One of the finest church interiors in Ireland

This area was originally part of a small wooded island surrounded by marshy land which later became known as ‘the Bogside. St Colmcille founded his first monastery here in the 6th century and then went on to found the one at Iona in Scotland which is reputed to have started Christianity spreading back to the continent after the collapse of the Roman Empire. In 1164 a large church known as Teampall Mór was built here. This was subsequently demolished and used for building parts of the Derry walls. This present church was built in 1810 with the support of Frederick Augustus Hervey, the Anglican Bishop of Derry. It was built in a Renaissance style and was the first Catholic church to be built after the reformation. Hervey came from one of the wealthiest families in Britain or Ireland and would have been a billionaire in today’s money. The interiors in this church are so grand that some say it could match any church in Rome!

Josef Locke (23 March 1917 – 15 October 1999) was born in Derry and became one of the most famous tenors in the world during the 1940s and 50s