THE CITY' OF LON DON DERRY Owing to its long history and its geo~aphkal position the city of Londonderry has a distinctive -and attractive Jif.e.. ftf its own. '\f.: - . It 'was born over four.teen hundred years ago, when St. Columba founded a monastery in the 9_ak grove, on the hill where later the walled city was to stand. It began, therefore, as an ecclesiastical community, surviving for centuries frequent burnings by plundering Northmen and native ·armies. Then in the sixtEenth century, when Ireland became involved in European wars and politics, the position of Derry at the mouth of one of the great rlvers leading directly into the heart of Ulster led to its fortification as a garrison town, important strategically. So it became a walled city, .numbering two sieges in its long and laden story, and the second of the.:.e makes one of the greatest chapters of history. To anyone interested in olden times Derry has a constant f a:>cination. Its ancient iw alls still stand and· everywhere the p1 esent meets the past. There are quaint ·glimpses in unexpected places of stately Geor:gian doorways and windows. Old muzzleloading cannon look down on a modern warship at the quay side where descendants of Columba's gulls are still crying and calling. Yet it has its own modern life, its clashes of standards and culture, its own intere.sting economic and social problems. One of its greatest attractions is. pert:aps, the ease with which one can exchange the country for the city. To the West are the hi'ls of Donegal; down the broad lough to th~ East the headland of Benevenagh stands out against. the sky; while to the South-East rise the rounded pe~ks 9f the Spertin mountains.
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