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| THE CATHEDRAL, LONDONDERRY. -On a commanding elevation, dominating the streets of Londonderry and the waters of the river Foyle, which "roll northward to the main," rises the historic religious edifice illustrated in the sketch. Irish annalists claim that it occupies the site of a monastery founded in A.D. 546 by St. Columb. This was supplanted, in part at least, by a larger edifice in 1164. In later times it was protected by a strong fort -the nucleus of the more modern fortifications. During the bloody campaigns of Shane O'Neill the Proud, in 1568, the English garrison, under Randolph, was compelled to fly, and church and fort were blown up by gunpowder. At the close of the great war conducted by Hugh O'Neill, an English officer, named Dowers, rebuilt the walls of the fort for the accommodation of a military force; but he paid no attention to the ruins of the church. In 1633, however, the English "transplanters," aided by the city of London, rebuilt it as a place of Protestant worship. The famous Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, who so nearly succeeded in separating Ireland from Great Britain in 1782, contributed a spire of hewn stone. The tower on which it was built became dangerous in 1802, so that both had to be taken down and reconsturcted, half the expense being borne by the citizens and half by Bishop Knox, whose elegant monument is one of the chief ornaments of the interior of the cathedral. Here also are placed many relics of the great siege of 1688-9, including standards, flags and bombshells. |
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