Nationalist councillors wish to abolish the 400-year-old title of the Maiden City, and substitute Derry, name of an ancient monastery founded by Columcille/Columba.
Derry was also known as Daire Calgaich and Daire Coluimb Chille with the Daire (later Doire) bit referring to a place of oaks with possibly pagan origins. Columcille himself came from pagan noble origins with relatives in Ireland and Scotland. His real name was Crimthann, and Cruithnechan, a Donegal priest, fostered him. He remained sympathetic to the Druids in their non-religious guise and defended the bards when others wanted Druidism abolished. From Derry he founded the illustrious Iona, with similar pagan associations. He spent most of his life on the Scottish isle where he initiated the coronation of Scottish kings on the Black Stone of Iona.
His Celtic Church owed it origins to a British mission but was in turn responsible for the re-birth of Christianity throughout Britain. Thus the name Londonderry, incorporating Irish and British elements, seems entirely appropriate to the legacy we moderns owe to the ancient Church of our islands. A thousand years later London merchants provided capital to build Londonderry. Today such an investment would be recognised as a valuable contribution to development and the historical title as giving due recognition to a shared heritage.
In 1984 however, the city council renamed itself Derry City Council while retaining Londonderry for the city but still giving credit both to the founder of the monastery and to the builders of the city.
Diverse names are not rare and I discovered that English and Irish road signs in the Republic do not inevitably reflect dual linguistic versions of the same name. One that particularly interested me is Castlebellingham.
Underneath the sign for the village we find Baile an Ghearlnigh –
Garlandstown or Gerlon's town, named after an Old English/Anglo-Norman family, who were known for centuries interchangeably as Gernon and Garland.
The village had had at least 15 versions of Gernonstown including Garland and Grenanstown and there is evidence of the name's continued use, until at least the late 1800s, even though the official title had become Castlebellingham. To confuse matters further, in the 17th century some Garland families – who supported the Irish (1641) and King James (1688-90) - and lost, attempted to Gaelicise their names by inserting 't' making Gartland. Surnames like O'Garthlaney then appeared alongside forenames like Hugh Boy.
Baile an Ghearlnigh is misleading because the Gernons/Garlands were an Essex family, originally from Normandy, where they were known as Guernon.
Some Irish Garlands were fluent in Irish but the English/Norman forms of the surname were retained. Garland's Castle was destroyed by James's troops and Garlandstown was re-named after Captain Henry Bellingham who inherited Garland's estate as a reward for his services in the Cromwellian army – hardly a compelling justification. Some Bellinghams became Catholic landlords and were respected, despite their past association with Cromwell's army. The old English Garlands in contrast had been loyal to the Pope but also to the English Crown, before 1641. The town thus has an English/loyalist Catholic name in Irish and an English/ republican Protestant name in English, prominently displayed on the old main road to Dublin.
Perhaps, in an attempt to make amends for the potential deletion of London in Londonderry we should abolish the modern designation 'Ireland' in favour of Hibernia's ancient title, Scotia. The Ulster Scots would feel more comfortable with Northern Scotia. However, Derry's nationalist councillors might prefer revering the mystical Cathleen ni Houlihan or Dark Rosaleen in remembrance of the dead generations who still call for sacrifice.
It is perhaps easier to serve the dead than create new respectful relationships among the living.
Our long complex and mongrel history is encapsulated in our surnames, cities, towns, villages and townlands and the work of Philistines is to try to obliterate these traces of our past for political purposes? Retaining Derry as in Londonderry is entirely appropriate because it is inclusive.
Historical, cultural or ethnic cleansing – for that is what it is – is entirely inappropriate. The Good Friday Agreement is about inclusion and (at least dual) legitimacy suggestive of an end to divisive fundamentalisms – based on religious, ethnic, cultural, racial or political considerations.
It would be a catastrophic error to abolish the very name that encapsulates, in a very special way, our Irish-British past over 400 nay 1,500 or more years. True republicans would never deny such a rich and diverse past.
Rather, with Thomas Davis, they would foster relationships that embrace Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, "the Irishman of a thousand generations and the stranger who is within our gates".
