Derry’s Bogside Murals: The Complete Guide to The People’s Gallery

Derry’s Bogside murals, known as The People’s Gallery, are twelve large gable-wall paintings along Rossville Street in Derry, Northern Ireland, created between 1994 and 2008 by the Bogside Artists. They depict the civil rights marches, the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday and the 1981 hunger strike. Viewing them is free and takes 45 to 90 minutes on foot, starting at Free Derry Corner. The nearest paid parking is William Street car park, and the Museum of Free Derry (adult ticket £10) sits in the middle of the route.

Derry’s Bogside murals are among the most powerful pieces of public art on the island of Ireland. Painted on the gable walls along Rossville Street, they capture defining moments of the Troubles: the civil rights marches, the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday, and the hunger strikes, through stark, human images that still resonate today.

Quick Facts

Location	The Bogside, Derry, below the western section of the city walls, centred on Rossville Street and Free Derry Corner
Access	Outdoor public art, free to view, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, no ticket needed
Time needed	45 to 60 minutes self-guided; 90 minutes to 2 hours with a guided tour or the museum
Parking	William Street car park (nearest, paid); Foyleside and Quayside shopping centre car parks (larger, flat walk)
Guided tour cost	Approx. £10 per person (Bogside History Tours) up to £25 to £35 per person for private small-group tours
Museum of Free Derry	£10 adult, £5 to £8 concessions, 10% off online; self-guided, up to 90 minutes
Best for	First-time visitors, history and civil-rights interest, accessible/step-free travel, self-guided or guided walkers

After visiting Derry, spend one day in Belfast walking along the peace walls and studying the political murals there with a Black Taxi tour, where decades of division and hope are painted side by side.

I was born in Northern Ireland and have visited Derry many times over the years; the murals read differently on every visit. This guide explains what the murals depict, why they matter, and how to see them respectfully and efficiently on foot, plus what to know about parking, tickets, food, accommodation and the nearby sites that complete the story. By the end you will know exactly how to plan a half day or full day around the Bogside murals, whatever your budget, mobility or travel style.

We were a blended family of Protestants and Catholics. Before the mid-1960s, relatives spoke of everyday discrimination against Catholics; open violence escalated later as civil rights marches met heavy-handed policing and community tensions intensified. On visits back in the early 1980s, friends in Donegal and Derry helped me understand how events on the ground shaped daily life. That first-hand exposure informs the context I share here, and it is why I always recommend pairing a walk through the murals with a conversation, whether that is with a guide, a museum volunteer or a local in a cafe.

I visited Derry often, as living in Donegal put Derry a mere 45-minute drive from Donegal Town. Before we walk the murals, it helps to clear up something almost every first-time visitor asks about: what to call the city.

Derry or Londonderry? A Quick Note on Naming

Derry (Doire, meaning “oak grove”) is Northern Ireland’s second-largest city and the island’s only fully intact walled city. The historic core sits on the west bank of the River Foyle, linked by road bridges and the pedestrian Peace Bridge. You will see both “Derry” and “Londonderry” used: nationalists tend to prefer Derry, unionists Londonderry. This guide uses “Derry,” the common local usage, without taking a side in that debate.

What Are Derry’s Bogside Murals? A Simple Definition

The Bogside murals, collectively called The People’s Gallery, are twelve large-scale gable-end paintings along Rossville Street in Derry’s Bogside neighbourhood. Created between 1994 and 2008 by three local artists known as the Bogside Artists, Tom Kelly, William Kelly and Kevin Hasson, they form an open-air chronicle of the civil rights era and the early years of the Troubles. Unlike museum exhibits, the murals sit in the streets where the events actually happened, which is part of what makes walking them so affecting.

Today the murals draw visitors from around the world, but they remain rooted in the community’s lived experience. The 2019 killing of journalist Lyra McKee in nearby Creggan was a stark reminder that legacies of violence persist. A guided tour with local residents adds depth and context from multiple perspectives, and I would rank it as the single best way to understand what you are looking at.

One Honest Note Before You Go

I would rather tell you this upfront than have you feel misled on the day. The murals were painted by nationalist artists and tell the story from that community’s side; you will not find a unionist or loyalist counterpart in the Bogside itself, and if you want that other perspective, the loyalist murals in Belfast or the Fountain area of Derry are where to look for it. Some of the older panels have faded or been vandalised over the years and are periodically restored, so a mural you have seen in old photos may look slightly different in person. And it is worth remembering the Bogside is a lived-in residential neighbourhood, not a heritage theme park; people have breakfast and hang out washing a few feet from where visitors stop to take photographs, so a bit of everyday courtesy goes a long way.

Timeline of the Troubles: Roughly 1968 to the Late 1990s

Bogside: A Catholic Neighbourhood in Derry

Civil rights march: On 5 October 1968, a protest along Duke Street highlighted discriminatory housing and voting practices. Although banned, marchers proceeded and were baton-charged by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in front of television cameras, and the footage shocked audiences well beyond Ireland.

Burntollet Bridge, 1969

On New Year’s Day 1969, activists marched from Belfast to Derry, inspired by American civil rights protests. Near Burntollet Bridge outside Derry, loyalists attacked the marchers; the RUC response was widely criticised.

Battle of the Bogside

The Battle of the Bogside (12 to 14 August 1969) erupted around an Apprentice Boys parade that passed close to the Bogside. Following clashes between residents and the RUC, the community erected barricades and resisted police incursions. British troops were deployed on 14 August to restore order and remained in Northern Ireland for years afterward. The slogan “You Are Now Entering Free Derry” first appeared on a gable wall in January 1969, and the surviving wall still stands at Free Derry Corner.

Bloody Sunday

After internment without trial was introduced in 1971, a civil rights march in Derry on 30 January 1972 ended when soldiers from the Parachute Regiment opened fire. Thirteen civilians were killed that day; a fourteenth died later of his injuries.

Bloody Friday

On Friday 21 July 1972, nineteen Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombs exploded across Belfast; 130 people were injured and nine were killed.

Operation Motorman

In the early hours of 31 July 1972, the British army began Operation Motorman in response to Bloody Friday. The goal was to retake control of “no-go” areas in nationalist communities and dismantle the barricades. Operation Motorman involved approximately 21,000 troops and was the largest military operation in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence.

The 1981 Hunger Strike

In March 1981, Bobby Sands, the leader of the Provisional IRA prisoners, began a hunger strike in the Maze prison. He died after 66 days. Nine more hunger strikers died before the campaign was called off in October.

The People’s Gallery: Mural by Mural Along Rossville Street

Walking south to north (or the reverse) along Rossville Street, this is roughly the order you will encounter the core twelve murals, plus the newer works that have joined them since 2019.

The Petrol Bomber

Battle of the Bogside, August 1969. A young boy in a gas mask holds a petrol bomb made from a milk bottle. It was painted in 1994, just as peace talks were beginning, and is often the first mural visitors photograph.

Bernadette

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey addresses crowds in the Bogside; she was later elected to Westminster at the age of 21, still the youngest woman ever elected to the British parliament at the time.

Bloody Sunday

A group of men, led by a local priest, carry the body of Jackie Duddy, the first fatality of the day.

Bloody Sunday Commemoration

Portraits of the fourteen people killed on 30 January 1972, painted so that visitors see them as individuals rather than a statistic.

Death of Innocence

Fourteen-year-old Annette McGavigan was killed near her home in September 1971; the objects and colours in the mural speak to lost childhood and lingering hope.

Mothers and Sisters

Peggy O’Hara, mother of hunger striker Patsy O’Hara, appears alongside relatives of other prisoners; the child in the mural points toward the Peace Mural nearby.

Peace Mural

A dove emerges from an oak leaf, Derry’s symbol. Equal squares represent equal citizenship, a deliberate statement of hope rather than grievance.

Operation Motorman

Summer 1972: British troops move into “no-go” areas and remove the barricades, ending the original period of “Free Derry.”

The Saturday Matinee

Riots were common from 1969 into the early 1970s, often on Saturday afternoons; this mural shows a boy facing an armoured vehicle, rock in hand.

Civil Rights

Early marches, inspired in part by the American civil rights movement, began as peaceful demonstrations before policing turned them violent.

The Runner

A boy runs as CS gas drifts through the Bogside, a scene many older Derry residents recognise instantly from childhood.

A Tribute to John Hume

This mural references John Hume’s admiration for Martin Luther King Jr; Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela signal global struggles for non-violence. All four are Nobel laureates.

Hunger Strike Mural (2000)

Painted by the Bogside Artists in 2000, this mural reflects the 1981 hunger strike and its lasting impact on families and communities.

Street Art in the Bogside

“You Are Now Entering Free Derry”

First painted by teenager John “Caker” Casey in 1969 on a gable wall (the surrounding terraces are long gone). The wall remains a living canvas, often carrying temporary slogans tied to current events, and it is the single most photographed spot in the Bogside.

Bloody Sunday Memorial

A granite memorial marks the site of the shootings; plaques list the victims, and flowers are often left in remembrance. Treat this as you would any war memorial: quietly and without climbing on it.

Museum of Free Derry

The Museum of Free Derry focuses on the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday and Operation Motorman, with an archive of more than 25,000 artefacts, most donated by local residents. It provides crucial context either before or after walking the murals, and I would not skip it.

The Women of Derry

Dedicated to the women of Derry, this mural shows Countess Markievicz carrying a flag of Cumann na mBan, and Ethel Lynch carrying a flag of the Derry IRA. Markievicz is known for her role in the 1916 Easter Rising; Lynch died in December 1974 of injuries sustained when a bomb exploded prematurely.

1981 Hunger Strike Mural (Rossville Street)

One of the island’s longest political murals, unveiled in 2021, commemorates the ten prisoners who died during the 1981 hunger strike.

Hunger Strike Memorial

A monument commemorating those who died in the 1981 hunger strike.

Women’s Voices Matter

A more recent mural inspired by the Lower Shankill estate tradition, it shows a patchwork quilt of words tied to women’s roles in families and communities: aunt, mother, sister, granny, caring, diverse, strong, unheard voices.

Che Guevara Mural

My personal favourite is, unexpectedly, the Che Guevara mural. Che’s father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, was proud of his Irish roots and how his family built a business in Argentina after fleeing Ireland. Years later, when Che was Cuba’s transport minister, he made an unscheduled stop in Limerick and wrote to his father, thinking he would be pleased to hear he had visited a country of his ancestry.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the Irish artist who created the famous Che print seen worldwide on t-shirts and posters, was also the graphic designer for every Thin Lizzy album cover. Since he never received payment for the Che graphic, Fitzpatrick copyrighted it himself and set up a fund that channels the profits from its sale back to Cuba, a detail I always share with visitors who assume the image is simply free to use.

How to Plan Your Visit to the Bogside Murals

Here is the route and sequence I use with visiting friends and family, refined over many repeat trips.

1. Start at Free Derry Corner (Lecky Road / Rossville Street). This is the natural anchor point and where most guided tours begin or end.
2. Walk south along Rossville Street to see the murals broadly in the order the events happened, stopping at the Bloody Sunday Memorial and the Museum of Free Derry along the way.
3. Allow 45 to 60 minutes at an easy pace for the murals alone, or up to 90 minutes if you add a guide or a stop inside the museum.
4. Photograph in the morning or late afternoon, when softer light falls on the gable walls; avoid heavy rain or wind if photography matters to you.
5. Finish by climbing up onto Derry’s city walls above the Bogside for the classic overview photo, then cross the Peace Bridge if you have energy left.

Getting There and Parking, Including Accessible Parking

The Bogside sits just outside the historic city walls, a short walk from the centre. If you are driving, William Street car park is the closest public car park to the murals and the Museum of Free Derry, roughly an 8 to 10 minute walk. Derry City and Strabane District Council operates 29 car parks across the city; 15 are free and 14 are paid, with typical charges from around £1 to £4.50 for a full day depending on location and duration.

Blue Badge holders benefit from designated accessible bays and, in many council-run car parks in Northern Ireland, free or extended-time parking; check signage on arrival, as terms can vary by car park. If you would rather not navigate street parking, Foyleside and Quayside shopping centre car parks are larger, well-signed, and a comfortable flat walk from the Bogside.

One practical note from someone who has parked here many times over the years: Derry city centre periodically runs infrastructure works that close or reduce capacity at individual car parks, including recent works affecting Foyle Street, Bishop Street and Victoria Market. Always check current availability on the council’s parking page before you travel.

Guided Tours and Prices

Walking the murals alone with this guide works well, but a guide adds a dimension you cannot get from a wall on your own. Bogside History Tours runs a daily hour-long walking tour for around £10 per person, meeting at the Guildhall, and several guides are relatives of people killed on Bloody Sunday, which gives the tour a first-hand perspective you will not find in a book. Online platforms such as GetYourGuide and Viator also list private and small-group Bogside and Bloody Sunday walking tours, typically priced from about £25 to £35 per person, with free cancellation on most bookings.

If your visit falls in summer, ask locally whether the Bogside Artists themselves are running one of their occasional guided mural walks; these are seasonal, bookable through their own channels, and tend to sell out because of the direct insight the artists bring to their own work.

Museum of Free Derry: Tickets, Hours and Accessibility

The Museum of Free Derry is a self-guided visit that typically takes up to 90 minutes. As of 2026, adult tickets are £10, with £8 for retired, low-wage and disability concessions, £7 for students, and £5 for carers, local residents and Friends of the Bloody Sunday Trust; family passes offer a 10 percent discount, and booking online also saves 10 percent off the adult price. Opening hours run roughly 9:30am to 6pm on weekdays from March to October (shorter in winter) and 10am to 4pm at weekends, with last entry one hour before closing; always check the museum’s own visit page for the current week’s hours before you go, since these shift seasonally.

The museum is fully accessible, with a lift and adapted toilets, which makes it one of the easier stops on this route for wheelchair users or anyone with limited stamina. Tours are available in translation through the museum’s own app in around 20 languages, useful if you are travelling with a mixed-language group.

Accessibility for Wheelchair Users and Anyone With Mobility Challenges

As someone who travels with mobility challenges myself, I always assess a route before recommending it. The Bogside murals route is genuinely one of the more accessible historic walks in Ireland: Rossville Street is flat, wide and fully paved, with dropped kerbs at the main crossings. The main hazards are ordinary ones, busy road crossings at junctions, so use the designated crossings rather than cutting across. My Accessible Derry guide goes into more depth on accessible routes, surfaces and lower-exertion sightseeing options for the wider city, including the walls themselves, which have some sections that are less wheelchair-friendly than the Bogside.

Where to Eat Near the Bogside Murals: Cafes to Fine Dining

You do not need to leave the area hungry. Close to the murals and the museum, the Walled City Brewery pairs an award-winning craft brewhouse with a full restaurant menu and is a favourite with visitors who want a sit-down meal after an emotionally heavy walk; it has step-free access and on-street parking nearby. In the city centre, a five to ten minute walk away, Browns in Town offers a smarter, fine-dining style room for a celebratory dinner, while Badger’s Bar on Orchard Street, best known for the Derry Girls mural on its gable wall, serves straightforward pub food in a lively, casual setting.

For a quick coffee or lunch between the murals and the city walls, the cafes inside and around Foyleside shopping centre are the most reliably accessible option, with lifts, level access and plentiful seating, useful if you are travelling with a wheelchair, a pushchair, or simply need a sit-down break partway through the walk.

Where to Stay Near the Bogside Murals

Staying inside or just outside the city walls puts you within easy walking distance of the murals, the museum and the Peace Bridge, so you are not dependent on a car once you arrive.

For a heritage stay, the Grade B1-listed Bishop’s Gate Hotel sits within the historic walls in the Cathedral Quarter and has a lift and accessible rooms. The Maldron Hotel Derry is similarly positioned inside the walls with modern, adapted rooms available. If you want to be genuinely on the doorstep of the murals, the City Hotel Derry is my favourite in Derry as it is so convenient and has parking, with a heated pool and step-free public areas. The Everglades Hotel, on the banks of the River Foyle, is a good 4-star option with free on-site parking if you are driving. Budget travellers do well at the Holiday Inn Express in Rosemount, a short walk from the walls.

Whichever you choose, book a room with a lift or ground-floor access if mobility is a concern, since several of Derry’s characterful older guesthouses are staircase-only, and always confirm accessible-room availability directly with the property rather than assuming from the listing photos.

Hidden Gems Locals Know About

A few things repeat visitors and locals tend to know that first-timers miss:

The Gasyard Féile, an annual community music and arts festival held each summer in a former gasyard near the Bogside, brings a completely different, celebratory atmosphere to the same streets that carry such heavy history; check the event calendar before you travel if you want to catch it.

“You Are Now Entering Free Derry” is a living wall. Locals watch it for whatever slogan has been added most recently, since it still gets repainted for current events, campaigns and commemorations.

Find the Derry Girls mural on Orchard Street, on the side of Badger’s Bar opposite Foyleside shopping centre, a quick and cheerful detour from the Bogside murals.

The Women’s Voices Matter mural is easy to walk past quickly, but it rewards a slow read: stand and actually read the individual words stitched into the quilt pattern rather than photographing it and moving on.

Locals rarely bother with a car for this route. If you are staying anywhere near the centre, walking in via the Peace Bridge from the Waterside gives you a far better first view of the murals and the walls together than arriving by road.

Things to Do With Kids in the Bogside

This is recent, serious history, and some of the imagery, particularly the Bloody Sunday murals, is upsetting even for adults, so plan for conversation rather than a simple sightseeing stop. That said, families do visit successfully. The Museum of Free Derry has family passes with free entry for children under a family group, and its multimedia format tends to hold older children’s attention better than reading wall panels outdoors. The wide, flat, traffic-free stretch of Rossville Street is easy with a buggy. For lighter, easier family fun afterwards, the Tower Museum in the city centre houses the Derry Girls Experience, a set-recreation that is considerably more upbeat and works well as a way to end the day on a lighter note after the Bogside.

Game of Thrones Activities Near Derry

Derry itself was not a major Game of Thrones filming location, but it makes an excellent base for reaching several, since Northern Ireland hosted the majority of the show’s real-world locations. From Derry you are within reasonable driving distance of Downhill Beach and Mussenden Temple, used as Dragonstone, and Ballintoy Harbour on the Antrim coast, used as the Iron Islands. Portstewart Strand, close to Derry, doubled as the coast of Dorne. If you want a purpose-built attraction rather than a filming location, the official Game of Thrones Studio Tour is based in Banbridge, and the Glass of Thrones stained-glass trail runs along Belfast’s Maritime Mile; both are day-trip distances from Derry rather than in-city stops.

Closer to home, the city’s screen-tourism moment right now is Derry Girls rather than Westeros: several operators run dedicated Derry Girls filming-location walking tours around the city centre, and they pair naturally with a stop at the mural on Orchard Street.Derry celebrates Samhain in style every October with Derry Halloween, Europe’s largest Halloween festival, marking its 40th anniversary in 2026 and running 28 to 31 October. The four nights blend ancient Celtic Samhain traditions with a modern carnival: the Awakening the Walled City light trail along the 400-year-old walls, street theatre, and a finale of a costumed parade and fireworks over the Foyle on Halloween night itself. It draws over 100,000 visitors, so book accommodation well ahead if your trip to Derry lines up with it

Respectful Etiquette When Visiting the Murals

• Be respectful around commemorative sites and during any local events or vigils.
• Ask before photographing local residents; the murals themselves are fair game, people living their daily lives beside them are not photo props.
• Avoid climbing on walls, memorials or barriers, even for a photo.
• Keep political commentary factual and even-handed; this is still lived memory for many Derry families on all sides.

Visiting Derry’s Bogside Murals

The Bogside murals are part of Derry’s living memory, not a static outdoor gallery. Seen together with Free Derry Corner, the Bloody Sunday Memorial and the Museum of Free Derry, they offer a grounded way to understand the city’s past and present. For lighter contemporary culture in the city centre, the Derry Girls mural is a separate, much shorter stop outside the Bogside itself.

These murals provide a vivid visual record of a tumultuous past, allowing visitors to understand and appreciate what happened in this region, and they will keep speaking to new generations long after this guide is updated again. Give Derry’s Bogside murals at least half a day, bring good walking shoes, and go in with the willingness to listen as much as to look.

Despite its historic layout, much of Derry can be explored at a comfortable pace with careful planning, and my Accessible Derry guide explains accessible routes, surfaces and lower-exertion sightseeing options in more depth.

Frequently Asked Questions About Derry’s Bogside Murals

Are the Bogside murals free to visit?

Yes. The murals, Free Derry Corner and the Bloody Sunday Memorial are outdoor, public street art and are free to view at any time. The only paid element on the route is the Museum of Free Derry, currently £10 for an adult ticket.

How long does it take to see the Bogside murals?

Budget 45 to 60 minutes to walk the murals at an easy pace. Add a guided tour or a stop in the Museum of Free Derry and plan for 90 minutes to two hours in total.

Where do you park for the Bogside murals?

William Street car park is the closest public car park to the murals and the museum. Foyleside and Quayside shopping centre car parks are larger alternatives a short, flat walk away. Check Derry City and Strabane District Council’s parking page for current prices and any temporary closures.

Is it safe to visit the Bogside in Derry?

Yes. Derry is a normal, welcoming small city, and the Troubles are now history told to visitors rather than a present-day danger. Thousands of tourists walk the Bogside every year, day and night, using the same common sense you would in any city centre.

What is the difference between Derry and Londonderry?

They are the same city. “Derry” is the name generally preferred by Irish nationalists and is the everyday name most visitors will hear locally; “Londonderry” is the city’s official name and is generally preferred by unionists. You will see both used on road signs and in official contexts.

Can you visit the Bogside murals with a wheelchair or pushchair?

Yes. Rossville Street is flat, wide and fully paved with dropped kerbs, making it one of the more accessible historic walks in Ireland. The Museum of Free Derry has a lift and adapted toilets. The main thing to manage is road crossings at junctions, so use the designated crossings.

Do I need a guide, or can I do a self-guided walk?

Both work well. This guide gives you enough context for a self-guided walk starting at Free Derry Corner. If you want first-hand testimony, book a local guide, several of whom are directly connected to the families involved in Bloody Sunday, which adds a dimension a self-guided walk cannot.

Plan the Rest of Your Trip

If you have mobility considerations, here is a selection of related https://xyuandbeyond.com/accessible-travel-guides-ireland-uk-europe/guides that may help:

Join 7,500 Ireland travellers in my Ireland Uncovered Facebook Group and 1,897 on my XYUandBEYOND PAGE

This guide is part of a wider Accessible Ireland travel series, offering realistic, first-hand advice for limited-mobility travel across Ireland.

➡️Accessible Ireland hub

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If you encounter changes (e.g., temporary lift closures or construction), please let me know so I can update this page promptly.

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