Skip to main content
Colmcille Logo White

4.1 Port na Long (Guild Hall Square)

In the medieval city, Guild Hall Square was Port na Long – ‘the port of the ships’ on the banks of the Foyle. This is was a main approach to medieval city. It was also the starting point of a medieval pilgrimage described by Manus O’Donnell in 1532, and is the start of our trail today. The Peace Bridge across the Foyle also leads here. The bridge allows good views of the city and is a good approach to the beginning of the pilgrim trail.

From the first station on the banks of the Foyle, the pilgrims walked up the hill. To follow the route today, go through Magazine Gate and past the Tower Museum, which recalls a medieval tower which also overlooked the pilgrim route.

The earliest account of Colmcille’s life, written around 700, tells of monks travelling between Iona and Derry. By the twelfth century, the abbey wrote of Colmcille leaving Derry for exile, followed by the cries of seagulls.

Several recent journeys have left Derry in a traditional curragh recreating Colmcille’s voyage. In medieval times, the Foyle An Feabhal was seen as one stretch of water from Magilligan under Benevenagh to where the Finn and Mourne rivers meet. There was no distinction between the lough and the river.

  • 4.1 Port na Long (Guild Hall Square)

    In the medieval city, Guild Hall Square was Port na Long - ‘the port of the ships’ on the banks of the Foyle. This is was a main approach to medieval city. It was also the starting point of a medieval pilgrimage described by Manus O’Donnell in 1532, and is the start...

  • 4.2 St Augustine’s Church

    St Augustine’s is a beautiful quiet space on the city walls, and from Easter to the end of September parishioners open the church during the day to welcome visitors. Modern research suggest that St Augustine’s is at or near the site of the earliest monastery church, the dúreigléas or ‘black...

  • 4.3 Áras Cholmcille

    Áras Cholmcille – the St Columba Heritage Centre – is in the grounds of the Long Tower church. It is an ideal place to get an overview of the stories of Colmcille, patron of the city. It has interactive and audio-visual displays and artefacts, and a range of facilities for...

  • 4.4 Long Tower Church

    The Long Tower Church, like St Augustine’s and Áras Cholmcille, almost certainly stands within the enclosure of the monastic settlement of medieval Derry. It gets its name from a round tower which stood here up to the 17th century. The round tower stood beside the Teampall Mór, Great Church, which was...

  • 4.5 St Columb’s Well

    This holy well is the focus for a celebration on 9 June - Colmcille’s feast day. A procession comes down the hill from the Long Tower Church and the well is blessed - the priest asking for protection for the followers of St Columba who ‘walk where he walked, and...

  • 4.6 St Columb’s Cathedral

    It was the first Anglican cathedral built in these islands since the Reformation. The dedication stone for the building of the cathedral is inside the west door and commemorates the Londoners who paid for it, If stones could speake
    Then Londons prayse should sounde
    Who built this church and cittie


FnaG
BnaG
Nhún na nGall
Derry City
Oideas Gael
Museum Nan Eilean
Comunn Eachdraidh Nis
Argyll Bute
colmcille
colmcille 1500

Bòrd na Gàidhlig

Great Glen House
Leachkin Road
Inverness
Scotland, IV3 8NW

(+44) 01463 225454
colmcille@gaidhlig.scot

Colmcille

Foras na Gaeilge, 2-6 Queen Street
Belfast
Northern Ireland
BT1 6ED

(+44) 028 9089 0970
colmcille@forasnagaeilge.ie

Colmcille

Foras na Gaeilge, An Chrannóg
Na Doirí Beaga
Gaoth Dobhair
Donegal, Ireland. F92 EYT3

(+353) 074 9560113
colmcille@forasnagaeilge.ie