LONDONDERRY, a city and port, in the parish of TEMPLEMORE,
and county of LONDONDERRY (of which it is the chief town), and
province of ULSTER, 69¾ miles (N. W. by W.) from
Belfast, and 118½ (N. N. W.) from Dublin; containing
10,130 inhabitants. It was originally and is
still popularly called Derry, from the Irish Doire, which
signifies literally "a place of oaks," but is likewise
used to express "a thick wood." By the ancient Irish it
was also designated Doire-Calgaich, or Derry-Calgach,
"the oak wood of Calgach;" and Adamnan, abbot of
Iona in the 7th century, in the life of his predecessor,
St. Columbkill, invariably calls it Roboretum Calgagi.
About the end of the 10th century, the name Derry-Calgach
gave place to Derry-Columbkill, from an abbey for
canons regular of the order of St. Augustine founded
here by that saint; but when the place grew into importance
above every other Derry, the distinguishing
epithet was rejected: the English prefix, London, was
imposed in 1613, on the incorporation of the Irish
Society by charter of Jas. I., and was for a long time
retained by the colonists, but has likewise fallen into
popular disuse. The city appears to be indebted for its
origin to the abbey founded by St. Columbkill, according
to the best authorities in 546, and said to have been
the first of the religious houses instituted by that
saint; but the exact period of its foundation and its
early history are involved in much obscurity. In 783
and 812 the abbey and the town were destroyed by fire;
at the latter period, according to the Annals of Munster,
the Danes heightened the horrors of the conflagration
by a massacre of the clergy and students. The place
must have been speedily restored, as, in 832, the Danes
were driven with great slaughter from the siege of Derry
by Niall Caille, King of Ireland, and Murchadh, Prince
of Aileach In 983, the shrine of St. Columbkill wa3
carried away by the Danes, by whom the place was also
thrice devastated about the close of the 10th century;
in 1095 the abbey was consumed by fire. In 1100,
Murtagh O'Brien arrived with a large fleet of foreign
vessels and attacked Derry, but was defeated with great
slaughter by the son of Mac Loughlin, prince of Aileach.
Ardgar, prince of Aileach, was slain in an assault upon
Derry in 1124; but on. the 30th of March, 1135, the
town with its churches was destroyed by fire, in revenge,
as some state, of his death: it also sustained a similar
calamity in 1149. In 1158, Flahertagh O'Brokhain,
abbot of the Augustine monastery, was raised to the
episcopacy and appointed supreme sxiperintendent of
all the abbeys under the rule of St. Columb, by a synodical
decree of the Irish clergy assembled at Brigh-mac-
Taidhg, in the north of Meath. O'Brolchain immediately
commenced preparations for the erection of a new
church on a larger scale; and in 1162 he removed
more than 80 houses adjacent to the abbey church, and
enclosed the abbey with a circular wall. In 1164 Temple
More, or "the great church," was built, and the
original abbey church was thenceforward distinguished
as Duv Regies, or "the Black Church:" the new edifice
was 240 feet long, and was one of the most splendid
ecclesiastical structures erected in Ireland prior to the
settlement of the Anglo-Normans; its site was near the-
Black Church, outside the present city wall, and is now
chiefly occupied by the Roman Catholic chapel and cemetery;
both edifices were entirely demolished by Sir
Henry Docwra, governor of Derry, in 1600, and the
materials used in the erection of the extensive works
constructed at that period; but the belfry or round
tower of the cathedral served till after the celebrated
siege, and has given name to a lane called the Long
Tower. In 1166 a considerable part of the town was
burned by Rory O'Morna; and in 1195 the abbey was
plundered by an English force, which was afterwards
intercepted and destroyed at Armagh. In 1197, a large
body of English forces having set out from the castle of
Kill-Sanctain on a predatory excursion, came to Derry
and plundered several churches, but were overtaken by
2 Q
Flahertach O'Maoldoraidh, lord of Tyrone and Tyrconnell,
and some of the northern Hy-Niall, and a battle
ensued on the shore of the adjoining parish of Faughanvale
in which the English were defeated with great
slaughter. In this year Sir John De Courcy came with
a large army and remained five nights; and in the following
year also, having made an incursion into Tyrone
to plunder the churches, he arrived at this place, and
during his stay plundered Ennishowen and all the adjacent
country; while thus engaged he received intelligence
of the defeat of the English at Lame by Hugh
Boy O'Nial, which caused him to quit Derry. In 1203
the town was much damaged by fire; and in 1211 it
was plundered by Thomas Mac Uchtry and the sons of
Randal Mac Donnell, who came hither with a fleet of
76 ships, and afterwards passed into Ennishowen and
laid waste the whole peninsula. This Thomas and Rory
Mac Randal again plundered the town in 1213, carrying
away from the cathedral to Coleraine all the jewellery
of the people of Derry and of the north of Ireland. A
Cistercian nunnery -was founded on the south side of
the city in 1218, as recorded in the registry of the Honour
of Richmond; but from the Annals of the Four
Masters it appears that a religious establishment of this
kind existed here prior to that period. Nial O'Nial
plundered the town in 1222; and, in 1261, sixteen of
the most distinguished of the clergy of Tyrone were
slain here by Conor O'Niai and the Kinel-Owen or
men of Tyrone. In 1274 a Dominican abbey was
founded on the north side of the city, of which even the
site cannot now be accurately traced.
Edw. II. granted the town to Richard de Burgo,
Earl of Ulster, in 1311; but from this period till the
reign of Elizabeth, prior to which the English exercised
no settled dominion in Derry, no event of importance
connected with the place is recorded. In 1565, Edward
Randolph arrived in the Foyle with seven companies of
foot and one troop of horse, to repress Shane O'Nial,
Earl of Tyrone, who had renounced his allegiance to
the English crown; and a sanguinary engagement taking
place on the plains of Muff, the Irish chieftain was signally
defeated. An encampment was then formed by
the English near the city; but in a sally against some
of O'Nial's forces, who had ostentatiously paraded before
it, the English general was slain by a party who
had concealed themselves in an adjoining wood, and the
command of the garrison was given to Col. St. Lo.
The English converted the cathedral into an arsenal,
and on the 24th of April, 1566, the gunpowder blew up
by accident with so much damage as to render the place
untenable; the foot embarked for Dublin, to which city
also the horse returned, passing through Tyrconnell and
Connaught to avoid O'Nial. In 1599 it was again determined
to fortify Derry, a measure long deemed
essential in order to divide and check the power of
O'Nial and O'Donell, the accomplishment of which object
was favoured by its situation and the friendship of
O'Dogherty of Ennishowen. With that view Sir Henry
Docwra, in 1600, entered the Foyle with a British force
of 4000 foot and 200 horse, and landed at Culmore, at
the mouth of the river, where he erected a fort. He
soon obtained possession of the city, and constructed
fortifications and other works for its defence and improvement,
pulling down the abbey, cathedral, "and other
ecclesiastical buildings for the sake of the materials On
the termination of the war at the commencement of
1603, the garrison was reduced to 100 horse and 150
foot under the governor, and 200 foot under Capt. Hansard;
and at Culmore were left 20 men. Sir Henry
now directed his attention to the improvement of the
place with so much zeal as to entitle him to be regarded
as the founder of the modern city. A number of English
colonists settled here on his invitation; he obtained
grants of markets and fairs, and, in 1604, a charter of
incorporation with ample privileges. But in 1608, after
the flight and forfeiture of O'Nial and O'Donell, the
growing prosperity of the new city was checked by
the insurrection of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, the young
chief of Ennishowen, who took both Culmore fort and
Derry, at the latter of which Sir George Paulet (to whom
Sir Henry Docwra had alienated all his interests) and
his men were slain; as many of the inhabitants as could
escape fled, and the town was plundered and burned. A
large part of Ulster having escheated to the Crown on the
attainder of the above-named earls, proposals of colonization
were made to the city of London, in which this
place is described as "the late ruinated city of Derry,
which may be made by land almost impregnable." In
accepting the offers of the Crown the city agreed to erect
200 houses here, and leave room for 300 more; 4000
acres contiguous to the city were to be annexed to it in
perpetuity, exclusively of bog and barren mountain,
which were to be added as waste; convenient sites were
allowed for the houses of the bishop and dean; the
liberties were to extend three miles or 3000 Irish paces
in every direction from the centre of the city; and the
London undertakers were to have the neighbouring fort
of Culmore, with the lands attached, on condition of
maintaining in it a competent ward of officers and men.
In 1613 the inhabitants, having surrendered their former
charter, were re-incorporated, and the name of the
city was altered to Londonderry. The natives having
conspired to take the town by surprise, a supply of arms
was sent from London in 1615; an additional sum of
£5000 was ordered for completing the walls; and, that it
might not in future be peopled with Irish, the Society
issued directions that a certain number of children from
Christ's Hospital, and others, should be sent hither as
apprentices and servants, and prohibited the inhabitants
from taking Irish apprentices. Leases of most of the
houses were granted for thirty-one years, and to each
was allotted a portion of land according to the rent,
with ground for gardens and orchards; 300 acres
were assigned for the support of a free school; and of
the 4000 acres the Society allotted to the houses or
granted to the mayor 3217, including a parcel of 1500
acres which were set apart to support the magistracy of
the city, and which subsequently became a source of
contention between the Society, the corporation, and
the bishop. In l6l8 we find the fortifications completed,
at an expense of £8357; but notwithstanding the adoption
of these and other measures of improvement, the
increase of houses and inhabitants was very slow, and
the operations of the Society were made the ground of
various representations to the Crown respecting the
non-fulfilment of the conditions of planting. In 1622,
commissioners were appointed to enquire into the affairs
of the plantation, to whom the mayor and corporation
presented a petition complaining of many grievances
resulting from the conduct of the Society, one of the
chief of which was the non-erection of the specified
number of houses: this enquiry led to several sequestrations
of the city and liberties until 1628, and for some
time the rents were paid to the Crown.
In the rebellion of 1641 the English and Scottish
settlers received a considerable supply of arms and ammunition
from London, and having secured themselves
within the walls, successfully defended the city from the
attacks of the rebels under Sir Phelim O'Nial. In 1643
the inhabitants of Londonderry and Coleraine sent letters
to the lords-justices urging their impoverished condition
and praying for relief. Sir John Vaughan, the governor,
having died this year, Sir Robert Stewart was appointed
to the command of the garrison, of which five companies
aided in his defeat of Owen O'Nial at Clones, on the
13th of June. Towards the close of the year the parliament
having taken the covenant, the London adventurers
sent over an agent with letters desiring that it
should be taken within their plantation; but in the
year following the mayor was ordered by the lord-lieutenant
and council to publish a proclamation against it.
Col. Audley Mervin, who had been appointed governor
by the Marquess of Ormonde, was nevertheless obliged
from expediency to take the covenant: in 1645 he was
displaced by the parliament, and was succeeded by Lord
Folliott. Sir C. Coote, the parliamentary general, having,
in 1648, treacherously seized upon the person of
Sir Robert Hamilton, forced him to surrender Culmore
fort, by which the parliamentarians became masters of
all the forts of Ulster, except Charlemont. The Marquess
of Ormonde having failed in his attempts to induce
Sir C. Coote to join the king's cause, the latter was
blocked up in Derry by the royalists; and soon after
the city and Culmore fort were regularly besieged by
Sir Robert Stewart, who was subsequently joined by
Sir G. Monroe and Lord Montgomery with their respective
forces, and Chas. II. was proclaimed with great
solemnity before the camp of Derry. The decapitation
of the late king having excited general horror among
the majority of the people of the north, they rose
in arms and soon obtained possession of all the
towns and places of strength in that quarter, except
Derry and Culmore, which, after a siege of four months,
and when the garrison, consisting of 800 foot and 180
horse, was reduced to the greatest extremities, were
relieved by Owen Roe O'Nial, to whom Sir C. Coote
had promised a reward of £5000 for this service; and
by the defeat of Ever Mac Mahon, the Roman Catholic
general, the following year, at Skirfolas in Donegal,
Coote finally reduced all Ulster under the power of the
parliament. After the Restoration, Chas. II., in 1662,
granted letters patent to the Irish Society, containing,
with very little alteration, all the clauses of the first
charter of Jas. I.; this is the charter under which the
Society and the corporation of Derry now act. In 1684
the same monarch constituted a guild of the staple, with
powers as ample as those enjoyed by any other city or
town: in the following year, owing to the decay of trade,
the corporation complained to the Society that the government
of the town was too expensive for the magistrates
to sustain, and solicited an abatement of the
rent.
In 1689 this city became the asylum of the Protestants
of the north, who, in number about 30,000, fled to
it for refuge before the marauding forces of James; and
is distinguished in the annals of modem history for the
heroic bravery of its inhabitants amidst the extreme
privations of a protracted siege. The chief governor
having withdrawn the Protestant garrison, and steps
being taken to introduce an undisciplined native force
influenced by hostile prejudices, the young men of the
city closed the gates against its admission, and the bulk
of the inhabitants took up arms in their own defence.
The magistrates and graver citizens endeavoured to palliate
this ebullition of military ardour in their representations
to the lord-lieutenant, but in the meantime the
armed inhabitants applied to the Irish Society for assistance.
Lord Mountjoy, a Protestant commander in the
army of James, was, however, admitted, in a great measure
from personal regard, but on condition that a free
pardon should be granted within 15 days, and that in
the interval only two companies should be quartered
within the walls; that of the forces afterwards admitted
one-half at least should be Protestants; that until pardon
was received the citizens should guard the fortifications;
and that all who desired it might be permitted
to quit the city. By the advice of Mountjoy, who was
obeyed as a friend and associate, the arms were repaired,
money cheerfully subscribed, ammunition purchased in
Scotland, and the agent despatched to England urged
to procure supplies. He was succeeded in the command
by his first lieutenant, Lundy, whom King William, on
sending an officer with some military supplies, commissioned
to act in his name; but the dissatisfaction of the
citizens was excited by the vacillating character of this
commander, who, on the approach of James to besiege
the city in person, prepared to surrender it, notwithstanding
the arrival of two English colonels in the river
with reinforcements, which he remanded. The principal
officers being about to withdraw, and the town council
preparing to offer terms of capitulation, the inhabitants
rose tumultuously against the constituted authorities,
received with enthusiasm a brave and popular captain
who presented himself at the city gates with a reinforcement,
and, rushing to the walls, fired upon James
and his party advancing to take possession of the place.
On deliberation they suffered the timid to depart unmolested;
Lundy first concealed himself and afterwards
escaped; and two new governors were chosen, one of
whom was the celebrated George Walker, rector of
Donoughmore. Under their directions the soldiers and
able inhabitants were formed into eight regiments, numbering
7020 men, with 341 officers; order and discipline
were in some degree established, and, notwithstanding
partial jealousies, 18 Protestant clergymen and seven
non-conformists shared in the labour and danger of the
siege, and by their exhortations stimulated the enthusiastic
courage of the defenders with the fervour of devo
tion. The operations of an army of 20,000 men were
thus successfully opposed in a place abandoned as untenable
by the regular forces, unaided by engineers or
well-mounted guns, and with only a ten clays' supply of
provisions. An irregular war of sallies was adopted with
such effect that James, who had hitherto remained at St.
Johnstown, six miles distant, returned to Dublin, leaving
his army to continue the siege. The defenders had now
to contend against the inroads of disease and famine;
and the arrival of Kirke with a fleet in the lough
afforded but little prospect of relief, as he deemed it too
hazardous an enterprise to sail up to the town in front
2Q2
of the enemy's lines. Although thus apparently left to
their own scanty resources, the brave garrison continued
the defence with unabated heroism, still making
desperate and effective sallies even when too much enfeebled
by hunger to pursue their success. To induce a
surrender, Marshal Rosen, the besieging general, ordered
his soldiers to drive round the walls of the town the
helpless Protestant population of the surrounding district,
of all ages, who were thus exposed to the horrors
of famine for nearly three days before they were suffered
to disperse; some of the ablest of the men secretly joined
their comrades in the town, and an ineffective body of
500 people were passed from it unperceived by the
enemy. When even such miserable resources as the
flesh of horses and dogs, hides, tallow, and similar nauseous
substances had failed for two days, two of Kirke's
ships, laden with provisions and convoyed by the Dartmouth
frigate, advanced up the lough in view both of
the garrison and the besiegers, in a dangerous attempt
to relieve the place, returning with spirit the fire of
the enemy. The foremost of the provision ships came
in contact with the boom that had been thrown
across the channel and broke it, but rebounding with
violence ran aground, and for the moment appeared to
be at the mercy of the besiegers, who with acclamations
of joy instantly prepared to board her; but the vessel,
firing her guns, was extricated by the shock, floated,
and triumphantly passed the boom followed by her companions.
The town was thus relieved and the enemy
retired; but of the brave defenders only 4300 survived
to witness their deliverance, and of this number more
than 1000 were incapable of service; those who were
able immediately sallied out in pursuit of the enemy,
who had lost 8000 men by the sword and by various
disorders during the siege, which had continued 105
days. Culmore fort was reduced to ruin, and was never
afterwards rebuilt; and the city sustained so much damage
that the Irish Society deemed it necessary to
appoint commissioners for its restoration; the twelve
chief companies of London advanced £100 each; the
Society supplied timber for the public buildings, abatements
were made in the rents, the terms of leases were
augmented, and other measures necessary for the accomplishment
of this object were adopted. In 1692, the
corporation failing to negociate with Bishop King for
a renewal of the lease of the quarter-lands, reminded
the Society that the bishop's claims to this property
were unsubstantial, and agreed to establish their right
in consideration of £90. 10. per annum, which is still
paid. In 1695 the Society procured a resumption of
the remainder of the 1500 acres comprised in their letters
patent, by an ejectment against the bishop, who, in
1607, appealed to the Irish House of Lords and obtained
an order for their restitution, which the sheriffs and other
inhabitants of Deny opposing, were taken into custody
and conveyed to Dublin. Against this decision the Society
applied to the English House of Lords, and in 1703
an act was passed establishing their right not only to the
1500 acres but also to the fisheries, which had previously
been an object of dispute, subject to the payment
of £'250 per annum to the bishop and his successors,
which is still continued, with a condition of exonerating
him from rent or other demands for his palace and gardens.
In 1721 a dispute took place between the corporation
and the military governor, who refused to deliver
the keys of the city gates to the new mayor, which by
the charter he was bound to do; he surrounded the
town-hall with troops, and prevented the members of
the corporation entering it, but was removed immediately
after. A grand centenary commemoration of the
shutting of the gates took place in 1788, and was continued
with the utmost harmony for three days; and in
the month of August following the relief of the city was
commemorated.
The city is advantageously situated on the western
or Donegal side of the river Foyle, about five statute
miles above the point where it spreads into Lough
Foyle, chiefly on the summit and sides of a hill projecting
into the river, and commanding on all sides
richly diversified and picturesque views of a well cultivated
tract: this hill, or "Island of Deny," is of an
oval form, 119 feet high, and contains about 200 acres.
The ancient portion of the city occupies the higher
grounds, and is siirrounded by massive walls completed
in 1617; at the expense of the Society: they form a parallelogram
nearly a mile in circumference, and in the
centre is a square called the Diamond, from which four
principal streets radiate at right angles towards the
principal gates. Since the Union the city has considerably
increased, particularly on the north along the shore
of the river, where several warehouses, stores, and
merchants' residences have been erected: on the west
is also a considerable suburb, in which, within the last
fifteen years, some new streets have been formed; and
on the eastern bank of the river is another, called
Waterside. The walls, which are well built and in a
complete state of repair, are nearly 1800 yards in circuit,
24 feet high, and of sufficient thickness to form an
agreeable promenade on the top. The four original
gates have been rebuilt on an enlarged and more elegant
plan, and two more added; but the only two that are
embellished are Bishop's gate and Ship-quay gate, the
former, built by subscription in 1788, being the centenary
in commemoration of the siege. In 1628 the Irish Society
was ordered to erect guard and sentinel houses, of which
two are yet remaining; and of the several bastions, the
north-western was demolished in 1824, to make room
for the erection of a butter market; and in 1826 the
central western bastion was appropriated to the reception
of a public testimonial in honour of the celebrated
George Walker. A few guns are preserved in their
proper positions, but the greater number are used as
posts for fastening cables and protecting the corners of
streets. The houses are chiefly built of brick: the entire
number in the city and suburbs is 2947. The city
is watched, paved, cleansed, and lighted with gas, under
the superintendence of commissioners of general police,
consisting of the mayor and 12 inhabitants chosen by
ballot: the gas-works were erected in 1829, at an expense
of £7000, raised in shares of £11. Water is
conveyed to the town across the bridge by pipes, from a
reservoir on Brae Head, beyond the Waterside, in the
parish of Clondermot; the works were constructed by
the corporation under an act of the 40th of Geo. III., at
a total expense of £15,500, and iron pipes have been
laid down within the last few years. The bridge, a celebrated
wooden structure erected by Lemuel Cox, an
American, in lieu of a ferry which the corporation held
under the Irish Society, was begun in 1789, and completed
in the spring of 1791. It is 1068 feet in length,
and 40 in breadth: the piles are of oak, and the head of
each is tenoned into a cap piece 40 feet long and 17
inches square, supported by three sets of girths and
braces; the piers, which are 16 1/2 feet apart, are bound
together by thirteen string-pieces equally divided and
transversely bolted, on which is laid the flooring: on
each side of the platform is a railing 4 1/2 feet high, also
a broad pathway provided with gas lamps. Near the
end next to the city a turning bridge has been constructed
in place of the original drawbridge, to allow of the
free navigation of the river. On the 6th of Feb., 1814,
a portion of the bridge extending to 350 feet was carried
away by large masses of ice floated down the river by
the ebb tide and a very high wind. The original expense
of its erection was £16,594, and of the repairs
after the damage in 1814, £18,2O8, of which latter sum,
£15,000 was advanced as a loan by Government: the
average annual amount of tolls from 1831 to 1834, inclusive,
was £3693. Plans and estimates for the erection
of a new bridge, nearly 200 yards above the present,
have been procured; but there is no prospect of the
immediate execution of the design. A public library
and news room, commenced in I819 by subscription
and established on its present plan in 1824, by a body
of proprietors of transferable shares of 20 guineas each, is
provided with about. 2660 volumes of modern works and
with periodical publications and daily and weekly newspapers:
it is a plain building faced with hewn Dungiven
sandstone, erected by subscription in 1824, at an expense
of nearly £2000, and, besides the usual apartments,
contains also the committee-room of the Chamber of
Commerce. The lower part of the building is used as
the news- room, to which all the inhabitants are admitted
on payment of five guineas annually. A literary society
for debates and lectures was instituted in 1834, and the
number of its members is rapidly increasing. Concerts
were formerly held at the King's Arms hotel, but have
been discontinued. Races are held on a course to the
north of the town. Walker's Testimonial, on the central
western bastion, was completed in 1828 by subscription,
at an expense of £1200: it consists of a
column of Portland stone of good proportions, in the
Roman Doric style, surmounted by a statue of that
distinguished governor by John Smith, Esq., of Dublin:
the column is ascended by a spiral staircase within, and,
including the pedestal, is 81 feet in height, in addition
to which the statue measures nine feet. The city is in
the northern military district, and is the head-quarters
of a regiment of infantry which supplies detachments to
various places: the barracks are intended for the accommodation
of four officers and 320 men, with an hospital
for 32 patients, but from their insufficiency a more,
commodious edifice is about to be erected, for which
ground has been provided in the parish of Clondermot.
The manufactures are not very considerable: the
principal is that of meal, for which there are several
corn-mills, of which one erected by Mr. Schoales in 1831,
and worked by a steam-engine of 18-horse power,
and another subsequently by Mr. Leatham, worked by
an engine of 20-horse power, are the chief: the recent
extension of this branch of trade has made meal an
article of export instead of import, as formerly; in 1831,
553 tons were imported, and in 1834 6950 tons were
exported. In William-street are a brewery and distillery;
there are copper-works which supply the whole
of the north-west of Ulster, and afford regular employment
to 27 men; two coach-factories; and a cornmill
and distillery at Pennyburn, and another at Waterside.
A sugar-house was built in 1762, in what is still
called Sugar-house-lane, but was abandoned in 1809;
the buildings were converted into a glass manufactory
in 1820, but this branch of business was carried on for
a few years only. This is the place of export for the
agricultural produce of a large tract of fertile country,
which renders the coasting trade very extensive, especially
with Great Britain: the quantity of grain exported
to England and Scotland alone, in the year ending Jan.
5th 1835, was 3680 tons of wheat, 1490 tons of barley,
10,429 tons of oats, 6950 tons of oatmeal, 3050 tons of
eggs, 3654 tons of flax, 52,842 firkins of butter, 11,580
barrels of pork, 1900 bales of bacon, 590 hogsheads of
hams, 1628 kegs of tongues, and 147 hogsheads of
lard. It is still the market for a considerable quantity
of linen, of which 9642 boxes and bales were exported
in the same year. The number of vessels employed in
the coasting trade which entered inwards in 1834 was
649, of an aggregate tonnage of 63,726, and which cleared
outwards, 646, of an aggregate tonnage of 62,502, including
steam-vessels, which ply regularly between this
port and Liverpool and Glasgow. The principal articles
of foreign produce imported direct are staves and timber
from the Baltic, barilla from Spain, sugar and rum from
the West Indies, wine from Spain and Portugal; tobacco
from the United States, from which the ships come
chiefly to take out emigrants, who resort to this port
from the inland districts in great numbers; flax seed,
the importation of which has much increased within the
last few years, from Riga, America, and Holland; the
quantity imported in 1835 was 12,400 hogsheads; but
the greater proportion of foreign commodities comes
indirectly, or coastwise. The number of vessels employed
in the foreign trade which entered inwards in
1834 was 57, of an aggregate burden of 10,406 tons, and
that cleared outwards, 16, of an aggregate tonnage of
4869. The salmon fishery of the Foyle affords employment
to 120 men, exclusively of the same number of
water-keepers: the fish is shipped principally for Liverpool;
some is also sent to Glasgow, and some pickled
for the London market: the quantity taken annually on
an average of three years from 1832 to 1834 inclusive
was about 149 tons. The right of fishing in this river
up to Lifford is vested by charter of Jas. I. in the Irish
Society, who by an act in the reign of Anne, are bound
to pay the bishop £250 per annum, as compensation for
his claim to some small fishings, and also to a tithe of
the whole; but at present the Marquess of Abercorn and
the Earl of Erne hold fisheries below the town of Lifford.
The fishery off the coast is precarious, and frequently
yields only a scanty supply, from the danger in encountering
a rough sea experienced by the boats employed in
it, which are only indifferently built; yet at other times
the market abounds with turbot taken near Innistrahull
and on Hempton's Bank, about 18 Irish miles north of
Ennishowen Head; soles and haddock, taken in Lough
Swilly and elsewhere; cod, mostly off the entrance to
Lough Foyle; and oysters, taken in Lough Swilly from
the island of Inch up to Fort Stewart, and in Lough
Foyle, from Quigley's Point down to Greencastle. Derry
is situated about 19 statute miles above the entrance to
Lough Foyle, the approach to which is facilitated by a
lighthouse on the island of Innistrahull, and will be rendered
still more safe by two others now in course of
erection on Shrove Head, Ennishowen, intended to serve
as guiding lights past the great Tun Bank lying to the
east. A new and very important trade as connected
with the port, is the herring fishery; in 1835, upwards
of 5800 barrels were cured at the Orkneys, by Derry
merchants, and the total quantity imported exceeds
12,000 barrels, one half of which are cured by vessels
fitted out from this port; large quantities of oysters
have been taken in the river Foyle since 1829. The
limits of the port extend to Culmore, a distance of three
miles; the lough has been deepened under the directors
of the Ballast Committee, in consequence of which, vessels
drawing 14 feet of water, can come close to the quays.
At the entrance to the lough is a well-regulated establishment
of pilots, under the superintendence of the
Ballast Board. The Ballast Office was established by
act of parliament in 1790, and remodelled by another
act in 1833: the port regulations are under the control
of a committee of this establishment, consisting of the
mayor and seven other members, of whom the two
senior members go out annually by rotation, and who
have the power of making by-laws. The corporation
alone possessed the right of having quays prior to 1832,
when they lost their monopoly, and private quays were
constructed: they disposed of their interest in the
merchants' or custom-house quays, in Nov. 1831; there
are now 21 sufferance or private wharfs or quays, including
two at Waterside, in the parish of Clondermot.
A patent slip dock was constructed in 1830, at an
expense of £4000, in which vessels of 300 tons registered
burden can be repaired: prior to that period most
vessels were sent for repair to Liverpool or the Clyde,
and two large brigs have been built here since that date:
naval stores are brought chiefly from Belfast, but sails
are manufactured here. The custom-house, a small and
inconvenient building, was built as a store in 1805, and
since 1809 has been held by Government on a permanent
tenure, at an annual rental of £1419. 4. 6., at first
as a king's store, and since 1824 as a custom-house:
the premises comprise some extensive tobacco and timber
yards, laid out at different periods, and extend in
front 450 feet, varying in depth: the duties received
here in 1837 amounted to £99,652. The markets are
generally well supplied. The shambles, for meat daily,
and to which there is a weigh-house attached, are situated
off Linen-hall-street, and were built in I76O, by Alderman
Alexander and other members of the corporation:
the tolls belong to Sir R. A. Ferguson, Bart., who in
1830 purchased the shambles and the fish and vegetable
markets of the corporation. The linen market, on Wednesday,
is held in a hall occupying an obscure situation
in a street to which it gives name, and built in 1770, by
the late Fred. Hamilton, Esq., to whose descendant the
tolls belong: it consists of a court measuring 147 feet
by 15, and enclosed by small dilapidated houses; the
cloth is exposed on stands placed in the court and
under sheds; on the opposite side of the street is the
sealing-room. The butter market, in Waterloo-place,
for butter and hides daily, and to which three weighhouses
are attached; the fish market, off Linen-hallstreet,
daily; the potatoe market, in Society-street, for
potatoes and meal by retail daily, with a weigh-house
attached; and the vegetable market, off Linen-hall-street,
for vegetables, poultry, and butter daily, were all built
in 1825 by the corporation, to whom the tolls of the
butter and potatoe markets belong. The cow market,
for the sale of cows, pigs, sheep, and goats, every Wednesday,
is held in a field to the south of Bishop-street,
near the river, which was enclosed in 1832 by the corporation,
to whom the tolls belong. There are also a
flax market in Bishop-street every Thursday, and a
market for yarn in Butchers'-street every Wednesday.
Six fairs are held annually, but only three are of importance,
namely, on June 17th, Sept. 4th, and Oct.
17th; the others are on March 4th, April 30th, and
Sept. 20th. Custom was charged on every article of
merchandise brought into the city prior to 1826, when
it was abolished, except as regards goods conveyed over
the bridge; and in lieu thereof, the corporation instituted
trespass, cranage, storage, and other dues. The postoffice
was established in 1784; the amount of postage
for 1834 was £4047. 17. 1 1/2 The revenue police force
usually consists of a lieutenant and twelve men; and
the constabulary is composed of a chief constable and
twelve men.
The municipal government is vested in a mayor,
twelve aldermen, and twenty-four burgesses, assisted
by a recorder, town-clerk, and chamberlain; and the
inferior officers of the corporation are a sword-bearer,
mace-bearer, four town-Serjeants, two sheriffs' bailiffs,
&c. The mayor and sheriffs are elected by the common
council on the 2nd of Feb., the former from among the
aldermen, and the latter from the burgesses, from whom
also the aldermen are chosen; the burgesses are appointed
from the freemen and inhabitants. The sheriffs
exercise jurisdiction both over the entire county and the
liberties of the city; and the town-clerk is generally
clerk of the peace for the county. The freedom is inherited
by the sons of aldermen and burgesses, and is
obtained by marriage with their daughters, by apprenticeship
to a freeman, and by gift of the corporation.
The city returned two representatives to the Irish parliament
till the Union, since which it has sent one to the
imperial parliament. The right of voting was formerly
vested in the burgesses and freemen, in number about
450; but by the late enactments, under which a new
electoral boundary, minutely described in the Appendix,
has been established, the former non-resident electors,
except within a distance of seven miles, have been disfranchised,
and the privilege extended to the £10 householders:
the number of registered voters on the 1st of
April, 1835, was 724, of whom 504 were £10 householders,
and the remainder freemen. The mayor, recorder,
and all aldermen who have filled the mayoralty,
are justices of the peace within the liberties, which comprise
the city and a circuit of three Irish miles measured
from its centre; and they also exercise jurisdiction by
sufferance over the townland of Culmore. The mayor
and recorder, or the mayor alone, hold a court of record
every Monday, for pleas to any amount; the process is
either by attachment against the goods, or arrest of
the person. The court of general sessions for the
city is held four times a year: there is a court of
petty sessions weekly, held before the mayor, or any
of the civic magistrates. The mayor also holds weekly
a court of conscience, for the recovery of ordinary
debts not exceeding £20 late currency or servants'
wages to the amount of £6, and from which there
is no appeal. The city is in the north-west circuit,
and the assizes are held here twice a year: it is also
one of the four towns within the county at which the
general quarter sessions are held, and where the assistant
barrister presides in April and October. The corporation
hall in the centre of the Diamond, and on the
site of the original town-house built by the Irish Society
in 1622, was erected by the corporation in 1692, and
till 1895, when it was rebuilt by the corporation, was
called the market-house or exchange: the south front,
in which is the principal entrance, is circular. The
upper story contains a common-council room, an
assembly-room, and an ante-chamber. On the ground
floor, which was formerly open for the sale of meal and
potatoes, but was closed in 1825, is a news-room established
by the corporation in that year. The courthouse,
completed in 1817 at an expense of £30,479.15.,
including the purchase of the site and furniture, is a
handsome building of white sandstone, chiefly from the
neighbourhood of Dungiven, ornamented with Portland
stone, and erected from a design by Mr. John Bowden:
it measures 126 feet by 66, and exhibits a facade, judiciously
broken by a tetrastyle portico of the enriched
Ionic order, modelled from that of the temple of Erectheus
at Athens; over the pediment are the royal arms;
and the wings are surmounted by statues of Justice and
Peace sculptured in Portland stone by the late Edward
Smith. The principal apartments are the crown and
record courts, the mayor's public and private offices, the
offices of the recorder, treasurer, and clerks of the crown
and peace, the judges' room, and the grand jury room:
in addition to the assizes, sessions, and mayor's court,
the county and other meetings are held in it. The gaol,
situated in Bishop-street, beyond the gate, was erected
between the years 1819 and 1824, by Messrs. Henry,
Muffins, and McMahon, at an expense of £33,718, late
currency: the front, which is partly coated with cement
and partly built of Dungiven stone, extends 242 feet;
and the depth of the entire building, including the yards,
is 400 feet. It is built on the radiating plan; the governor's
house, which includes the chapel and committeeroom,
is surrounded by a panoptic gallery; and the
entire gaol contains 179 single cells, 26 work and day
rooms, and 20 airing-yards: apart from the main building
is an hospital, containing separate wards for both
sexes. The regulations are excellent: in 1835 the
system of classification was abandoned, and the silent
system introduced; the prisoners are constantly employed
at various trades, and receive one-third of their
earnings.
The DIOCESE of DERRY
originated in a monastery
founded by St. Columb,
about 545, of which some
of the abbots at a very
early period were styled
bishops, but the title of
bishop of Derry was not
established until 115S, or
even a century later, as the
bishops, whose see was at
Derry, were sometimes
called
Bishops of Tyrone. The see
first existed at Ardsrath, where St. Eugene, the first
bishop, died about the end of the sixth century 5 it was
subsequently removed to Maghera, whence it was transferred
to Derry. It is called Darrich in the old Roman
provincial, and Doire Choluim chille or "Columbkill's
Oak Grove," by ancient writers. The town is now called
Londonderry, from a colony of settlers from London,
in the reign of Jas. L, by whom the present cathedral
was built, but the bishoprick retains its ancient name
of Derry. The see was constituted at Derry in 1158,
by a decree of the Synod of Brigth Thaigh, at which
assisted Christian, Bishop of Lismore, the pope's legate,
and twenty-five bishops; and Flathbert O'Brolcan,
abbot of Derry, was promoted to the episcopal throne.
In 1164, with the assistance of Mac Loughlin, King of
Ireland, he built the cathedral; the altar of which was
robbed in 1196 by McCrenaght, of 314 cups, which
were esteemed the best in Ireland, but they were recovered
the third day after, and the robber executed.
German, or Gervase, O'Cherballen, who succeeded to the
bishoprick in 1230, took the church of Ardsrath and
many others in Tyrone from the Bishop of Clogher, and
forcibly annexed part of the bishoprick of Raphoe to
his diocese. In 1310, Edw. II. directed the bishop of
Connor to enquire whether the king or any other person
would be prejudiced by allowing Richard de Burgo
to retain in fee the city of Derry, which the bishop,
with the consent of the chapter, had conveyed to him.
Prior to 160S, the bishop had one-third of the tithes of
each parish; a lay person, called an Erenach, who was
the bishop's farmer, had another third 5 and the remaining
third was allowed for the incumbent; but Bishop
Montgomery gave the bishop's share to the incumbents
of parishes, on the grant by Jas. I. of the termon or
Erenach lands, amounting to 6534 acre1?, to the see in
exchange. By an inquisition in 1622, the bishop was
found to be entitled to fish for salmon on the. Monday
after the 4th of June, within the great net fishery belonging
to the London Society; also to half the tithe of
salmon, &c, caught in the Bann and Lough Foyk.
Bishop Hopkins, who died in l690,was at great expense
in beautifying the cathedral, and furnishing it with
organs and massive plate, and is said to have expended
£1000 in buildings and other improvements in this
bishoprick and that of Raphoe. Derry continued to be
a separate bishoprick until the death of Dr. Bissett,
Bishop of Raphoe, in 1836, when that see, under the provisions
of the Church Temporalities act of the 3rd
and 4th of Win. IV., was annexed to the see of Derry,
and its temporalities became vested in the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners.
This diocese is one of the ten that constitute the
province of Armagh: it is partly in the counties of
Antrim and Donegal, but chiefly in Tyrone and Londonderry,
extending 47 miles in length by 43 in breadth,
and comprehending an estimated superficies of 659,000
acres, of which 2500 are in Antrim, 139,300 in Donegal,
233,100 in Tyrone, and 284,100 in Londonderry. The
lands belonging to the see comprise 77402 statute acres,
of which 39,621 are profitable land, and 37,481 unprofitable;
and the gross yearly revenue derived from these
lands and from appropriate tithes, on an average of three
years ending Dec.31st, 1831, amounted to £14,193. 3.9|.
Under the Church Temporalities act an annual charge of
£4160 is, from 1834, payable out of the see estates to
the funds of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners: this
payment is made to diminish the excess of the revenue
of this see above the other bishopricks, and is in lieu of
the Ad Valorem tax imposed on all benefices in Ireland.
The chapter consists of a dean and archdeacon, and the
three prebendaries of Comber, Aghadowy, and Moville.
To the dean belong, as the corps of the deanery, the
rectories of Templemore, Faughanvale, and Clondermot,
the tithes of which, under the composition act, amount
to £3235. 7. 11½. per annum. The deanery lands,
which are situated in the parishes of Clondermot and
Faughanvale, consist of several townlands, which comprise
2859 statute acres, let on leases at rents amounting
to £176. 6. 4., and renewal fines averaging £269. 15. 7.
annually; and the gross annual revenue of the deanery,
as returned by the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical
Enquiry, amounts to £3710.13. 10. per annum. To the
archdeacon belongs the rectory of Dunboe, the tithes of
which amount to £480, and the glebe lands comprise
420 statute acres; its gross annual value is £700 per
annum. The endowments of the prebends consist of
the tithes and glebes of the parishes from which they
take their names, and are detailed in the articles on
those places. The cathedral has neither minor canons,
vicars choral, nor an economy fund. The diocesan
school is connected with the free school of Derry, which
was founded by the corporation of London in 1617. The
consistorial court consists of a vicar-general, surrogate,
registrar, deputy-registrar, and 11 proctors. This
arrangement extended to the whole of the diocese, so
that the bishop, out of 47 parishes, possesses 46 estates,
and this is the reason why the clergy of this diocese
are generally provided with larger glebes than those of
the other dioceses of Ireland. This grant included
the patrouage of certain churches, since disputed successfully,
except those of Dungiven and Coleraine, on
the grounds that the powers of the Crown, unsupported
by surrender from the bishop, confirmed by an act of
parliament, were not competent to make a valid grant.
The number of parishes in the diocese is 60, comprised in
57 benefices: that which forms the corps of the deanery
is a union of the three parishes of Templemore, Faughanvale,
and Clondermot, and is in the patronage of the
Crown; 36 are in the patronage of the Bishop; 3
are in the gift of the Provost and Fellows of Trinity
College, Dublin; 8 in lay patronage, and the remaining
9, which are perpetual curacies, are in the patronage
of the incumbents of the parishes out of which they
have been formed. The number of churches is 62, and
of school-houses and other places where divine service
is performed, 11: the number of glebe-houses is 47.
In the R. C. divisions this diocese is a separate bishoprick,
and one of eight suffragan to Armagh. It comprises
36 parochial benefices or unions, containing 70 chapels,
which are sarved by 81 clergymen, 36 of whom, including
the bishop, are parish priests, and 45 are coadjutors or
curates. The parochial benefice of the bishop is Derry,
or Templemore, where he resides.
The cathedral, which also serves as the parish church,
was completed in 1633, the former one, erected in 1164,
having been destroyed by Sir Henry Docwra. The cost
of the building, amounting to £4000, was defrayed by
the Corporation of the City of London: it is principally
in the later English style, with various decorations since
added, which do not harmonize with its prevailing character,
and consists of a nave and aisles, separated by
stone pillars and arches, with a tower at the west end
surmounted by an elegant octagon spire terminating in
a cross and spear; on the east gable is a cross springing
from the central battlement. The entire structure is
240 feet long, and 66 feet broad; the height of the tower
and spire is 228 feet from the churchyard. In 1778,
the Earl of Bristol, then Bishop of Derry, completed a
new spire of hewn stone, with open ornamented windows,
and the old tower was raised 21 feet; but in
1802, owing to the dilapidated state of the tower, the
spire was taken down and soon after rebuilt from a fund
of £400, half of which was contributed by the Irish
Society and half by Bishop Knox and the citizens.
The Society also contributed a sum for the embellishment
of the cathedral in 1819; and in 1822 the old
roof of lead was replaced by a slate roof. A new organ
was erected in 1829 by subscription, to which Bishop
Knox contributed £100, and Dean Gough and the corporation
£50 each. On the north of the communion
table is a handsome monument of Italian marble, by
Behnes, erected in 1834 to the memory of Bishop Knox,
at an expense of £500, raised by subscription: on an
elevated plinth is an inscribed tablet, above which is
represented a tomb surmounted by a mitre, on the right
of which is a full-length figure of Religion, and on the left
another of Charity with a babe on her arm and two other
children of different ages standing at her knees. There
are various other tablets, one of which, to the memory of
the father of the Rev. Wm. Hamilton, D.D., is inscribed
with the epitaph of that distinguished naturalist. The
bishop's palace, built about the year 1761, during the
prelacy of Bishop Barnard, is a substantial and commodious
building, occupying the site of the Augustinian
convent: it was almost rebuilt by the Earl of Bristol,
when bishop, and after the damage which it sustained
by being occupied as a barrack in 1802, was repaired by
Bishop Knox. The gardens in the rear comprise nearly
two acres, and extend to the city wall; having at the
above period been appropriated as a parade, that designation
is still applied to the adjacent part of the wall.
The deanery, a large unadorned edifice of brick, was
built in 1833 by the Rev. T. B. Gough, the present dean,
at an expense of £3421.16. 8½., to be reimbursed by his
successor. Adjacent to the city wall on the west is a
chapel of ease, a rectangular building, erected by Bishop
Barnard, whose descendant, Sir Andrew Barnard, became
the patron: the chaplain's original stipend of
£50 is now paid out of the property of Wm. J. Campbell,
a minor, who claims the advowson. A free
church was built on the north of the city by Bishop
Knox, in 1830, at an expense of £760; and a gallery
was erected in 1832, at a further expense, including the
cost of a vestry-room and the introduction of gas, of
£145, raised by subscription. The R. C. chapel occupies
the site of the monastery of St. Columb, and is
situated in a street called the Long Tower, from the
lofty round tower which formed the belfry of the
Dubh-Regles, the original church built by St. Columb.
This chapel was completed in 1786, at an expense,
including the cost of some additions in 1811, of £2700,
of which £210 was contributed by the Earl of Bristol,
and £50 by the corporation. The Presbyterian meeting-
house, in Meeting-house-row, has a chaste and handsome
front, of which the pediment and corners are of
Dungiven freestone: it is supposed to have been built
about the year 1750, at an expense of nearly £4000,
and was repaired in 1828 at an additional cost of £700.
The Primitive Wesleyan Methodist chapel, in the same
street, was originally a store, which was used by Wesley
on his visit to this city in 1763: his congregation built
the Wesleyan Methodist chapel in 1783, but on the separation
taking place the Primitive Methodists returned
to their former place of worship; part of the building is
still let for a store, and the chapel is used as a Sunday
school between the intervals of divine service, for which
the dean pays a rent of £20. The old Wesleyan Methodist
chapel was vacated on the completion of a new
chapel built in 1835, at an estimated expense of £1100,
raised by subscription, towards which the Irish Society
contributed £100; the ground floor is used as a vestryroom
and a school-room for 300 children. There are
also places of worship for Presbyterians in connection
with the Seceding Synod, a plain building erected in
1783, at an expense of £450; for Covenanters, built in
1810 at a like expense; and for Independents, built
in 1824 at an expense of £500.
The Diocesan school, or Foyle College, was originally
founded within the walls as a free grammar school
in the reign of Jas. I., and was rebuilt on its present
site to the north of the city in 1814, chiefly through
the exertions of Bishop Knox, who gave £1000 towards
the expense, which amounted to £13,714. 13. 6.,
and was further defrayed by donations from the
Irish Society and London Companies, sale of stock, and
grand jury presentments. It is a simple but handsome
edifice of stone, consisting of a centre and two wings,
and pleasantly situated on the bank of the river: it is sufficiently
capacious to accommodate 80 boarders; there are
at present about 30 boarders and as many day-scholars,
exclusive of 20 who are free; the day pupils not free pay
£4. 4. per annum for mercantile, and £7. 7. per annum
for classical instruction. The school has no endowment,
but the Irish Society, the bishop, and the clergy of the
diocese subscribe annually to the amount of about £200;
this, with the emoluments arising from the boarders and
the day scholars who are not free, constitutes the income
of the master: the bishop and the dean and chapter are
trustees. The school has deservedly been held in great
estimation owing to the high literary acquirements of
the masters. Attached to the institution is an excellent
library of works on divinity, collected by Bishop
Hopkins, and purchased and presented to it by his successor,
Bishop King, which has also been augmented by
a donation of £100 from James Alexander, Esq., of
London; it is open to the clergy of the diocese at all
times. The parish school originated in an act of the
28th of Hen. VIII, confirmed by one of the 7th of Wm.III.:
the present building, situated without the walls,
was erected in 1812 through the liberal contributions of
Bishop Knox and the trustees of Erasmus Smith's charity,
the latter of whom allow annually £30 for the boys' and
£15 for the girls' school; and, in addition, the girls'
school is aided by annual grants of £40 and £10 late
currency from the Irish Society and the Bishop of Derry
respectively: there are about 108 boys and 97 girls,
who, except 20 of the boys who are free scholars, pay one
penny each weekly. In connection with the Presbyterian
meeting-house is a school established in 1820, in lieu of
a blue-coat school which had existed upwards of a century,
in which there are at present about 100 boys and
96 girls, who pay one penny each weekly; the boys'
school is further supported by a subscription of £10
per annum from the congregation, and an annual grant
of £20 by the Irish Society; and the girls' school by
subscriptions among the ladies, aided by £10 per ann.
late currency from the Irish Society: the school-rooms
were built and enlarged by subscription at an expense of
£450. St. Columb's school, founded in 1813 under the
auspices of the Roman Catholic bishop and clergy, but
for some time suspended from a difference which arose
between the prelate and one of his curates, was finally
established in 1825: the building, iucluding the erection
of a lofty enclosure, cost nearly £1000. It is in
connection with the National Board of Education, who
grant £30 per annum for its support, which is further
aided by £10 per annum from the Irish Society, and an
annual collection in the Roman Catholic chapel amounting
to £30; 143 boys and 166 girls are instructed. The
London Ladies' Society school, in Fountain-street, was
established in 1822; attached to it is a small library
for the use of the poor. Gwyn's Charitable Institution
was founded by Mr. John Gwyn, a merchant of the
city, who died in 1829, and endowed by him with a bequest
of £41,757, producing at present £1882 per ann.,
for boarding, clothing, and educating as many poor boys
as the funds may admit of. This excellent school, which
is under the management of 21 trustees, was opened
on the 1st of April, 1833, in a hired house formerly the
city hotel: the trustees have purchased 10 statute acres
of ground at the rear of the infirmary, where it is in contemplation
to erect premises capable of accommodating
200 pupils, at an estimated expense of £6000: there are
at present 81 boys in the school. A Sunday School
Union was formed in 1832, by which the liberties have
been divided into six districts, each under the superintendence
of one or two members; the number of schools
in the parish at present in connection with the union is
16, attended by 162 teachers, and the number of pupils
on the books is 1726.
The lunatic asylum for the counties of Londonderry,
Donegal, and Tyrone, situated on rising ground to the
north of the city, was commenced in June 1827, and
opened in 1829; the entire expense, including the purchase
of the site and furniture, amounted to £25,678.2.4.,
advanced by Government, and to be repaid by the three
counties by instalments. The. façade fronting the river
consists of a centre with pavilions, from which extend
wings with airing-sheds, terminating in angular pavilions,
all of Dungiven sandstone; above the centre rises
a turret, of which the upper part forms an octagonal
cupola; in the rear are several commodious airing-yards,
separated by ranges of brick building, including the domestic
offices and workshops: the entire length of the
front is 364 feet; the depth of the building, with the
airing-yards, 190 feet; and the height to the eave, 25
feet. The grounds comprise eight acres, including a plot
in front ornamentally planted, and a good garden The
asylum was originally intended for 104 patients, but
has been enlarged so as to admit 150: it is still too
small, from the cells being partially occupied by incurables,
persons afflicted with epilepsy, and idiots. The
average annual expenditure for the last three years
ending 1835 was £2554. 3.6.: the average number
of patients discharged recovered in each year was 42;
discharged relieved, 6; and incurable, 4; and the average
number of deaths was 17 in each year: the num-
2 R
ber of patients at the commencement of 1836 was 155;
about 100 of the patients are constantly employed. The
infirmary and fever hospital, for the city and county, on
the north of the city, was built in 1814, in place of an
old poor-house which previously occupied the site of the
present fish and vegetable markets, and is supported by
parliamentary grants, Grand Jury presentments, governors'
subscriptions, and contingencies: it contains 120
beds. The average annual income for five years ending
Jan. 5th, 1833, was £1475. 15. 10½., and the expenditure,
£1456. 10.; the entire number of patients deriving
relief from this institution on the 5th of Jan., 1835, was
463. A dispensary for the city and north-west liberties
was established in 1819 by the late Bishop Knox and
the inhabitants, and is supported by voluntary contributions,
an annual grant of £30 by the Irish Society,
and presentments by the Grand Jury; the number of
patients relieved in that year was 920, and the expenditure,
£235. 8. 2. The clergymen's widows' fund
originated in voluntary subscriptions, to which Bishop
Knox, a munificent benefactor to most of the charitable
institutions of Derry, gave £1000, and most of the
Protestant clergy of the diocese contributed: the widows
now receive each £35 per annum, and the six senior
widows have houses rent-free, called the Widows'-row,
adjacent to the cathedral. The charitable loan fuad was
instituted by Bishop Knox, and the corporation contributed
to it £31. 10. per ann. until the year 1829, from
which period it was unsupported till 1833, when the Irish
Society granted £10 annually towards the expense of
management: the capital, which is decreasing, amounted
on July 31st, 1835, to £423. The ladies' penny society
has an average annual income of about £200, including
a bequest of £30 per ann., and an annual grant of £30
by the Irish Society, which is applied in distributing
clothing and a few articles of food among the poor: it
has also a branch called the flax fund, to which the Society
contribute £20 per annum, for the distribution of
certain portions of flax among poor applicants, who are
paid for spinning it into yarn. The poor-shop, instituted
in 1821, under the management of a committee
of ladies, for providing the poor with clothes and bedding
at first cost, on condition of their giving security
for payment by weekly instalments at the rate of one
penny in the shilling, is supported by subscriptions. A
mendicity association was instituted in 1825, chiefly
through the exertions of Bishop Knox; and a penitentiary
for reclaiming abandoned females, to which there
is a school attached, was established in 1829. A religious
tract depository, in connection with which is a
religious, moral, and historical society, was established
in 1822: the library formed by the society comprises
about 500 publications, and at least one half of the
funds must be expended on works purely religious.
The above and many other charitable institutions are
in a great degree attributable to the indefatigable exertions
of the late Lady Hill. Alderman Peter Stanley,
in 1751, bequeathed £42 per annum late currency
for 31 inhabitants of the city and liberties on the
western side of the river; and in 1831, Margaret
Evory gave £20 per annum for the poor of the entire
parish.
In addition to the Ecclesiastical buildings already
recorded here was also a Franciscan mendicant friary
of unknown foundation, with a churchyard contain-
ing about three acres, the site of which is now occupied
by Abbey-street and others, and of which the
foundations were discovered a few years ago by some
workmen, but no vestiges of any of these buildings are
now remaining: The only religious house preserved on
the erection of the new city was the church of St. Augustine,
which was repaired and used prior to the erection
of the present cathedral, after which it was known
as "the little church;" its site is now occupied by the
bishop's garden. A small square tower was built by
O'Dogherty for O'Donell, in the 15th or 16th century,
but no vestige of it can now be traced. Near the Roman
Catholic chapel, outside the walls, are St. Columb's
wells, originally three in number and called by separate
names, but of which one is dried up; but the water,
though considered in remote parts of the island a specific
for diseases of the eye, is here held in little repute. In the
centre of St. Columb's-lane, adjacent to the wells, is St.
Columb's stone, on each side of which are two oval hollows
artificially formed, concerning which various legends are
related; the water deposited by rain in these hollows is
believed to possess a miraculous power in curing various
diseases. The shutting of the gates by the apprentice
boys on Dec. 7th, 1688 (O. S.), and the opening of them
on Aug. 12th following, have been annually commemorated,
but the ceremony has been somewhat modified
since 1832, in which year an act was passed declaring
such commemorations illegal; and have led to the establishment
of three distinct clubs of apprentice boys,
under different denominations. George Farquhar, the
dramatic poet, was born here in 1678; and the Rev.
Wm. Hamilton, D. D., author of "Letters concerning
the northern coast of the county of Antrim," and other
productions on natural history, who was assassinated at
the house of Dr. Waller, at Sharon, on March 2nd,
1797, was also a native of this place. Londonderry
gives the titles of Earl and Marquess to the family of
Stewart.