Peter Benson (architect)

Peter Benson (c.1570–1642) was an English-born builder and architect, chiefly remembered for building the Walls of Derry.

[1] He was born in London, one of seven children of John and Margaret Benson, and started life as a bricklayer and tiler, before gaining a reputation as an architect.

He became a military commander, and held the town of Barnstaple in Devon against the Royalists during the English Civil War.

Prudence married in 1625 Thomas Knox, Bishop of the Isles, who died young only three years later, leaving a son; their descendants lived mainly in Ireland, where they married into the prominent Grogan family of Johnstown Castle, County Wexford.

[2] Peter in his last will, drawn up the day before he died, made generous provisions for Richard, including the manor house at Stranorlar, and left legacies to Prudence and her son Thomas Knox junior.