myireland.ie
Mussenden Temple, County Derry / Londonderry
Photograph: D LN · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Province of Ulster

County Derry / Londonderry

Doire

“DIRR-a” · oak grove, from doire, an oak wood

Known as The Oak Leaf County. Straight from the name: Doire is an oak grove, and the city is Doire Cholm Cille, Colmcille's oak wood. The oak leaf is on the county crest.

Did you know? Derry's walls have never been breached — hence 'the Maiden City'. It was thirteen apprentice boys who shut the gates against King James in 1688.
A fact like this for every county and every age →

Compare with another county → · Printable one-page summary →

Derry / Londonderry by the numbers
Ulster province 252,231 people · 2021 census 2,118 km² · 15th of 32 by size County town Coleraine -14% in the Famine · 222,174 people in 1841, 192,022 in 1851 6 baronies · 1,255 townlands 20 surnames 4 towns on the site 20,044 Irish speakers · 2021 Highest point Sawel, 678 m 1 senior All-Irelands 30 notable people born here Everything on the site about Derry / Londonderry ↓
Carlow Cavan Cork Donegal Dublin Clare Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone

Open the atlas ↗

The history of Derry / Londonderry

Mount Sandel, near Coleraine, is perhaps the oldest recorded settlement in Ireland, and the county has a rich prehistoric landscape at Ballygroll and elsewhere. In the Middle Ages this was O'Cahan's country, tributary to the O'Neills, and late in Elizabeth I's reign it was seized and made the county of Coleraine.

On 2 March 1613 James I granted a charter to the Irish Society, formed by the twelve great livery companies of London, to plant a new county. It was named Londonderry and was built from County Coleraine plus most of the barony of Loughinsholin from Tyrone (for its timber), a strip of Antrim, and the city of Derry and its liberties from Donegal, so the Society could hold both banks of the Foyle and the Bann. Each company got an estate of about 3,210 acres, and several of the county's towns grew from their halls — the Drapers at Moneymore, the Salters at Magherafelt, the Skinners at Dungiven, the Vintners at Bellaghy, among others.

Under the Local Government Act of 1898 the city was separated from the county, and Coleraine became the county town until the county council was abolished in 1973.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on County Derry / Londonderry ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The chronology above is this site's own; where the two differ, the article is the one to check.

The land — from Wikipedia

The highest point in the county is the summit of Sawel Mountain on the border with County Tyrone. Sawel is part of the Sperrin Mountains, which dominate the southern part of the county. To the east and west, the land falls into the valleys of the Bann and Foyle rivers respectively; in the south-east, the county touches the shore of Lough Neagh, which is the largest lake in Ireland; the north of the county is distinguished by the steep cliffs, dune systems, and remarkable beaches of the Atlantic coast.

Places of interest

The highest point in the county is the summit of Sawel Mountain on the border with County Tyrone. Sawel is part of the Sperrin Mountains, which dominate the southern part of the county. To the east and west, the land falls into the valleys of the Bann and Foyle rivers respectively; in the south-east, the county touches the shore of Lough Neagh, which is the largest lake in Ireland; the north of the county is distinguished by the steep cliffs, dune systems, and remarkable beaches of the Atlantic coast.

Read the full article ↗ · Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Clans & surnames of Derry / Londonderry
Bradley Ó Brolcháin Gaelic sept / English place-name surname · “descendant of Brolachán, a diminutive of Brólach” Branagan Ó Branagáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Branagán — from bran, a raven” Cormack Ó Cormaic Gaelic sept · “descendant of Cormac — 'son of Corb', or charioteer” Craig — Ulster Scots · “Scots for 'crag, rock'” Devlin Ó Doibhilin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Doibhilean” Diamond Ó Diamáin Gaelic learned family · “descendant of Diamán, more correctly Díomán, a diminutive of the personal name Díoma” Doherty Ó Dochartaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Dochartach, 'the hurtful'” Gilligan Mac Giollagáin Gaelic sept · “son of Giollagán — 'youth, lad'” Gormley Ó Goirmleaghaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Goirmshleaghach, 'blue-spearman'” Harkin Ó hEarcáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Earcán, a diminutive of earc, ‘red, speckled’” Hegarty Ó hÁgartaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Fágartach” Keane Ó Catháin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Cathán, 'little battler'” Laverty Ó Laithbheartaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Flaithbheartach” McLoughlin Mac Lochlainn Gaelic dynasty · “son of Lochlann, 'the Norse-lander'” Morrison Mac Muiris / Ó Muirgheasáin Ulster Scots / Gaelic · “son of Maurice / descendant of Muirgheasán” Mulholland Ó Maolchalann Gaelic sept · “descendant of Maolchalann, 'chief of the calends'” Mullan Ó Maoláin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Maolán, 'the tonsured one'” O'Connell Ó Conaill Gaelic sept · “descendant of Conall — a name built from 'hound' and 'valour'” Stewart Stíobhard Ulster Scots · “steward of the royal household” Toner Ó Tomhrair Gaelic-Norse · “descendant of Tomhrar — a Norse personal name”

Tap a name for its full page — story, homeland map and neighbours. Or see all surnames from County Derry / Londonderry, with the other counties each name is tied to.

Towns, saints and legends of Derry / Londonderry

Towns. Derry Doire (84,884, 2021), Coleraine Cúil Raithin (24,560, 2021), Limavady Léim an Mhadaidh (11,697, 2021), Maghera Machaire Rátha (4,222, 2021). What every town name means →

Saints. St Colmcille (9 June).

Legends set here. Banagher — the lucky sand. On the atlas →

First names that belong here. Colm, Séamus, Damhnaic.

Irish in Derry / Londonderry today

At the 2021 census, 20,044 people in Derry / Londonderry aged 3 and over said they could speak Irish, and 11,653 could speak, read, write and understand it. 6,833 speak it daily, and for 827 it is their main language.

NISRA, Census 2021, Flexible Table Builder (county geography, built by NISRA from Data Zones; Belfast is split between Antrim and Down). All six counties →

The top of Derry / Londonderry

Sawel (Samhail), 678 metres, in the Sperrin Mountains, on the county boundary and shared with a neighbouring county.

Rivers and loughs: River Bann, River Foyle, Lough Neagh.

MountainViews, via Wikipedia. Every county's highest point → · Rivers and loughs →

Derry / Londonderry in the All-Ireland

Hurling: no senior title.
Football: 1 senior title (1993); 1 final lost.

Every county's All-Ireland titles →

Born in Derry / Londonderry

From Wikidata: people whose recorded birthplace is in the county, who have a Wikipedia article and are no longer living, with dates shown only where the article confirms them, ordered by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in. Traditional birthplaces of early saints are as Wikidata records them. Dates are left off where the sources disagree.

People in Derry / Londonderry, census by census

Derry / Londonderry had 222,174 people in 1841 and has 252,231 now (+14%). its low point 139,693 in 1926, -37% of 1841. It is one of the counties that has recovered its pre-Famine population.

182118311841185118611871188118911901191119261937195119611966197119811991200120112021
193,869222,012222,174192,022184,209173,906164,991152,009144,404140,625139,693142,736155,540165,298174,658183,094197,278213,035235,864247,132252,231

Census returns as tabulated in the county's Wikipedia article. All 32 counties, 1821 to today →

Hidden Derry / Londonderry — the places the buses miss
  • Mount Sandel
    Ireland's oldest known settlement — where hunter-gatherers built huts above the Bann around 7000 BC. There is nothing to see but the view; that is the point.
  • Banagher Old Church
    A stone mortuary house two metres high, the finest of a small Ulster group, said to hold the bones of Muiredach O’Heney. An inscription claims 474; the building is more likely late 11th century, and the Annals of Ulster first mention the place in 1121.
On the ground in Derry / Londonderry
  • Aughlish · stone circle
  • Corick · stone circle
  • Derry · round tower · incomplete · 5.5 m
  • 5 castles · Bellaghy Bawn, Coleraine Castle, Dungiven Castle, Limavady Castle, Low Rock Castle

Every pin is placed by its documented coordinates. All the monuments of Ireland →

Everything on the site about County Derry / Londonderry

The county

History

Monuments and heritage

Coast and country

People and culture

Quick answers
What is the Irish name for County Derry / Londonderry?

Doire. Derry / Londonderry is one of the 9 counties of Ulster (Cúige Uladh).

Who ruled County Derry / Londonderry in the Middle Ages?

Around 1014 it was held by Tír Eoghain (Mac Lochlainn / O'Neill); by 1450, O'Neill of Tír Eoghain. The full era-by-era chronology is on this page.

What surnames come from County Derry / Londonderry?

Names historically associated with Derry / Londonderry include Bradley, Branagan, Cormack, Craig, Devlin, Diamond, Doherty, Gilligan, among others.

What does Doire mean?

Doire, said “DIRR-a”, means oak grove — from doire, an oak wood. Doire Cholm Cille, Colmcille's oak grove. London was added to the charter of 1613; the Irish name never took it, and the county has two English names to this day.

What is the population of County Derry / Londonderry?

252,231 at the 2021 census, against 222,174 in 1841, before the Famine.

What is the county town of Derry / Londonderry?

Coleraine. County Derry / Londonderry covers about 2,118 km², which makes it the 15th largest of the 32 counties.

Who are famous people from County Derry / Londonderry?

Among the best-known people born in Derry / Londonderry are Seamus Heaney, Harry Gregg, Peter Doherty, Robert Caldwell, William Ogilby, Henry McCullough. The full list, with their birthplaces, is on this page.

What did the Famine do to County Derry / Londonderry?

The census counted 222,174 people in Derry / Londonderry in 1841 and 192,022 in 1851: a change of -14% in ten years, through death and emigration.

Sources for this page

A clean copy for school projects or the family file; collapsed sections print in full.

The chronology of who held the county is this site's own reading of the standard histories onto today's county borders, and says so where the fit is rough. Quoted passages are marked and licensed. Spotted an error? Say so — corrections are credited.

Trace your ancestors in Derry / Londonderry

Free, from the holding institutions. How to begin: the six-step guide → · Spotted an error on this page? Suggest a correction.