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The modular design concept for a series of eighteen bollards for Derry’s Inner Walled City combines functionality with sculptural form, informed by the cultural and natural heritage of the City. A stone element, universal to all fixed bollards, provides both uniformity and the rigidity required for their function. This element is fabricated at Valentia Slate Ltd., a quarry in Co. Kerry which also CNC-machined the calligraphic lettering into the stone surfaces. An integral bronze element adds a free-formed, individual sculptural aspect to the work that is unique to each bollard.

The design of the bollards combines two important aspects that define the City of Derry: the 17th C. Walls of Derry and the dominant presence of the River Foyle. The stone, sourced from a historic quarry that provided slate to many historic buildings in Ireland, is a reference to the walls, while the water texture of the bronze elements suggests the rippling surface of the Foyle. The upright slate slabs are uniform in size and proportions, lending visual unity to the modular design. The slabs are engraved with a poem each together with individual titles specifically designed by the calligrapher Timothy O’Neill.

Texts will be sourced from historical and contemporary writers. Contemporary writers may be asked to choose existing lines from their work that is specific and unique to each of the sites or the river. Work will be selected from established living and historical poets from Derry and bordering counties or poets whose work responds to the city and county (incl. Colette Bryce, John Hewitt, Frank McGuinness, The Undertones, Nuala O'Reilley, Michael Longley, Seamus Deane, John Montague and Phil Coulter). Lines by the Derry-born Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney and relevant historic texts (e.g. poems ascribed to Colmcille, translated by Heaney) will also be included in the selection. Extracts from poems from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries about the siege of Derry/Londonderry are included too (Palace Street site).

Combining poetry, sculptural form and a uniform element in 18 individual bollards will create a series of sculptures that invite passers-by, visitors and the local community to interact and to be inspired while at the same time serving a functional purpose.