Banbridge

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Banbridge
Droichead na Banna

Location

WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
54.343° N 6.26° W

Statistics

Population (2001)

14,744

Banbridge (Droichead na Banna in Irish) is a market town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road. It grew as a coaching stop and from Irish linen manufacturing. Its population was 14,744 people in the 2001 Census. The town is the headquarters for Banbridge District Council. The town was named after the first bridge built over the Upper Bann in 1712.

The main street is very unusual, and rises to a steep hill. Banbridge used to be an important stop on the Belfast to Dublin stagecoach route and the town's best known feature is the underpass constructed in 1834 known as The Cut. It is thought that this was the first underpass ever built, and was done to allow horses to pass through the centre of the town without fainting before they reached the top of the hill.

Nearby towns and villages include: Rathfriland, Corbet, Annaclone, Magherally, Seapatrick, Donaghcloney, Lawrencetown, Loughbrickland, Dromore and Gilford.

1 History
2 Places of interest
3 Transport
4 People
5 2001 Census
6 Education
7 Sport
8 Song
9 References
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] History

Banbridge, home to the Star of the County Down, is, relatively speaking, quite a young town. The town grew up around the site where the main road from Belfast to Dublin crossed the River Bann over an Old Bridge which was situated where the present bridge now stands. The town owed its success to flax and the linen industry, becoming by 1772 the principal linen producing district in Ireland with a total of 26 bleachgreens along the Bann. This industry has now greatly diminished in prominence, but Banbridge still has two of the major producers in Ulster Weavers Ltd, and Thomas Ferguson & Co Ltd., the last remaining Irish linen damask weaver.

Banbridge was linked to the main Belfast-Dublin railway by a branch line from Scarva that opened in 1859. A more direct link to Belfast opened in 1863 via Lisburn. A branch line from Banbridge to Ballyroney opened in 1880 and was extended to the coastal resort of Newcastle in 1906. The lines to Scarva and Newcastle were closed in 1955 and the line to Lisburn in 1956.

[edit] Places of interest

Near the town lie the ancient Lisnagade Fort, Legannany Dolmen and the Loughbrickland Crannog, constructed around the year 500 AD.

[edit] Transport

Banbridge is on the A1 main road between Belfast and Newry.

The nearest railway station is Scarva, about eight kilometres (five miles) from Banbridge.

[edit] People

Professor Ernest Walton, attended day school in Banbridge, physicist, the winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize for Physics along with Sir John Douglas Cockcroft.
Captain Crozier, a British naval officer and arctic explorer was born in Banbridge in 1796. A monument to him stands in the town square with four polar bears carved on the base.
F. E. McWilliam,surrealist sculptor
Joseph Scriven, a son of Banbridge, wrote the famous hymn "What a Friend We Have In Jesus."
Jill Orbinson, a field hockey midfielder of the Irish Nation Team was born in Banbridge.
Helen Waddell, scholar and writer
Howard Ferguson,composer
Captain Thomas Mayne Reid, writer
John Butler Yeats,artist and father of four artistic children. Among them were William Butler Yeats, Ireland’s most famous poet and Jack Butler Yeats, the painter and illustrator.

[edit] 2001 Census

Banbridge is classified as a Medium Town by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 10,000 and 18,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 14,744 people living in Banbridge. Of these:

24.4% were aged under 16 years and 16.1% were aged 60 and over
49.5% of the population were male and 50.5% were female
33.7% were from a Catholic background and 63.7% were from a Protestant background
3.3% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

[edit] Education

Abercorn Primary School (State owned and operated serving mostly a Protestant population)
Ballydown Primary School
Banbridge Academy (mixed grammar)
Banbridge High School (State owned with majority student population)
Bridge Primary School
Bronte Primary School
Edenderry Primary School (State owned with a majority Protestant population)
Milltown Primary School
St. Marys Primary School (Owned by Roman Catholic Church, Parish of Seapatrick..state maintained)
St Patrick's College (Owned by Roman Catholic Church and maintained by State)

[edit] Sport

One of the Banbridge sporting highlights probably was the 1920 - Ireland v. Scotland International Hockey Match played at Banbridge.

Current sports clubs include:

[edit] Song

The Star of the County Down, a well known song associated with Banbridge.

[edit] References

Culture Northern Ireland

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Major towns in Northern Ireland

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Category: Towns in Down