24 September 2013 – war and peace, old and new.

Today we explored Derry/Londonderry. We had a day with nothing specific planned, in case we were in need of spending a day catching up on sleep, but we’ve managed to do a reasonable amount.

To begin with, we headed into the centre of the city. Derry is completely surrounded by walls built in the 17^th Century, and you can walk all the way around.

Derry has 2 major events that form key parts of Northern Irish history – the first was the closing of the gates in 1689, when King James came to claim the town for the Catholic forces. Some boys or young men made the decision to lock the gates and maintain the city’s position as a Protestant stronghold. With no access to fresh food, the townspeople were close to starvation when a ship with King William’s Protestant forces arrived at the river gate with supplies. The second event was Bloody Sunday, when 14 people were killed and 14 injured when the British army opened fire on unarmed civil rights protesters in 1972 – several of the victims were shot in the back. Throughout our walk we saw numerous references to the first event but barely a mention of the second. Bloody Sunday is still very recent to the people of the city, with the final report from the investigations only being released in 2010. The siege is also a story of Protestant heroes, part of a proud tradition in this city, whereas Bloody Sunday is a story of innocent Catholic victims. 

Derry/Londonderry is like Belfast in that the centre of the city seems vibrant, arty and non-partisan, while the poorer areas on the outskirts have murals and flags to show their allegiances.

The walls of Derry have more cannons than we have ever seen.

It is a very interesting walk around the walls, with views inside and out, and lots of interesting places to visit.

Derry/Londonderry is the 2013 City of Culture, with all sorts of events. We visited a warehouse space currently in use as a gallery – the exhibition was an installation of 7 movie screens showing a choreographed set of dance and movement performances by people from the city in different locations outside the city walls. Strange but intriguing, we don’t really know what it was about but we enjoyed watching it.

We visited St Augustine’s, a Church of Ireland building dating from 1872, on a site used for worship since the 6^th Century.

After walking around the walls, we visited the guildhall, a magnificent building constructed in the 19^th Century and an important part of Derry’s history – it has been bombed several times and was the site of the enquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday.

We saw the Hands Across the Divide Statue, symbolising reconciliation and unveiled 20 years after Bloody Sunday. This statue predates the Belfast Agreement so was more a symbol of hope than a representation of the peace process...

... and crossed the Peace Bridge, built in 2011 and uniting 2 parts of the greater city area that traditionally have been on opposing sides in terms of politics and religion. We think it also echoes the lines of the Hands Across the Divide statue, with the curves and the leaning columns, as a symbol of reconciliation and peace.

   

So we actually managed quite a lot before settling down for a big afternoon tea back at our hotel!