Protestant Episcopalians. Londonderry (pop. 38,892), Coleraine
(6958) and Limavady (2692) are the principal towns, while Magherafelt
and Moneymore are lesser market towns. The county
comprises six baronies. Assizes are held at Londonderry, and quarter
sessions at Coleraine, Londonderry and Magherafelt. The county is
represented in parliament by two members, for the north and
south divisions respectively. The Protestant and Roman Catholic
dioceses of Armagh, Derry and Down each include parts of the
county.
At an early period the county was inhabited by the O’Cathans or O’Catrans, who were tributary to the O’Neills. Towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth the county was seized, with the purpose of checking the power of the O’Neills, when it received the name of Coleraine, having that town for its capital. In 1609, after the confiscation of the estates of the O’Neills, the citizens of London obtained possession of the towns of Londonderry and Coleraine and adjoining lands, 60 acres out of every 1000 being assigned for church lands. The common council of London undertook to expend £20,000 on the reclamation of the property, and elected a body of twenty-six for its management, who in 1613 were incorporated as the Irish Society, and retained possession of the towns of Londonderry and Coleraine, the remainder of the property being divided among twelve of the great livery companies. Their estates were sequestrated by James I., and in 1637 the charter of the Irish Society was cancelled. Cromwell restored the society to its former position, and Charles II. at the Restoration granted it a new charter, and confirmed the companies in their estates. In the insurrection of 1641 Moneymore was seized by the Irish, and Magherafelt and Bellaghy, then called Vintner’s Town, burned, as well as other towns and villages. There are several stone circles, and a large number of artificial caves. The most ancient castle of Irish origin is that of Carrickreagh; and of the castles erected by the English those of Dungiven and Muff are in good preservation. The abbey of Dungiven, founded in 1109, and standing on a rock about 200 ft. above the river Roe, is a picturesque ruin.
LONDONDERRY, or Derry, a city, county of a city, parliamentary
borough (returning one member) and the chief town of
Co. Londonderry, Ireland, 4 m. from the junction of the river Foyle
with Lough Foyle, and 95 m. N.N.W. of Belfast. Pop. (1901)
38,892. The city is situated on an eminence rising abruptly
from the west side of the river to a height of about 120 ft. The
eminence is surrounded by hills which reach, a few miles to the
north, an elevation of upwards of 1500 ft., and the river and
lough complete an admirable picture. The city is surrounded by
an ancient rampart about a mile in circumference, having seven
gates and several bastions, but buildings now extend beyond this
boundary. The summit of the hill, at the centre of the town,
is occupied by a quadrangular area from which the main streets
diverge. Some old houses with high pyramidal gables remain
but are much modernized. The Protestant cathedral of St
Columba, in Perpendicular style, was completed from the
design of Sir John Vanbrugh in 1633, at a cost of £4000 contributed
by the city of London, and was enlarged and restored
in 1887. The spire was added in 1778 and rebuilt in 1802. The
bishop’s palace, erected in 1716, occupies the site of the abbey
founded by Columba. The abbot of this monastery, on being
made bishop, erected in 1164 Temple More or the “Great
Church,” one of the finest buildings in Ireland previous to the
Anglo-Norman invasion. The original abbey church was called
the “Black Church,” but both it and the “Great Church”
were demolished in 1600 and their materials used in fortifying
the city. There is a large Roman Catholic cathedral, erected
c. 1870 and dedicated to St Eugenius. For Foyle College,
founded in 1617, a new building was erected in 1814. This and
the Academical Institution, a foundation of 1868, were amalgamated
in 1896. Magee College, taking its name from its
foundress, Mrs Magee of Dublin, was instituted in 1857 as a
training-school for the Presbyterian ministry.
The staple manufacture of the town is linen (especially shirt-making), and there are also shipbuilding yards, iron-foundries, saw-mills, manure-works, distilleries, breweries and flour-mills. The salmon fishery on the Foyle is valuable. The river affords a commodious harbour, its greatest depth being 33 ft. at high tide, and 12 ft. at low tide. It is under the jurisdiction of the Irish Society. The port has a considerable shipping trade with Great Britain, exporting agricultural produce and provisions. Regular services of passenger steamers serve Londonderry from Glasgow, Liverpool, Morecambe, Belfast and local coast stations. In 1898 Londonderry was constituted one of the six county boroughs which have separate county councils.
About 5 m. W. of the city, on a hill 803 ft. high, is a remarkable fort, consisting of three concentric ramparts, and an interior fortification of stone. It is named the Grianan of Aileach, and was a residence of the O’Neills, kings of Ulster. It was restored in 1878.
Derry, the original name of Londonderry, is derived from Doire, the “place of oaks.” It owes its origin to the monastery founded by Columba about 546. With the bishopric which arose in connexion with this foundation, that of Raphoe was amalgamated in 1834. From the 9th to the 11th century the town was frequently in the possession of the Danes, and was often devastated, but they were finally driven from it by Murtagh O’Brien about the beginning of the 12th century. In 1311 it was granted by Edward II. to Richard de Burgh. After the Irish Society of London obtained possession of it, it was incorporated in 1613 under the name of Londonderry. From this year until the Union in 1800 two members were returned to the Irish parliament. The fortifications, which were begun in 1600, were completed in 1618. In 1688 Derry had become the chief stronghold of the Protestants of the north. On the 7th of December certain of the apprentices in the city practically put themselves and it in a stage of siege by closing the gates, and on the 19th of April 1689 the forces of James II. began in earnest the famous siege of Derry. The rector of Donaghmore, George Walker, who, with Major Baker, was chosen to govern Derry, established fame for himself for his bravery and hopefulness during this period of privation, and the historic answer of “No surrender,” which became the watchword of the men of Derry, was given to the proposals of the besiegers. The garrison was at the last extremity when, on the 30th of July, ships broke through the obstruction across the harbour and brought relief. Walker and the siege are commemorated by a lofty column (1828), bearing a statue of the governor, on the Royal Bastion, from which the town standards defied the enemy; and the anniversary of the relief is still observed.
LONG, GEORGE (1800–1879), English classical scholar, was
born at Poulton, Lancashire, on the 4th of November 1800, and
educated at Macclesfield grammar-school and Trinity College,
Cambridge. He was Craven university scholar in 1821
(bracketed with Lord Macaulay and Henry Malden), wrangler
and senior chancellor’s medallist in 1822 and became a fellow
of Trinity in 1823. In 1824 he was elected professor of ancient
languages in the new university of Virginia at Charlottesville,
U.S.A., but after four years returned to England as the first
Greek professor at the newly founded university of London.
In 1842 he succeeded T. H. Key as professor of Latin at University
College; in 1846–1849 he was reader in jurisprudence and
civil law in the Middle Temple, and finally (1849–1871) classical
lecturer at Brighton College. Subsequently he lived in retirement
at Portfield, Chichester, in receipt (from 1873) of a Civil
List pension of £100 a year obtained for him by Gladstone. He
was one of the founders (1830), and for twenty years an officer,
of the Royal Geographical Society; an active member of the
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, for which he
edited the quarterly Journal of Education (1831–1835) as well
as many of its text-books; the editor (at first with Charles
Knight, afterwards alone) of the Penny Cyclopaedia and of
Knight’s Political Dictionary; and a member of the Society for
Central Education instituted in London in 1837. He contributed
the Roman law articles to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Antiquities, and wrote also for the companion dictionaries
of Biography and Geography. He is remembered, however,
mainly as the editor of the Bibliotheca Classica series—the first
serious attempt to produce scholarly editions of classical texts
