Sir John Perrot, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, established County Coleraine between the Rivers Bann and Foyle in 1585 during the reign of Elizabeth I.

In the event, the English authorities built the courthouse and jail for the new establishment at Desertmartin in the adjacent county of Tyrone.

Following the Flight of the Earls (1607) and O'Doherty's Rebellion (1608), the lands the Irish aristocrats held were escheated to the Crown.

In 1609 the territory was given to the City of London Corporation and its livery companies, who received instructions to undertake its plantation.

This article related to the geography of County Londonderry, Northern Ireland is a stub.