Portrush

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Portrush
Port Rois
Location
Location of Portrush
centerMap highlighting Portrush
Statistics
Province: Ulster
District: Coleraine Borough
UK Parliament: East Londonderry
European Parliament: Northern Ireland
Dialling code: 028, +44 28
Post town: Portrush
Postal district(s): BT56
Population (2001) 6,372
Sunset from the promenade
Sunset from the promenade

Portrush (from the Irish: Port Rois meaning "port of the promontory") is a seaside resort town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on the County Londonderry border. The main part of the old town, including the railway station, most hotels, restaurants and bars, is built on a mile–long peninsula, Ramore Head, pointing north-northwest. It had a population of 6,372 people in the 2001 Census. In the off-season, Portrush is a dormitory town for the nearby campus of the University of Ulster at Coleraine. It neighbours the resort of Portstewart.

It is the base for the Katie Hannan, a Severn class lifeboat and Ken and Mary, a D–class inshore lifeboat of the RNLI. Lifeboats have operated out of Portrush Harbour since 1860.

Portrush is in the East Londonderry constituency for the UK Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The Troubles

For more information see The Troubles in Portrush, which includes a list of incidents in Portrush during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities.[1]

[edit] Demographics

Portrush is classified as a Small Town by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)[2] (i.e. with population between 4,500 and 10,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 6,372 people living in Portrush. Of these:

  • 20.8% were aged under 16 years and 23.1% were aged 60 and over
  • 46.2% of the population were male and 53.8% were female
  • 23.6% were from a Catholic background and 70.6% were from a Protestant background.
  • 5.1% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service.[3]

[edit] Places of interest

  • Attractions in the town include Portrush Countryside Centre "The coastal zone";[4] the Dunluce Centre[5] and a swimming complex. Also on the edge of town are the links of the Royal Portrush Golf Club, which hosted the 1951 British Open golf championship, and Ballyreagh Golf Course. At the 1951 British Open golf championship young starlet Derek McLachlan won the hearts of the local crowd, the young man led on the third day by 3 strokes, only to drive out of bounds twice on the last day and finish tied for 8th place.
  • There are two long sandy beaches in the town, known as the West and East Strand. White Rocks and Curran Strand stretch on from the East Strand and are backed by dunes. The coast continues past Dunluce Castle to the Giant's Causeway (it was once possible to travel to these attractions from Portrush on the Giant's Causeway Tramway).
  • Portrush is home to one of Northern Ireland's best known nightclubs. The Kelly's complex consists of a multitude of bars and clubs and is Northern Ireland's largest nightclub complex. It includes the nightclub Lush! which attracts many of the world's top DJs and hosts BBC Radio 1 events.
  • Portrush is also home to Barry's amusement park, the largest in Northern Ireland. Actor James Nesbitt once worked in Barry's.

[edit] Events

  • Portrush hosts an annual air show.[6]
  • The RNLI raft race is a popular annual event. This is a popular competition where contestants must build a raft that can travel from the West Strand beach into Portrush Harbour. The contest has been featured on Northern Ireland news broadcasts on several years. The event is a great credit to the RNLI's popularity in the area.[7]
  • On June 17, 2006 Norman Cook DJed to 20,000 people on the town's East Strand beach. Cook had previously played similar gigs on Brighton beach and Flamengo Beach in Rio de Janeiro. The police made eleven arrests at the event, on suspicion of the possession of drugs with the intent to supply.[8] The 2007 event was headlined by Basement Jaxx and Happy Mondays[9], with the Chemical Brothers expected to headline in 2008[10].
  • The North West 200 is a motorcycle race which runs through Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush every May, a long-running tourist attraction which has attracted crowds in excess of 150,000 in past years.[11] The late brothers Joey Dunlop and Robert Dunlop have been regular winners at the races: they hold the record for most wins, with thirteen and fifteen respectively.


A panorama of Portrush
A panorama of Portrush

[edit] People

[edit] Sport

[edit] Transport

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Northern Ireland Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) website.
  2. ^ Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency website.
  3. ^ Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service website.
  4. ^ The Portrush Countryside Centre website.
  5. ^ Dunluce Centre website.
  6. ^ Northern Ireland International Air Show website.
  7. ^ Portrush Royal National Lifeboat Institution website.
  8. ^ The Irish Examiner website.
  9. ^ Belfast Telegraph
  10. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/atl/news_specific174917.shtml
  11. ^ BBC News
  12. ^ Portrush station. Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.

[edit] External links

  • Landscapes Unlocked - Aerial footage from the BBC Sky High series explaining the physical, social and economic geography of Northern Ireland.