Londonderry walls most vandalised monument in Northern Ireland

Londonderry’s historic city walls are the most vandalised monument in Northern Ireland, according to new figures.

A total of 193 incidents have been recorded by the Department for Communities on the walls between April 2021 and April 2025.

That equates to 65% of all incidents recorded at historic monuments in Northern Ireland over the same time.

Tourists visiting Derry this week have told the BBC it is both “appalling and disgraceful” that the walls – Northern Ireland’s largest state monument – are vandalised on such a scale.

The city’s walls date back to the 1600s. They one of the city’s most popular visitor attractions.

John Anderson from the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society said the accessibility of the walls made them “much more liable to attacks of this nature”.

“This vandalism is the bottom of the scale of a very large problem that goes way beyond monuments,” Mr Anderson said.

“Whether it’s graffiti on Derry’s walls or whether it’s arson on a listed building, these are criminal acts.

“Appreciation and value of the national asset that is built heritage, in all its forms, is in basically the cultural approach of any country, and that cultural approach needs to be led by example by the leaders of that country.

“Unfortunately the leadership over the decades in Northern Ireland hasn’t been there, the sector is chronically underfunded, worse now than ever it was, and coming down to the graffiti level – presumably that is mostly youngsters – it’s an easy target,” Mr Anderson said.

Geraldine Henderson from Glasgow and Patricia Mundy from Leeds are among the thousands of tourists visiting Derry this week.

Patricia told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme it was both “disgraceful and appalling” that the walls should be subject to repeated vandalism.

“It is absolutely disgraceful after all that you have been through here,” she said.

“First of all it’s a pride thing and because of the heritage of Derry. It’s a place like people like to come.”

Geraldine said looking after the walls was looking after the city’s heritage.

“It’s important to keep them for the history…. and I think we should all respect each other’s history.”

Janice McNeilly told BBC Radio Foyle there is a vibrancy to the walls as well as a sense of history.

“People from all over the world appreciate them, we sort of get used to them, they are in the background,” she said, adding it “would be a shame to see anything happen to them.”

SDLP councillor John Boyle said the figures “seem stark” but that it was important to acknowledge the scale of the walls.

They are a mile in length, he said, and in places reach around 40ft (12.2m) high and a similar distance in width.

“It is a huge heritage site,” Boyle said.

“That aside, it is of significant disappointment when you hear there is such a degree of vandalism.

“I think we have to put these things into perspective but certainly my appeal is to respect our heritage and treat it as you would your own property.”

The figures in relation to vandalism were revealed in response to an assembly question from SDLP MLA Justin McNulty.

Stormont’s Department for Communities has been asked for comment.