Colonial Londonderry

"If stones could speake, then London's prayse should sound - Who built this church and cittie from the grounde."

The old settlement may have fallen on hard times, but it remained strategically vital, and in the 16th century political events began to overtake the region. The English occupation of Ireland, which had been developing since Norman times, had proceeded apace until only the province of Ulster remained outside English control. Elizabeth I determined to subdue the entire island once and for all by military force. Derry was a key to this operation and English garrisons and colonies were established on the hill above the Foyle in 1566 and 1600. Both lasted only a few years before being wiped out in local uprisings.

Elizabeth died in 1603 but the new king, James I, continued her policies. The result was the Plantation of Ulster, in which Protestant settlers from Scotland and England were brought in and given lands confiscated from their original Catholic owners. This expensive operation was funded in part by the guilds of the city of London, who took charge of the planning of a wholly new settlement at Derry. The new settlers arrived in 1612 and immediately set about establishing the walls of the city, which would protect it from assault. The city was laid out as a grid, with four principal streets meeting in a central square: the grid pattern was carried to America and in Derry remains unchanged to this day. So the city was established, and was renamed Londonderry, in honour of the merchants who had given their backing to this risky enterprise. At the heart of the new city was St Columb's Cathedral (1613), one of the most important 17th-century buildings in Ireland and Britain. The new city was the largest town in Ulster but was nevertheless slow to prosper, surviving two sieges before the famous Siege of Derry of 1688-1689.