Boundary Post South East of Collon Terrace Buncrana Road Londonderry BT48 7QP

Boundary Post South East of Collon Terrace, Buncrana Road, Londonderry

A free-standing cast-iron boundary marker of circa 1864, marking what was originally the perimeter of the administrative jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Londonderry. The post is located on the footpath on the southwest side of the Buncrana Road, opposite 1 Maybrook Mews.

The boundary marker is a square-plan cast-iron bollard approximately 3 feet tall. It is surmounted by an oversailing square cap with an integral smaller cuboid on top, and set on an enlarged square-plan moulded-top base. The shaft features a recessed panel on each of the four sides. On the front face, raised lettering—intact and discernible—states "CITY BOUNDARY". The base bears a raised nameplate with Coppin's maker's mark, rendered in more heavily weathered lettering. The post survives fully intact in good condition.

This boundary post is one of a series that marked the limits of jurisdiction established in 1864 by the Municipal Corporation of Londonderry. In late 1863, the Corporation had petitioned Parliament to extend the municipal borough, arguing that "the great number of dwellings erected, and the consequent increase in population outside the present boundary render it necessary that the sanitary conveniences and municipal regulations should be extended to those localities". Following this application, the Londonderry Improvement Act of 1864 authorised the extension of city limits to include the newly populated areas. In late September 1864, it was reported that the tender of Thomas Miles to supply metal boundary pillars had been accepted by the Corporation. Thomas Miles was a business associate of William Coppin (1805–95), the noted Derry-based sailor, shipbuilder and inventor who had established a foundry off Strand Road in 1840. Coppin's maker's mark appears on the base of the post, confirming his foundry's involvement in its manufacture.

The post is marked in this location on the Ordnance Survey map of 1904 and on all subsequent maps. There is a possibility that for the first few years of its existence it may have been located on the opposite side of the road. An order made to the City Surveyor in May 1876 directed that "the boundary post on the Buncrana road [be] changed to the other side of the road", though no documentary evidence confirms whether this instruction was carried out. It remains the only surviving marker from the 1864 series that is both fully visible and in its correct position since, or very soon after, its initial installation. The post has group value with other surviving 1864 boundary posts.