Editing Derry (section)

===Plantation===
What became the City of Derry was part of the relatively new [[County Donegal]] up until 1610.<ref name="Lacy 1983 p. 1" /> In that year, the west bank of the future city was transferred by the [[English Crown]] to [[The Honourable The Irish Society]]<ref name="Lacy 1983 p. 1" /> and was combined with [[County Coleraine]], part of [[County Antrim]] and a large portion of [[County Tyrone]] to form [[County Londonderry]]. Planters organised by London [[livery companies]] through The Honourable The Irish Society arrived in the 17th century as part of the [[Plantation of Ulster]] and rebuilt the town with high walls to defend it from Irish insurgents who opposed the plantation. The aim was to settle Ulster with a population supportive of the Crown.<ref name="Curl" /> It was then renamed "Londonderry".

This city was the first [[planned city]] in Ireland: it was begun in 1613, with the walls being completed in 1619, at a cost of £10,757.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.derryswalls.com/hist-walls-constructed.html |title=Walls Constructed |access-date=23 July 2012 |date=2008 |work=Derry's Walls |publisher=Guildhall Press / [[Derry City Council]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224131028/http://www.derryswalls.com/hist-walls-constructed.html |archive-date=24 February 2012}}</ref> The central diamond within a walled city with four gates was thought to be a good design for defence. The grid pattern chosen was subsequently much copied in the colonies of British North America.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://worldfacts.us/UK-Londonderry.htm |title=Londonderry |date=2005 |work=WorldFacts.us |access-date=5 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925103244/http://worldfacts.us/UK-Londonderry.htm |archive-date=25 September 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> The charter initially defined the city as extending three [[Irish mile]]s (about 6.1&nbsp;km) from the centre.

The modern city preserves the 17th-century layout of four main streets radiating from a central Diamond to four gateways&nbsp;&nbsp;– Bishop's Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Shipquay Gate and Butcher's Gate. The city's oldest surviving building was also constructed at this time: the 1633 Plantation Gothic [[St Columb's Cathedral|cathedral of St Columb]]. In the porch of the cathedral is a stone that records completion with the inscription: "If stones could speake, then London's prayse should sound, Who built this church and cittie from the grounde."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stcolumbscathedral.org/History.htm |title=Brief History of St Columb's Cathedral Londonderry |access-date=13 February 2010 |work=StColumbsCathedral.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104025334/http://www.stcolumbscathedral.org/history.htm |archive-date=4 January 2009}}</ref>