Portadown
Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based 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 32,000 at the 2021 Census. For some purposes, Portadown is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area", alongside Craigavon and Lurgan.
Although Portadown was founded during the early 17th century English Plantation of Ulster, it was not until the Victorian era and the arrival of the railway that it developed as a major town. It earned the nickname "hub of the North" because it was a major railway junction; here 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.
Portadown is the site of the long-running Drumcree dispute. Catholics have protested the yearly marches through a majority Catholic part of town by the Protestant Orange Order, who are celebrating the 1690 victory over King James II by William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne. Often violence and protests have been sparked by this event. In the 1990s, the dispute escalated and the government responded with a massive security operation, drawing worldwide attention to Portadown.
History
Early history and Plantation of Ulster
The Portadown area had long been populated by Irish Gaels.At the beginning of the 1600s, this area was within the district of Clancann, which was part of the larger territory of Oneilland. This district was named after the dominant local clan—the McCanns —who had occupied the area since before the 13th century. The McCanns were then a vassal sept of the O'Neills. On the eastern banks of the River Bann was the district of Clanbrasil.
The town's name comes from the Irish Port a' Dúnáin, meaning the port or landing place of the small fort. This was likely a fort of the McCanns.
From 1594 until 1603, the O'Neills and an alliance of other clans fought in the Nine Years' War against the English Tudor conquest of Ireland. This ended in defeat for the Irish clans, and the Crown seized and redistributed much of their land.
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. 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. 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.
The present-day People's Park was part of its grounds. The park is now bounded on either side by Obins Street and Castle Street, both of which are references to "Obins' Castle". In 1631, Obins was granted a licence for a "fair and market". He built the first bridge across the River Bann shortly thereafter.
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. 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 among British Protestants as the "Portadown massacre" and was one of the worst atrocities of the rebellion. It fuelled revenge killings by the English 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. Hamlet Obins repossessed it in 1652. It was later passed to his son, Anthony Obins.
Industrialisation
In 1741, Anthony Obins was involved with development of the Newry Canal. He was succeeded by Michael Obins in 1750. The latter set up a linen market in Portadown in 1762, which laid the foundations of Portadown's major industry.Michael Obins died in 1798 and left a son, Michael Eyre Obins, to succeed him. In 1814, Eyre Obins took holy orders; he sold the estate to the Sparrow family of Tandragee.
George Montagu, 6th Duke of Manchester married Millicent Sparrow in 1822 and came into possession of the estate. This family's legacy in the town includes such street names as Montagu Street, Millicent Crescent and Mandeville Street, and buildings such as the Fergus Hall, and the Carleton Home..
The Blacker family, descended from Danes who had invaded and settled in 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 such as the founding 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'. It 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. In 1988 the club demolished Carrickblacker House to make way for a new clubhouse.
World War II
A large prisoner-of-war 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 German POWs. For a time these POWs were guarded by Welsh servicemen who had been transferred from assignments with troops in Germany. They were billeted at St Patrick's Hall in Thomas Street.The local newspaper carried a story of another POW camp, adjacent to Killicomaine Castle, in what was then known as "Cullen's Lane" but is now called "Princess Way". That area was later part of the Killicomaine estate, housing built in 1954 and largely contemporary with other estates built by the then Portadown Borough Council and the former Northern Ireland Housing Trust.
A third camp was built on the Carrickblacker estate towards the end of World War II, possibly as an overflow for the nearby Elmfield Camp in Gilford. It was used as accommodation for Allied troops and no Axis POWs 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 is at the new roundabout on the Gilford Road. These are rare examples 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. Irish republicans killed 18 people: nine members of the security forces, one loyalist paramilitary, seven Protestant civilians and one Catholic civilian. The security forces killed one Protestant civilian, and another loyalist was killed by his own bomb. In 1993 and 1998, the town centre was devastated by two large car bombs planted by republicans.
The Troubles resulted in the town becoming residentially 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 now bordered by the railway line and by a security barrier 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. When the Army sealed off the Catholic part of Portadown with large steel, concrete and barbed-wire barricades, the situation was reported by news media as like 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 a catalyst for 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.
Geography
Portadown is located in a relatively flat part of Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Two small wetland areas are on the outskirts of the town; one at Selshion in the west and another at Annagh in the south. The Ballybay River flows into the town from the west before joining the River Bann.River Bann
Most of the town is built on the western side of the River Bann, which supported its industry and prosperity. Construction in 1740 of the Newry Canal enabled Portadown to become a hub for the water traffic between Newry and Belfast.There are three bridges across the river at Portadown. Bridge Street and Northway are both road bridges, and there is a railway bridge beside the Northway. The 'Bann Bridge' on Bridge Street is the oldest. It was unusual in that it was built over dry earth. After the bridge was completed, the course of the River Bann was diverted by some 100 yards to straighten a meander and run under the bridge. The old riverbed was then built upon.
In the 21st century, an archaeological dig in the area of the old riverbed uncovered the bones of some of those who were drowned in the 1641 massacre in the town.