Boom Hall
Boom Hall gets it's name from the floating barrier which blocked
access to the City from Lough Foyle during the Siege of 1688-9 .
Probably made up of lengths of wood lashed together it was anchored
on each sied of the river, the ends being guarded by gun batteries
and trenches. The boom was eventually broken by the HMS Dartmouth,
Phoenix and Mountjoy on 12th August 1689. Today the Foyle Bridge,
completed in 1984 towers over the river close to the site of the
boom.
After the Siege, the estate was bought by John Alexander who had
extensive business interests in the area. The present house, whicj
replaced an earlier house on the estate, was once one of the finest
late 18th century houses in Northern Ireland and was probably
designed by Michhael Priestley, a local architect. Built in 1779 it
is a substantial cut-stone seven-bay rectangular block of two
stories over a basement. the entrance front has a distinctive
three-bay breakfront centre while the garden front has a
three-sided bay. Built on a ridge overlooking the river, with the
city to the south and the mouth of Lough Foyle and Culmore in view
to the north, it was set in extensive parkland with considerable
plantings of trees and gardens including a walled garden.
Subsequent owners of the house have included Richard Ponsonby, teh
Bishop of Derry and Raphoe and Daniel Baird, a wealthy merchant.
During the Second World War it was occupied by the Women's Royal
Naval Service (WRNS). The hosue was unfortunately destroyed by a
fire in the 1970s and is now a striking and well preserved
ruin.
Like many derelict ruins Boom Hall is of course reputed to be
haunted. More details of it's history and the ghosts that are
supposed to haunt it's environs may be found here:
http://www.derryghosts.com/boom.htm
The Cache
The container is a small tab-lock box wrapped in black cloth.
When placed it contained the usual logbook, pencil, sharpener and
assortment of small trade items.
The best parking spots are at the City side of the river at the
end of the bridge. If you are travelling towards the Culmore
roundabout off the bridge the parking spot is on the left just
before the housing areas. Park there and walk down the tarmac path,
under the bridge and up the other side towards the house.
If approaching from Culmore (or have missed the above parking
spot!) the parking spot is on the left. Park at the information
sign (that contains all of the above info) and follow the track
down the side of the bridge towards the river to meet with the
tarmac path mentioend above.
The first spot is the better of the two if the weather is wet
and/or if you have kids/buggies in tow but either will do.
The Series
This series is based on the Irish calendar of 12 months and 4
seasons. A new cache will be placed each month and will contain a
clue in the logbook that will lead to a season cache.
This cache is placed in February and contains the first of three
clues for Spring.
You will also need to find March and April before you
can look for Spring.
Please note that the clue
locations and final cache for Spring won't be in place until the
end of April 2009.
For more information on the Irish calendar check out Wikipedia.
PLEASE ONLY TRADE UP OR
EVEN.
TBs MOVE BETWEEN CACHES
AND REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THE PERSON THAT RELEASED THEM. I DO NOT
COUNT THEM AS TRADE ITEMS.
IF YOU WISH TO TAKE
SOMETHING FROM THIS CACHE PLEASE DON'T LEAVE A TB IN IT'S PLACE.
THANK YOU.
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