The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The large gable-wall murals by the

Bogside Artists The Bogside Artists are a trio of mural painters from Derry, Northern Ireland, consisting of brothers Tom and William Kelly, and Kevin Hasson (b. 8 January 1958). Their most famous work, a series of outdoor murals called the People's Gallery, is ...

Free Derry Corner Free Derry Corner is a historical landmark in the Bogside neighbourhood of Derry, Northern Ireland, which lies in the intersection of the Lecky Road, Rossville Street and Fahan Street. A free-standing gable wall commemorates Free Derry, a self ...

and the Gasyard Féile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are popular tourist attractions. The Bogside is a majority Catholic/ Irish republican area, and shares a border with the Protestant/

Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a u ...

enclave of the Fountain.

History

The Troubles

The area has been a focus point for many of the events of

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

; in 1969, a fierce three-day battle against the RUC and local Protestants—known as the

Battle of the Bogside The Battle of the Bogside was a large three-day riot that took place from 12 to 14 August 1969 in Derry, Northern Ireland. Thousands of Catholic/Irish nationalist residents of the Bogside district, organised under the Derry Citizens' Defence ...

—became a starting point of the Troubles. Between 1969 and 1972, the area along with the Creggan and other Catholic areas became a

no-go area A "no-go area" or "no-go zone" is a neighborhood or other geographic area where some or all outsiders are either physically prevented from entering or can enter at risk. The term includes exclusion zones, which are areas that are officially kept o ...

for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and police. Both the Official and

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

openly patrolled the area and local residents often paid subscriptions to both. On 30 January 1972, a march organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association against internment that was put into effect the year before turned into a bloodbath known as Bloody Sunday. The British Parachute Regiment shot dead 14 protesters and injured 14 more; this resulted in a large surge of recruitment for both wings of the IRA in the city. After

Operation Motorman Operation Motorman was a large operation carried out by the British Army ( HQ Northern Ireland) in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The operation took place in the early hours of 31 July 1972 with the aim of retaking the "no-go areas" (ar ...

and the end of

Free Derry Free Derry ( ga, Saor Dhoire) was a self-declared autonomous Irish nationalist area of Derry, Northern Ireland, that existed between 1969 and 1972, during the Troubles. It emerged during the Northern Ireland civil rights movement, which sough ...

and other no-go areas in Northern Ireland, the Bogside along with the majority of the city experienced frequent street riots and sectarian conflict lasting all the way to the early 1990s. In 1974, the Official IRA declared an end to their armed campaign, with hardline volunteers on the ground already mad about the ceasefire in mid 1972. In result,

Seamus Costello Seamus Costello ( ga, Séamus Mac Coisdealbha, 1939 – 5 October 1977) was an Irish politician. He was a leader of Official Sinn Féin and the Official Irish Republican Army and latterly of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the Ir ...

and other socialist militants formed the Irish Republican Socialist Movement. This new movement included the Irish National Liberation Army the paramilitary wing of the IRSM. Derry and particularly the Bogside became one of many strongholds for the INLA; in fact all three volunteers who died in the

1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special C ...

were from Derry or County Londonderry. The Irish People's Liberation Organisation, a breakaway group of the INLA, made a small but effective presence in Derry. It engaged in a feud with the INLA in the city along with other areas in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

from 1987 to 1992. The feud ended with the Provisionals stepping in and killing the main Belfast leadership while letting the rest of the organisation dissolve in the rest of Ireland. Throughout the rest of the 1990s, the Bogside became relatively peaceful compared to other localities of Northern Ireland at that time such as

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, even though street riots were still frequent. Image:Bogside_Derry_SMC_2005.jpg, The Bogside, looking down from the entrance to the city walls Image:Bloodsunmonum.jpg, Bloody Sunday Memorial Image:WestlandFromWall.jpg, Westland Street in the Bogside, viewed from the city wall (31 July 2007)

External links

Museum of Free Derry - History of the Bogside

Battle of the Bogside

Bogside & Brandywell Initiative
{{County Londonderry Derry (city) Derry and Strabane district

History

The Troubles

See also

External links