Day 11 Dungiven Northern Ireland Monday 9th July 2012

After having a little sleep in, Mary and I drove to Derry City. I have heard about the walls of Derry but I thought it had something to do with the Bloody Sunday massacres of 1972 how wrong I was. Derry is a pandora's box and I absolutely loved learning all about its history with my very own personal tour guide in Mary guiding me around its fascinating streets.  Derry is one of the most intact walled cities still standing in all of Europe and believe me it is stunning! Built in 1623 by the English to keep out the Irish I was delighted to be able to see the gates and the lockes that were used way back then. We climbed up on the walls and walked along the west side looking down on the "bogside" I could see the iconic murials depicting the 1972 Bloody Sunday Massacres. On January 30th 1972, 26 unarmed civil rights protestors were shot by the British Army, 13 died including one McGuigan who was not a relation though. This incident sparked outrage across the world and many recruits to the IRA and so began the troubles for the next 20 years. I now have a much better understanding of why the Irish have a difficult time with the English given the suffering endured over many centuries. Derry has become known worldwide on account of the troubles. Less well-known is its reputation voted as one of the ten best cities of its kind to live in, in the UK.

After a fantastic day in Derry we headed back to Dungiven to visit the old priory ruins built in 1100 AD by the Augustinian monks. Fascinating walking among the ruins and learning about the sites history from that wonderful tour guide again! When the monks left the site the O'Cahan Clan took over it.

This is the tomb of O'Cahan Chieftain, Cooey-na-Gael on the left side of this photo -underneath you can see the Scottish mercenaries guarding his tomb.

After a wonderful day of sight seeing we went back to Mary's for tea and got ready for our meeting at Walsh's Hotel with Denver and Clarke, two local historians. We had a great night with these two characters who were able to share many details of what life was like in Maghera during the 1830's. Denver thinks that Henry may have worked for the Lyttle family's grocery business's as they had two or three grocery shops in the town. The Lyttles lived out Slaughtneill way near where our McGuigan's house was so it is very possible that Henry was apprenticed to them. Denver also produced coins that were used in the 1830's and explained how much everything cost in today's terms and I dont know how the people actually survived. All in all another fantastic day!

Today is the day I have been waiting for. Renowed Historian, Bill Macafee is coming to pick us up at 10.00 am to take us to the McGuigan property at Slaughtneil and to the O'Hagan property at Glenullin. Bill is an expert in deciphering the 1831 census maps and translating them into where the people on the 1831 census lived into the exact locations today. He also has an interest is studying local families down through the generations. I started corresponding with Bill over the internet about 12 months ago so I am very much looking forward to finally meeting him. He has been an invaluable source of information for our research and has told us of much that we did not know for example that Michael McGuigan, my Henry's father remarried a lady called Bridget McNamee after his first wife, Mary O'Hagan died in 1836. Michael and Bridget had at least one daughter, Mary again we did not know anything about Mary. Chris McGuigan still lives in the original house at Slaughtneil and is expecting us this morning - can't wait to feel the walls, walk on the ground and take in the surroundings as I don't think much has changed from when Henry, John, Michael and James where children running around the fields in the 1820's to 1830's. I promise I will take lots of photos and video to share with everyone.