View
Meeting outside Guildhall
A group of over 20 people meet up in front of
the Guildhall. We stamp our feet and circle to find the sunniest spot on a
freezing day whilst we wait on more people. Some of the fountains are
operational. Katie introduces Gareth Austin, horticulturalist and local
historian Gerald McGill.
Gerald introduces us to Derry's Historic Walls.
We start to think about the construction of these 17th century fortifications
with 21st century construction and landscaping going on all around us as Derry
prepares itself for City of Culture; the cultural fortification of Derry’s
fortification goes on.
Penny on the Wall
We clamber up the walls, people, prams, a few
dogs, our numbers are swelling. Gareth spots the first lime lover on the wall
and identifies it as 'Penny on the Wall', also known as Navelwort, Penny-pies,
Wall Pennywort its Latin name is Umbilicus rupestris. The plant is one of many
plants often deemed as weeds that grow readily in the seemingly sparse
environment of old mortar. Councils often spray to get rid of it; gardeners vie
to cultivate it for feature walls and rockeries.
Buddleia,
Gareth also points out Buddleia, or Butterfly
Bush growing readily from cracks and crevices in old buildings. A crumbling
chimney on Waterloo St. sports a crown of buddleia. This is not the only growth
here.
The new caged lights on Derry’s Walls are now ubiquitous,
they are mushrooming up everywhere not without controversy, under The Walled
City Signature Project, Lighting Strategy.
Just a Plinth Now
The Walker monument once towered over the
Bogside. Dedicated to George Walker, Governor of the City during the Siege it
was blown up by the IRA in 1973 who deemed it a political target. The monument
was never replaced in its original form; an empty plinth was constructed in its
place. The walls are packed with
history, historic building and ongoing conservation.
First Presbyterian Church Derry was one of the
many buildings to undergo conservation work under the Walled City Signature
Project. Gerald in outlining its history recounted how it’s open to the public
offering tea and buns on a Friday morning.
Cannons and builders abound. There is
landscaping and conservation underway simultaneously, its everywhere. The new
lights are here too.
Speaking of ‘lights’ many of the cities famous
citizens are interred in yet another historic site here, graveyard of St
Augustin's church, known locally as the 'wee church'.
Outside its perimeter railing Gerald points out
a Row of 13 Sycamores planted on the walls themselves. The sycamores
commemorate the 13 Apprentice Boys who locked the gates of the city at the
beginning of the Siege of Derry. Their winged fruit, known as keys symbolise
the city keys. These are not the original trees.
Swinging around to look out from this historic,
strategically placed fortification the view over the Bogside from here is, as
ever, like an early Willie Doherty photograph. It would just take some fog to
transport us back to those vistas of the mid eighties.
‘Free Derry Corner’ is also visible from here.
The address was 13 Lecky St. The site, once a rallying cry for Free Derry, is now
a tourist landmark. A hoarding in front of the famed gable end is now used for
updating political slogans and commentary. ‘Free Derry Corner’ is still a bastion
of the Bogside.
The Wall’s bastions, however are part of the
canon of history and home to Derry's famed cannons. Today they house a modern
day arsenal comprised of cable, wheelbarrows and building materials.
They also double as temporary site office, providing
sheltered steps for builders eating their lunch. Is it that time already?
To Imagine To Create to Learn, this motto is set
in stone over the threshold The Verbal Arts Centre. We round the corner heading
through renovation works to another bastion in the shadow of St Columbs
Cathedral but overlooking The Fountain.
St. Columb's Cathedral is one of Derry's most
famous landmarks. We run into plenty of other walkers here who join our group
to hear more about the landmark’s history from Gerald. Our numbers are growing.
Gareth and Gerald both note that the buzzards
living in the church spire keep urban pigeons at bay. This turns out to be a
blessing for Gareth as the brassicas in the community garden he co ordinated
just over the walls in the Fountain are normally safe from pigeon raids.
However he notes that the buzzard population must have dropped this year, as
there is evidence that pigeons have ravaged this year’s brassicas.
There are now other dog walkers here too. As a
backdrop to the historical discussion that is developing on the walls with
Gerald, our group and others who join us, dogs greet nosing each other
energetically. A terrier runs circles around the groups' feet as his owner
tries to coral him and led him on.
Seed bombs
Here seems a good point for Katie to whip out
the seed bombs. We are overlooking the fountain where there is a stretch of
ground below that might well provide good terrain for a selection of wild
flowers. The top of the walls have an accommodating slope, giving the option to
just roll them off or chuck them over aiming for a partially planted piece of
ground parallel to the wall.
Katie peels open the clear plastic take away
box to reveal lovingly made clay spheres that pass easily for home made
truffles. A walker pops one into her mouth before quickly realising her
mistake. Good humoredly, she pops the truffle back out again and lobs it over
the wall, others follow suit.
Shovels
On we go looking over the Fountain planning our
decent from the walls to check out the community garden below. Shovels, ladders
and wheelbarrows lean against various locations along the wall. A low trench
has been dug to lay cabling. Railings and security tape cordon off areas
recently dug, giving the feel of an archeological dig.
Descent
We descend at the New Gate onto Artillery
St. Our numbers have dwindled a little,
some have found another route. We spot the Centre of Contemporary Art (CCA,
former Context Gallery) en route. It’s between shows. We pass the Playhouse,
another cultural institution, before swinging round onto London St., which
takes us under the Walls up through the Fountain, a small predominantly
Unionist area on Derry's City Side.
Bonfire building site
Everywhere in Derry there is repaving works
going on. The bonfire site in the Fountain provides temporary storage. That
gives a deadline before the 12th of July then.
Tunnels
There is an opening in the wall here, a tunnel,
one of many in a network said to run under the walls and the city itself.
Someone tells us that the British Army are said to have blocked up many of the
leading into tunnels in the walls in the 1970's. The army had their own modern
fortifications on the walls during the conflict.
Someone else adds that they knew of a man who
was currently excavating his basement somewhere in the city having discovered
an underground chamber. The Diamond is also rumoured to have its own set of
tunnels but debate exists as to where the tunnels might lead. This is a
subterranean world we are not going to get to explore today.
A Spot of Seed Bombing
Katie takes advantage of a bit of open ground
to scatter a few more seed bombs. If they take root, it will be as subterranean
as it gets. She scatters the last of the soil in her take out box like ashes.
Stone
Gareth points out a large white granite stone
that looks like a kerbstone. Its history is uncertain. It was found during
repaving works. He will be able to use it for the community garden. We are on
the way there now.
Community Garden
We are reunited here, some came by another
route. The community garden sits nestled under the walls. There are raised beds
and a purposefully built low fence. Gareth points out that it is better to
invest in the project than in building high fences, which might tempt people to
breach them senselessly anyway. If a few spuds are robbed they can e replanted,
this way everyone can see the garden as a living part of the city.
The beds contain a variety of of veg tended by
local people including youth groups. I see scallions, leeks, potted pansies and
some brassicas partially ravaged by the pigeons that have escaped the
cathedral’s buzzards. In season produce
is bagged up and distributed by local kids to pensioners and other residents in
the area.
We retrace our steps back toward London St and
the historical confines of the walled city.
Preservation
Gerry points out various historic buildings on
London St, highlighting a view of the back of a row of Pump St. terraces. These
houses have preservation orders but despite this one bears the scar of an architectural
infringement, a strip of concrete used to repair a crack.
Pavers
Pump St is awash with new pavers being laid.
Workmen gingerly direct a truck along the, as yet, unset street surface.
Pedestrians are corralled tightly along the narrow paths. You notice the detail
of the shop facades more this way.
Gerry often photographs the abundance of
architectural detail the city has to offer, getting people to guess which
building they belong to.
Splinters
It gets very crowded as we intermingle with the
normal Saturday shopper crowds on Ferryquay St. It's not long before our
company is dispersed. I’m with Gerald's faction we make for the Diamond.
The Diamond, marking Derry's City Centre is the
site of the cities war memorial. People have an ambivalent relationship to it,
especially the bayonets wielding soldiers, but agree that it does remind of the
horrors of war.
Gerald recounts the story of how the statuary
on the memorial is said to have been made, paid for and subsequently rejected
by a city in England. The rejected statues were then gifted to Derry. He could
not recall there and then the detail of this. The cold is starting to bite so
we keep on the move bearing towards Shipquay St. and ultimately Katie's hidden
garden site.
Renegades
A brisk walk down Shipquay St and we spot some
of the breakaway renegades at the bottom, we signal them up to cross Castle St.
with us. A number of them take a short cut through the Craft Village.
Reunited
We are all reunited on Magazine St. We make
haste in the bitter cold towards Patrick St. and Katie's Garden.
Rendered Trees
Katie stops briefly on Strand Rd. to point out
a form of odd landscaping at the base of many city trees. They all have a
pebbledash collar at their bases, which must surely hinder rood expansion in
future years.
Secret Garden in waiting
North Edward St., off Patrick St. is a tiny
little street that might normally escape attention, but it provides side access
to a block being renovated which will eventually be run as galleries by Void.
This marks the entrance to a hidden courtyard where Katie’s garden will be.
Snow
Katie brings us in to partial sheltered
courtyard. It once housed plant equipment. This has now been removed but there
is still much work to be done. Katie outlined her plans for the garden, both
short term and long term and in so doing enlisted support and recruits for the
garden. She outlines with conviction how crucial it is that residents of Derry
use this space in years to come. The first flurry of snow starts to fall gently
in the courtyard. We disperse for some warmth.
No comments:
Post a Comment