BANBRIDGE

'Banbridge' () 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.

Contents

History

Demographics

Places of interest

BuskFest

Transport

People

Education

Primary

Post-primary

Sport

Song

References

See also

External links

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 has also been the victim to numerous bomb attacks by Republican groups throughout the Troubles. The most recent of which was a Real IRA car bomb explosion in 1998, injuring 33 people

Demographics

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

Places of interest

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

★ Banbridge Market House was built about 1832 currently used as offices.

BuskFest

Since 2004, Banbridge has staged an annual BuskFest busking competition and music festival. Performers have travelled from as far as Australia to participate in the competition and the evening concert has presented artists including Juliet Turner, Bap Kennedy and The Proclaimers. BuskFest 2007 will be headlined by The Undertones.

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. 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.

People

★ Professor Ernest Walton, winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize for Physics (along with Sir John Douglas Cockcroft) attended school in Banbridge.

★ Captain Crozier, British naval officer and Arctic explorer, was born in Banbridge in 1796. A monument to him stands in the town square; four polar bears are carved on the base.

★ F. E. McWilliam, surrealist sculptor

★ Joseph Scriven who wrote the hymn "What a Friend We Have In Jesus."

★ John Mitchel, Irish nationalist activist and political journalist

★ 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 and Jack Butler Yeats.

Education

Primary

★ Abercorn Primary School

★ Ballydown Primary School

★ Bridge Primary School

★ Bronte Primary School

★ Edenderry Primary School

★ Milltown Primary School

★ St. Marys Primary School

Post-primary

★ Banbridge Academy (mixed grammar)

★ Banbridge High School

★ St Patrick's College

Sport

One of the Banbridge sporting highlights probably was the 1920 - Ireland v. Scotland International Hockey Match played at Banbridge.
The Banbridge Hockey Club wins in 1985 as the second team from Ireland, after Cookstown HC in 1981, the EuroHockey Club Champions Trophy. Ih that time it was the second highest clubs competition in Europe.
Banbridge Cycling Club are one of the biggest and best Cycling clubs if not the best in Ireland.
Current sports clubs include:

★ Banbridge Town F.C.

★ Banbridge Hockey Club

★ Banbridge Rugby Football Club

★ Banbridge Ladies Hockey Club

★ Banbridge Cycling Club

★ Banbridge Golf Club

★ Banbridge Rangers Football Club

Song

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

References

★ Culture Northern Ireland

See also

★ List of towns in Northern Ireland

★ List of villages in Northern Ireland

★ List of Irish Towns with a Market House

External links

★ 1st Banbridge NISC

★ Banbridge Academy

★ Banbridge District Council

★ Banbridge Historical Information

★ Banbridge Market House

★ Banbridge Old Vehicle Club

★ Banbridge Rotary Club

★ Ferguson's Irish Linen

★ Banbridge Leader Newspaper Website

★ BuskFest