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Coleraine
 

Coleraine (Cúil Raithne in Irish) is a large town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland at the mouth of the River Bann. It is 90 km (55 mi)north west of Belfast and 50 km (30 mi) east of Derry, both of which are linked by major roads and railway connections. Belfast City Airport, City of Derry Airport, 36.5 kilometres (25 mi) to the west, and the main regional airport, Belfast International Airport, to the south are all relatively accessible from Coleraine.

Coleraine had a population of 24,089 people in the 2001 Census. In terms of overall quality of life, the Coleraine area is one of the most attractive places to live in Northern Ireland. Disposable income is well above the Northern Ireland average. The North Coast (Coleraine/Limavady) area of Northern Ireland has the highest property prices in the province, higher indeed than those of affluent South Belfast (according to the University of Ulster Quarterly House Price Index report produced in partnership with Bank of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive - March 2006). Championship golf courses, scenic countryside and a host of leisure facilities and attractions are all on the doorstep. It has an attractive town centre, a marina and the prestigious Riverside theatre. Coleraine, during the day is a busy town, however at night the town is relatively quiet, with much of the night life in the area located in the nearby seaside towns of Portrush and Portstewart.

The setting of Coleraine, at the lowest bridgeable point of the River Bann, where the river is a quarter of a mile wide, is impressive. As in many other towns in Northern Ireland, the town square is called 'The Diamond' and the Town Hall and nearby Church of Ireland St Patrick's Church are both reasonably venerable and attractive. The University was built in the 1960s but is one of the better pieces of architecture from that era and has brought a high quality theatrical space to the town in the form of the Riverside theatre, where the quality of production often belies the small size of the town.

Coleraine town centre has seen unprecedented growth in recent years. It is the major commercial centre in the North East of the province and has been designated as a major growth area in the Northern Ireland Development Strategy. Although the population of the town is only 24,000, Coleraine has a large catchment area. Over 251,000 people live within a 30 minute drive of the town making it one of the most important towns in Northern Ireland. The town also has the advantage of being near some of the most extraordinary landscape in the whole of Europe. In 2002, Coleraine won the Best Kept Town and Ulster in Bloom awards. In 2003, it was selected to represent Northern Ireland in the prestigious Britain in Bloom competition. It has its own local radio station. Q97.2FM

Despite having a large unionist majority, the town "has generally good relations between the main communities" (Planning service Draft Northern Area Plan: *). It is regarded as one of the least sectarian of Northern Ireland's large towns. Indeed unionist-controlled Coleraine Borough Council operates a rotation for position of Mayor/Deputy Mayor between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Democratic Unionist Party and the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

History

Coleraine has a long history of settlement. The mesolithic site at Mountsandel is the earliest evidence of human settlement on the island of Ireland. Coleraine has associations with Saint Patrick from the 5th Century. The town was one of the two urban communities developed by the London Companies in County Derry in the Plantation of Ulster at the start of the 17th Century. The slightly skewed street pattern of Coleraine's town centre is legacy of that early exercise in town planning, along with traces of the lines of the ramparts that provided the Plantation town with its defences. With some industrialisation, the expansion of the river port, and the development of the railway, the town expanded significantly throughout the 19th Century and into the early part of the 20th Century.

Coleraine steadily expanded after the Second World War. The population doubled due to major industrial development on extensive suburban sites, the decision to site the New University in the town, the expansion of commerce and the development of sporting and recreational facilities. There has been a steady expansion of the urban area from the mid 20th Century compact town of less than 2 square kilometres, to the present much more dispersed town of about 11 square kilometres.

Since 1980 growth has continued but at a slightly more modest pace. In the twenty years up to 2001 the town’s population increased by 22% to approximately 24,000, but there was a reduction from 12% in the 1980s to 8% in the 1990s. *).

Places of interest

Mountsandel Fort near Coleraine is the oldest known settlement in Ireland. Here wooden houses dating from about 7000 BC were uncovered. The east side of the town is distinguished by Mountsandel Forest, which contains the impressive Mountsandel fort, an ancient site which has been claimed as the oldest site of human settlement in Ireland.

Administration

Coleraine also has the headquarters of Coleraine Borough Council which are situated in a splendid position overlooking the River Bann. The Borough Council area together with the neighbouring district of Limavady, forms the East Londonderry constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Tourism

Coleraine is the main town or “Capital” of the world famous Causeway Coast, which attracts over 2 million visitors per year, spending in excess of £37 million. The world famous Giant's Causeway is a 25 minute bus ride away. The little distillery village of Bushmills is well-served by buses from the town and there is a little steam train running in the summer from Bushmills to the Giant's Causeway. Portrush, which is part of the Borough, is 15 minutes on the train north of the town and is Northern Ireland's principal seaside resort, with not one but two long strands of beach complete with sand dunes. Also north of Coleraine is the spectacularly scenic coastal town of Portstewart, with fine sandy beach and delightful coastal walks. North-west of Coleraine lies the small village of Castlerock, with a beach which is essentially a continuation of the beach at Portstewart, separated by the River Bann. Also nearby is the huge beach at Benone and the bizarre Mussenden Temple, built by an 18th century Anglican bishop (and slave trader) atop a precipitate cliff and overlooking County Donegal in one direction and Scotland in another. The National Trust managed Downhill forest was part of the Bishop's Palace, and although the Palace itself is now a ruin the gardens are a wonderful place full of strange hidden lakes and gloriously tended flower gardens.

People

Well-known people from Coleraine include the actor James Nesbitt, and David Cunningham from the band The Flying Lizards, who produced the zeitgeist-defining hit single 'Money' in the early 1980s also the Irish rugby and Ulster Rugby Player Andrew Trimble is from Coleraine

The ancestors of James Knox Polk, 11th President of the United States, were among the first Ulster-Scots settlers, emigrating from Coleraine in 1680 to become a powerful political family in Mecklenberg County, North Carolina. He moved to Tennessee and became its Governor before winning the Presidency.

Education

Coleraine has an outstanding variety of educational institutions at all levels. Most notably a major campus of The University of Ulster is located just outside the town. This was in fact the original campus of what was originally the New University of Ulster but which became the University of Ulster following its merger with the former Ulster Polytechnic at Jordanstown just north of Belfast in the early 1980s. It is a world-class centre of research for biomedical sciences.

The Causeway Institute is a College of Further and Higher Education based in Coleraine, with another campus in nearby Ballymoney.

The local schools include:

2001 Census

Coleraine is classified as a Large Town by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 18,000 and 75,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 24,089 people living in Coleraine. Of these:
  • 24.6% were aged under 16 years and 16.4% were aged 60 and over
  • 47.3% of the population were male and 52.7% were female
  • 22.7% were from a Catholic background and 73.5% were from a Protestant background
  • 4.7% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

Coleraine internationally

As with many Irish towns, Coleraine is duplicated across the world - Coleraine in Minnesota, United States for example. In 1853, a surveyor called Lindsay Clarke was working on a township called Bryans Creek Crossing in Victoria, Australia. He renamed the town Coleraine*.

Several South African wines and a wine from New Zealand are named after the town**.

References

See also

Towns in Londonderry

Coleraine | Coleraine | Coleraine | Coleraine

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Coleraine".

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