Bogside

Derry, Northern Ireland’s second city after Belfast, is also known as Maiden City. To round off a series of photographs from my first visit there, here are views from around the city, including the iconic Hands Across The Divide sculpture and Derry’s solid and ancient city walls.

Click first image to launch the full size gallery

: Shipquay Street

: Hands Across The Divide statue

: City cemetery

: Bogside from the city walls

: St Eugene’s Cathedral

: Ebrington Square

: City walls

: Prince Street

: View from St Eugene’s Cathedral

: Bogside

: Waterside

: Park Bar, Francis Street

See other photographs from Derry:

Derry’s striking murals

Across the Peace Bridge

Divine light

The city of Derry (sometimes referred to as Londonderry) in Northern Ireland is a far-flung corner of the United Kingdom, very close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. It has endured a troubled recent history, which you can still see today in its stark political murals. The cluster painted on the walls of the city’s Bogside area document Irish nationalism and its struggles.

The famous “You are now entering Free Derry” slogan is on the surviving end wall of a house and has been painted dozens of times. It was even turned pink for a recent gay pride.

Others feature nationalist politician Bernadette Devlin and even Che Guevara complete with his Irish birth surname Lynch. While this wall art is now a tourist attraction, its careful preservation reflects a difficult history which is really not so far away.