ABOUT
BOGSIDE HISTORY TOURS
About Us
Bogside history tours are tailored to your individual needs. We specialize in educational group tours for those interested in all aspects of early and modern Irish history, with an emphasis on Derry and the Bogside area. All of our fully trained and local tour guides have personal knowledge of the Bogside Massacre, better known as Bloody Sunday, one of the biggest tragedies of the Troubles.
Bogside History Tours is owned and operated by Paul Doherty. Paul’s father lost his life on Bloody Sunday and Paul was a founding member of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign in 1992. He was also instrumental in the setting up of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in 1998. He continued these campaigns until the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday ended in 2010. His Bogside history tours offer a personal, in-depth account of Derry, the Bloody Sunday Massacre, and first hand knowledge of the ongoing campaign for justice.
On our tours you will gain great insight into all of these and more, including a deeply personal history of the area, the findings of the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday, and the families’ continuing fight for truth. We also offer tours of Derry’s walls and scenic taxi/bus tours of Derry and the surrounding region.
History
Derry City Council was once known as the Londonderry Corporation and it was a Unionist-controlled council. It stayed in power for many years through the use of Gerrymandering and discrimination. The Bogside area of Derry city is the birthplace of the Troubles which began in 1969 with the Battle of the Bogside. A few years later, innocent protestors were shot and killed at an anti-internment march that has been known since as Bloody Sunday.
Our walking history tours look at the lasting political and social implications of Bloody Sunday and other local incidents of the Troubles. It begins at the Guildhall in city center and drops into the Bogside area from Derry’s intact city walls. Learn from survivors and family members as you trace the footsteps of the Bloody Sunday march. Our tours also pass the world-famous Bogside Murals, offering in-depth histories of each. We stop by the iconic Free Derry Corner and our tour ends at the Bloody Sunday monument on Rossville Street just across the way from the Museum of Free Derry.