LONDONDERRY, a maritime county in the province of Ulster, in Ireland, is bounded on the north by the Atlantic, on the east by the county of Down, on the south by that of Tyrone, and on the west by Donegal and Lough Foyle. The area is imperfectly triangular. Its greatest length is from the point of Magilligan, at the entrance of Lough Foyle, to Cookstown, a distance of fifty-two miles; its greatest breadth, from the western point of the liberties of Londonderry to Vow Ferry on the Bann, is forty-four miles. It extends over a surface of 518,270 acres, of which 372,667 are cultivable land, 136,038 bog or unprofitable mountain, and 9565 are under water.

According to Ptolemy, who is followed by Whitaker, the tribe of the Robogdii were located here. Afterwards it was the territory of the O’Canes, or O’Cathans, feudatories of the great O’Neil family. After the confiscation of this latter chieftain’s princely estate, in consequence of his abrupt flight into Spain at the commencement of the reign of James I., this county, which formed part of its northern portion, was parcelled out amongst twelve companies of London tradesmen, by whom, or their representatives, the greater part of it is still held. Their names are the drapers, salters, vintners, mercers, ironmongers, merchant tailors, cloth-workers, haberdashers, fishmongers, grocers, goldsmiths, and skinners, forming together a body or corporation called the Irish Society. It is now divided into the baronies of Coleraine, Kenaught, Loughinsholin,and Tyrkerrin, together with the liberties of Londonderry and Coleraine, which have separate jurisdictions. In this arrangement it is remarkable that each of the two latter divisions is situated beyond what may be deemed the natural boundaries of the county, the former lying west of the river Foyle, and the latter east of the river Bann. These greater divisions are subdivided into thirty-five parishes, twenty-seven of which are in the diocese of Derry, five in that of Armagh, and three in that of Connor.

The diocese of Derry is much larger, both as to number of parishes and extent of surface, than the county, comprehending, besides the twenty-seven parishes above named as being within the civil boundary, ten in Donegal, eleven in Tyrone, and part of a parish in Antrim. By a curious anomaly, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the parishes in the liberties of Coleraine belongs to the Bishop of Down and Connor. The seat of the see is in the city of Derry, where is the cathedral, a building in the Gothic style, erected in 1633. The chapter consists of a dean, an archdeacon, and three prebendaries.

The neighbourhood of the great Western Ocean, and the height of the mountain ranges, which either intersect or skirt the county, may account for the fall of a considerable quantity of rain; yet the popular notion of the peculiar wetness of the climate here arises more from the frequency of showers than from the amount of water discharged by them. The maximum annual quantity of rain, during a period of seven years, did not amount to thirty-five inches, the minimum twenty-five inches. The average of rain taken during a period of seven years here and at Keswick in Cumberland, and Kendal in Westmoreland, exhibits the following results:
[table]

Neither does it appear that the north-west wind, so prevalent here, however unfavourable to vegetable, is at all injurious to animal life. On the contrary, the most remarkable instances of longevity have been found on the coast, and in the peninsula of Magilligan. Several instances have occurred of the extension of human life to ninety and even to a hundred and ten years.

The surface of the county presents an appearance of valleys separated from each other by ridges of rugged, but not very elevated mountains, and expanding, as they approach the coast, into alluvial plains. The most elevated of the mountains are, Sawel, 2236 feet high; Slieve Gallen, 1730 feet; Cairntogher, 1521 feet; Donald’s Hill, 1310 feet; Benyevenagh, 1262 feet; and Legavannon, 1290 feet.

The principal river is the Roe, which, receiving as it flows in a northerly direction the tributary streams of the Owenbeg, Owenmore, Gelvan, Castle, and Curley, discharges itself into Lough Foyle; it is subject to sudden and violent floods. The mud deposited near its mouth forms shifting banks, which prevent it from being a useful port for small craft, otherwise the channel is deep enough to be navigated for two miles by flat-bottomed barges. The Faghan rises in the south, and discharges itself into Lough Foyle near Culmore. The Moyola takes a south-eastern course, and falls into Lough Neagh. A small portion only of the fine navigable river Foyle belongs to the county, passing in its course through the liberties of Londonderry. It is navigable for vessels of large burden as far as the city of Londonderry, and thence to Lifford in Donegal for lighters of twenty tons. The Bann, from Lough Neagh, forms the eastern boundary until it approaches Coleraine, where it separates the barony from the liberties of the town. The navigation of this river is impeded by shoals, which form a dangerous bar.

The valleys formed by these rivers, and their subordinate branches, are called slacks. That of the Faghan presents some scenery that is peculiarly picturesque, as also does that called the slack of Feeny, a pass which connects the valleys of the Faghan and the Roe. Several glens discharge their streams into this slack; the most beautiful is that of Fin-Glen. On the western side of the ridge of Benyevenagh there is a very uncommon surface called a shaking quag, and also named the Gray Lough. It spreads over many acres. Cattle can pass freely through it in summer, yet at every step the soil yields to the pressure, communicating an undulating motion all around. The surface is broken in every direction by pits full of water of unfathomable depth, and all invariably rectangular parallelograms, very much resembling tan-pits. The quag is surrounded by declivities on almost every side, and therefore it is difficult to account for the cause of its retaining such a quantity of water without any apparent supply. The structure of its margin, formed of stratified substances covered with turf, may, however, account for the retention of the water. There may have been a large lake here, which, by the interlacing roots of the aquatic plants, is now covered with a kind of network that supports the foot, except in places where the workings of the surface produce a fissure. But the cause of this extraordinary regularity of shape in the pits thus formed still remains without satisfactory explanation. The only lake is Lough Finn, situated in the confines of Tyrone; it is of very inconsiderable[7:13:551] dimensions. Lough Neagh touches the county in a small portion of its south-eastern boundary. The small port of Ballyronan, in the north-west angle of the lough, affords accommodation for sloops of sixty tons to load and unload. The fine inlet of the Atlantic called Lough Foyle forms the principal part of the western boundary. Having a narrow entrance, but with ten fathoms of water, between Culmore Fort and Magilligan Point, it expands itself into a gulf of fifteen miles in length and seven in breadth, with a channel fourteen fathoms deep at low water, but of difficult navigation from its great narrowness.

The soil in the northern part, along the sea-coast, is a stiff and reddish clay, interspersed with knolls of basalt, and resting on a substratum of white lime, which occasionally shows itself on the surface. Near the mouth of the Roe is an extensive tract of a marly nature, formed of layers of ouze and shells alternating to a depth of several feet. Fossil shells are frequently found in the ditches. The lands lying between the loamy soil in the low grounds and the higher wastes are either of a blue clay with fragments of quartz, slate, and a shallow covering of peat moss, or a shingle of slate interspersed with red ochreous sand or with gravel and loam. Above the lime is the region of the basalt, and the soil is thenceforth without clay, being merely an oxide of the softer parts of this ironstone, having neither cohesion nor strength, and producing little but potatoes and straw. The country people significantly call it draff land. Yet its summits are admirable as sheep walks; for, how high soever the elevation of a basaltic mountain may be, if the immediate substratum be of the fossil known by the name of zeolite trap, the soil is fertile and the herbage sweet, presenting an elegant carpeting of shamrock, daisy, butter-cup, and plantain, which is eagerly browsed on by sheep.

The valley of the Roe divides the county into two districts, totally different in respect to their geological character. On the west lies the territory of schist, on the east that of basalt, each accompanied with its peculiar fossil organization. The prevalent species of schist is a kind of flag-rock or schistose mica, next to which in quantity is the laminated schist or flag, the dip of which is generally northwest. The great mountain of Sawel is composed of several varieties of this rock, surmounted towards the summit by amorphous whinstone, interspersed with blocks of quartz. Slieve Gallen is also a mass of basalt, resting upon a bed of granite, which emerges from beneath in various places. Limestone may be found everywhere, from the sea to Benbradagh. The most remarkable cavern on the coast is in the white limestone; it is very appropriately called the Robber’s Cave, having at one time been the asylum of a formidable banditti. A species of blue limestone has been used for various architectural purposes. Sandstone is universally found below the basalt, and is occasionally intermingled with schist. A species of it, of a bright tawny colour, not unlike to that of the Portland stone, is raised in large quantities near Dungiven. Many of the principal buildings are constructed of it. Coal has not yet been discovered in any quantities deserving of notice. Iron is found in great abundance, either in an ochreous state, or mixed with manganese, when it is known by the name of bog ore or woad. The base of Sawel is a mass of martial pyrites mingled with schist. To the abundance of this metal in the peat moss is to be attributed the red colour of the ashes, which are so heavy as to keep in heaps even in a breeze of wind. The metal was formerly smelted, but the operation has been ultimately relinquished as an unprofitable speculation. Copper and lead, in small veins, have been discovered. Boate states that pure gold had been found in a rivulet which discharges itself into Lough Neagh; but the fact has not been substantiated by subsequent discoveries, further than that some specimens of quartz have been observed to contain thin laminae of that metal. Quartz and flint are common in all parts. The flint sometimes exhibits marine impressions, the quartz never. As to crystals, they are of great variety. Zeolite, in rose-cut surfaces, in points, and in thistledown, all beautiful, are common in basalt. The rock-crystals are found exclusively in the schistose regions. They are harder than those found in Kerry. In shape they are truncated prisms of six sides and six facets, and weigh from two to twelve ounces. In all the mountains composed of pyritic schist the streamlets show strong indications of iron, to such a degree, indeed, that in some places the water is not fit for drinking.

The population has increased progressively from the earliest period at which any probable estimate of its amount was made, as appears by the statements from the following authorities :—
[table]

The last of these estimates gives an average of one inhabitant to every two and a third acres throughout the county, or to every one and a fifth acre of cultivable land. The county was represented in the imperial parliament by eight members, two for the county at large, and two for each of the boroughs of Londonderry, Coleraine, and Newtown-Limavady. The act of union reduced the number of borough members to one each for Londonderry and Coleraine. This arrangement still continues.

The state of public education, according to the official returns in 1821 and 1824-26, is as follows:
[table]

In religious persuasion, the numbers stated in the latter of these returns stand thus:—Of the Established Church 2446, Roman Catholics 4494, Dissenters 6695, besides 255 whose religious tenets were not ascertained. According to the same return, the number of schools was 380, out of which, forty-nine, affording instruction to 3119 children, were supported by grants of public money; fifty-three, affording instruction to 2748 children, were maintained by the voluntary contributions of individuals or societies; whilst the remaining 278 schools, in which 8023 children were educated, depended wholly on the fees of the pupils. The diocesan school in the city affords the means of liberal education to the sons of the gentry. It is an extensive and well-conducted establishment. The endowment consists of a salary from the London Society, and a subscription from the bishop and beneficed clergy. A mercantile school in Coleraine has also been endowed by the same society.

The treatment of arable ground differs little from that generally practised throughout the province. The principal crops are barley, oats, and potatoes; the implements the Scotch and Irish ploughs; the manures sea-weed, and composts of which it forms a part, near the coast, and lime and turf-mould in the interior. In Magilligan, the mossy sands are alternately ploughed and laid up in meadow. The fiorin grass springs up luxuriantly here. Amongst the more uncommon species of grasses may be mentioned the Parnassia palustris, commonly called crottel, in Irish crou-tuil; when manufactured, it produces the litmus, turnsolblue or archil. Extensive dairies are uncommon; the care of milk and butter forms generally a part of the domestic[7:13:552] economy of the working farmer. Sheep are mostly brought in at fairs from other districts. There are no herds of goats in the mountains, but individually they are found in many of the habitations of the cottiers. Magilligan contains a very large rabbit-warren, extending over 1500 acres. The annual number of skins sent out of it is 2000; they are sold by auction to the Dublin hatters. The poultry are large. Geese are both large and abundant. They fatten in summer on the vetches and tares which abound in the bottoms, in autumn on the stubble, and in winter on the potato-ridge. Wild and sea fowl are abundant. The county was once remarkable for the quantity of honey it produced; latterly the produce has decreased.

The linen manufacture is the staple here, and contributes greatly to the comfortable support of the population. The yarn and linen are generally of a coarser staple than in the neighbouring county of Antrim. Sacking is made of the tow-yarn. Potteries, in which the coarser kinds of earthenware are manufactured, are carried on in some places. There are several large distilleries and breweries, and some salt-works. One of the most productive salmon-fisheries in Ireland is on the Bann, near Coleraine. Lampreys are caught at low water at the mouth of the same river. Eels are plentiful in all the streams. The sea furnishes most kinds of fish taken upon other parts of the coast. The sturgeon and sun-fish have been caught in Lough Foyle. An unique specimen of the opah or kingfish was thrown on shore upon the sands of Magilligan. Whales of various species have also been taken on the coast. The seal, porpoise, and grampus are frequent. A species of the pearl mussel has been found in the rivulet which flows through Claady into the Bann.

The residences of the nobility, and landed proprietors of large fortune, are elegant, and in some instances magnificent. Two mansions, erected by the Earl of Bristol, who had been Bishop of Derry, the one at Downhill, the other at Ballyscullion, were constructed in a style of Grecian architecture. The latter has been suffered to fall into ruin. The habitations of the farmers in some of the richest districts, where stone is scarce, are built of clay, and almost universally covered with thatch; presenting, however, with few exceptions, an appearance of comfort and good order. In all cases, they are built and kept in repair by the tenant. In the houses on the Antrim side of the Bann, the fire-place is advanced some feet from the gable-wall, so that the family can nearly sit round it. It does not appear that the nuisance of smoke is so much felt in houses thus constructed as in those in other parts of the country, in which its smell, and its action upon the eyes, are very offensive to strangers. In the districts where lime is plentiful, the outside of the cabin is whitewashed, and sometimes rougheast; whence, amongst the wildest mountains, scenes of domestic neatness often unexpectedly arrest the eye. Coal is little burned in the country parts. In the open and more fertile districts, which are consequently most thickly peopled, the peat mosses are nearly exhausted. In such situations, when the turf can no longer be cut, it is collected into heaps of wet mire, and moulded by the hand. It is then called baked turf, and makes bad fuel. Providence seems to have compensated the dreary exposure of the mountain districts, by affording them plenty of turbary, which has allured a crowded population to every arable spot, however remote or dreary, where turf is to be had in plenty. The article, when prepared for fuel, is carried down to the lowlands on slide cars, through winding ruts, which present to the inexperienced eye insuperable difficulties in the way of its transit. Bog fir is used amongst the wealthier classes as a good substitute for cannel coal. The cottier cuts it up into laths, called splits, not thicker than the blade of a knife. These are used instead of candles, and serve to give light enough to guide the operations of humble domestic industry during the long winter evenings.

The manners of the common people exhibit much kindness and courtesy. A stranger, on visiting the cabin, is offered a chair brought from the inner apartment. A remarkable tone of piety pervades their usual conversation. Few make a promise for the future without adding, “with the help of God,” or some other phrase of similar import. They talk much of “the second means,” and, through an over confidence in providential interference, often disregard human aids in cases of sickness. Superstitious notions are prevalent, some of them in common with those in other parts of Ulster, others more peculiar to themselves. When the cottier’s cow is supposed to be “elf-shot,” recourse is not had to animal medicines, but salt and water poured on three halfpence and a petrified sea-urchin called “the fairy’s bullet,"and common in limestone, is deemed an infallible remedy. The weasel is accounted “sawncy,” that is, lucky, about the house. If a cow dies in calving, her flesh must be eaten by “Christians,” and not given to the dogs. There is an almost insurmountable objection to taking an oath according to the usual form. It is most prevalent amongst the seceders, to whose prejudices in this respect the legislature has wisely yielded, by accepting their testimony on asseveration with uplifted hand. At weddings, amongst the Scotch part of the population, the bridegroom and his friends vie with each other in being the first to gallop to the house of the bride. During the race they are greeted with shots from guns and pistols in every village they pass through. A bowl of broth, called “brose,” stands ready prepared at the winning-post, as the reward for the victor in the race. The forms of an Irish wedding in the mountain districts are very different. However suitable the match may be to the wishes of all parties, it is considered as but a sorry exploit unless the bride be run away with. After a few days the parties return, and a liberal carouse, to which every well-wisher of either party is expected to contribute, forms the celebration of a kind of second nuptial.

The most remarkable relic of ancient fortification is the Giant’s Sconce, situated in the pass between Drumbo and Largantea. It was formed on an isolated knoll of basalt, difficult of access on all sides but the north-east, where art has supplied the deficiency by a wall of massive masonry. The interior was hollowed, as if for a receptacle for men and stores; whilst a covered way, admitting only one person in a stooping posture to pass at a time, surrounded the whole. Several cromleachs are still in existence, some of them surrounded by a circle of upright pillars, somewhat like Stonehenge. The most remarkable is that at Slacht Manus. Cairns are too numerous to admit of special notice. To the present time they are kept up, if not enlarged, by the custom of travellers adding a stone to them as they pass. Danish ditches are sometimes dug up. Sepulchral pillars are numerous, and one peculiarly remarkable stands near Dungiven. Artificial caverns, evidently constructed for the concealment of men and property, are frequently discovered. They are rudely built of stone, without cement; and flags or long stones form the roof. They consist of narrow galleries, some at right angles with the main entrance, others paraJlel to it. The entrance is usually concealed by a rock or grassy sod. Moats, the body of which seems to have been formed of the earth thrown out of the foss, have been found. These enclosures are too low for safety or strength, and so small as not to contain more than thirty persons. Coins, antique pins, rings, and forks, were found in one of them. Castles of acknowledged Irish erection are few. That of Carrickreagh is looked upon as amongst the most ancient. Near Ballyaghran was another. Both are said to have been residences of the family of the M‘Quillans. Pieces of pit-coal, found in the cement [7:13:553]of the walls, lead to the opinion that the operations of miners were practised in those remote ages. Some of the castellated mansions of the first English settlers, with their bawns, are still in a state of preservation; as at Kil-lolod, Dungiven, Salterstown, and Muff.

The most ancient monastic building is the abbey of Derry, founded by Columbkill in the sixth century. The present cathedral stands on its site. At Coleraine were two monasteries, one of Dominicans, the other of regular canons. At Camus, on the Bann, was a very celebrated monastic structure, attributed to St Comgal. The only remains of it at present existing are the fort, with a pillar curiously carved. The remains of the abbey of Dungiven are the most interesting in the county. It was the burial-place of the O’Cahans or O’Kanes, several of whose tombs have resisted the attacks of time. The principal monument is that of one of the chieftains, named Cooey-na-gal. There is a tower at the north-west side of the building, and a sepulchral pillar placed on an artificial mount. A smaller tumulus in the vicinity, when opened, was found to contain an urn of earthenware with bones. The urn ∣was surrounded with white stones. Other tumuli, when examined, exhibit similar results.

The city of Londonderry is situated at the western side of the river Foyle, near to its junction with the lough, spreading itself over the summit and sides of a hill, which here projects into the river, and which was once covered with oak trees, whence the place derived the name of Derry Calgach, “the eminence covered with oaks,” which it still partially retains. Its monastery first drew inhabitants thither. The town was entirely ecclesiastical, consisting almost exclusively of churches and the dwellings of the clergy and their dependents. The English government, after having been baffled in several attempts to plant a garrison here during the war against the Earl of Tyrone, at length succeeded, in 1600, in gaining possession of the place, and securing it against any efforts of the Irish to dislodge them. It was surrounded with a substantial wall, strengthened with bastions, and had four main streets diverging at right angles from a point on the summit of the hill, now called the Diamond, to a gate at the other extremity of each. The strength of these fortifications was tested in the subsequent wars of 1642 and 1688, in each of which the town maintained a successful stand against its besiegers. After a lapse of more than two centuries, the walls still retain, in most parts, their original form and character. The external ditch, indeed, has disappeared. The gates have been rebuilt in a more flegant style of architecture, and two new ones have been ìdded. One bastion has been removed to make way for a outter-market, and another has been appropriated as the site of a pillar commemorative of the military services of the Reverend George Walker during the memorable siege of 1688. In other respects the walls still remain unaltered, now forming the ornament, as they were once the protection, of the city. They are the favourite walk of the inhabitants, frequented by the beauty and fashion of the city, and commanding, at various points, interesting and extended views of a wooded and watered landscape. The cathedral stands within the walls, in the southern part of the city. It consists of a nave, divided into a central and lateral aisle, separated by pointed arches. The chapel of ease is a plain rectangular structure, of small dimensions. A free church, for the use of the poor, Was opened in 1830, at the expense of the late bishop. There are four meeting-houses, one for the Presbyterian or Scotch church, a second for the Seceders, a third for the Covenanters, and a fourth for the Independents. There are also two Methodist chapels, and a Roman Catholic chapel capable of accommodating 2000 persons. The diocesan school is a simple but handsome stone edifice, consisting of a central pavilion and two wings. It was erected by grants from the London companies, and a large contribution from the bishop. Near to it is the parish or poor school, with accommodations for children of both sexes. The corporation hall stands in the centre of the Diamond. It is surrounded by a colonnade, with embat-tlements; and the same kind of military ornament surrounds its roof. The court-house exhibits much architectural beauty. The other more remarkable public buildings are, the lunatic asylum, the infirmary and fever hospital, the gaol, the custom-house, the linen-hall, the barrack, and the magazine. The bridge is the peculiar boast of Derry. It is built of wood, and extends in length 1068 feet, by a breadth of forty. A turning bridge, near the centre, admits a free navigation to vessels going up the river. Walker’s Testimonial is a pillar of the Roman Doric order, surmounted by a statue of that celebrated individual. Its height is ninety feet. The markets are good, and well provided with accommodation for buyers and sellers.

The municipal jurisdiction extends over a space of three miles in every direction from the centre of the city. The government is vested in a mayor, twelve aldermen, two sheriffs, and twenty-four burgesses. The income of the corporation arises from tolls on the bridges, tolls on the market, rents of land and shambles, and tonnage and quayage.

The progress of commerce may be estimated from the custom-house receipts, which for eight years were as follow:
[table]

The shipping of the port of Derry in 1760 consisted of sixty-seven sail, of from thirty to three hundred and fifty tons. The following table exhibits the vessels employed in the foreign and coasting trade for eight years.
[table]
[7:13:554]

Hence it appears that the increase of shipping and commerce has been wholly in the cross-channel trade. Of the vessels included in that part of the table, the following were steamers :—
[table]

The population of the city at different periods has been estimated as follows :—
[table]

Coleraine, the second town in importance, is situated on the eastern or Antrim side of the Bann, near its mouth. Like Londonderry, it owes its existence chiefly to the fostering care of the London companies. Some of the houses built of frame or cage-work in the time of Elizabeth and James I. are yet in preservation. According to the fashion of those days, they have pent-ways or piazzas. The population at present amounts to 5752 souls. The other more remarkable towns are, Newtown-Limavady, Maghcrafelt, Killreagh, Dungiven, Garvagh, Maghera, Moneymore, Tubbermore, Castledawson, and Bellaghy.