Boundary Marker

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Boundary marker of c.1840.

Historical information

This post appears to have been one of series that marked the municipal borough boundary of Londonderry as it had existed prior to 1864. A comparision with the only other surviving post of its kind suggests that it originally had a small oval plaque with the initals ‘B.B.' on it, presumably standing for ‘Borough Boundary’.

The exact date of the post is uncertain, but it is likely that it was installed following the 1840 Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, as this stipulated that, ‘within six calendar months after the first election of Mayor…under this Act, shall cause to be set up…permanent and conspicuous boundary marks of iron, wood, stone or other durable material in exact conformity with, or as near as circumstances will admit, the respective metes and bounds…and in the most public and convenient places along or near the line of such metes and bounds…’. The Act came into operation in the City in October 1841 and the new Mayor, (Connolly McCausland Lecky), was elected in December, therefore, by law, posts marking the Corporation’s jurisdiction would have had to have been in place by mid-1842.

The line of the boundary is marked on the OS six-inch county series map of 1853, and it is shown crossing close to this particular location, though this map – unlike many of its successors – does not mark the posts themselves. It is specifically marked for the first time on the larger scale OS town plan of 1873, lying along what was by then the ‘old municipal boundary’, the city limits having been expanded in 1864. A comparison with the modern map suggests that it originally stood a short distance west of its present location. It was undoubtedly relocated due to the considerable development this particular locale witnessed at the end of the 19th and into the 20th centuries, though exactly when this repositioning took place is difficult to determine, as it is not marked on later maps.

The post was originally observable from all sides, but is now set into a recess within a low retaining wall - which may explain its non-appearance on the more recent maps. It now appears to be only one of two from the original city boundary to have survived, the other in the north-east of the city, near 14 Dungiven Road (see HB01/09/012).

References – Primary sources
1 OS map, 6-inch county series, Londonderry sheets 14 and 20 – 1830, 1853, 1905, 1932, 1949; IG series sheet 36-8 – 1963, 1973
2 "Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840" , ‘The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 3 & 4 Victoria. 1849. Vol. XV Part II.’ (Her Majesty's Printers, London, 1840), pp. 599–669
3 ‘Londonderry Standard’ – 4 November 1840, p.2; 29 December 1841, p.2
4 OS town plans of Londonderry – 1873

Secondary sources
5 Irish historic towns atlas, no.15, Derry-Londonderry, (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 2005)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This structure is of insufficient interest to warrant a full survey. Boundary marker of c.1840 whose faceplate has broken off.