Ireland Guide
Antrim and Derry
Derry city
Derry, which lies at the foot of Lough Foyle, is a crossroads city in more ways than one: roads from all cardinal points arrive here, but it was also a major point of emigration from the eighteenth century onwards, an exodus that reached tumultuous proportions during the Great Famine. Derry is the fourth largest city in Ireland and the second biggest in the North, but it has a markedly different atmosphere from Belfast, being two-thirds Catholic. While roads into the city are signposted in Irish welcoming visitors to Derry, the city still appears as "Londonderry" on many road maps and signs, a preference adhered to by the British government, Unionists and television news bulletins. Indeed, it has also acquired the nickname "Stroke City" – a reference to the tactful placating of both Nationalist and Unionist traditions by entitling it "Londonderry/Derry". Whatever the case, locals of both persuasions now generally refer to their city as "Derry".
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