The person traditionally seen as the founder of the original Derry is Saint Colmcille, a holy man from Tír Chonaill, the old name for almost all of modern County Donegal, of which the west bank of the Foyle was a part before 1610.

[28] Firstly it held an opinion poll of district residents in 2009, which reported that 75% of Catholics and 77% of Nationalists found the proposed change acceptable, compared to 6% of Protestants and 8% of Unionists.

[34] Linguist Kevin McCafferty argues that "It is not, strictly speaking, correct that Northern Ireland Catholics call it Derry, while Protestants use the Londonderry form, although this pattern has become more common locally since the mid-1980s, when the city council changed its name by dropping the prefix".

[36] In April 2009, however, the Republic of Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, announced that Irish passport holders who were born there could record either Derry or Londonderry as their place of birth.

[37] Whereas official road signs in the Republic use the name Derry, those in Northern Ireland bear Londonderry (sometimes abbreviated to L'derry), although some of these have been defaced with the reference to London obscured.

[42] It was also nicknamed "Stroke City" by local broadcaster Gerry Anderson, owing to the politically correct use by some of the dual name Derry/Londonderry[32] (which has itself been used by BBC Television).

The Walls, which are approximately one mile (1.5 kilometres) in circumference and which vary in height and width between 3.7 and 10.7 metres (12 and 35 feet), are completely intact and form a walkway around the inner city.

[53] The earliest historical references date to the 6th century when a monastery was founded there by St Columba or Colmcille, a famous saint from what is now County Donegal, but for thousands of years before that people had been living in the vicinity.

Before leaving Ireland to spread Christianity elsewhere, Colmcille founded a monastery at Derry (which was then called Doire Calgach), on the west bank of the Foyle.

[55] The soldier and statesman Sir Henry Docwra made vigorous efforts to develop the town, earning the reputation of being "the founder of Derry"; but he was accused of failing to prevent the O'Doherty attack and returned to England.

The Parliamentarians besieged in Derry were relieved by a strange alliance of Roundhead troops under George Monck and the Irish Catholic general Owen Roe O'Neill.

An army of around 1,200 men, mostly "Redshanks" (Highlanders), under Alexander MacDonnell, 3rd Earl of Antrim, was slowly organised (they set out on the week William of Orange landed in England).

The large numbers of military personnel in Derry substantially altered the character of the city, bringing in some outside colour to the local area, as well as some cosmopolitan and economic buoyancy during these years.

[73] The events that followed the August 1969 Apprentice Boys parade resulted in the Battle of the Bogside, when Catholic rioters fought the police, leading to widespread civil disorder in Northern Ireland and is often dated as the starting point of the Troubles.

Irish journalist Ed Maloney claims in The Secret History of the IRA that republican leaders there negotiated a de facto ceasefire in the city as early as 1991.

[78] Molyneux's notes state that the original arms of Derry were "the picture of death (or a skeleton) sitting on a mossie ston and in the dexter point a castle".

A notable exception to this lies on the northeastern edge of the city, on the shores of Lough Foyle, where large expanses of sea and mudflats were reclaimed in the middle of the 19th century.

[84] Other important nature reserves lie at Ness Country Park,[85] 10 miles (16 kilometres) east of Derry; and at Prehen Wood,[86] within the city's south-eastern suburbs.

[109] The proportion rapidly declined during the 1970s;[110] the 2011 census recorded 3,169 Protestants on the west bank, compared to 54,976 Catholics,[111] and it is feared that the city could become permanently divided.

[127] Following four years of protest by the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign, in 2004 Derry City Council passed a motion declaring the district "a 'no – go' area for the arms trade",[128] and in 2006 its offices were briefly occupied by anti-war protestors who became known as the Raytheon 9.

[130] Other significant multinational employers in the region include Firstsource of India, INVISTA, Stream International, Perfecseal, NTL, Northbrook Technology of the United States, Arntz Belting and Invision Software of Germany and Homeloan Management of the UK.

Mark Durkan, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Foyle was quoted in the Belfast Telegraph as saying:[This quote needs a citation] The fact is there has been consistent under-investment in the North West and a reluctance on the part of the Civil Service to see or support anything west of the Bann, except when it comes to rate increases, then they treat us equally.In July 2005, the Irish Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, called for a joint task force to drive economic growth in the cross-border region.

Today, the fortifications form a continuous promenade around the city centre, complete with cannon, avenues of mature trees and views across Derry.

Attractions include museums, a vibrant shopping centre and trips to the Giant's Causeway, which is approximately 50 miles (80 kilometres) away, though poorly connected by public transport.

[144] Planned upgrades to the A5 Dublin road agreed as part of the Good Friday Agreement and St Andrews Talks fell through when the government of the Republic of Ireland reneged on its funding citing the post-2008 economic downturn.

Usage of the rail link between Derry and Belfast remains questionable for commuters, due to the journey time of over two hours making it slower centre-to-centre than the 100-minute Ulsterbus Goldline Express service.

[159] Custom agreements negotiated over the next few years between Britain and Ireland enabled GNR trains to travel to and from Derry - such trains would be allowed to pass without inspection through the Free State, unless they served local stations on the west bank of the Foyle - while goods transported by all railways between different parts of the Free State would be allowed to pass through Northern Ireland under customs bond.

[174] The port gave vital Allied service in the longest-running campaign of the Second World War, the Battle of the Atlantic, and saw the surrender of the German U-boat fleet at Lisahally on 8 May 1945.

However, Lockwood's[176] 1960s decision to locate Northern Ireland's second university in Coleraine rather than Derry helped contribute to the formation of the civil rights movement that ultimately led to The Troubles.

And on the Twelfth I love to wear the sash my father wore ...In the early morning the shirt factory horn called women from Creggan, the Moor and the Bog.