Ferryquay Gate – Shutting of the Gates Ceremony

Ferryquay is one of the four original City gates and overlooked the ferry quay on the River Foyle. It originally had a drawbridge over a dry moat and a tower. The original gate was significantly widened in 1795 and rebuilt in its present form in 1866. The keystones on this gate represent the Reverend George Walker, Episcopalian Minister and Governor during the Siege of Derry, and the Reverend James Gordon, Presbyterian Minister during the Siege.

(Please see my Walk Old Derry’s Walls  for additional detail on the Siege of Derry)

This gate was the first gate shut against the Earl of Antrim’s Catholic Redshanks army by apprentice boys on 7th December 1688. The other three original gates were also shut on the same day. This shutting of the gates was some four months before James II was refused entry to the City at Bishop’s Gate, at which point, on 18 April 1689, the famous 105 days Siege of Derry formally began.

The Shutting of the Gates is commemorated annually on the first Saturday in December by the Apprentice Boys Association (commonly referred to as just the Apprentice Boys), an organisation perpetuating the memory of the original apprentice boys.

The commemoration begins with the firing of a cannon at midnight on Friday – 1 shot and then 3 shots symbolising the 13 apprentice boys who shut the gates in 1688 after which the Apprentice Boys walk around and touch the four original gates – a symbolic Shutting of the Gates.

On the Saturday morning, after the gates have been ‘touched’ (“shut”), siege flags are erected on Walkers Plinth and an effigy of Governor Lundy (who deserted the city and its besieged people*) is hung on a scaffold in Bishop Street. Parades are then held prior to a thanksgiving service in St Columb’s Cathedral and the laying of a wreath on the Siege Heroes Mound. With the main formalities over the Apprentice Boys return to Bishop Street for the “Burning of Lundy” at around 4pm.

*While Lundy was a traitor to the City he was not a traitor to King William whom he subsequently served outside the city.

While the City Wall Gates can be visited any time the Shutting of the Gates Commemoration Ceremony takes place annually of the first Friday/Saturday of December.

Address: Intersection of Ferryquay and Artillery Streets

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This entry is one of a group (loop) of entries based on many trips to Londonderry/Derry. I suggest you continue with my next entry – Sally Forth from the Sally Port – or to start the loop at the beginning go to my introductory entry – The City on the Foyle.

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