Portrush

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Portrush
On the beach - geograph.org.uk - 53193.jpg
Planes on the beach during the yearly air show
United Kingdom Northern Ireland adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Northern Ireland
Population6,454 (Census 2011)
Irish grid reference C855409
  Belfast 50 miles (80 km)
District
County
Country Northern Ireland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town PORTRUSH
Postcode district BT56
Dialling code 028
Police Northern Ireland
Fire Northern Ireland
Ambulance Northern Ireland
UK Parliament
NI Assembly
List of places
UK
Northern Ireland
Antrim
55°12′17″N6°39′08″W / 55.20474°N 6.65222°W / 55.20474; -6.65222

Portrush (from Irish : Port Rois, meaning 'port of the promontory ') [3] is a small seaside resort town on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It neighbours the resort of Portstewart. The main part of the old town, including the railway station as well as most hotels, restaurants and bars, is built on a 1 mile (1.6 km)–long peninsula, Ramore Head. It had a population of 6,454 people at the 2011 Census. [4] In the off-season, Portrush is a dormitory town for the nearby campus of the University of Ulster at Coleraine.

Contents

The town is well known for its three sandy beaches, the West Strand, East Strand and White Rocks, as well as the Royal Portrush Golf Club, the only golf club outside Great Britain which has hosted The Open Championship in 1951 and 2019.

History

Portrush Harbour c.1900 HarbourPortrush2.jpg
Portrush Harbour c.1900
Portrush Chapel, Ireland (1850) Portrush Chapel, Ireland (VII, p.31, March 1950) - Copy.jpg
Portrush Chapel, Ireland (1850)

A number of flint tools found during the late 19th century show that the site of Portrush was occupied during the "Larnian" (late Irish Mesolithic) period; [6] recent estimates date this to around 4000 BC. [7]

The site of Portrush, with its excellent natural defences, probably became a permanent settlement around the 12th or 13th century. A church is known to have existed on Ramore Head at this time, but no part of it now survives. From the records of the papal taxation of 1306, the Portrush church – and by extension the village – appears to have been reasonably wealthy. The promontory also held two castles, at varying periods. The first of these, Caisleán an Teenie, is believed to have been at the tip of Ramore Head, and probably destroyed in the late 16th century; the other, Portrush Castle, may have been built around the time of the Plantation of Ulster in the early 17th century. Nothing survives of either castle. [8]

Following the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the mid-17th century, Portrush became a small fishing town. It grew heavily in the 19th century as a tourist destination, following the opening of the Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine and Portrush Junction Railway in 1855, and by the turn of the 20th century had become one of the major resort towns of Ireland, with a number of large hotels and boarding houses including the prominent Northern Counties Hotel. As well as the town's beaches and the Royal Portrush Golf Club (opened 1888), the nearby Giant's Causeway was a popular tourist destination, with the Giant's Causeway Tramway – at the time, one of the world's longest electrified railways – built in 1893 to cater to travellers coming from Portrush. [9]

The town's fortunes peaked in the late 19th and early 20th century, and declined after the Second World War with the growth of foreign travel. It escaped any involvement in the Troubles until 3 August 1976, when a series of bombings of properties burned out and destroyed several buildings, though with no loss of life. [10] In a second attack in April 1987, two officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were shot in the back by the Provisional Irish Republican Army while on foot patrol on Main Street. [11]

Demography

On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 6,454 people living in Portrush (2,824 households), accounting for 0.36% of the NI total. [4] Of these:

Climate

Portrush has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb).

Climate data for Portrush (8 m or 26 ft elevation, averages 1981–2010)
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Average high °C (°F)7.9
(46.2)
8.1
(46.6)
9.8
(49.6)
12.0
(53.6)
14.6
(58.3)
16.4
(61.5)
18.2
(64.8)
18.2
(64.8)
16.5
(61.7)
13.4
(56.1)
10.4
(50.7)
8.6
(47.5)
12.9
(55.2)
Average low °C (°F)3.2
(37.8)
2.9
(37.2)
3.9
(39.0)
5.6
(42.1)
8.0
(46.4)
10.2
(50.4)
12.4
(54.3)
12.5
(54.5)
11.0
(51.8)
7.9
(46.2)
5.6
(42.1)
3.6
(38.5)
7.3
(45.1)
Average rainfall mm (inches)85.6
(3.37)
68.7
(2.70)
69.4
(2.73)
57.3
(2.26)
58.4
(2.30)
67.0
(2.64)
73.4
(2.89)
85.4
(3.36)
82.2
(3.24)
98.9
(3.89)
112.2
(4.42)
111.2
(4.38)
969.6
(38.17)
Average rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm)17.212.615.411.512.111.913.414.416.117.917.816.3176.7
Mean monthly sunshine hours 50.970.2109.6178.2221.6175.0152.9137.3124.196.153.937.31,407.3
Source: metoffice.gov.uk [12]

Places of interest

Portrush's West Strand Beach. Portrush East Strand Beach.jpg
Portrush's West Strand Beach.
Portrush shops Portrush, County Antrim.jpg
Portrush shops
Portrush Town Hall Portrush Townhall - geograph.org.uk - 222871.jpg
Portrush Town Hall

Events

Portrush hosts an annual air show at the beginning of September. [22]

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution raft race is am annual event in which contestants must build a raft that can take them from the West Strand beach into Portrush Harbour. The event has been featured on Northern Ireland news broadcasts on several years and is a great credit to the RNLI's popularity locally. [23]

The North West 200 is a motorcycle road race following the triangular route around Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush. Held every May, with events in various engine categories, it attracts crowds in excess of 150,000. [24]

Portrush panorama.jpg
A panorama of Portrush

Education

The following schools are in Portrush: [25]

Sport

The Northern Ireland Milk Cup uses Parker Avenue in Portrush as one of the pitches for the tournament, and many teams stay within the town itself. [26]

Transport

Portrush railway station was opened on 4 December 1855 and closed for goods traffic on 20 September 1954. The station is the last stop on the Coleraine-Portrush railway line, where travellers can connect with trains to Derry, Belfast and beyond.

Portrush is a busy seaside resort, with a frequent train service run by Northern Ireland Railways connecting with Ulsterbus services linking to Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway. [27]

Lifeboat

RNLI lifeboats have operated out of Portrush Harbour since 1860, and currently stationed there are the Severn class William Gordon Burr and the D-class inshore vessel David Roulston. [28]

Notable people

See also

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References

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  2. Dunluce Castle US Archived 3 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine NI Department of the Environment. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
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  5. "Portrush Chapel, Ireland". Wesleyan Juvenile Offering. London: Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. VII: 31. March 1850. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
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  14. Golf magazine, August 2019
  15. "Portrush East Strand Sculpture: To the People of the Sea by Holger Lonze". www.peopleofthesea.info.
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  21. "Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting & Domain Names from Heart Internet". niinternationalairshow.co.uk.
  22. "Portrush Royal National Lifeboat Institution website".[ permanent dead link ]
  23. "BBC Mobile – BBC Sport – N Ireland – North West 200 – About NW200". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  24. "Schools in Portrush". schools-search.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  25. "Northern Ireland Milk Cup Fixtures" . Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  26. "Getting to Giant's Causeway". 14 December 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  27. "RNLI launch lifeboat named after David Roulston". BBC. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  28. Doward, Jamie (21 September 2014). "The real-life triumphs of the gay communist behind hit movie Pride". The Guardian .

Further reading