Memorial hall to the 13 Apprentice Boys of Derry

The Apprentice Boys of Derry is a Protestant fraternal society founded in 1814 with 80,000 members in Ireland, Scotland, The United States, and Canada. This building was constructed in 1873 under the designs of John Guy Ferguson. It is dedicated to the memory of the 13 Apprentice Boys who closed the city gates in 1688 when the Catholic King James II laid siege to what was then the Protestant stronghold of Derry. It is now classified as a listed building and includes a museum and meeting rooms for each of the loyal orange orders. The Apprentice Boys’ marching parades regularly led to rioting in the city but more recently a conciliatory approach has taken place and now they are virtually trouble-free.