The Tower Museum
Location: City of Derry
More Info: Visit Website
Category: Museums
Location Map
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Although it looks like an old Norman building, this is in fact a modern one, purpose built to house this interesting museum. There are exhibits tracing the history of the City of Derry from earliest times, and this is a city which has certainly had an interesting and chequered past.
But the real attraction here for most visitors is the excellent exhibition, "An Armada Shipwreck". This may seem an odd exhibit for an Irish Museum, but in 1588 one of the largest ships in the Spanish fleet, La Trinidad Valencera, sank off the coast near here.
The City of Derry sub-aqua club spent many years exploring the wreck and bringing to the surface the cannons, textiles, pottery, wooden bowls, pewter dishes, goblets, coins, shoes and other items which from the core of the exhibit.
The exhibit runs from the top of the museum, where there is a open area with fantastic views over the city, and covers 5 floors.
Visitors first learn about the ship, why it was were it was and how it was sunk, before going down to the 'seabed' to learn about the wreck and how it was excavated.
The story of the excavation is every bit as interesting as that of the ship itself, and is very well recounted with the aid of audio and video presentations. In fact the whole exhibition uses interactivity, which children really enjoy - especially boys who seem to often be fascinated by the ships of the Armada!
Around the Museum: Walls of Derry
Derry is a walled city, the only completely enclosed one in Ireland. The walls were built between 1613-1618 by early seventeenth century settlers from England and Scotland to protect the city from local Irish rebels.
The Walls, built from earth, lime and local stone are almost totally intact and you can walk around the 1.5km circumference on top of them, a lovely way to see the city.
The four original gates to the Walled City are Bishop’s Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Butcher Gate and Shipquay Gate. Three further gates were added - magazine Gate, Castle Gate and New Gate.
Location Map for The Tower Museum
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