Experts are set to explore if hundreds year old tunnel exists under Derry walls

Experts are being brought in to explore if a tunnel dating back hundreds of years exists under the world-famous walls of Derry.

It has been rumoured for many years that a tunnel was in use during the Siege of Derry in 1689 from below St Columb’s Cathedral to the area outside the walls.

However, no definite proof of the tunnel has ever been found.

Now, however, a specialist team of archaeologists from Queen’s University have been commissioned in a bid to finally get to the bottom of Derry’s ‘lost’ tunnel.

If it did exist and was later filled in, the tunnel would be under part of the graveyard around St Columb’s Cathedral.

As a result, the Queen’s team will use the latest in radar technology to find out what lies beneath the graveyard.

The Siege of Derry was the first major event in the Williamite War in Ireland.

It was a battle between those inside the walls who were loyal to the Protestant William of Orange and the forces of Catholic King James who were trying to take over Derry.

While the gates of the walled city were initially closed in December 1688 by members of the Apprentice Boys organisation, the siege didn't begin in earnest until April the following year.

The siege lasted nearly three and a half months, ending on July 30, 1689, when relief ships bringing an English army sailed down Lough Foyle.

The siege claimed the lives of an estimated 4,000 people, both inside and outside the walls.

The search for the ‘lost’ tunnel dating back to the siege will focus on a ‘sally port’ entrance to the walls which is located close to the Fountain Estate.

A sally port was a secure, controlled entryway to a fortification or prison.

In the instance of the Derry walls, it is believed that the sally port would have used during the siege by those inside the walls to launch secret attacks on King James’ forces.

It is also believed to have been used to gather clean water from wells in the area surrounding the walls.

While the entrance to the sally port on Derry’s walls still exists, the opening only goes back a couple of metres before it is blocked off.

The Queen’s archaeologists will now try to uncover what lies beyond and below this blocked entrance.

The work is part of a major new project which will aims to collate all the archaeological research has been conducted in and around Derry’s ‘Walled City’.

The project is being led by the Friends of Derry Walls group which was set up several years to secure the preservation of the walls and to exploit the economic potential of the local landmark.

The ‘Friends’ have commissioned Queen’s University to carry out the archaeological research.

Representatives from the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork at Queen’s were in Derry this week to speak about the upcoming project.

Archaeologist Cormac McSparron said one of its main aims was to explore evidence of life in Derry during medieval times.

In 2013, an archaeological dig was carried out at a car park at Society Street in Derry’s city centre.

Mr McSparron said that pottery dating back an estimated 900 years was found.

He said this was among the first evidence of a medieval settlement in Derry, and it was something that would be looked at further during the new project.

During the 2013, a number of skeletons were found in what was believed to have been a 17^th century burial plot.

The dig was one of a number carried out in the local area as part of Derry’s 2013 City of Culture celebrations.