![Creggan Heights, Creggan - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Creggan_Heights%2C_Creggan_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1455546.jpg)
Creggan ( ga, An Creagán; meaning ''stony place'') is a large
housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular throughout the United States a ...
in
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
,
on a hill not far from the river Foyle.
The estate is very close to the border with
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...
in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
.
History
Pre-Troubles
Creggan was originally built specifically to provide housing for the growing population of Derry. There was a
Nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
majority in the city, but the
Unionist minority of the then Londonderry Corporation wanted to ensure they kept control of the city. When the
Bogside
The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are pop ...
became overcrowded in the 1940s to 1960s, the Corporation agreed to put Nationalist and mainly Catholic families in housing, in the same ward as the Bogside. This ensured continued Unionist control of the Londonderry Corporation. This process is known as
gerrymandering
In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...
.
As well as the use of gerrymandering by the Corporation, there was also the use of 'restricted franchise' by the Government, where only rate payers had the right to vote. Usually the male head of a family (or matriarch if the male was dead), the person in whose name the rent book was held, was registered to vote. No other adult in the same household could vote. Middle class and upper class people who owned more than one property in the city had the right to vote more than once.
While this political dimension was important, it was the lack of suitable housing for people, mainly Nationalists, which was the most pressing problem, with married couples living with their parents or with family who had housing in the new estates. This type of social injustice gave rise to the civil rights movement in the city in the 1960s.
The Troubles
The civil rights movement that was occurring in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s, took place consistently in Derry. This led to an outbreak of violence between the police, local Unionist Supporters and Nationalists. Violence in the city originally started in the Bogside but quickly spread out to the rest of the city, which included Creggan. One of these occurrences during 12 to 14 August 1969 became known as the
Battle of the Bogside
The Battle of the Bogside was a large three-day riot that took place from 12 to 14 August 1969 in Derry, Northern Ireland. Thousands of Catholic/Irish nationalist residents of the Bogside district, organised under the Derry Citizens' Defence ...
. A disagreement over defending Nationalists from British State forces and elements of Unionism led to a split in the IRA, and the two new paramilitary organizations became known as the
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged ...
and
Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
.
In the early years, 1969 to 1972, the Officials were the most prominent in Creggan and the rest of
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
with militant members such as
Joe McCann
Joe McCann (2 November 1947 – 15 April 1972) was an Irish republican paramilitary. A member of the Irish Republican Army and later the Official Irish Republican Army, he was active in politics from the early 1960s and participated in the ear ...
carrying attacks out on the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
, even though the Provisionals as a whole were carrying out a more violent campaign along with a bombing campaign in Derry City Centre. Following the introduction of
internment
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
without trial being carried out by the British government, the Bogside and Creggan effectively became a
no-go area
A "no-go area" or "no-go zone" is a neighborhood or other geographic area where some or all outsiders are either physically prevented from entering or can enter at risk. The term includes exclusion zones, which are areas that are officially kept o ...
for the British government and was only controlled and policed by both wings of the IRA. This all existed until
Operation Motorman
Operation Motorman was a large operation carried out by the British Army (HQ Northern Ireland) in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The operation took place in the early hours of 31 July 1972 with the aim of retaking the "no-go areas" (are ...
in July 1972. After this, the no-go area across Northern Ireland became fully controlled by the British government. However, this did not at all stop violence in the city. In 1972 the Officials called a ceasefire, then in 1974 called an end to their armed campaign. This prompted the creation of the
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ga, Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seek ...
, a radical left wing group formed of hardliner republicans led by
Seamus Costello
Seamus Costello ( ga, Séamus Mac Coisdealbha, 1939 – 5 October 1977) was an Irish politician. He was a leader of Official Sinn Féin and the Official Irish Republican Army and latterly of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the Iri ...
. By 1972, after Motorman, the British Army conducted large scale operations in the once no-go areas. It caused more open clashes between the British Army, the citizens of Creggan and the rest of Derry. This violence continued to occur up to the early 1990s.
Subsequent history
Creggan has experienced a seismic change; long gone are the no-go area and levels of inequality suffered from the 1960s to 1980s. It has seen some redevelopment most noticeably with the redevelopment of the Bishop's Field as a sports and recreation area, the introduction of a play park and the development of a country park and fishery at the old reservoir sites at the edge of the estate.
New housing developments have also been completed on the edge of the estate, the largest of these being the new Ballymagowan area.
Schools in the area have also been significantly redeveloped and much investment has gone into providing a first class education for school children from all across Derry.
On 18 April 2019, 29-year-old journalist
Lyra McKee
Lyra Catherine McKee ( 31 March 1990 – 18 April 2019) was a journalist from Northern Ireland who wrote for several publications about the consequences of the Troubles. She also served as an editor for Mediagazer, a news aggregator website. On ...
was fatally shot during rioting in Fanad Drive. Police initially suggested the
New IRA
The New Irish Republican Army, or New IRA, is a paramilitary organisation founded in July 2012. It was formed after the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) and other small Irish republican paramilitary grou ...
were responsible for the killing. The New IRA later confirmed responsibility and offered apologies.
Education
Primary
*Holy Child Primary School
*St John's Primary School
Secondary
*
St Cecilia's College
St Cecilia's College is a secondary school located in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is a Catholic-maintained girls' school with an enrolment of 947 pupils aged 11–18 and is located in the Creggan area of Derry. It has 60 teaching staff. The co ...
*
St Joseph's Boys' School
St Joseph's Boys' School is a secondary school in Westway in the Creggan area of Derry, Northern Ireland. It is a voluntary maintained school, supported by the Western Education and Library Board and operated by boards of trustees and governor ...
*St. Mary's Girls School
*St. Peter's High School (closed as of 2013)
*Lumen Christi College
Places of interest
*
City Cemetery – Derry's largest graveyard, opened in 1853. The site includes 194
Commonwealth war graves
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mi ...
of those who died in the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second World Wars
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
*
Creggan Country Park Creggan may refer to several places:
Places Northern Ireland
*Creggan, County Antrim, a small village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
** Creggan Kickhams GAC, Kickhams Creggan GAC, a Gaelic sports club in County Antrim
*Creggan, ...
– recreation centre
* Bishop's Field – Astro-Turf pitch
Notable people from Creggan
*
Tony O'Doherty
Anthony "Tony" O'Doherty (born 23 April 1947) is a Northern Irish former footballer and football manager.
A native of Creggan, Derry, O'Doherty played for Coleraine FC, Derry City FC, Finn Harps, Dundalk FC and briefly for Ballymena United and ...
– international footballer, former
Derry City F.C.
Derry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of league football in the Republic of Ireland, and is the League of Ireland ...
player and manager
*
Mickey Bradley – bass guitarist with
The Undertones
The Undertones are a rock band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. From 1975 to 1983, the Undertones consisted of Feargal Sharkey (vocals), John O'Neill (rhythm guitar, vocals), Damian O'Neill (lead guitar, vocals), Michael Bradley ...
*
Liam Ball
Liam Ball (17 May 1951 – 16 June 1984) was an Irish Olympic swimmer at both the 1968 Mexico City and 1972 Munich Olympic Summer Games, competing for Ireland in the Men's 100 metres Breaststroke and Men's 200 metres Breaststroke at each. ...
– Irish Olympic swimmer
*
Dana – pop star, Ireland's first
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
song contest winner and politician
*
Michael Devine – 1981
hunger striker
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
*
Don Mullan
Don Mullan (born 1956, Derry, Northern Ireland) is an Irish author and media producer. His book '' Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'' is officially recognised as a primary catalyst for a new Bloody Sunday inquiry, which became the longest-running and m ...
– author
*
Charlie Nash – boxer
*
Raymond Gilmour
Raymond Gilmour (1959 – October 2016) was an Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who worked clandestinely from 1977 to 1982 for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) within those paramil ...
– informer
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...
(RUC) member (also known as a
Supergrass
Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey ( ...
)
*
Terry Harkin
John Terence Harkin (born 14 September 1941) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a forward. He scored 125 goals in 260 league games in nine seasons in the Football League. He also scored 66 goals in 142 games in the ...
– international footballer
*
James McClean
James Joseph McClean ( ; born 22 April 1989) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a winger for EFL Championship club Wigan Athletic and the Republic of Ireland national team.
McClean played with Trojans, Institute, his hometown ...
– professional footballer with
Wigan Athletic F.C.
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
*
Darren Kelly
Darren Kelly (born 30 June 1979) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the sporting director of club Newport County.
Kelly began his career at hometown club Derry City before ...
– ex professional footballer and manager
2001 Census
Two wards in Derry have the name Creggan - Creggan Central and Creggan South. (A 3rd smaller ward in part of lower Creggan is 'Beechwood')
Creggan Central and South are classified by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) as being within Derry Urban Area (DUA). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 3,504 people living in Creggan Central and 2,453 people living in Creggan South.
Of those living in Creggan Central:
*34.1% were aged under 16 years and 9.1% were aged 90 and over
*46.5% of the population were male and 53.5% were female
*98.7% were from a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
background and 0.9% were from a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
background
*12.5% of people aged 16 to 74 were unemployed
Of those living in Creggan South:
*30.2% were aged under 16 years and 15.6% were aged 60 and over
*45.6% of the population were male and 54.4% were female
*98.8% were from a Catholic background and 0.9% were from a Protestant background
*10.0% of people aged 16 to 74 were unemployed
Deprivation
According to the Northern Ireland
Multiple Deprivation Measure (NIMDM) of 2005, of 582 wards in Northern Ireland, Creggan Central was the 11th most deprived while Creggan South was ranked 15th.
Further reading
Extracts from - 'Creggan: more than a history'by Michael McGuinness and
Garbhan Downey
Garbhan Downey (born 24 February 1966) is a novelist and editor from Derry, Northern Ireland. He is the former Director of Communications and Marketing for Culture Company 2013, which delivered Derry's City of Culture year.
Biography
Derry-bo ...
(2000). .
'Off Broadway'by
Garbhan Downey
Garbhan Downey (born 24 February 1966) is a novelist and editor from Derry, Northern Ireland. He is the former Director of Communications and Marketing for Culture Company 2013, which delivered Derry's City of Culture year.
Biography
Derry-bo ...
(Guildhall Press, 2005). A series of humorous short stories set in post-ceasefire Creggan.
References
External links
Case study - Creggan Enterprises LimitedSocial Enterprise Coalition. Retrieved 28 December 2006.
{{Derry
Derry (city)