Our Space 1: Derry’s oldest structure - THE LONG TOWER?

For many years it was mistakenly thought to be the windmill of “the Battle of the Windmill” during the 1689-90 siege. But thanks to radiocarbon dating of its mortar by Dr Gerard Barrett of QUB, it is now known to be about 800 years old, dating from the 1200s-1300s. So it was realised to be the bottom of the old Round Tower that appears clearly in the 1603 map. (It may, of course, have been converted to be a windmill at a later date).

Most of medieval Derry was demolished and used to build the 1613 City Walls - a story for another day. But the Round Tower was clearly still standing full height in 1603 - the last physical remains of Derry’s monastery founded in the late 500s.

Thanks for this major historical correction goes to the Derry Tower Heritage Group comprising: Ian Bartlett, Ivor Doherty, Stephen Doherty, Peter Hamilton, Roy Hamilton, Maurice Harron and Ken McCormack. It was Stephen Doherty, a teacher at Lumen Christi College, who preserved some of the old mortar when conservation work was being carried out in 2013. So thanks to QUB’s carbon dating in 2017, the striking history was revealed.

And you can see a full, intact, 28-metre tall, 1,000 year-old, surviving tower, in open civic parkland at 14 Steeple Road, Antrim Town BT48 1BL, not far off the M2 to Belfast.