Access to the walls is best made at the Water Bastion on Foyle Street, close to the city’s bus depot and beside the Central Library. Across the river from the Water Bastion, against which the Foyle used to flow and hence the name, was Stronge’s Orchard. Moving straight ahead with the Millennium Forum on the right, one comes to the sole gap in the walls at Market Street. Crossing over that street there is a steep climb to Ferryquay Gate. Before reaching the gate, however, one of the bastions may be seen. This is the London Bulwark or New Gate Bastion.
From atop the latter an excellent view may be had of the ground around this area of the defences as well as of part of the inner city. Ferryquay Street, originally Gracious Street, runs from the gate towards The Diamond which used to house the Town House, or Market House, and where the city’s war memorial now stands. Ferryquay Gate was the first gate shut by the apprentices against Antrim’s Regiment in December 1688. Its name signifies that this was the entrance to the city used by travellers who had crossed the river by ferry. The nearby Bridge Street, running beside the Foyleside shopping centre, leads to the site of the original bridge and, before that, the western end of the ferry across the Foyle. This gate also housed the city’s gaol.
Continuing the circuit of the walls, the next point of interest is another bastion. This is the Ferry Bastion, previously the Lord Deputy’s Bulwark, which was given its name because it stood opposite the ferry. Close by is the modern New Gate after which may be seen, on the left, one of the two guard or sentinel1 houses on the walls. Entry is not possible but close inspection will reveal just how claustrophobic duty in such a post must have been. To the right it is possible to leave the walls for a time to visit St Columb’s Cathedral through a gate into the cathedral graveyard. One of the most obvious burial places in the graveyard is the Heroes’ Mound on which stands a memorial to the defenders of the city. This feature has been renovated recently.
Entering the Cathedral one of the first sights to greet the visitor is a large mortar shell. This is the ‘dead shell’ in which surrender terms were fired into the city by the Jacobites about the end of June or beginning of July 1689. Within the Cathedral may be seen the memorial to Governor Henry Baker and Captain Michael Browning, of the Mountjoy as well as two of the French flags taken at the first battle of Windmill Hill. Although the staffs are original the fabric has been replaced. There is also a small museum in the chapterhouse which includes a number of siege artefacts. These include keys to the original four city gates, locally-made cannon balls, swords and other memorabilia, including an appeal to the government for redress from some of the citizens.
Returning to the walls it is worth taking a look up at the cathedral spire. The original tower was used as a gun platform, for two weapons, during the siege. As well as considering how these guns were lifted to their lofty platform, the visitor should also consider the field of fire enjoyed by the gunners on the tower. Think also of the all-round view to be had from what was the highest point within the walls: from here the relief fleet could be seen in the lough some miles to the north and from here efforts were made to signal to that fleet.
Beside the Cathedral may be seen another bastion. Not surprisingly, this is the Church Bastion which was earlier known as King James’ Bulwark – the sovereign in this case being James I. From the Church Bastion the walk continues towards Bishop’s Gate, which involves climbing some steep steps. It was before this gate that King James II appeared in April 1689 expecting to receive the city’s surrender. Bishop’s Gate was rebuilt in 1789 as a triumphal arch in memory of King William III with the original plans including an equestrian statue of that monarch although this was never completed. It was in front of this section of wall that Lundy’s ravelin was built in early-1689. There is now no trace of the ravelin but its outline was unearthed during an archaeological survey and dig in recent years.
Moving along from Bishop’s Gate leads the visitor to the Double Bastion, formerly Prince Charles’ Bulwark. Its size makes obvious why it was called the Double Bastion; it was here that the defenders erected the gallows from which they threatened to hang Jacobite prisoners in retaliation for Marshal de Rosen’s threat to herd Protestants into the city. From here there is an excellent view of the ground to the south, and it is clear why this was the area most under threat from the Jacobites. Looking south (upriver towards Strabane) it is possible, but only between late-autumn and early-spring, to see the remains of the windmill in the grounds of Lumen Christi College. Nearby also is the Long Tower Church, the oldest Roman Catholic church in the city, where Brigadier-General Ramsey was buried after the first battle of Windmill Hill.
Beyond the Long Tower, and looking at an angle, one can see the low-lying ground that was marshy in 1689 and helped protect the city from the Jacobites. Also visible is Foyle Hill where King James retired having been fired on at Bishop’s Gate. From there and sweeping round to the north-west the high ground on which the modern Foyle Hill and Creggan estates stand was the area on which many Jacobite troops were encamped during the siege.
Moving yet farther along the walls the next stopping point is the Royal Bastion, formerly Lord Docwra’s Bulwark, where may be seen the base on which stood a memorial to George Walker until it was blown up by the IRA in 1973. Between here and Butcher’s Gate is another gun platform from where it is possible to look down on the steeply-sloped ground up which the Jacobites attacked at the end of June in Skelton and Clancarty’s assault on the city. Looking beyond this to the rising ground to the left of St Eugene’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, is the probable location of the gun position from which the Jacobite artillery pounded the wall prior to that attack. It becomes clear, as one looks down on this ground, that the Jacobite soldiers who attacked the walls here on that June night in 1689 were not men who deserved to be dismissed as superstitious drunkards as both Walker and Sir Patrick Macrory have attempted to do.
Inside the walls at this point is St Augustine’s Church where also stood a chapel of ease of the same name in 1689 and where was sited the original Augustinian monastery. Nearby is the oldest of the city’s Presbyterian churches, First Derry, and between the two is the Apprentice Boys’ Memorial Hall, which also houses a small museum. Beside the Memorial Hall is a memorial garden in which stands the statue of George Walker that once adorned the pillar on the Royal Bastion.
Butcher’s Gate comes next; and it was in this vicinity that the most resolute attempt was made to penetrate the city at the end of June 1689. The bastion alongside the gate was mined by Jacobite engineers and so much damage was caused to the walls that gabions – large wicker baskets filled with earth or rubble – had to be emplaced before the wall to allow repairs to be carried out and to protect the wall from further damage. Even so, sufficient damage was done to allow the Jacobites to launch an infantry attack on the city. It was here that the walls were breached in spite of the ‘Maiden City’ soubriquet.
Beyond Butcher’s Gate is another of the new gates, Castle Gate, and then the Gunner’s Bastion, close to which was the master gunner’s house. Below that is the Coward’s Bastion, the place furthest removed from danger during the siege, which is beside the final new gate, Magazine Gate. Near here stood the city’s magazine and today, just inside the gate, is the award-winning Tower Museum wherein is told the story of the city from earliest times. O’Doherty’s Tower or fort, which stands here and gives the museum its name, is a replica built by local enterprise in the early-1980s.
The final stretch of the walls takes the visitor back to the Water Bastion passing over Shipquay Gate. In front of this stretch of the walls the river used to flow and here the relief ships, the Mountjoy of Derry and the Phoenix of Coleraine, berthed on the night that the boom was broken and the siege was ended. It was on this stretch of wall that, in 1945, Field Marshal Montgomery and Field Marshal Alexander, both from Irish families with connections to the city, were awarded the freedom of Londonderry. Today the city’s magnificent Guildhall dominates the area. At ground level the visitor may see
the memorial tablet to Michael Browning, captain of the Mountjoy, a local man who played a major and fatal part in bringing relief to the city.
As a footnote to the story of the siege, it is interesting to note that plans for improved defences for the city, emphasizing the importance of the ground to the south of Bishop’s Gate, were drawn up by the engineer Jean Thomas, a French Huguenot, in 1705. These were never implemented, largely due to the costs involved, which he estimated at £19,752. 12s 2d. The plans were suspended with the act of union between England and Scotland in 1707, which suggests that the city was no longer considered to be under threat. A plan of the proposed fortifications, which would have extended the city walls over an area nearly four times as large as that enclosed by the original walls, as well as building further Vaubanesque fortifications, may be seen in the British Library.
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1 Originally ‘centinel’ meaning one man of a hundred.
Appendix One
Dramatis Personae
Ash, Captain Thomas: from a local family which is still extant in County Londonderry, Thomas Ash was appointed captain in one of the regiments formed for the defence of the city. He seems to have been a former soldier as his account of the siege includes observations that indicate military experience. Ash is one of the eyewitnesses of the siege from within the walls, but his journal was not written for publication, unlike those of Walker and Mackenzie, and was not published for over a century after the siege.
Avaux, Jean Antoine de Mesmes, le Comte d’: Louis XlV’s ambassador to the court of James II, Avaux reported on the behaviour of the ‘king of England’, his plans and policies to his master and tried to persuade James to follow the strategic path that best suited France. A career diplomat, Avaux was born in 1640, fourth son of the President de Mesmes and nephew of Claude de Mesmes, Comte d’Avaux, one of France’s most distinguished diplomats. His was a noble and ancient family from Béarn, and the young Avaux followed his uncle into the diplomatic service, where his abilities were soon recognized and he came to the attention of Louis XIV. While still a young man, he was entrusted with several important tasks and was ambassador at Venice from 1672 to 1675 before being chosen, in 1675, as Louis’ plenipotentiary at the Congress of Nijmegen. From 1678 until 1688 he was France’s ambassador to The Netherlands. His diplomatic gifts and negotiating ability were famous but were sorely tried during his time with James II. However, the latter appointed him a privy councillor in Ireland although the two men never established the mutual trust necessary to work in harmony. Avaux’s mission to Ireland lasted only a year before he was recalled to France, but his was the hand that set in motion the recruiting of Irish regiments for French service, the famed Irish Brigade. He had established a high opinion of the soldierly qualities of the Irish peasant, and the subsequent service of the Irish Brigade was to prove the accuracy of his assessment. Avaux died in Paris in 1709. He left a reputation of being one of the finest diplomats of his age and one of the best that France, a nation that had developed diplomacy to a fine art, had produced.
Baker, Colonel Henry: a veteran of Tangier, Henry Baker was a professional soldier of considerable experience. Before the siege he had served in one of the regiments raised in east Ulster and was at the attack on Carrickfergus; he also served at Dromore with Rawdon. He was elected as Governor of Londonderry in succession to Robert Lundy. The Reverend George Walker was elected as his deputy although Walker claimed to be the governor in his own account of the siege. Baker was stricken down by illness in the course of the siege, probably caused by his unstinting attention to the defence of the city, and Colonel Jonathan Mitchelburne was appointed to act in his place. When Baker died, Mitchelburne continued to act as governor. Henry Baker was laid to rest in the north aisle of St Columb’s Cathedral.
Berwick, James FitzJames, Duke of: one of the illegitimate Sons of King James II, Berwick was appointed as a general in his father’s army. He was a soldier of some skill but became notorious for his ruthlessness, especially for his penchant for the scorched-earth tactic, destroying land, crops and animals to deny them to his enemies. The area around the city and into County Donegal seems to have the first region in which Berwick put this theory into practice.
Browning, Captain Michael: a native of the city, he commanded the merchant ship Mountjoy that brought relief to Derry and ended the siege, having earlier volunteered to make the run upriver to the beleaguered city. Browning was killed as his ship was attempting to break the boom across the Foyle. He is buried beside Henry Baker in the north aisle of St Columb’s Cathedral and is also commemorated by a tablet on the city walls across from the Guildhall.
Cairnes (or Cairns), David: from County Tyrone, he was a lawyer and one of those urging defiance in the later days of 1688. He later expended much energy in seeking means and funds to strengthen the city’s defences including travelling to London on behalf of the corporation to seek the support of the London companies. He died in 1722 and was buried in the churchyard of St Columb’s Cathedral.
Cairns, John: also from County Tyrone and possibly a relative of David Cairnes. He is listed as Cairnes in Young’s Fighters of Derry which also notes that he was from Claremore in Tyrone. John Cairns served as the lieutenant-colonel of Adam Murray’s regiment of horse.
Dunbar, Captain: one of the two Fermanagh men who led soldiers out of the city to engage the Jacobite attackers at Butcher’s Gate at the end of June. Unlike his fellow officer, Captain Noble, little is known of Dunbar and his subsequent life. Even his first name is not certain.
Hamilton, Lieutenant-General Richard: a member of a Scottish family that came to the English court on the accession of King James I. Richard Hamilton’s father was Sir George Hamilton, fourth son of the first Earl of Abercorn who held high office in Dublin castle; he was also related to the Ormondes. Staunch royalists, and Roman Catholics, the Hamiltons chose to accompany Charles II into exile in France, where Sir George was appointed Captain-Lieutenant of a corps of refugees from Britain and Ireland. This appointment was made by Louis XIV who was the captain of the corps. At the time of the restoration some members of the Hamilton family returned to England with Charles II and one was appointed as a maid of honour to Queen Catherine, later marrying Count Grammont. Richard and his three brothers served with the French army before his return to Britain and subsequent mission to Ireland on behalf of the Prince of Orange. When James arrived in Ireland, Richard was promoted lieutenant-general and became one of the commanders of the Jacobite army. He was captured at the battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Kirke, Major-General Percy: another veteran of Tangier, of which he had been governor, Kirke had achieved notoriety for his ruthlessness in suppressing the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion in 1685. He had also commanded the Queen’s Royal Regiment, the senior English infantry of the line regiment, who earned the ironic soubriquet ‘Kirke’s Lambs’ for their brutal treatment of Monmouth’s rebels at the battle of Sedgemoor in 1685. The paschal lamb of Queen Catherine’s coat of arms was the regimental badge. Kirke has been much criticized over the years for his apparent dilatory attitude to the relief of the city.
Leake, Captain John: commander of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Dartmouth, Leake played a major and very gallant role in the raising of the siege, positioning his ship to draw the fire of Culmore Fort away from the merchant ships that made the run upriver to the city. The son of the master-gunner of England, he later achieved the rank of admiral.
Lundy, Colonel (later Major-General) Robert: a Scot and a veteran of Tangier where he had served with Kirke, Lundy was known to his fellow veterans Baker and Mitchelburne, which may explain why he was able to avoid the worst consequences of his perceived treason in the days immediately before the siege. The first record of his military career shows him as a captain in 1684 in the Royal Regiment of Foot which later became the 1st Foot, but was better known as the Royal Scots; but he would have been serving before this as an ensign and then a lieutenant. He is not listed among the officers of the Royal
Regiment1 in 1685 by which time he was probably with Mountjoy’s Regiment in Ireland. During this unit’s service at Kinsale, County Cork, Lundy met and married Martha Davies, daughter of the Reverend Rowland Davies, the Dean of Ross. He next appears in surviving records as being appointed Colonel of Colonel Robert Lundie’s Londonderry Regiment of Foot on 24 April 1689, by which date he had already left the city. Although imprisoned in the Tower of London, Lundy was cleared of charges of treason and returned to his military career. In the early years of the eighteenth century he served as adjutant-general of the Portuguese army.
Mackenzie, The Reverend John: a Presbyterian minister, the incumbent of Derryloran (Cookstown), who was chaplain to George Walker’s Regiment during the siege. He has left us one of the eyewitness accounts of the siege from the defenders’ viewpoint which he wrote in response to Walker’s narrative, a version that not only withheld credit from the Presbyterians in the city but also included a number of slights and insults to the Presbyterians. Chief among the latter was Walker’s claim that he could not recall the names of any of the Presbyterian ministers who were in the city during the siege, including that of Mackenzie. When he wrote his vindication, Walker named the Presbyterian ministers but referred to the Reverend Gilchrist as KilChrist and to Mackenzie as Machiny. Mackenzie’s account of the siege is both more detailed and more balanced than Walker’s.
Mitchelburne, Colonel Jonathan: an Englishman, born in Sussex in 1648, and yet another veteran of Tangier, Mitchelburne was an accomplished soldier with considerable experience by the time of the siege. His military service appears to have begun in Monck’s Regiment, later the Coldstream Guards, before transferring to the Duke of Monmouth’s Regiment with whom he served in France. (Zachariah Tiffin, one of the officers with the first relief fleet and later the commanding officer of an Inniskilling regiment, was the adjutant of the regiment.) In 1678 Mitchelburne purchased a commission in Monmouth’s Regiment – the commission was dated 10 February – but the following year this regiment was disbanded and he transferred his commission to the Earl of Plymouth’s Regiment which became part of the garrison of Tangier in 1680. The regiment’s lieutenant-colonel was Percy Kirke, who later became its colonel. Following his service in Tangier Mitchelburne transferred to Mountjoy’s Regiment of the Irish army as a lieutenant in the Grenadier Company with which he served on garrison duty in Kinsale and Londonderry. He left the regiment when it was recalled to Dublin by Tyrconnel and entered service with the east Ulster units that fought at Carrickfergus and Dromore. He was appointed major in Clotworthy Skeffington’s Regiment with whom he came back to Derry, commanding that regiment at the battle of the fords. Promoted lieutenant-colonel, he retained command throughout the siege. Chosen to act for Baker during the latter’s illness, Mitchelburne succeeded his fellow soldier on his death. Also among the dead of the siege were Mitchelburne’s wife and children. In the years following the siege he settled in Derry, remarried and seems to have become an adopted Derryman. He campaigned vigorously to have the government fulfil its debts to the defenders of the city but without success. On one of his visits to London to press for reparations he was incarcerated in the Fleet prison as a debtor.
The Siege of Derry 1689 Page 32