Armada exhibition to feature wreck's treasures

Artefacts from the sunken ship La Trinidad Valencera are to form the centrepiece of a new Spanish Armada exhibition in Derry.

The British Lottery Fund has provided £1.45m (€2.1m) to finance the project which begins next month as part of a larger scheme to refurbish the city’s Tower Museum.

The Story of Derry, Emigration and St Colmcille exhibitions are to be temporarily relocated to the Harbour and Workhouse Museums while renovations take place.

La Trinidad Valencera was a refitted Venetian merchant ship commandeered by the Armada in Sicily which ran aground and broke up in Kinnagoe Bay in Co Donegal over 400 years ago.

The wreckage was discovered in the early 1970s by members of the Derry Sub Aqua Club, only a few years after Belgian archaeologist Robert Stenuit began excavating the wreck of the Girona on the north coast of Co Antrim.

More than 120 galleons sailed from Portugal under the flag of King Philip II in late May 1588.

Anchoring at Calais to meet up with the Duke Of Parma’s invasion army, the fleet was attacked by the English Navy and Sir Francis Drake’s “fire-ships”.

Hoping to escape by heading north around Scotland and Ireland, the Armada was devastated by storms, and only a few vessels limped back to Spanish ports.

“Since the recovery of these historic artefacts, Derry City Council has been keen to put them on public display,” said Harriet Purkis of the council’s heritage and museum services.

She added: “Once completed, the Spanish Armada exhibition will significantly enhance the cultural and educational resources of the city and will be of interest to both local residents and international visitors.”

Among the many items going on display will be two giant siege cannons and pieces of pewter tableware used by the officers on board.

School visits to the Harbour and Workhouse Museums will be free of charge while the renovations are under way.