Mapping the Plantation City

The final talk in the Winter/Spring lecture series takes place on Thursday 8th March 2018 at 7pm in the Playhouse Theatre on Artillery Street

Near the end of 1618, 400 years ago this year,  Captain Nicholas Pynnar, the official Inspector of Fortifications in Ireland, was 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 so it is very appropriate that the title of Thursday evening’s lecture will be ‘Mapping the Plantation City’. 

Dr Annaleigh Margey, Lecturer in History at Dundalk Institute of Technology will discuss the place of the walls in landscape and in perception with a particular focus on the livery company maps of the Londonderry Plantation. While to modern viewers, they appear as basic drawings with little by way of modern cartographic expectation, the maps became fundamental tools in the development and shaping of plantation landscapes in the city and county.

Annaleigh is a Lecturer in History at Dundalk Institute of Technology. She studied for her BA and PhD at NUI, Galway. Her PhD research titled ‘Mapping during the Irish Plantations, 1550- 1636’, focused on the surveys and maps created by surveyors in Ireland during the decades of plantation. She subsequently held an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and a J.B. Harley Fellowship in the History of Cartography to continue this research at Trinity College Dublin. More recently, Annaleigh has worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen on ‘The 1641 Depositions Project’ and at the Institute of Historical Research, London where she conducted research on the property and charity of the Clothworkers’ Company in early modern London. She has also worked as a researcher on a project at NUI, Maynooth and the National Library of Ireland focusing on the rentals and maps in the landed estates of Ireland collections in the library’s holdings. She has recently been awarded an R.J. Hunter Bursary to further her work on the plantations in Ireland, focusing specifically on the ‘Towns and the Londonderry plantation, 1609-1709: the urban network of a plantation county’. Most recently, she has edited a book with her colleagues Elaine Murphy and Eamon Darcy on The 1641 Depositions and the Irish Rebellion, and will shortly publish another book Mapping Ireland, c.1550-1636: a catalogue of the early modern manuscript maps of Ireland with the Irish Manuscripts Commission. She has written several articles on early modern mapping in Ireland, particularly on Ulster, and on the 1641 depositions.

If you haven’t already done so you can book your place through the Derry Walls website www.thederrywalls.com/events

Culture Night Walking Tour

Art, Architecture and Revisionist History

Culture Night 2017 is Friday 22nd September and most of the arts and heritage venues within and around the Derry Walls are throwing their doors open with free taster events.  For the latest  information go to Derry Strabane’s Culture Night webpage.  Amidst all the excitement and cultural enrichment, Mark Lusby of the Friends of the Derry Walls will be conducting a guided walking tour of the Walled City, focusing on its architecture. Along the way he will be stopping at some of the arts and heritage venues, so you’ll be able to sample some of what is on offer, later. He’s arranged some some access-all-areas ‘passes’ so you can see some artworks not normally on show to the public. Expect some ‘revisionist history’ too as we all need to look at our given histories through fresh eyes. The tour starts at 6.30pm leaving from the foyer of the Playhouse on Artillery St. No need to book. Dress appropriately for the weather or for where you’re going on to later! The tour will finish at 7.30pm leaving you plenty of time to go to the other Culture Night events in the Walled City.

Wall to Wall heritage events in the Walled City next weekend

Derry Walls Day 2017, on Saturday 9th September, coincides with the first day of Northern Ireland’s European Heritage Open Days weekend. So Ireland’s Walled City will be an especially great place for a great day out next Saturday with Open Doors, exhibitions, special interest tours, living history and a treasure hunt.
The Friends of the Derry Walls are keen to spread the word about these great events. Anne McCartney, Secretary, explained: “The Friends of the Derry Walls raise awareness of the significance of the Derry Walls through organising educational and training events about the heritage and conservation of the Walls.  We also highlight our partners’ events. 2017 is the 400th anniversary of the opening of a Free School within the nearly completed City Walls and 400 years of education is the theme of Derry Walls Day 2017.”
The Walls Friends have enlisted the help of Daniel Doherty, as a graduate intern to help get the word out:  “I’ve recently graduated from the Ulster University with a degree in Business Studies with Advertising so I jumped at the chance of helping the charity to promote Derry Walls Day 2017. But with only a week to go, it is quite a challenge. However the quality of events being organised next weekend within the Walled City will be very popular once the word gets fully out.”
  • Open Doors – a great opportunity to see behind the closed doors of heritage buildings within the Walled City for free. Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th September 2017.
  • The Schoolmaster’s Treasure Hunt – a free treasure hunt around the Derry Walls with living history performers and the chance to win prizes. Saturday 9th September 2017.
  • Sketch the Derry Walls  – a  90 minute guided sketching and historical walking tour of the Derry Walls and Walled City. Saturday 9th September 2017.
  • Stone, Brick and Mortar Tour – a 90 minute geological, architectural and historical walking tour of the Derry Walls and Walled City. Saturday 9th September 2017.
  • Living History around the Walls – the most beautiful heritage buildings around the Derry Walls will be enhanced on #derrywallsday with living history performers. Saturday 9th September 2017.
  • Architectural Archives Exhibition – an exhibition in the Guildhall of hand-drawn plans of the many significant buildings in Derry Londonderry. Saturday 9th -Sunday 10th September 2017.
  • What Are Your Most Valued Places – a Twittersphere map based survey seeking public views on special places in the cross-border cultural landscape of Nort West Ireland. Saturday 9th September 2017.
  • Siege Tours of the Walls – the  final “Siege Walls” walking tours of the 2017 season on Saturday 9th September. £3 per person includes free admission to the Siege Museum.
  • Tour of Walled City and Historic Neighbourhoods –  Join architect/urbanist Mary Kerrigan for a walking tour on Sunday 10th September 2017.
Full details of the events and how to book are on the Walls Friends website www.thederrywalls.com/events