Northern Ireland Part I: Derry

This weekend I went to Northern Ireland, which is actually a separate country from the Republic of Ireland and is instead a part of the United Kingdom. We departed Wednesday afternoon and spent the next four hours on the bus. We stopped at W.B. Yeats’ grave where JD read us one of his poems. We then continued until we arrived in Derry, or as some call it, Londonderry. Our hostel this weekend was amazing, it was only the students from CSB/SJU in the house. When we got to Derry, we ate supper and then Jacquie, our Archeology professor, took us to Peader’s Pub which had traditional Irish music. 

Ring Fort

The next morning we went to Grianan of Aileach, a ring fort in Donnegal. I later found out that this was the fort of the Lords of the O’Doherty clan, so I was looking at the place that my ancestors may have lived! I also learned that they were a very influential family in Ireland. Jacquie told me that there were Dohertys all over the area and looking out from the top of the fort, we could see all the land they once ruled! After we left the ring fort we went to the Tower Museum that chronicles the history of Derry starting with the origins of a monastery there. Again, I learned more about the O’Doherty family. There were flags hanging up and even though we weren’t supposed to take pictures, the tour guide said I should get one of the O’Doherty family crest flag. I learned the O’Dohertys were one of the leading Gaelic families in Derry in the Middle Ages. They built a new castle in Derry around AD 1500 and the Tower Museum is a modern attempt to replicate the castle close to the site of the original one. The O’Doherty sword was in the museum and the caption underneath it read, “ A two-handed ‘Ferrara’ steel sword. The scabbard is leather and brass. The sword is traditionally said to have been owned by Sir Cahir O’Doherty. O’Doherty was killed on 5^th July 1608. His severed head was displayed in Dublin.”

O'Doherty Flag

Sir Cahir O'Doherty's sword

After lunch, we went to the Museum of Free Derry, a personal account of the Bloody Sunday massacre that occurred on Jaunary 30^th 1972. Before coming to Derry, I only knew a little bit about the Troubles and the tension between Catholics and Protestants but this weekend I learned a lot. Jacquie is catholic so she gave us her perspective on the tragedy. Free Derry was called that because it was the place that was never invaded by the army. On January 30^th, the people of Derry had intended to hold a peaceful civil rights parade. The weather was nice and Catholics came to march around town in a protest of the British. There were men, women, children, and people of all ages. What they had thought was going to be a nonviolent demonstration turned into a disaster. Fourteen people died, six of them were only 17 years old, four were in their twenties. Jacquie’s brother was with his best friend, Gerald Donaghy, who was shot and died later that day. In 2010 the British government admitted and apologized for Bloody Sunday and stated the people who died were innocent besided Gerald Donaghy who had nail bombs in his pockets. To this day, many are convinced that he was planted with the bombs by police officers and from what Jacquie and another woman at the museum said, it didn’t seem logical that he would have had them.

After we went to the museum, we walked around Derry and Jacquie showed us various political murals around Free Derry. It is clear that the people are still feeling the hurt of this event and when we toured the city walls, it was evident she was slightly uncomfortable going into the Protestant section. She told us that they stay on their side and she stays on hers. It was a little bit difficult for us to fathom because to us, Catholic and Protestant isn’t all that different. But it isn’t necessarily their religion that differs between them but the attitudes and elitism that were practiced by the Protestants. All of this was completely new to me but I learned a ton in a couple of short hours.

Mural

On Thursday we toured the Old Bushmills whisky distillery where we learned how they make whisky and got the chance to sample a few of their different kinds. After this we headed to Giant’s Causeway, one of the places I was most excited to see while in Ireland. Giant’s Causeway is a rock formation created by a volcanic eruption. There are 40,000 basalt column jutting up out of the ocean to form this awesome site. It is called Giant’s Causeway because legend has it that Finn MacCool built this staircase to fight the mighty Scottish giant on the other side of the ocean but when he saw Finn, he was afraid so he ripped up the causeway so that Finn couldn't get to Scotland, leaving the formations we see today. It was beautiful! We climbed the stairs up to the top of the lookout and it was incredible!

Hexagonal Columns