The Troubles kept tourists at bay from a city that was a byword for civic mayhem. Now Derry has reinvented itself – although MAL ROGERScan't quite believe his ears
‘DERRY IS THE world’s most northerly Catholic city,” said Gerard, my guide for the day. It seemed an odd statistic. Could it really be true? When you think about it, maybe so: northern, ultramontane Europe has few other candidates for the post, America even fewer.
But that wasn’t even the most extravagant religious claim I heard on the day. Alongside it was the 25-carat globule of information that the only Irish person in Jerusalem on the day of the Crucifixion was a Derry man. Conor mac Cormac was a professional wrestler from the Downhill area. “ ‘It’s all Downhill from here’ was his slogan in the Holy Land,” Gerard solemnly assured me.
It would be fair to point out that several parishes throughout Ireland carry this arcane legend. Indeed, if all are true, the Irish may have made up a sizeable proportion of the crowd at Calvary that Friday.
Derry's claim for a presence in Jerusalem is perhaps more enduring than most: there's been a long association with Christianity here, and we're not just talking about the local minister who would begin his sermons with the words, "Oh Lord, as thou wilt have read in last week's Coleraine Times. . . "
St Colmcille founded his sixth-century mission here before decamping to Iona and becoming one of the big hitters in the early Christian church; much later King James’s troops massed for the siege of 1689 in a crucial away tie for the Catholics. On the other side of the religious divide, St Columb’s Cathedral, Derry’s oldest building, was the first post-Reformation church to be built in Ireland or Britain. Religion is something of a, well, religion here (Gerard again).
This aside, Derry can scrape together quite a few other records. The muscular stone walls surrounding the city have stood silent witness to history both heroic and terrible. But despite strenuous efforts over the centuries nobody managed to tear them down, leaving Derry the only completely walled city left in Ireland or Britain, and one of the few in Europe.
Walking along the top of the walls – they're about six metres wide – you can gaze down Free Derry Corner in the Bogside, now with almost Berlin Wall status, and contemplate the turbulent history of the city. "Derry started life with a hot temper and it has never cooled down." No, not Gerard but William Bulfin, in Rambles in Éireann, 1907. And no longer true: the city, for so long a byword for civic mayhem, has reinvented itself as a buzzy metropolis full of restaurants and clubs where even Bono could get a lesson in how to wear sunglasses.
Just a stone’s throw from Derry are some of the finest beaches in Ireland. The 10km golden sands of Benone Strand come complete with a magnificent backdrop of mountain and cliff scenery on Derry’s Atlantic coast. Washed by huge breakers, it overlooks Donegal’s Inishowen Peninsula just a few kilometres across the sparkling ocean. Beyond the strand is Downhill, an intriguing village even apart from its connections with Calvary. Above it stands a castle built in 1780 by John Adams for the bishop of Derry.
Even by the standards of the North, the bishop was somewhat eccentric. So devoted was he to improving relations between different religious groups that he organised horse races between clergy of all denominations on Magilligan Strand. A splendid idea, but one that, alas, had no lasting benefit for inter- religious relations.
The bishop – aka the earl of Bristol – held religious beliefs and had ideas of social propriety that were sometimes called into question, and he is thought to have been the target of Dom Gregory Dix’s jibe that “it is no accident that the symbol of the bishop is a crook and the sign of an archbishop is a double cross”.
Most of the bishop’s castle today lies poignantly in ruins. The part known as Mussenden Temple, a building for which the word “folly” could have been invented, commands a view across to the western isles of Scotland. The designer Michael Shanahan created it along the lines of the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, near Rome – although, to be honest, perched on this windswept headland you’d be hard pressed to believe you were in Italy.
The castle and temple are about 12km northwest of Coleraine on the A2. Alternatively, take the Derry-Portrush train along the banks of Lough Foyle. This is the best way to see the polder, or reclaimed coastal strip, between Derry and the mouth of the Roe – unusual terrain to find in Ireland. The land was reclaimed in the 19th century for flax growing, and it remains a flat, fertile expanse of countryside.
Before you set out on any expedition along the coast you should stock up on picnic vittles. The vernacular breads and pastries are ideal for the job. Derry, like everywhere else in the North, loves its potato farls, or fadge, and wheaten bread, its cakes and pastries. This has long been a unifying force across the religious divide. Even at the very height of the Troubles the commonest phrase wasn’t “No surrender” or “Tiocfaidh ár lá” but “My, isn’t that a lovely jam sponge?”
A Derry institution, the Leprechaun (41 Clooney Terrace, 048-71345141) is just about the best deli-bakery takeaway in the northwest.
Farther along the coast is Portstewart, a nostalgic throwback to genteel seaside resorts of the 1950s. Indeed, you might imagine that not much has changed here since the novelist Charles Lever, who lived in the main street, entertained William Makepeace Thackeray in a local inn. The English writer was much impressed by the town, particularly its “air of comfort and neatness”, although he did detect some traces of “sanctimoniousness and sabbatarianism”. You couldn’t put much past Thackeray.
The songwriter Jimmy Kennedy ( Teddy Bears' Picnic, Isle of Capri, South of the Border), brought up in Portstewart, was similarly taken with the view. His Red Sails in the Sunset concerns the local boat Kitty of Coleraine– still said to be moored in Portstewart harbour, although no one seems to remember which boat it is. Jimmy, originally from Omagh, later explained that the sails were in fact white, with the sunset turning them red – and truly there is something almost iridescent about sunsets here. Walk through the streets of Portstewart as the sun goes down and you'll be convinced somebody has turned on a giant floodlight to suffuse the streets with red light.
Despite the town’s music connections, the beach is Portstewart’s main attraction – and has been for the thick end of 9,000 years. This was once home to Neolithic people – the first settlers to Ireland landed not far away, at Mount Sandel. On a high bluff overlooking the River Bann, the remains of a small collection of huts provide evidence of these prototype Irish people.
It’s believed these first settlers moved inland towards the Sperrins, in the process becoming the country’s first hillwalkers. And who could blame them? There’s no doubt that Killarney’s lakes and fells are more famous, the mountains of Mourne more lauded in song, and Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, in Kerry, trickier to spell, but the Sperrins have a charm all their own. Easily enough climbed, Mullaghclogher (578m) and Mullaghaneany (630m) are both within the range of the averagely fit. Your reward is a panorama stretching from mid-Ulster to the hills of Donegal.
Mind you, as we passed a ravine Gerard (he’s still with us) nonchalantly remarked: “Aye, we lost a guide down that gully last winter.”
“That’s terrible!” I said incredulously. “How awful.”
“Ach, it was an old one,” said Gerard. “Loads of pages were missing.”
Less whimsically, the Sperrins are a range of hills making up one of the largest upland areas in Ireland. Many waymarked hiking trails and pathways pass through some of the most handsome – and emptiest – countryside on the island.
Walk far enough and you’ll eventually come to Bellaghy, with its definitive plantation bawn, or fortified farmhouse. The huge circular tower and strong walls – protection against disgruntled locals – were built for the London Vintners’ Company. After the plantation the whole region west of Lough Neagh seethed with sedition, so substantial defences were required.
At the same time as the British were “planting” Ulster and fighting off outlaws, America was similarly being colonised. Native Americans turned out to be as aggrieved as the Irish, and protection was soon needed. The US “stockade style” owes a lot to the design of places like Bellaghy Bawn.
Today the bawn is a museum featuring exhibitions on local natural history, details of the Ulster Plantation and the poetry of local Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney.
Derry's landscape has inspired poets and playwrights to pen some of the great jewels of the English language; the melancholy and the magic of the countryside have similarly inspired musicians to compose some of the most beautiful airs in the Irish canon – Danny Boyand The Gem of the Roefor starters.
But two things have meant that, for the large part, its landscape has only been enjoyed by locals or by visitors with family there. The Troubles and the weather have both kept tourists at bay. Peace has now come to the North, and the area is as tranquil as any part of the Dordogne.
The weather is a trickier devil: with nobody around to sign a climatic Belfast Agreement with, some days can fairly be described as bracing. When people ask what clothes they should bring, Derry locals usually reply: “All of them.” So bring them along, and if the sky threatens mischief you can do what Derry people do: put on the heavy weather gear, go for a walk and head home happy.
Where to stay and where to eat
Where to stay
Tower Hotel. Butcher Street, 048-71371000, towerhotelderry.com. The four-star Tower is the only hotel within Derry’s walls, and a favourite meeting place for city society. Double rooms from £65 (€72).
Radisson Roe Park Hotel. Roe Park, Limavady, 048-77722222, radissonroepark.com. The north coast’s only four-star hotel until you get to Derry city, the Rad Roe is set on a historic 60-hectare country estate. Currently offering two nights’ BB plus one dinner for £134pps (€148pps).
Laurel Villa Townhouse. 60 Church Street, Magherafelt, 048-79301459, laurel-villa.com. Seamus Heaney was born five kilometres from Laurel Villa, which is now rated in the world’s top 10 literary-themed hotels. BB from £70 (€78).
Where to eat
The Linen Hall Bar. 3-5 Market Street, 048-71371665. Facing the old walls of Derry, this is one of the great restaurants in the North, with an equally famous pub attached. Everything from the most tempting amuse-bouches to straightforward hefty steaks.
The Salmon Leap. Castleroe Road, Coleraine, 048-70342992. On the River Bann, this is one of the oldest and most inviting inns in the area. One-time home of the legendary Kitty of Coleraine (“As beautiful Kitty one morning was tripping, with a pitcher of milk from the fair of Coleraine . . .”), the Salmon Leap specialises in local produce, with the eponymous Salmo salar as its star.
The Lime Tree. 60 Catherine Street, Limavady, 048-77764300, limetreerest.com. An innovative restaurant where local produce is given an imaginative twist.
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