was a lifelong republican. He worked for many years at the gasworks in the Bogside, living close by in Stanley’s Walk. Following the republican split in 1970 he aligned himself with the Provisional movement. His support for the peace process was seen as crucial in persuading younger republicans to support the Hume/Adams initiative and negotiations which led to the ceasefires and Good Friday Agreement of the 1990s.

Barney died of a stroke on Christmas Eve 2000.

His funeral was attended by hundreds of people, including many leading republicans from across Ireland. Among the mourners was Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and longtime republican activist from Belfast Joe Cahill. As his coffin was carried into the cathedral the national flag was not removed, thus fulfilling one of Barney’s wishes that his coffin would lie at the altar draped in the Irish tricolour. At his graveside Martin McGuinness praised Barney as a man who was dedicated to his culture and his country: ‘He was Irish through and through. He knew what he was.’ McGuinness continued: ‘I was lucky enough to have known Barney McFadden most of my life. Nothing could shake Barney in those dark days of the early ’70s. They were desperate days, but Barney had an indomitable spirit and was a source of great inspiration.’

Referring to some of the major decisions republicans had found themselves having to face such as taking seats in Leinster House or in Stormont the Sinn Féin MP commented: ‘Such decisions were even harder for people like Barney McFadden but Barney was intent that republicans would represent the people. He had an absolute desire to see Sinn Féin as a party of the people.’ Martin McGuinness paid one final tribute: ‘Barney McFadden was a fair man, he was a just man. He was one of the leaders of the struggle and he was one of the greatest men I have been privileged to meet in the course of the struggle.’

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Seán Keenan A lifelong republican, Seán was interned without trial on three occasions: 1940–1945, 1957–1961, and 9 August 1971–27 April 1972, and spent a total of 15 years in jail despite never being convicted in a court. Seán had been chairman of the Derry Citizens Defence Association between July and October 1969. He subsequently aligned himself with the Provisionals after the split in the republican movement in 1970. In March 1972 his son Colm, an IRA officer, was killed during a British army incursion of the Bogside.

Seán split from Sinn Féin in 1986 after their decision to drop the policy of Dail abstentionism; he was subsequently made honorary vice president for life of Republican Sinn Féin. Seán died on 3 March 1993. His life is commemorated every March by Republican Sinn Féin at the Seán Keenan Memorial (Celtic Cross) on Fahan Street. A memorial quiz is also held in his honour every August during the Gasyard Feile.

John Hume John Hume was a student at St Columb’s College and St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he originally intended to study for the priesthood. Although he did not complete his clerical studies he did obtain a MA degree from the college. On his return to Derry he became a teacher and a founding member of the credit union movement in the city and at the age of 27 became the youngest ever president of the Irish League of Credit Unions, serving from 1964 to 1968. He was also prominent in the unsuccessful fight to have the north’s second university established in Derry in the mid-’60s.

Hume was active in the Nationalist Party in the early 1960s but resigned in 1964 following dissent within the party to working with the National Political Front. He subsequently became a leading figure in the Derry Citizens Action Committee. The DCAC was set up in the wake of the 5 October march in Derry which had drawn worldwide attention to the situation in the north. Unlike the province-wide Civil Rights Association (NICRA), the DCAC concentrated on challenging and resolving specifically local issues.

Hume became an Independent Nationalist member of the Stormont Parliament in 1969, at the height of the civil rights campaign, defeating the sitting Stormont MP Eddie McAteer. He was also a founding member of the SDLP which emerged in 1970.

He was present on the anti-internment march on Magilligan beach the week prior to the Bloody Sunday march, which he did not attend.

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Elected to the assembly in 1973, he also served as Minister for Commerce in the short-lived power-sharing executive in 1974. In 1979 he replaced Gerry Fitt as leader of the SDLP and in the same year was elected as a member of the European Parliament.

Following the 1981 Hunger Strike, Hume persuaded the Irish Government to establish the New Ireland Forum in an attempt to halt the rise of Sinn Féin. The Forum’s findings were subsequently rejected by Margaret Thatcher. In 1983 Hume was elected to Westminster. He maintained his close contact with the Irish Government who eventually persuaded Thatcher to sign the Anglo-Irish agreement in 1985; however, this failed to satisfy either republicans or unionists.

The failure of the agreement led Hume to pursue a dialogue with Sinn Féin which eventually evolved into the Hume/Adams initiative, one of a number of parallel negotiations which helped to secure the 1994 IRA ceasefire. Hume was also involved in the negotiations that secured the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which led to him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with David Trimble.

When David Trimble became First Minister it was expected that Hume would become Deputy First Minister but his colleague Seamus Mallon took on the role instead.

John Hume retired as SDLP leader in 2001 and was replaced by Mark Durkan. On 4 February 2004, Hume announced he was to quit politics completely. In the European Parliament election later that year his vacated seat was won by Bairbre de Brún of Sinn Féin and in the Westminster general election the following year, Mark Durkan successfully held the Foyle constituency for the SDLP. Following his retirement he continued to speak publicly, although his public appearances have decreased of late. He continues to hold the position of club president at his local football team, Derry City FC, of which he has been a keen supporter all his life. A recent building at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, has been named after him.

Eddie McAteer Eddie McAteer was born in Coatbridge, Scotland.

His family moved to Derry when he was still a young boy. In 1930 he joined the Inland Revenue where he worked until 1944. He then became an accountant and took a more active role in politics. While his brother Hugh became a prominent Irish republican, Eddie chose nationalist politics. He was elected as the Stormont MP for Mid-Derry in the 1945 election and was a founder member of the Anti-Partition League of Ireland. He became its vice-chairman in 1947, rising to chairman in 1953.

In 1952 McAteer was elected to the local corporation in Derry. The following year he switched constituencies to represent Foyle in the Stormont Parliament. He left the corporation in 1958, subsequently becoming the deputy leader of the Nationalist Party

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at Stormont. He also became prominent in the campaign calling for the establishment of a new university in Derry.

In 1964 he became the leader of the Nationalist Party and the following year accepted the position of leader of the opposition at Stormont. He lost his seat in the 1969 Stormont election to John Hume. In the 1970 Westminster election he stood on the ‘Unity’ ticket, taking 36.6% of the vote but failing to win the seat. He also stood in the 1973 assembly election, taking 3,712 votes and narrowly missing being elected. With the ascendancy of the SDLP, the Nationalist Party lost much of their core support and in 1978 McAteer and his remaining supporters joined the Irish Independence Party, in which his son Fergus had become prominent.

Hugh McAteer Hugh McAteer was a bookkeeper by profession. A brother of Nationalist Party leader Eddie, he served as IRA Chief of Staff from 1941 until 12 October 1942, when he was captured and taken into custody by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He was later sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on a charge of treason. On 15 January 1943, along with three other senior IRA men, Patrick Donnelly, Ned Maguire and Jimmy Steele, he escaped over the wall of Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast. On Easter Saturday, 24 April 1943, he participated in the Broadway cinema operation on the Falls Road when armed IRA men took over the cinema, stopped the film and went on to the stage and read out a statement from the IRA Army Council followed by the 1916 Easter Rising Proclamation. McAteer was subsequently rearrested but was released along with his fellow IRA prisoners in 1950 as part of a general amnesty declared by the Stormont Government.

In 1950 McAteer stood as a Westminster candidate in Derry on an ‘independent republican abstentionist’ ticket. He polled 21,880 votes or 37.41%. Other republican candidates included Jimmy Steele (for West Belfast) and Liam Burke (for Mid-Ulster).

The three candidates polled 23,362 votes between them but none were elected. He also contested the 1964 British general election for the same constituency and on the same ticket, polling 21,123 votes (35.91%).

His many interests included Irish traditional singing and he even provided the notes for an album entitled Ireland Her Own (Topic Records, 1967), recorded by two former IRA volunteers – Paddy Tunney and Arthur Kearney – who had been imprisoned with him in Crumlin Road Gaol in the 1940s. Hugh’s son Aidan is a prominent figure within the republican movement and has worked as an advisor to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness for many years.

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Eamonn McCann Eamonn McCann was born in Derry in 1943 and was educated at St Columb’s College and Queen’s University. As a young man he was one of the original organisers of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and for a period in the 1960s was involved with the Irish Workers Group, a Trotskyite organisation. He was Bernadette Devlin’s election agent in 1969 and stood unsuccessfully as a Labour Party candidate in the 1970s. He witnessed and participated in many of the key events of the early part of the Troubles, including the Battle of the Bogside in August 1969 and Bloody Sunday in January 1972.

Later, he worked as a journalist for the Sunday World newspaper and contributed to the original In Dublin magazine, among others. He currently writes for the Belfast Telegraph and the Derry Journal and has for many years written a column for the Dublin-based Hot Press magazine. He is a frequent commentator on the BBC, RTÉ and other broadcast media.

A Trotskyist and outspoken atheist, Eamonn is a prominent member of the Socialist Workers Party in Ireland and in recent elections has stood as a candidate for People Before Profit and the Socialist Environmental Alliance. He is also chair of his local branch of the National Union of Journalists and vice-chair of Derry Trades Council.

Mitchel McLaughlin Mitchell McLaughlin was born in Derry in 1945.

He was educated at Long Tower Boys School and the Christian Brothers Technical College before starting work as a refrigeration engineer. His first political forays came in the late 1960s when he took part in the civil rights campaign but he later became associated with the republican movement.

By the mid-’80s, McLaughlin had emerged as a close ally of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

As such, he gave his full backing to the efforts by Adams and others to develop the party’s electoral base following the 1981 Hunger Strike. In 1988 McLaughlin accompanied his party leader Gerry Adams to the first in a series of talks with John Hume, then leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). He was elected to Derry City Council at his first attempt in 1985 and later became Sinn Féin’s national chairman.

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His public profile increased as the momentum of the peace process also increased in the late 1990s. In May 1996 he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum and when Sinn Féin were invited to participate in the all-party negotiations in September 1997 he was included in their delegation and played a key role in achieving the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) of April 1998. McLaughlin was subsequently elected to the new assembly in May 1998 as one of the representatives for Foyle (he also stood as the party’s Westminster candidate for Foyle in 1997 and 2001). In 2005 he switched constituencies and successfully stood as an assembly candidate for South Antrim, a seat he continues to hold today. He remains a key figure within Sinn Féin.

Free Derry Wall Perhaps the most visibly enduring legacy from all the changes and redevelopments in the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas is the iconic Free Derry Wall/ Corner – the simple gable-end wall of what once was number 33 Lecky Road. The seminal slogan ‘You Are Now Entering Free Derry’ was first scribbled on the wall in January 1969 as a message to the RUC that they weren’t welcome in the area.

From that point on the wall became the focal point for political gatherings in the area, including the Bloody Sunday demonstration in January 1972. Indeed most of those whose brief biographies have just been outlined above would have spoken there at one or other of the numerous rallies highlighting political and social injustices. Free Derry Wall/Corner continues to be maintained by the local population. Ironically it is now a tourist attraction and is by far the most popular image of Derry ‘Googled’ on the internet!

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Chapter Seventeen Street Names of the Bogside, Brandywell & Lower Bishop Street Various Contributors

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ollowing is a brief list of street names and their derivations from the general area encompassing the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street. The project coordinator would like to express his gratitude to the author John G Bryson and publisher Guildhall Press for their permission to reproduce extracts from the book The Streets of Derry 1625-2001. Pupils from the following schools also assisted in the compilation of this list for which the project co-ordinator would also like to express his gratitude: Long Tower: Ms Brown’s class of 2009-2010 Nazareth House: Primary 6/7 classes of 2009-2010 St John’s, Bligh’s Lane: Primary 7 classes of 2009-2010 Gaelscoil Eadain Mhóir: P6/7 classes of 2009-2010 Gaelscoil na Daroige: P6/7 classes of 2010 St Eugene’s, Francis Street: P6/7 classes of 2009-2010 The list of street names has been presented under the following categories: • Religious (street names that reflect the areas’ links to Colmcille and the Christian Church) • Landlords (streets named after the local businessmen who commissioned them) • Colonial (streets named after British military/political/monarchy figures and events) • Industry (streets named after leading industrial figures or industries/businesses) • Donegal (streets named after locations in Donegal) • Gaelic (street names that have their origin in the Irish language) • Geographical/topographical (names that reflect location or natural characteristics) • Other (streets named for miscellaneous reasons) Religious/Early Christianity Many of the names in this category are related to the areas’ connections to Columba and the many abbeys and monasteries that were subsequently established there: Abbey Street 1815: Abbey from abbatial (Latin); the jurisdiction of an abbot. Part of 218

Abbey Street in the mid-1960s. the site of a Dominican priory (1274-1540). It was called Abbey Street because it was believed there had been a Franciscan abbey there but according to the written records of the Franciscan order they had no foundation in Derry. Human remains found during house building in 1815 were reburied in Long Tower Church. Demolished 1981/ rebuilt 1982.

Iona Court 1978: Off Anne Street. Iona was the Scottish island where Columba settled after his exile from Ireland.

Dove Gardens 1965: A reference to Saint Columba, ‘the dove of the Church’.

Landlords/Landowners or Local Residents Abercorn Road 1868: James Hamilton (1811-85) first Duke of Abercorn (1868).

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1866-68 and 1874-76. Abercorn Terrace 1891.

Bishop Street Without 1663: The road to Lifford and Strabane in the seventeenth/ eighteenth centuries. This section of Bishop Street was outside or ‘without’ the city walls and derives its name from the fact that the Anglican bishop’s residence was located on a section of the road within the Walls.

Hogg’s Folly 1750: Alderman William Hogg (c.1700-70) owned the quarries here and built a house, ‘the Brow of the Hill’ c.1760. Folly is an architectural term for a type of landscaping usually consisting of gardens in a natural or ‘wild’ setting. Hogg landscaped the quarried area around his new house (which later became the Christian Brothers School). The terrace of houses came later. Demolished 1981.

Hogg’s Folly in the 1990s with the new Gasyard Centre under construction in the background.

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Waterloo Place in the 1930s.

Colonial Connections Mountjoy Street 1871: The Mountjoy captained by Miciah Browning broke the boom to end the 1689 siege.

Nelson Street 1893: Horatio Nelson (1758-1805).

Blucher Street 1892: Gebhard Von Blucher (1742-1819), prince of Wahlstadt (1814).

Prussian field marshal prominent at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). South side demolished 1970; north side 2-36 (1928) remains.

Union Street 1820: Off Rossville Street. The Act of Union between England and Ireland 1801. Demolished by 1967.

Victoria Place 1846: Off Bennett Street. After Victoria (1819-1901), queen of England. Name changed from Warren Hill to celebrate her golden jubilee.

Walker’s Place 1868: After the nearby monument to Rev George Walker, joint governor of Derry during the Siege of Derry. Demolished c.1972.

Waterloo Street/Place: After the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium during the Napoleonic Wars.

Industry Nailor’s Row 1780: Usually spelt ‘Nailer’, the craft of the nail maker which would have been a common trade in the Bogside to service the boats in Derry’s port in the eighteenth century. Last houses demolished by 1972.

Pilot’s Row 1834: Popular name for Corbett Street. Probably originates from the boat operators who were also known as ‘pilots’ who resided in the area in the nineteenth century. Currently the site of Pilot’s Row Community Centre.

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Nailor’s Row in the 1960s.

Donegal Locations Fahan Street 1600: ‘Fothain Mhura’, Mura’s Shelter or hiding place. Mura of the Cineal Eoghain founded a monastery at Fothain c.600. An Anglican church was subsequently built on the site during the Plantation. For the seventeenth-century Planters Fothain or Fahan was the first place of importance encountered on the main road from Derry to Inis Eoaghan and therefore the main road from the Bogside to Inishowen was named after it. When the Vaughans developed Buncrana as a market town in the seventeenth century Fahan became less important.

Gaelic Names Creggan Terrace 1866: Off Lone Moor Road. Creggan derives from the Gaelic for ‘rocky place’.

Glenfada Park 1970: ‘An Gleann Fada’, the Long Glen.

Foyle Road 1836: Built on land reclaimed from the river Foyle (named after the local legend ‘Feabhal’). Demolished 1975-85 then rebuilt.

Geography/Topography Dark Lane 1750: Barrack Street/Hogg’s Folly. It may have had high thick hedges in the eighteenth century. Name changed to Joyce Street c.1952. Demolished by 1972 to make way for the flyover.

Daisyfield Park 1988: The Daisy Field, site of Foyle Rope Works, c.1870-1914.

Beechwood Street 1897: Beech trees were formerly located in the area.

High Street 1884: Steep street leading onto Waterloo Street.

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Houses being built on the Lone Moor Road in the 1970s,

Laburnum Terrace 1883: Laburnum trees.

Limewood Street 1928: Lime or linden trees.

Little Bridge 1883: Mary Blue’s Burn crossed the junction of Fahan Street and Rossville Street here, before flowing under the cattle market, Isaac’s Lane, William Street Lane and the Strand, en route to the Foyle.

Lone Moor 1850: There was a ‘great bog’ in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries known as the ‘Long Moor’, it stretched from the Foyle at Carrigans to the Swilly west of Burt and wasn’t drained until the 1780s. This road may have been the earliest paved road to Killea/Carrigans by way of the ‘Long Moor’.

Lone Moor Gardens 1960: As above.

Other Meenan Park 1945: Recreation area in former Watt’s Field. Named after Patrick Meenan, a local councillor and alderman.

Windmill Lane 1780: Named after the windmill in the grounds of the current Lumen Christi College, which was the site of a battle during the 1689 siege.

Windmill Terrace 1890: As above. Demolished by 1981/rebuilt by 1986.

Gentlemen relaxing in Meenan Park in the 1950s.

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Much has been said, recorded and chronicled about the Bogside (including the Brandywell and Bishop Street areas) since the emergence of the civil rights movement, the political unrest and subsequent ‘Troubles’ which caused so much hardship, pain and tragedy for their residents. Countless television broadcasts of rioting and thousands of pages of newspaper print give testament to the violent and contentious history often focused on these areas.

From Columba To Conflict concentrates on the history of all three districts before the outbreak of the political conflict in 1968 and aims to highlight the enduring disposition and resilience shown by the people of these areas in the face of sanctioned and sustained policies of discrimination which ultimately spawned the modern conflict.

We also highlight and pay tribute to the often unacknowledged and underestimated importance of the Bogside as the ‘cradle of Christianity’ in Derry, the backbone of industrial activity in Derry for over two centuries and the area from where most of Derry’s diaspora can trace their roots.

The three areas have also produced some of Ireland’s greatest sporting heroes, musical figures, actors and actresses, and major political figures. Add to this their key role in some significant events, including the siege of 1689 and the partition of Ireland, and you will get an idea of how important the Bogside, Brandywell and Lower Bishop Street areas have been in Derry’s pre-conflict history.

Gasyard Heritge Centre