Place:Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland

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NamePortadown
Alt namesPort an Dúnáinsource: Wikipedia
TypeTown
Coordinates54.433°N 6.45°W
Located inCounty Armagh, Northern Ireland
Contained Places
Townland
Kingarve
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Portadown[1][2] is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of about 22,000 at the 2011 Census. For some purposes, Portadown is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area", alongside Craigavon and Lurgan.

Although Portadown can trace its origins to the early 17th century Plantation of Ulster, it was not until the Victorian era and the arrival of the railway that it became a major town. It earned the nickname "hub of the North" due to it being a major railway junction; where the Great Northern Railway's line diverged for Belfast, Dublin, Armagh and Derry. In the 19th and 20th centuries Portadown was also a major centre for the production of textiles (mainly linen).

Portadown is the site of the long-running Drumcree dispute, over yearly marches by the Protestant Orange Order through the Catholic part of the town, which often sparked violence and protests. In the 1990s, the dispute escalated and prompted a massive security operation, drawing worldwide attention to Portadown.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Early history and Plantation of Ulster

The Portadown area had long been populated by Irish Gaels. At the beginning of the 1600s, it lay within the district of Clancann (Clann Chana), which was part of the larger territory of Oneilland (Uí Nialláin). This district was named after the dominant local clan—the McCanns (Mac Cana)[3]—who had been in the area since before the 13th century. The McCanns were then a vassal sept of the O'Neills (Uí Néill).[3] On the eastern banks of the River Bann was the district of Clanbrasil (Clann Bhreasail).

The town's name comes from the Irish Port a' Dúnáin (or, more formally, Port an Dúnáin), meaning the port or landing place of the small fort. This was likely a fort of the McCanns.[3]

From 1594 until 1603, the O'Neills and an alliance of other clans fought in the Nine Years' War against the Tudor conquest of Ireland. This ended in defeat for the Irish clans, and much of their land was seized and redistributed by the Crown. In 1608, King James VI and I began the Plantation of Ulster – the organised colonisation of the region by Protestant settlers from Britain, known as 'planters'.

In 1610, as part of the Plantation, the lands of Portadown were granted to William Powell.[3] In 1611, he sold his grant of land to Reverend Richard Rolleston, who in turn sold it in two portions to Richard Cope and Michael Obins.[3] Obins built a large Elizabethan-style mansion for himself and his family, and a number of houses nearby for English tenants. This mansion was in the area of the present-day Woodside estate, and today's People's Park was part of its grounds.[3] The park is now bounded on either side by Obins Street and Castle Street, both of which are references to "Obin's Castle". In 1631, Obins was granted a licence for a "fair and market", which led to the building of the first bridge across the River Bann shortly thereafter.[3]

Irish rebellion of 1641

During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Obins Castle was captured by a force of dispossessed Irish led by the McCanns, Magennises and O'Neills.[3] In November 1641, Irish rebels—likely under the command of Toole McCann—killed about 100 captured British settlers by forcing them off the Bann bridge and shooting those who swam ashore. This became known as the "Portadown massacre" and was one of the worst atrocities of the rebellion. It fuelled revenge killings during the conflict that followed and was used to justify the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The Irish Confederate troops abandoned Obins Castle during the Cromwellian conquest, and Hamlet Obins (who had survived its capture) repossessed it in 1652. It was then passed to his son, Anthony Obins.[3]

Industrialisation

In 1741, Anthony Obins was involved with the development of the Newry Canal.[3] He was succeeded by Michael Obins in 1750. It was he who set up a linen market in Portadown in 1762 and this laid the foundations of Portadown's major industry.[3]

Michael Obins died in 1798 and left a son, Michael Eyre Obins, to succeed him. In 1814, Eyre Obins took holy orders and sold the estate to the Sparrow family of Tandragee.[3] George Montagu, 6th Duke of Manchester (known as Viscount Mandeville) married Millicent Sparrow in 1822 and came into possession of the estate.[3] This family's legacy to the town includes street names such as Montagu Street, Millicent Crescent and Mandeville Street, as well as buildings such as the Fergus Hall (formerly the Duke's School and Church Street PS), and the Carlton Home (the Duke's former townhouse, latterly a maternity hospital/nurses accommodation and now private apartments).

The Blacker family, descended from Danes who entered Ireland in the 9th century, founded an estate at Carrick, on the Portadown–Gilford road. The land had been bought by Colonel Valentine Blacker from Sir Anthony Cope of Loughgall. It became known as Carrickblacker, and is now the site of Portadown Golf Club. One of the notables in the Blacker family, Colonel William Blacker, High Sheriff of Armagh, took part in the "Battle of the Diamond" and was a founding member of the Orange Order. This, and subsequent events like the setting up of a 'provisional' Grand Lodge in the town after the 'voluntary' dissolution of the Order in 1825, led to the town being known as 'The Orange Citadel' and was a center of sectarian strife for two centuries. Many of the Blacker family were soldiers or churchmen. The family estate was purchased in 1937 by Portadown Golf Club, who demolished Carrickblacker House in 1988 to make way for a new clubhouse.

World War II

A large prisoner-of-war (POW) camp was built at Portadown during World War II. It was at the site of a former sports facility on what was then the western edge of town. This area is now covered by housing from Fitzroy Street and the Brownstown Estates. The camp housed (mostly) German POWs. For a time these POWs were guarded by Welsh servicemen who had been transferred from Germany (known as "Bluecaps") and who were billeted at St Patrick's Hall in Thomas Street. Many of the Welsh soldiers chose to be demobilised to Portadown as they had formed relationships there.

The local newspaper carried a story of another POW camp, adjacent to Killicomaine Castle (also known as Irwin's Castle) in what was then known as "Cullen's Lane" but is now called "Princess Way" and part of the Killicomaine estate, built in 1954 and largely contemporary with other estates built by the then Portadown Borough Council and the former Northern Ireland Housing Trust (now called the Northern Ireland Housing Executive).

A third camp was built on the Carrickblacker estate towards the end of the war, possibly as an overflow for the nearby Elmfield Camp in Gilford, but was used as accommodation for Allied troops and no Axis pow's were ever imprisoned there.

In 2005, a public air-raid shelter was uncovered during excavation works near the riverbank just outside the town centre. One of ten built by the council during World War II, it is one of only two now remaining, the other at the new roundabout on the Gilford Road, and a rare example of public air raid shelters in Northern Ireland.

The Troubles

During the Troubles, there were numerous shootings, bombings and riots in Portadown. The conflict led to the deaths of 45 people in the town. Loyalists killed 25 people: eighteen Catholic civilians, three Protestant civilians, two members of the security forces, a republican paramilitary and a loyalist paramilitary.[4] Irish republicans killed 18 people: nine members of the security forces, one loyalist paramilitary, seven Protestant civilians and one Catholic civilian.[4] The security forces killed one Protestant civilian, and another loyalist was killed by his own bomb.[4] In 1993 and 1998, the town centre was devastated by two large car bombs planted by republicans.

The Troubles led to the town becoming segregated – the northwestern part of the town became almost wholly populated by the Catholic/Irish nationalist minority, while the rest of the town became almost wholly Protestant/unionist. Portadown's 'Catholic district' is bordered by the railway line and by a security barrier ("peace wall") along Corcrain Road.

The Troubles also intensified the long-running Drumcree marching dispute, over Orange marches through the Catholic part of town. Each July from 1995 to 2000, the dispute drew worldwide attention as it sparked protests and violence throughout Northern Ireland, prompted a massive police/British Army operation, and threatened to derail the peace process. The Army sealed-off the Catholic part of Portadown with large steel, concrete and barbed-wire barricades and the situation was likened to a "war zone" and a "siege".

Each summer, during the "marching season", there are many Protestant/loyalist marches in the town. Loyalists put up numerous flags and raise arches over some streets. These marches, and the raising of these flags and arches near the homes of Catholic families, continues to be a source of tension and sometimes violence.

Community leaders in Portadown have been involved with the Ulster Project since it began in 1975. The project involves teenagers from both of Northern Ireland's main communities. The goal is to foster goodwill and friendship between them. Each year, a group of teenagers are chosen to travel to the United States, where they stay with an American family for a few weeks.

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Portadown. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.