Ordnance survey of the county of Londonderry / Colonel Colby ... superintendent. Volume the first.

  • Ordnance Survey of Ireland
Date:
1837
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ordnance survey of the county of Londonderry / Colonel Colby ... superintendent. Volume the first. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the Irish of all Ulster, and nearly all Connaught, and the entire of Breifny—the most illustrious man of the Irish for hospitality, feats of arms, pre-eminence, and nobility, in his time, and the most distinguished warrior of western Europe, was slain in the battle of Oipeapc oa cpfoc [Desertcreat, in Tyrone], in the 41st year of his age, and interred in the monastery of Derry, after gaining victory in goodness until that time.” 1306. “ Goffridus [Mac Loughlin] bishop of Dere sued Henry [Mac-an-Crossan] bishop of Rapho for a messuage and 10 carucats of land, and 1000 acres of pasture in Dere- Columbfcille, which he claimed as the right of his church of St. Columba of Dere, to which he [Henry] had no right except by the gift of Dovenald [Oge] O’Dovenald, who had unjustly deprived Germanus [O’Caireallain] late bishop of Dere, and given it to Florence [O’Ferral, or, correctly, O’Firghil], late bishop of Rapho.”— ( Hot. Plac. com. Banco Regis Hib. 34 Eaw: I:, Trinity Term. Richard de Exon. Justiciar, no. 56.) 1310-11. “ The king [Edward II.] appoints the bishop of Connor to inquire on the oaths of proper men of the vicinage of Derry, Bothmen, Moybyle [Moville], and Fathun-murra [Fahan], and the Crosses of Ulster, whether or not the king or any other person would be prejudiced if he should grant to Richard de Burgo, earl of Ulster, that he might retain to himself and his heirs for ever the city of Derry, 2 townlands in Bothmean in Inchetum [Inch Island], 2 messuages, and 8 carrucats of land in Moybyle and Fathun-murra, and the advowson of the moiety of the church of Inchetum, which are held of the king, in capite, as aforesaid, and which the said earl has obtained in fee from Goffridus (Mac Loughlin], bishop of Derry, with the consent of his chapter, but without the license of Edward . 8th Feb.”—(Rot. Pat. 4 Edui: II.) 1311. “ The king grants the towns of Derrecolumkille and Loughlappan [in Inishowen,] to Richard de Burgo, earl of Ulster.”—(Rot. Pat. 3 et 4 Edw : II.) These three last notices indicate that, previously to the revolt of O’Neill, in 1333, Derry, as well as Antrim, was under tolerable government. [See County History.] 1318. “ John, the son of Donnell O’Neill, was slain by O’Donnell (Hugh, the son of Donnell Oge), at Derry; and Mac Donnell, and many others, were slain and drowned.” ' 1537. “ The son of O’Doherty (Niall Caoch, the son of Gerald, who was son of Donnell, who was son of Felim,) was slain in a nocturnal aggression, by Rory, the son of Felim O’Doherty, at 6aile na 5-cananac [the town of the canons], in the termon of Derry.” The Irish annals of Derry, preceding its occupation by the English, terminate here. Meagre, as already acknowledged, these notices are,—but they afford striking evidences of the continuation in this part of the island, to so recent a period, of the original institutions of the country, and saddening illustrations of the insecurity of life and property, and the amount of misery and confusion, which were the inevitable results of such a social system. The town, if such it might be called, was entirely ecclesiastical, and consisted almost exclusively of churches, and the habitations of the monks and clergy. The former were evidently structures of stone, and the latter of wood, or mud; for in those days a stone house was called a castle,—and the only structure of that kind, recorded to have been then erected in Derry, was a small square tower, built by O’Doherty, in the 15th or 16th century, for O’Donnell, on a spot of ground purchased for the purpose from the erenach Mac Loughlin. Of this castle some remains are supposed still to exist in the old magazine—but of none of the ancient ecclesiastical buildings is there a vestige to be found: they have shared the fate of the vene- rable oak grove, in the midst of which they were originally erected, and which, as has been shewn, had been preserved through many successive ages with an equally religious veneration. St. Columb’s Church, or Duv-Regles.—A passage in the Life of Saint Columb, written in the 16th century by O’Donnell, prince of Tireonnell, defines the position and form of the original church of Derry, and shews that, the preservation of the surrounding trees was considered by the clergy as a sacred duty, imposed upon them by the patron saint himself. He writes thus:—“ Many other signs and miracles were wrought by this servant of Christ in the same place, in which he himself dwelt for a long time, and which he loved above every other; and particularly that beautiful grove very near the monastery of Derry, which he wished should be always left standing. And he gave orders that, should any one of its trees be prostrated by a storm, or by decay, it should not be removed until after the expiration of nine days, after which one-tenth part should be given to the poor, one-third be reserved for the hearth of the guests, and the remainder be distributed among the people. From this veneration for the grove, when the holy man was about erecting the church, commonly known by the name of Duibh Regies, he preferred that the foundation of the building should be laid in a trans- verse position, leaving the grove untouched, which by its density and contiguity rendered the place narrow, rather than that the building should, according to the usual custom, be made to look to the east, by clearing away part of the grove for that purpose. But, that he might not appear to deviate entirely from the usage of the church, he ordered that the sacred altar, upon which he himself offered sacrifice, should be erected at the eastern side of the building. The ruins of that church, remaining at this day