Overview
The twelve murals of the People’s Gallery are painted on the gable ends of people’s homes around Rossville Street, and that is the thing to grasp before you go: the Bogside is a lived-in neighbourhood, not an open-air museum, even if it reads like one. It sits on the west bank of the River Foyle just below Derry’s city walls, on ground that was once a marshy floodplain of the Foyle – hence the name, in Irish Taobh an Bhogaigh, the boggy side. The murals and the Free Derry Corner wall can be seen from public pavements. What they can’t give you on their own is the context, and that is worth seeking out.
If you have only an hour, walk the murals and the corner. If you have a morning, visit the museum or take a guided tour first and then walk the murals again – the difference is between looking at paintings and understanding what happened on the street you’re standing on.
The murals, and what they record
The Bogside Artists’ exhibition identifies the murals as the work of Tom Kelly, William Kelly and Kevin Hasson, who worked as the Bogside Artists and began in 1994 to put the district’s recent history on its own walls. They cover the civil rights marches, the 1969 Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday. They are not celebrations of conflict; the recurring subject is the human cost. The tribute to Annette McGavigan, a 14-year-old schoolgirl killed during the Troubles, is a reminder of that human cost.
The context behind them is stark. In August 1969 the Battle of the Bogside turned the area into a self-declared no-go zone, and the ‘Free Derry’ slogan went up on a gable wall. On 30 January 1972, during Bloody Sunday, British soldiers shot dead unarmed civil rights marchers on these streets. That day is why the world knows the name.
Free Derry Corner and the museum
At the junction of Rossville Street and the Lecky Road, Free Derry Corner keeps the original gable-end where ‘You Are Now Entering Free Derry’ was first painted in 1969, now a free-standing wall with an illuminated sign. The Museum of Free Derry in Glenfada Park is a separate ticketed visit. Its collection puts the events in context through objects, photographs and accounts. Check current hours and admission on the museum’s website before you go.
Taking a tour
The murals can be seen without a ticket, but a guided tour is what turns them into a story. The museum’s guided tour options cover the neighbourhood and include a discounted museum ticket. Check the museum’s site for current times and prices.
Gasyard Féile
The Gasyard Féile is a summer festival of live music, arts and street food on a former gas yard in the Bogside; check its own listings for dates – a reminder that this is a neighbourhood with a present as well as a past.
Getting there and practical notes
- Location: Rossville Street / Lecky Road area, Derry (Londonderry).
- From the city centre: the Bogside is a short walk from the Guildhall and the city walls. Follow signs for Rossville Street.
- Parking: use public car parks in the city centre and walk in.
- Admission: viewing the murals and Free Derry Corner from public pavements is free. The museum and guided tours are ticketed separately; check current prices when you book.
- A word of respect: these murals are on the ends of people’s houses. Keep your voice down, don’t touch the paintwork, give residents space at homes and entrances, and don’t block doorways or driveways for a photo.
Nearby
Derry’s walled city, with its seventeenth-century ramparts and the view down over the Bogside, is a few minutes’ walk across the top of the hill – do the walls and the Bogside on the same day and you get both sides of the same history.