CITY OF LONDONDERRY. 
These accounts, it will be seen, agree substantially ; the only discrepancies worth notice are 
in respect to the number of men that came to Lough Foyle, and the destruction of the cathedral 
and other religious houses. The first is of little importance, as the Four Masters probably in¬ 
cluded in their amount the followers of the army, and the seamen, who must have been very nume¬ 
rous, as Peter Lombard states that the number of ships employed on the expedition was sixty-seven. 
At all events the annalists could only have given their estimate from common report, and their 
error, if it were such, was more excusable than that of Moryson, the secretary to the lord deputy, 
who states officially that the number of horse was one hundred, though we find from Docwra himself 
that it was two. 
The statement of the Four Masters, relative to the destruction of the cathedral, &c. appears to 
be a greater error, unless by destruction, or tearing down, they merely meant the ruins left by the 
explosion in 1566; and it is certain that the cloig-caec, or round tower belfry, escaped on both 
occasions, as already shewn, and that Docwra preserved one of the churches for a place of 
worship. 
Of the forts erected by Sir H. Docwra at Derry, Culmore, and Dunnalong, the original 
plans will be found in connexion with their history in succeeding portions of this memoir. 
1601. The subsequent operations of the garrisons of Lough Foyle are fully detailed in 
the County history. It may be proper, however, in this place, to correct an error of Ware and 
Cox, who" state that the castle of Derry was regained in this year by Sir Henry Docwra, having 
been betrayed by some of his Irish soldiers to the rebels. The concurrent silence of Docwra 
himself, and the Irish annalists, is a sufficient refutation of the statement. 
1603. The termination of the war at the commencement of this year rendering the presence 
of a large body of troops at Derry no longer necessary, the garrison was reduced to 100 horse, 
and 150 foot, under the governor, Sir Henry Docwra, and 200 foot, under Captain Richard 
Hansard. There were also left at Culmore ‘20 men, under Captain Hart. The origin of the pre¬ 
sent city may, perhaps, he properly dated from this period. The vigorous mind of the governor, 
which was equally fitted for distinction in the arts of war or peace, lost no time in laying the foun¬ 
dation and promoting the prosperity of a commercial town, which has since risen to a rank so con¬ 
siderable, and which, from its local advantages, may yet assume a high rank among the cities 
of the empire. 
For these services the name of Docwra has not received its just meed of celebrity, even on 
the spot which is reaping the benefit of them ; but that he is well entitled to be revered, as the true 
founder of “ the Derrie,” will abundantly appear by the following abstract of charters, from 
the patent rolls of James I. 
September 12. A grant was made to Sir Henry Docwra, knt., governor of Lough Foyle, 
and privy councillor, to hold two markets on Wednesday and Saturday, and a fair for six days, 
(viz. on the vigil, day, and morrow of St. Lawrence, 9th, 10th, and 11th of August), and for three 
days following, at Derrie every year, with horse races, there to be held during the same markets 
and fairs, together with the issues, profits, and emoluments belonging and appertaining to the said 
markets and fairs. Rent 2s. 6 d. English at Michaelmas.—(1 Jac. I. 2 pars. f. 33.) 
1604, July 11. The town or borough of Derrie is by reason of the natural seat and situa¬ 
tion thereof, a place very convenient and fit to be made both a town of war and a town of mer¬ 
chandize, and so might many ways prove serviceable for the crown and profitable for the subject, 
if the same were not only walled, entrenched and inhabited, but also incorporated and endowed 
with convenient liberties, privileges, and immunities; and Sir Henry Docwra, knight, during the 
reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James, having, by his extraordinary valour, industry, and 
charge, repossessed, repaired, and repeopled that town ; being utterly ruinated and laid waste by 
the late rebellion in those parts, and having begun and laid a good foundation there for the 
planting of a colony of civil and obedient people in that place, the king (for the better progress 
therein, and more fully establishing of the same in perpetuity, and for a memorial and recompence 
of the good service and charge which Sir H. Docwra had employed and bestowed as aforesaid), did 
pursuant to letters dated at Wesminster, 22d March, 1603-4, inrolled, (anno 2°, 3% pars. d. 
memb. 7.) give, grant, and confirm unto him, and the inhabitants of the Derrie, all the circuit 
and extent of land and water within the compass of three miles, to be measured from the circum¬ 
ference of the old church walls, directly forth in a right line, every way round about, every 
mile containing 1,000 geometrical paces, and every pace five feet in length, shall be for ever, 
a free, entire, and perfect city and county of itself, to be called the city and county of 
Derrie, and shall be a corporation and body politic, made and created of the inhabitants of 
the same, consisting of one provost, twelve aldermen, two sheriffs, twenty-four burgesses, 
and as many freemen as the said Sir H. Dockwa, during his life, and as the provost, 
aldermen, sheriffs, and burgesses, should think good to admit, Sir Henry to be provost for life, 
as fully as the Lord Mayor of London had in the city of London, and to appoint a vice provost. 
The sheriffs to hold a county court from three weeks to three weeks, and another court called the 
sheriff’s Turne, at the two usual times of the year, according to statute; to build a hall or town 
