The story of St Columb's Cathedral

This cathedral holds a remarkable 'first': it was the first Anglican cathedral built in Britain and Ireland after the Reformation, and the first non-Roman Catholic cathedral built in Western Europe. It is dedicated to St Columba, the Irish monk who founded a Christian settlement in this area before going into exile and bringing Christianity to Scotland and northern England. The story of the site is dramatic.

The old diocesan church stood at Templemore, 'the Big Church'. In the violent years of the Nine Years' War it was destroyed: first, on 24 April 1568, an accidental explosion ripped through it, because it had been used to store gunpowder. Then, on 16 April 1600, Sir Henry Docwra entered Derry with 4,000 soldiers, pulled down the ruins of the Big Church, and used its stones to build the city's walls and ramparts.

Today the cathedral stands within those walls, the mother church of the Church of Ireland's Diocese of Derry and Raphoe. Step inside and take a quiet moment.