| The Guildhall | |
|---|---|
 The Guildhall, as seen from Whittaker Street. | |
| Location | Guildhall Square, Derry |
| Coordinates | 54°59′53″N7°19′12″W / 54.998°N 7.320°W |
| Built | 1890 |
| Architect | John Guy Ferguson |
| Architectural style(s) | Beaux-Arts |
Listed Building – Grade A | |
| Designated | 25 May 1976 |
| Reference no. | HB 01/19/038 |
  Shown in Derry | |
The Guildhall in Derry, Northern Ireland, is a guildhall in which the elected members of Derry City and Strabane District Council meet. It is a Grade A listed building. [1]
The current building was preceded by an earlier town hall called the Market House which was built in the 17th century and destroyed in the Siege of Derry in 1689. [2] The current building, which was designed by John Guy Ferguson and financed by The Honourable The Irish Society, was completed in 1890. [3] The design for the clock tower was modelled on the Elizabeth Tower in London. [4]
After a disastrous fire in 1908, in which only the tower and rear block survived, [5] and more funding from The Honourable The Irish Society, the Guildhall was rebuilt to the design of Mathew Alexander Robinson in 1912. [3] The current organ, which was designed by Sir Walter Parratt and has 3,132 pipes, was installed in 1914. [6]
During The Troubles, the Guildhall was the focus of multiple terror attacks. The building was badly damaged by two bombs in 1972, but was restored at a cost of £1.7 million and reopened in 1977. [2] On 23 September 1980 the Field Day Theatre Company presented its first production, the premiere of Brian Friel's Translations, in the Guildhall. [7]
The Guildhall, which had been the meeting place of the county borough of Londonderry for much of the 20th century, continued to be the local seat of government after the formation of Londonderry City Council in 1972; the council was renamed Derry City Council in 1984. [8]
The square in front of the Guildhall regularly plays host to important events and was the site of U.S. President Bill Clinton's address when he visited the city in November 1995. [9]
The Guildhall was also home to the Saville Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday from 1998 to 2005. [3]
An extensive restoration programme, undertaken by H & J Martin (the contracting firm which built Belfast City Hall) to the designs of Consarc Architects, began in August 2010. [10] [11] The project was completed in 2013 at a cost £8 million, [11] and won a Regional Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2014. [10]
Following further local government reorganisation, the building became the meeting place of the enlarged Derry and Strabane City Council in 2014; the council was renamed Derry City and Strabane District Council on 24 February 2016. [12]
Derry, officially Londonderry, is the largest city in County Londonderry, the second-largest in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, which is spanned by two road bridges and one footbridge. The city now covers both banks.
County Londonderry, also known as County Derry, is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. Before the partition of Ireland, it was one of the counties of the Kingdom of Ireland from 1613 onward and then of the United Kingdom after the Acts of Union 1800. Adjoining the north-west shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,118 km2 (818 sq mi) and today has a population of about 252,231.
Strabane is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways, is the railway operator in Northern Ireland. NIR is a subsidiary of Translink, whose parent company is the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), and is one of eight publicly owned train operators in the United Kingdom, the others being Direct Rail Services, Northern Trains, Transport for Wales Rail, Southeastern, LNER, ScotRail, and TransPennine Express. It has a common Board of Management with the other two companies in the group, Ulsterbus and Metro.
Foyle is a constituency in Northern Ireland covering Derry, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Its current Member of Parliament (MP) has been Colum Eastwood of the SDLP since 2019.
The Honourable The Irish Society is a consortium of livery companies of the City of London established during the Plantation of Ulster to colonise County Londonderry. It was created in 1609 within the City of London Corporation, and incorporated in 1613 by royal charter of James I. In its first decades the society rebuilt the city of Derry and town of Coleraine, and for centuries it owned property and fishing rights near both towns. Some of the society's profits were used to develop the economy and infrastructure of the area, while some was returned to the London investors, and some used for charitable work.
Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle, is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over the waters has been in dispute since the Partition of Ireland.
The River Foyle is a river in west Ulster in the northwest of the island of Ireland, which flows from the confluence of the rivers Finn and Mourne at the towns of Lifford in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, and Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. From here it flows to the city of Derry, where it discharges into Lough Foyle and, ultimately, the Atlantic Ocean. The total length of the River Foyle is 32 km (20 mi). The river separates part of County Donegal from parts of both County Londonderry and County Tyrone. The district of County Donegal that borders the western bank of the River Foyle is traditionally known as the Laggan. This district includes the villages of St Johnston and Carrigans, both of which are nestled on the banks of the River.
Stranorlar is a town, townland and civil parish in the Finn Valley of County Donegal, in Ireland. Stranorlar and Ballybofey form the twin towns of Ballybofey–Stranorlar.
Foyle College is a co-educational non-denominational voluntary grammar school in Derry, Northern Ireland. The school's legal name is Foyle and Londonderry College. In 1976, two local schools, Foyle College and Londonderry High School, merged under the Foyle and Londonderry College Act 1976 to form Foyle and Londonderry College. In 2011, the Board of Governors re-branded the school as 'Foyle College' and updated the school's crest.
Derry City Council was the local government authority for the city of Derry in Northern Ireland. It merged with Strabane District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Derry and Strabane District Council.
Donemana or Dunnamanagh is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is 7 miles or 11 kilometres north-east of Strabane, on the banks of the Burn Dennett and at the foothills of the Sperrins. In 2001, it was the largest of the thirteen villages in the former Strabane District Council area and it had a population of 586 in the Census that year.
The names of the city and county of Derry or Londonderry in Northern Ireland are the subject of a naming dispute between Irish nationalists and unionists. Generally, although not always, nationalists favour using the name Derry, and unionists Londonderry. Legally, the city and county are called "Londonderry", while the local government district containing the city is called "Derry City and Strabane". The naming debate became particularly politicised at the outset of the Troubles, with the mention of either name acting as a shibboleth used to associate the speaker with one of Northern Ireland's two main communities. The district of Derry and Strabane was created in 2015, subsuming a district created in 1973 with the name "Londonderry", which changed to "Derry" in 1984.
The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium is a municipal football stadium in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C. and (temporarily) NIFL Championship team Institute also home to NIWFA Championship Ladies Team Foyle Belles FC.
Derry ~ Londonderry railway station, also known as North West Transport Hub or Waterside railway station, is a railway terminus in Derry, Northern Ireland, on the east bank of the River Foyle, operated by Northern Ireland Railways and its 7th busiest station across the network with 952,126 passengers boarding or alighting at the station in the 2023/24 financial year. It is on the Belfast–Derry railway line, terminating at Belfast Lanyon Place. Derry/Londonderry has the longest platforms on the NIR Network, at 258.3 metres in length.
Lisburn railway station serves the city of Lisburn in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Derry City and Strabane is a local government district that was created on 1 April 2015 by merging the City of Derry District and Strabane District. It covers most of the northwest of Northern Ireland. The local authority is Derry City and Strabane District Council.
Cara Hunter MLA is an Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician, currently serving as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry, a position she has held since 18 May 2020.
Boom Hall is a house and demesne in Derry, Northern Ireland. Lying close to the west bank of the River Foyle, a fort was constructed on the site during the English Civil War. During the Williamite War in Ireland a boom was constructed across the river to try to prevent Williamite forces relieving the Siege of Derry. A two-storey country house was subsequently built on the site by the Alexander family and named after this boom. The estate was later leased to a number of people until a leasehold was sold to Daniel Baird in 1849 by The 3rd Earl of Caledon. This was inherited by Daniel Baird Maturin-Baird who also purchased the freehold from the Alexanders. Boom Hall was again let to a number of different people, with Michael Henry McDevitt living there from 1924. During the Second World War, the demesne was used by the Admiralty and a number of temporary huts were built there. McDevitt purchased the freehold in 1949 and the house was renovated. It fell into disuse in the 1960s and was almost destroyed by fire in the 1970s. Part of the estate was used for the construction of the Foyle Bridge.
Coleraine Town Hall is a municipal structure in The Diamond in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Coleraine Borough Council, is a Grade B1 listed building.
Media related to Guildhall, Derry at Wikimedia Commons