Derry became Londonderry by royal charter on the 29th March 1613. After 'The Flight of the Earls' The City of London Companies were given all the lands between the Foyle and the Bann rivers. They undertook to build up the towns of Coleraine and Derry (renamed Londonderry) and to spend 20,000 pounds in developing their grant.

The city in the 1680's had a population of 2,000 the largest in Ulster, yet it was slow to prosper suffering as did the rest of the country, during the rebellion of 1641 which lasted for ten years.

James II's accession to the English throne in 1685 raised hopes in the Irish Catholics that he would allow them to recover their lands. In 1688, the English people deposed James and offered the throne to William of Orange, a Dutch prince who was married to James daughter Mary. James fled to France, returning with French support the following year, in the hope that the Roman Catholics in Ireland would help him to recover his throne. The Protestants proclaimed their allegiance to King William III and fortified the towns of Londonderry and Enniskillen.

James arrived at the gates of Derry on April 18 1689, and called on the city to surrender. His invitation was declined and actually fired at by some of the more determined defenders. The Jacobite forces outside the city settled in to Siege the city into submission. This Siege of Derry was to last for 105 days.

James's artillery rained cannonballs and mortar-bombs on the city, as time progressed the inhabitants suffered appalling conditions, as famine and disease took its toll. Outside the walls conditions were little better, and many people died, both inside and outside the walls. Finally at the end of July, a relief ship The Mountjoy broke the barricading 'boom' which had been stretched across the river, near where the new Foyle Bridge now stands.

The governor of Derry during the siege the Reverend George Walker issued a price list for food within the city.
Horse flesh 1s 8p LB; quarter of a dog (fattened on the body's of the slain Irish) 5s 6p LB; dogs head 2s 6p; Cat 4s 6p; Rat 1s; Mouse 6d;

See History of Ireland.