Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
These walls are considered sacred ground for devout Unionists, who claim that many who
died during the famous siege were buried within the battered walls because of lack of
space.
Next, you'll pass a large, square pedestal on the right atop Royal Bastion. It once sup-
ported a column in honor of Governor George Walker, the commander of the defenders
during the famous siege. In 1972, the IRA blew up the column, which had 105 steps to the
top (one for each day of the siege).
• Opposite the empty pedestal is the small Anglican...
St. Augustine Chapel:
Set in a pretty graveyard, this Anglican chapel is where some
believe the original sixth-century monastery of St. Columba (St. Colmcille in Irish) stood.
In Victorian times, this stretch of the walls was a fashionable promenade walk.
As you walk, you'll pass a long wall (on the left)—all that's left of a
British Army
base
that stood here until 2006. Two 50-foot towers used to loom out of it, bristling with
cameras and listening devices. Soldiers built them here for a bird's-eye view of the once-
turbulent Catholic Bogside district below. The towers' dismantlement—as well as the re-
moval of most of the British Army from Northern Ireland—is another positive sign in cau-
tiously optimistic Derry. The walls of this former army base now contain a parking lot.
Derry's History
Once an island in the River Foyle, Derry (from
doire,
Irish for “oak grove”) was
chosen by St. Colmcille (St. Columba in English) circa
a
.
d
. 546 for a monastic set-
tlement. He later banished himself to the island of Iona in Scotland out of remorse
for sparking a bloody battle over the rights to a holy manuscript that he had secretly
copied.
