History in Derry
Antiquities
Chalk with bands of flints is a characteristic feature of the scenery of Derry and Londonderry, flint having been plentifully strewn over these and the adjoining counties, by the ice streams of the Glacial period. The most important remains of the settlements of Stone-Age man are the raised beaches at Lame, Whitepark Bay, Island Magee, Portrush, Portstewart, etc. As well as at these settlements, flint flakes and implements have been found nearly every- where along the shores of the River Bann ; several stations having produced implements and flakes in profusion. Many implements and flakes have been found at Mount Sandal, south of Coleraine, and at Kilrea : implements have also been found at Port- glenone, Gortgolc, Culbane, and at other places as far as Toome Bar where the Bann leaves Lough Neagh.
The flakes obtained from sites on the River Bann are often carefully flaked and trimmed. The typical flake is leaf-shaped with a well-marked bulb of percussion, it has generally a brownish patina. The implements from the Bann, include axe-heads of the kitchen-midden type, scrapers, pointed implements, and a few ordinary polished celts. Many sites occupied by Neolithic man are to be found in the sandhills of the north coast of Ireland. These sandhills lie above the raised beaches, and, when the wind lays bare old surfaces among the hollows, pottery and worked flints are found. The best known of these are at Whitepark Bay, Co. Derry (Holiday Cottages, Derry, Ireland) ; Dundrum Bay, Co. Down ; and the mouth of the River Bann, near Portstcwart, Co. Derry (Hotels, Derry, Ireland). Among the flints found arc numerous cores and flakes, while scrapers of various sizes, some being exceedingly small, are also discovered in large numbers, showing that the working of flint was carried on extensively in the sandhills. Polished axes have also been found at these sites, while highly finished arrowheads and hollow scrapers have been discovered at Dundrum Bay and Portstewart. The pottery obtained from these settlements is often decorated with incised lines, etc., and judging from some of the objects discovered, it is probable that the human occupation of the sites lasted from Neolithic times into the early Iron Age and the Christian period.
Architecture
The present cathedral of ; Derry (Doire= an oak-wood), was commenced in 1628 and finished in 1633. The cost of the building was defrayed by the Corporation of the city of London, it amounted to some 4000. Built in the perpendicular style, it is interesting as a specimen of the Gothic of that period. In the early portion of last century a new tower and spire were built; a chancel has recently been erected.
History
Derry (Holiday Homes, Derry, Ireland), one of the most historically rich counties in Ireland, has experienced a period of consecutive residency of a single culture for over 1500 years. In ancient times Derry (derived from the Gaelic word for Oak Grove, Daire) was a hallowed land to the Celtic people. The city of Derry was founded by St. Colmcille in 546.
In more recent history, Derry (Holiday Apartments, Derry, Ireland) has been a place of conflict when, starting in the 1600s, settlers from Scotland were moved into Northern Ireland as a result of the power vacuum that occured when the native Irish leaders of Ulster fled to continental Europe in what is known as the Flight of the Earls. At the time, Ulster had been the last region in Ireland to fall to the invading British forces.
In 1689, Derry city was besieged for 105 days by the forces of King James II, in which thousands died on both sides and a great deal of physial devestation was done to the city. Derry city was rebuilt in the 1700s in the much-seen-throughout-Ireland Georgian style. These beautiful buildings are still around for all to see.
Co. Derry
This is a hilly county, but it has a belt of low cultivated land along the northern side, where it fronts Lough Foyle, and along the east, where lie the valley of the Bann and Lough Neagh. Derry (Bed and Breakfasts, Derry, Ireland), one of the most important and historic towns in Ulster, stands in the extreme west of the county, in a commanding position on a bold hill looking down on a curve of the Foyle, here a broad tidal river. The main part of the. city stands on the northern or Donegal side of the stream, but the county boundary swings northward so as to include it and its environs. The town is bright and busy, with good buildings, and the quay accommodation is ample. There are four rail- way stations, two on either side of the river. The walls of the old city, which run round the hill which forms the middle part of the town, are still in an excellent state of preservation. Five miles below Derry the river widens out into the broad expanse of Lough Foyle. Coleraine, on the River Bann where it ceases to be tidal, is also a port, and is an important place. Limavady lies half-way between the last two. Kilrea is on the River Bann, which for a long distance forms the boundary between Derry and Derry. Maghera, and Magherafelt, lie towards the southern end of the county.
The most extensive river system in Ulster is that of the Bann. This stream rises in the Mourne mountains at the southern end of Co. Down, and flows north-west- ward for some thirty miles through Banbridge and Portadown, and past many linen factories to Lough Neagh, which it enters near its south-western corner. A few miles further westward, an equally large stream also enters the lake-the Blackwater, which drains a large part of Monaghan and Tyrone, and flows north- cast. Other streams flow into the lake from east, west, and north. The combined drainage leaves Lough Neagh at Toome, in the north-east corner, and passing through the shallow and hardly distinct Lough Beg, flows north- ward as the Lower Bann down the wide central trough of the basaltic area, already alluded to, to reach sea- level at Coleraine, and the sea itself four miles lower down. A feature of this trough is that down the centre runs a low ridge. The northward-flowing Bann occupies the western of the two valleys thus created. In the eastern, only five miles from the Bann, the River Main flows for 25 miles parallel to it but in the opposite direction, to enter Lough Neagh below Randalstown. The Upper Bann, Blackwater, and Lower Bann are all used as waterways
Next to the Bann, the Erne, draining south-western Ulster, is the largest river in the province. It is a strange stream, a great part of its course being occupied by lake-expansions filled with such a multitude of peninsulas and islands that without a guide, or close attention to a good map, it is hardly possible to find ones way by boat. The course of the Erne lies mainly through a broad, low limestone valley, and most of these expansions are due to solution of the rock by water. the Derry coast-line is remarkable for its boldness, and for the contrasts of colour which its cliffs and scarps present. The black of the basalt is set off by the pure white of the Chalk, and ruddy sandstones and marls and blue-grey The River Bann at Coleraine
Lias clays enhance the effect. A raised beach, forming a narrow platform between the cliff bases and the sea, has allowed of the construction of a fine thoroughfare from Larne to Cushendall, one of the most picturesque roads in Ireland. Fair Head presents a magnificent face of giant basaltic columns, facing across to the Mull of Kintyre, distant only 13 miles ; further eastward the great cliff-walls which overlook the famous Giants Causeway exhibit a series of successive beds of lava, which form an epitome of the volcanic history of the country in Cainozoic times. The Causeway itself is one of these beds, in which very slow cooling has resulted in a splitting up of the homogeneous rock into polygonal columns. Several little towns lie along the coast; Portrush and Ballycastle, in the north, are the most important, and are both well-known summer resorts. Rathlin Island, a cliff-bound outlier of the basaltic plateau, rises out of the waves a few miles to the north of Ballycastle. On the eastern part of the coast lie Cushendall, Carnlough, and Grienarm. Beyond Causeway Pleaskins, Giants
Portstcwart, a few miles east of Portrush, the River Bann enters the sea between areas of sand-dunes ; it is tidal and navigable for steamers as far as Coleraine, 5 miles up.