Near the end of 1618 Captain Nicholas Pynnar, the official Inspector of Fortifications in Ireland, had been appointed to survey the progress of the Ulster Plantation and specifically:
the Works and Plantation performed by the City of London in the City and County of London-Derry.
His report, dated 28th March 1619, provides the first official certification of the completeness of the Derry Walls:
The Cittie of London Derry is now compassed about with a verie strong wall, excellentlie made and neatlie wrought, beinge all of good lyme and stone.
This survey is supported by the first illustration of the complete city walls.
In 2019, the Friends of the Derry Walls will be marking the quadricentennial of Pynnar Survey and the first official certification of the completeness of the Derry Walls. As a start-up charitable interest group, the Walls Friends are looking for your support and your ideas to help us explore the legacy of one of Ireland’s most important national monuments.
With a maximum budget of £5,000, the Friends endeavoured this year, not only to mark another key stage in the building of the Derry Walls, but also to give support to the property owners within the Walled City who valiantly open their doors every year for Northern Ireland’s version of European Heritage Days.
Caoimhe Sweeney is a city centre based painter, illustrator, animator and storyboard artist. Under the early tutorship of Maurice Harron, a deep passion for creative endeavours and local culture blossomed. Studies continued at the North West Regional College and her enthusiasm for painting developed under Sheila O’Brien, helping to achieve the Sheila McClean Award for Fine Art Painting of the Year. Pursuing painting at Leeds College of Contemporary Art and Graphic Design, her interest in both traditional and digital techniques gained her a First Class Honours Degree, and continue to infuse her current practice. Working within the locality, she exhibits at Bennigans Gallery, produces storyboards with local and regional filmmakers, and illustrates/animates for the comedy gameshow “Let’s Get Quizzical”, which tours festivals and is a monthly fixture at Bennigans Bar.
The Friends of the Derry Walls have welcomed the news that both James Nesbitt and Derry’s historic Walls have been named as Northern Ireland’s ‘National Treasures,’ following an online poll to celebrate 20 years of the National Lottery.
Vote Derry Walls by Tuesday 
We are up against t
Walls400 and the City Walls Heritage Project is the only dedicated resource working to promote the heritage of the Derry Walls as an educational and economic resource. We are a minnow in comparison to the task and the competition. Hence why we need your personal help and the help of your employer or any other organisation that you are a member of. We need you not only to vote for Derry Walls. We need you to ask your friends and colleagues to also vote for us. Your organisation or employer might be persuaded to adopt this campaign as their own. It would be great if they could ask all employees/members to also vote for Derry Walls by the Tuesday deadline.
Walls400 is trying to secure significant grant-aid to improve the presentation and understanding of the Derry Walls and it is important that people, locally, and supporters further afield, use the opportunity of this public vote to send out a loud message to potential funders that we believe that the Derry Walls are a national treasure.
The Derry Walls 