Editing County Londonderry (section)

== History ==
[[File:Cannon on Derry City Walls SMC 2007.jpg|220px|thumbnail|A cannon sits atop the historic Derry Walls, which look over [[Derry|Derry City]].]]
[[File:1837Londonderry.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Map of County Londonderry, 1837]]

===Prehistoric===
The county has a significant of megalithic structures from prehistoric times, including [[Ballygroll Prehistoric Landscape]], as well as numerous others. The most significant site however is [[Mount Sandel Mesolithic site|Mountsandel]], located near Coleraine in County Londonderry is "perhaps the oldest recorded settlement within Ireland".<ref>A.E.P. Collins (1983), "Excavations at Mount Sandel, Lower Site", Ulster Journal of Archaeology vol. 46 pp1-22. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20567892 JSTOR preview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204131150/http://www.jstor.org/stable/20567892 |date=4 February 2016 }}.</ref><ref>C. Michael Hogan. 2011. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Celtic_Sea?topic=49523 ''Celtic Sea''. Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. P. Saundry & C.J. Cleveland. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602040924/http://www.eoearth.org/article/Celtic_Sea?topic=49523 |date=2 June 2013 }}</ref>

===County Coleraine and the Plantation of Ulster===
At an early period, what became the county of Coleraine was inhabited by the [[O'Cahan]]s, who were tributary to the [[O'Neill dynasty|O'Neills]]. Towards the close of the reign of [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] their territory was seized by England, with the purpose of checking the power of the O'Neills, and was made the county of [[Coleraine]], named after the regional capital.

A short description of County Coleraine is given in [[Walter Harris (historian)|Harris]]'s ''Hibernica'', and also in Captain Pynnar's ''Survey of the Escheated Counties of Ulster, Anno 1618'':

{{cquote|
The county of [[Coleraine]],* otherwise called O'Cahan's country, is divided, as Tyrone, by [[ballyboe]]s and doth contain, as appeareth by the survey, 547 ballyboes, or 34,187 acres, every ballyboe containing 60 acres or thereabouts.
}}

On 2 March 1613, [[James I of England|James I]] granted a charter to [[The Honourable The Irish Society]] to undertake the plantation of a new county.<ref name="Munn">''Notes on the Place Names of the Parishes and Townlands of the County of Londonderry'', 1925, Alfred Moore Munn, Clerk of the Crown and Peace of the City and County of Londonderry</ref> This county was named Londonderry, a combination of London (in reference to the [[Livery Company|Livery Companies]] of the Irish Society) and Derry (then name of the city). This charter declared that the "City of Londonderry" and everything contained within the new county:
{{cquote|
shall be united, consolidated, and from hence-forth for ever be one entire County of itself, distinct and separate from all our Counties whatsoever within our Kingdom of Ireland-and from henceforth for ever be named, accounted and called, the County of Londonderry.<ref name="Munn"/>
}}

This new county would comprise the then County Coleraine—which consisted of the baronies of [[Tirkeeran]], [[Coleraine (barony)|Coleraine]], and [[Keenaght (barony)|Keenaght]]—and at the behest of The Irish Society the following additional territory was added: all but the south-west corner of the barony of [[Loughinsholin]], then a part of County Tyrone, as it had sufficient wood for construction; the North East Liberties of Coleraine, which was part of County Antrim and the City of Londonderry and its Liberties, which were in County Donegal, so that they could control both banks of the [[River Foyle]] and [[River Bann]].<ref name="Munn"/><ref name="ANHOI">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=94hgYO8I6T0C&pg=PA111|title=Maps, Genealogies, Lists: A Companion to Irish History|first1=Theodore William|last1=Moody|first2=Francis X.|last2=Martin|first3=Francis John|last3=Byrne|date=1 January 1984|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=9780198217459|via=Google Books|access-date=16 October 2015|archive-date=26 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426022925/https://books.google.com/books?id=94hgYO8I6T0C&pg=PA111|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Curl">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/companies/londoncompanies_full.rtf|title=The City of London and the Plantation of Ulster|last=Curl|first=James Stevens|year=2001|publisher=BBCi History Online|access-date=10 August 2008|archive-date=13 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913111753/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/companies/londoncompanies_full.rtf|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Irish Society was made up of the twelve main livery companies of London, which themselves were composed of various guilds. Whilst The Irish Society as a whole was given possession of the city of Londonderry and Coleraine, the individual companies were each granted an estimated {{Convert|3210|acre|sqmi km2|abbr=on}} throughout the county. These companies and the sites of their headquarters were:<ref name="Robinson209">{{cite book |title=the Plantation of Ulster|first=Philip|last=Robinson|isbn=978-1-903688-00-7|year=2000|publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/hibernicaorsome00irelgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/hibernicaorsome00irelgoog/page/n232 229] |quote=Habberdashers-Hall. |access-date=30 June 2016 |title=Hibernica: or, Some antient places relating to Ireland |year=1770 |publisher=John Milliken |author=Walter Harris}}</ref>
*[[Worshipful Company of Clothworkers|Clothworkers]], based at Killowen and Clothworker's Hall (present-day [[Articlave]]) in the barony of Coleraine;
*[[Worshipful Company of Drapers|Drapers]], based at Draper's Hall, later called Drapers Town (present-day [[Moneymore]]) in the barony of Loughinsholin;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=5704|title=Place Names NI – Home|access-date=30 June 2016|archive-date=20 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820212256/http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=5704|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Worshipful Company of Fishmongers|Fishmongers]], based at Artikelly and Fishermonger's Hall (present-day [[Ballykelly, County Londonderry|Ballykelly]]) in the barony of Keenaght;
*[[Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths|Goldsmiths]], based at Goldsmith's Hall (present-day [[Newbuildings]]) in the barony of Tirkeeran;
*[[Worshipful Company of Grocers|Grocers]], based at Grocer's Hall, alias Muff (present-day [[Eglinton, County Londonderry|Eglinton]]) in the barony of Tirkeeran;
*[[Worshipful Company of Haberdashers|Haberdashers]], based at Habberdasher's Hall (present-day [[Ballycastle, County Londonderry|Ballycastle]]) in the barony of Keenaght;
*[[Worshipful Company of Ironmongers|Ironmongers]], based at Ironmonger's Hall (present-day townland of Agivey) in the barony of Coleraine;
*[[Worshipful Company of Mercers|Mercers]], based at Mercer's Hall (present-day townland of Movanagher) in the barony of Coleraine;
*[[Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors|Merchant Taylors]], based at Merchant Taylor's Hall (present-day [[Macosquin]]) in the barony of Coleraine;
*[[Worshipful Company of Salters|Salters]], based at Salter's Hall (present-day [[Magherafelt]]) and Salters Town in the barony of Loughinsholin;
*[[Worshipful Company of Skinners|Skinners]], based at Skinner's Hall (present-day [[Dungiven]]) in the barony of Keenaght;
*[[Worshipful Company of Vintners|Vintners]], based at Vintner's Hall, later called Vintner's Town (present-day [[Bellaghy]]) in the barony of Loughinsholin.

===19th century===
As a result of the [[Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898]], the city was detached from the county for administrative purposes, becoming a separate [[county borough]] from 1899.  The [[county town]] of County Londonderry, and seat of the [[Londonderry County Council]] until its abolition in 1973, was therefore moved to the town of [[Coleraine]].
{{Historical populations
| state=collapsed
|1653|6102
|1659|7102
|1821|193869
|1831|222012
|1841|222174
|1851|192022
|1861|184209
|1871|173906
|1881|164991
|1891|152009
|1901|144404
|1911|140625
|1926|139693
|1937|142736
|1951|155540
|1961|165298
|1966|174658
|1971|183094
|1981|197278
|1991|213035
|2001|235864
|2011|247132
|2021|252231
||footnote=<ref>For 1653 and 1659 figures from Civil Survey Census of those years, Paper of Mr Hardinge to Royal Irish Academy 14 March 1865.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cso.ie/census|title=Server Error 404 – CSO – Central Statistics Office|access-date=3 September 2009|archive-date=9 March 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050309005718/http://www.cso.ie/census/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.histpop.org  |title=Histpop – The Online Historical Population Reports Website |date= |website=www.histpop.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507023856/http://www.histpop.org/ |archive-date=7 May 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census NISRA – Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (c) 2013] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217095720/http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census |date=17 February 2012 }}. Nisranew.nisra.gov.uk (27 September 2010). Retrieved on 23 July 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last=Lee
| first=JJ
| editor-last=Goldstrom
| editor-first=J. M.
| editor2-last=Clarkson
| editor2-first=L. A.
| title=Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell
| year=1981
| publisher=Clarendon Press
| location=Oxford, England
| chapter=On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
| last1 = Mokyr
| first1 = Joel
| author-link = Joel Mokyr
| last2 = O Grada
| first2 = Cormac
| title = New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700–1850
| journal = The Economic History Review
| volume =  37
| issue =  4
| pages = 473–488
|date=November 1984
| url = http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20121204160709/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = 2012-12-04
| doi = 10.1111/j.1468-0289.1984.tb00344.x
| hdl = 10197/1406
| hdl-access = free
}}</ref>
}}