Maiden City Festival 2024
Maiden City Festival 2024.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good day to you good people.
00:02I'm the grave digger during the siege, the busiest man in Derry.
00:06I keep digging and the Jacobites keep, well, filling them in on me.
00:11I'm taking a break from digging graves, it's where it wore me out that much.
00:15In the end I've had to just stack the cellars of the city full of them.
00:19I'm digging bigger holes, wider holes and deeper holes just to get more and more bodies into at this stage.
00:27So, I better get back to digging.
00:29Come up onto the walls from now until Friday to see the range of characters related to the siege.
00:56Yes, yes!
00:59Well done!
01:01Wasn't that amazing?
01:03No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
01:33I have a name you know?
01:37Absolutely.
01:38Ha!
01:39That's what you call dancing there, you and your French.
01:46Ha!
01:47I can dance like that you know.
01:49Friends, you find me today full of great excitement and joy for the great siege laid upon this
01:53city of Londonderry has finally been lifted.
01:55It is my greatest honour that I, the humble Lieutenant James McGregor, was the man that
01:59fired the great gun to sound our victory knell, announcing the relief of this city
02:04and the failure of James in his devious plotting.
02:07Now, I do not want to distract from the endeavours of our Episcopalian brothers and sisters throughout
02:11this siege, but as the majority of the Protestants in this city were Presbyterian, it therefore
02:15stands to reason that we were at the forefront of the fighting.
02:19We upheld all attacks and upheld the maidenhood of this city.
02:21Indeed, if it had been up for one of the Presbyterian ministers, the gates would not have been closed
02:25at all against the advancing Redshanks.
02:28The call went out, the apprentices were quick to task, and we were secured within these
02:32great walls.
02:33Now, it must also be remembered, as the gates were being closed, the Church of Ireland Bishop
02:38Ezekiel Hopkins marched into the diamond and reeled the citizenry in the behaviour of defying
02:43their king.
02:45One of the brave thirteen boys, obviously buoyed by his actions, brazenly called back
02:49to him,
02:50My Lord, your doctrine is very good, but we cannot hear you out just now.
02:56This was met with a great deal of acquiescence throughout the general mob, and not some small
03:00amount of humour.
03:02A few days later, Bishop Hopkins decided to vacate the city.
03:05Of course, Lundy was an Episcopalian as well.
03:10That boy didn't know what side he was on, but didn't Adam Murray, another Presbyterian,
03:14sort him out.
03:16Murray appeared with his force just down at this bottom gate, as James appeared up at
03:20Bishop's Cate.
03:21Lundy initially refused him to enter the city.
03:25He'd only let Murray enter the city by hauling him over the walls in a rope, but he had to
03:29dismiss his men first.
03:32Adam Murray, being the man that he was, gave a flat no as his response, and it was Captain
03:37Morris who went against orders, opened the gates, and permitted Murray and his force
03:41to enter the city.
03:42That was one of the reasons this city did not fall to surrender.
03:45No, it's fair to say that the Presbyterians were not slow or unwavering in their defence
03:50of this city, although we had to rely on our friends of the Anglican faith for the
03:55use of their meeting house.
03:57When one remembers, only a generation ago, our brothers and sisters were meeting in fields
04:02under the watchful eye of lookouts to prevent our discovery and destruction by forces of
04:06the establishment.
04:08One can only hope that through this siege we have come to a greater sense of understanding
04:13between our Presbyterian faith and those of the same establishment.
04:17It's an understanding born out of the preservation of rights, of freedoms of worship, and freedoms
04:21of conscience that no doubt would have been imposed upon if James had laid hold of this
04:26city and taken his army across the short expansive sea to Scotland, and led to an irresistible
04:31attack upon London, the seat of our democracy, our freedom, and our liberty.
04:36But my dear friends, the Lord God seemed fit to deliver us from that terrible and frightening
04:41outcome.
04:42He has delivered us from the house of bondage, and these days must and shall never perish
04:47from our seed.
04:48But my dear friends, I must leave you now.
04:51There are many people needs tending, and I must now bend to their needs.
04:55I bid you farewell.
04:57Yes.
04:58Well, I'm afraid we don't have very much of our stuff in stock, but I could get you a
05:03few mice, a few rats.
05:05Do you want to wait half an hour?
05:06No, we'd rather go back with a few rats.
05:08No?
05:09You just don't look very happy with that.
05:12How about I, um...
05:14Are yous cold?
05:15Aye.
05:16Cold, right.
05:17Okay.
05:18I'll get some of this warmed up for you then.
05:19Got some horse blood?
05:20No.
05:21Well, I'm only asking for a shilling for a quart.
05:25So it's a bargain, actually.
05:27So, come on.
05:28Money?
05:29Is it about your shelf?
05:30Sorry?
05:31Some money?
05:32Money?
05:33Shilling for a quart of horse blood?
05:34Uh, maybe.
05:35Uh, well, okay then.
05:37Have you seen a dog?
05:38Aye, we've got two at home.
05:40Well, I need it now, though.
05:41Have you seen a dog?
05:42Aye.
05:43Because the last time I seen a dog was a few weeks ago, many weeks ago, actually.
05:48I think the last time I seen a dog was the day Colonel Baker passed away.
05:5330th of June.
05:55God knows.
05:57He was a big plump thing, so he was.
05:59Very big.
06:01The dog, that is, not him.
06:03I remember, we came out of the cellars, his muzzle all covered in blood.
06:07Me and my brother set off Bishop Street at such a pace.
06:10Got him in no time, because he was so fat.
06:12And we reckoned he was so fat because he fed off the dead people.
06:16So, you know, we'd only normally be asking for a quart of a dog would be a shilling.
06:21A dog's head?
06:22Two shilling.
06:23But because he was so fat, we got the double our prices!
06:28I thought we should have trebled them, to be honest.
06:30But we couldn't.
06:31Because we can't be too greedy, like, can we not?
06:33Can't be too greedy.
06:35How about this?
06:36Can I see scones or something?
06:38Probably what I'd teach you is how to make them, so we can go home and make them.
06:41OK.
06:42The only thing you need, they're very organic, may I add.
06:44Very organic.
06:45So all you need is a bit of starch.
06:48Once you've got your starch, you need to find fresh water.
06:51But for the life of God, can you find fresh water thanks to those Jacobites?
06:56Anyway.
06:57So what I'd do instead is add a bit of spilt.
07:00Very nutritious.
07:01Very organic.
07:02So once you've got that all there, you mix it all up.
07:05Put it in the oven for half an hour.
07:07And voila!
07:08You've got your seed scones!
07:10So I should really watch my French tongue,
07:12because Mr. Mitchelburn might hear and think I'm a spy.
07:15So don't be going around and telling people, folks.
07:18Now I know what you're all thinking.
07:21This looks delicious.
07:23I think it's my best seller, other than the dog.
07:26So do you want to know what's in them?
07:27I do.
07:28You'd be very intrigued to find out.
07:30So my dad, he left me this dog when he died during the siege
07:35because of the riggers.
07:37Don't want to talk about it.
07:39He actually got kicked in the head by a horse,
07:41but we can't tell anybody!
07:43So inside this, he left me this recipe as well as the stall.
07:47And we've got assorted pigs,
07:51the spleen of a bat,
07:53the tongue of a cat.
07:55What else?
07:56We've got heads and tails of fish.
07:58We've got snails all fried and diced up in the pan.
08:02And there you go.
08:03There's my meat surprise pie.
08:05Sounds delicious.
08:07You look like you're struggling with the cuisine.
08:09Yes.
08:10No, don't blame me.
08:12But actually, you'd find no better around here.
08:15Do you want to try it now?
08:17Come on.
08:18All right, thank you.
08:19Where's the money?
08:20I have no money.
08:21What do you mean?
08:22Scammed.
08:23Well, I have no money here because all I need is your pay and my bills.
08:26So I have a job for you.
08:28Go around these walls and find some rats, please.
08:31Or some dogs.
08:32In fact, there's a rat down there somewhere to get it.
08:38I beg your pardon, ladies and gentlemen.
08:40Sorry to trouble you.
08:41You haven't seen a man going about here called Lundy?
08:45Robert Lundy, our esteemed governor.
08:47Dressed in black with a big fluffy ruff on him.
08:50Speaks in a very proper English accent.
08:53Ever so proper.
08:55He's nothing but a big time jester and a fool and a knave.
08:58Robert Lundy.
09:00Sorry, let me introduce myself.
09:02My name is Adam Murray.
09:04Colonel Adam Murray, but I'm not a big man for titles.
09:07And the reason that you see me in such feisty form today is we have to get our esteemed governor
09:11run out of this city in double quick time.
09:14Else he'll have us all under the yoke of that man Hamilton and King James' other lackeys.
09:19Now you might see from my attire I've just returned from the Battle of Clareford,
09:23which is about nine miles south of the city, near Lifford.
09:26For even though we greatly outnumbered the enemy,
09:28our esteemed governor provided us with such poor leadership
09:31it's hard to share with any great authority what side that man's on.
09:35You spend more time looking over your shoulder, never mind what's coming at you.
09:39And he's a wee bit stingy with the bullets as well, Lundy.
09:42Three bullets each week I get into battle.
09:45Sure, not going to do much damage with three bullets.
09:48We had to retreat back to the city.
09:50And anybody knows us Murrays knows we were the last out of any battlefield.
09:55Don't leave a man on the field.
09:57But retreat we did have to do, otherwise we would be overrun.
10:00And what did I find when we got back to the city?
10:03The gates were barred against us.
10:05So we had to spend a very uncomfortable evening out at Brookhall on the outskirts of the city.
10:09And the next morning we made our way in and were expected to get pulled over the walls
10:14to gain entry, expose the enemy attack and the elements.
10:19But fair play to Captain Morrison as he went down and unbarred the gates and let myself and my men enter.
10:24But what did I find when we got into the council chamber?
10:27They were sitting around negotiating for terms for a surrender.
10:30For a surrender?
10:32There'll be no surrender, not if Murrays got anything to do with it.
10:35We didn't show a wee bit of backbone to these jiggabits.
10:37Show them who's boss.
10:39It was clear that I wasn't for chasing, so they tried to bribe me.
10:43Offered me a thousand pounds to change sides and when I refused
10:46then they travelled to my father's house in Ling just outside the city
10:50and brought a man to the city gates and threatened to hang him
10:53if he wouldn't go in and persuade me.
10:55My father went in and he put a Bible in my hand and he says
10:58Adam, do not give in to James, that usurper of the throne.
11:02Us Presbyterians are a wee bit of a different stock right here
11:05and they're starting to realise that we need to show a bit of backbone and stand up to them.
11:09Now remember, if you see that Robert Lundy boy skulking about around these walls
11:14you send him in my direction and I won't be long running him through.
11:18I won't be long running him through.
11:20And remember, no surrender.