• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

WINDOWS ON OUR PAST, SIGNPOSTS FOR OUR FUTURE The maritime history of the River Foyle, the port and city of Derry/Londonderry Dr. Billy Kelly Dr. Éamonn Ó Ciardha 1 WINDOWS ON OUR PAST, SIGNPOSTS FOR OUR FUTURE DeRRy LonDonDeRRy anD The AtlanTiC WoRLD: PasT, PResenT anD FuTuRe – septemBeR 2019 The maritime history and economic future of the river Foyle, its port and city. Derry/Londonderry has a long relationship with the sea, from the Broighter hoard (100BC) to the Cold War (1950s). Colmcille, the Vikings, the anglo-normans, the spanish armada; the nine year’s War and Plantation, three sieges, immigration, emigration, industrialisation, two World Wars and a Cold War have etched themselves into the city’s history and heritage. This unrivalled maritime history has a central role in the regeneration of the city through trade and tourism. Conference aims/objectives: attract leading scholars and stakeholders to examine what lessons can be learned from the history of the river and port and discuss how the economic future of the city can benefit from the river and port. Themes: – The Foyle’s fluvial and maritime history – The heritage of Derry, its role in the irish, British and atlantic, its long-established position as a key strategic port, and its unique status as the oldest, continually inhabited city on this island – The port and river’s future in the re-generation and re-development of Derry and the north-west Conference Proceedings: The proceedings can be sold in the new museum or presented as a corporate gift to visiting dignitaries will serve as a mission statement for future academic and cultural development. The template for this volume will be Finnegan, Ó Ciardha and Peters (eds), The Flight of the Earls: Imeacht na nIarlaí (Derry, 2011), named BBC history Book of the year (2011) and now considered the definitive collection on this watershed event in early modern irish and British history in addition to short, accessible pamphlets on various aspect of the political, military, socio-economic and environmental history and heritage of the Foyle and its environs, a series of bilingual documentaries will be narrated by mr Joe mahon (“Lesser spotted ulster”) will at once anchor and compliment the new museum’s audio-visual product. Long-term aims/strategic objectives: Provide the academic and cultural ballast for a high-end tourist product that, in combination with the new maritime museum can play a crucial role in regeneration of the city and hinterland. instead of a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ style theme-park this museum must be anchored in world class, multi-disciplinary academic research. 2 initiate and promote cutting-edge comparative research and international exhibitions that will attract students and scholars to Derry and the north-west Facilitate Derry’s reintegration into the family of europe and america’s great historical ports: Boston, new york and Philadelphia; Kiel, La Rochelle, Gdansk, Glasgow, La Rochelle, Liverpool and (of course) her sister city (London). Derry/Londonderry Port; its past and future role Crucially, this conference will also provide a forum for the exploration of the port’s role as a generator of economic development historically and in the present day. as the european Commission points out, europe’s ports are vital gateways, linking its transport corridors to the rest of the world. 74% of goods entering or leaving europe go by sea, and europe boasts some of the finest port facilities in the world. Ports play an equally important role to support the exchange of goods within the internal market and in linking peripheral and island areas with the mainland of europe. Ports are not only great for moving goods, they also constitute energy hubs for conventional and renewable energies. Four hundred million passengers embark and disembark in european ports every year. Ports generate employment; 1.5 million workers are employed in european ports, with the same amount again employed indirectly across the eu’s maritime member states. according to the British Ports association, 95% of the volume of uK’s international trade – imports and exports – comes through uK ports. yet the city’s port industry is too often overlooked; without the port there would be no city. The Rivers: past, present and future “To write history without putting any water in it is to leave out a large part of the story. human experience has not been so dry as that.” Central to the city’s maritime history is of course the river upon which the city has prospered and which remained a crucial constant over millennia. Patrick mcCully, Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams (1996). 3 ‘all land is part of a watershed or river basin and all is shaped by the water which flows over it and through it. indeed, rivers are such an integral part of the land that in many places it would be as appropriate to talk of riverscapes as it would be of landscapes. The great milestones of human history took place by the banks of rivers. The first civilizations emerged in the third millennium BC along the euphrates, Tigris, nile and indus, and a little later along the yellow. much later another momentous turning point in human history occurred along the rivers and streams of northern england which powered the early industrial factories’. Donald Worster, Rivers of Empire, (1985). The Foyle some of ireland’s earliest settlements in ireland are associated with the Foyle Basin. The Broighter hoard, with its magnificent gold boat, is one of ireland’s and Celtic europe’s great treasures, which underline’s the river’s centrality to these civilizations. With the exception of a few maritime societies, “all the great historic cultures,” writes technology historian Lewis mumford, “have thriven through the movement of men and institutions and inventions and goods along the natural highway of a great river.” ‘The role of rivers as the sustainers of life and fertility is reflected in the myths and beliefs of a multitude of cultures. in many parts of the world rivers are referred to as “mothers”: Narmadai, “mother narmada”; the Volga is Mat Rodnaya, “mother of the Land”. The Thai word for river, mae nan, translates literally as “water mother”. Rivers have often been linked with divinities, especially female ones. in ancient egypt, the floods of the nile were considered the tears of the goddess isis. ireland’s River Boyne, which is overlooked by the island’s most impressive prehistoric burial sites, was worshipped as a goddess by Celtic tribes’. The sea god manannán mac Lír overlooks his kingdom above the Foyle at Limavady, his daughter Feabhal gave her name to the river. ‘of the life sustained by rivers, salmon have perhaps been imbued with the most mythological significance. (an Bradán Feasa) the “salmon of Knowledge”, legend had 4 it, swam in a pool near the source of the Boyne. anyone who tasted the fish would acquire understanding of everything in the world, past, present and future’. The english Crown also appreciated the Foyle’s bountiful harvest. When sir henry Docwra requested fish to feed his army at Derry, elizabeth i’s secretary Lord Burghley reminded him that he sat on ‘the greatest fishery in Christendom’. • The river and lough have always been a highway for trade, cultural exchange and war and invasion. • The Vikings tried and failed to find a foothold on the Foyle. • The normans controlled this highway with a series of forts at Greencastle, Redcastle and Whitecastle. • elizabeth i’s seizure of Derry played a crucial role in ending the great rebellion of the ulster earls. • as the citadel of the subsequent Plantation of ulster the city successfully withstood three sieges and only access to the river saved the starving citizens in the last of these (1688-9). • The river carried away many ulster scots on their epic journey to the new World. • Later in the century a fortification system of martello towers defended this vitally strategic naval asset during the napoleonic wars. • in the nineteenth century thousands of Famine emigrants took their leave from the port of Londonderry. • shipbuilding flourished in the city led by innovative design. • Throughout the trade and industry of the city flourished making full advantage of imperial trading routes to the americas and beyond. • During the second World War Derry and the Foyle played a key role in winning the crucial Battle of the atlantic, the only thing, Churchill said, ‘which kept him awake at night’, while the city become a key component in the defence of the n. atlantic during the Cold War. The river and port are still crucial to the economic well-being of this city and its hinterland, a role that this conference will highlight and celebrate with a view to putting the port back in the centre of the life of the city. indeed, recent eu policy has expanded the historic definition of rivers and the seas as highways for trade, commerce and cultural exchange to the development of motorways of the sea linking european ports. Principal Investigators The principal leads (Drs Billy Kelly and Éamonn Ó Ciardha) have a proven track record in delivering on research-driven, academic and cultural projects. Their research, conferences and academic innovation reports have provided the academic ballast for the ‘decade of quarto-centenaries (hamilton-montgomery Plantation and ‘Dawn of the ulster-scots’, Rebellion of sir Cathair o’Doherty, The nine years War, The 5 Flight of the earls and the Plantation of ulster). moreover, their research has underpinned successful founding applications for Áras Cholmcille, monreagh, Clareview, sliabh sneachta, the scots Church and malin heritage development. Finally, it provided the crucial historical dimension to Derry’s successful uK City of Culture bid.

Load more

  8

Copy Link