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Lisburn

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For the local authority, see Lisburn City Council.
Lisburn
  • Irish: Lios na gCearrbhach
Irish Linen Museum and Christ Church Cathedral
Population71,465 (2001 Census)
• Belfast8 miles
District
County
CountryNorthern Ireland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLISBURN
Postcode districtBT27
BT28
Dialling code028
PoliceNorthern Ireland
FireNorthern Ireland
AmbulanceNorthern Ireland
UK Parliament
NI Assembly
Websitehttp://www.lisburn.gov.uk
List of places
UK
Northern Ireland

Lisburn (Template:Lang-ga) is the third-largest city in Northern Ireland and the sixth-largest on the island of Ireland, though will be over taken by Tallaght when the west Dublin suburb is awarded city status as proposed. It is situated south-west of Belfast on the River Lagan, which lies as the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. Lisburn forms part of the Belfast metropolitan area. It had a population of 71,465 people in the 2001 Census.[1]

Formerly a borough, Lisburn was granted city status in 2002 as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Name

The city was originally known as Lisnagarvey (from Irish Lios na gCearrbhach 'fort of the gamblers'). From the cathedral records, the name Lisburn came into common use around 1662. There is a myth that the town was renamed after the 1641 or 1707 conflagrations but this is not the case. The original name is still used in the titles of some local schools and sports teams.

History

Lisburn's original site was located on what is now known as Hill Street, on a hill above the River Lagan. There was also a fort located at the north side of what is now known as Castle Gardens. In 1611 James I granted Sir Fulke Conway the lands of Killultagh in south west County Antrim. During the 1620s the original streets of Lisburn as we know it today were laid out, Market Square, Bridge Street, Castle Street and Bow Street. Sir Fulke Conway brought over many English and Welsh settlers during the Ulster Plantation. He built a manor house on what is now Castle Gardens and in 1623 he built a church on the site of the current cathedral. The Manor House was destroyed in the accidental fire of 1707 and was never rebuilt.

Lisburn Market House - now forming part of the Irish Linen Centre/Lisburn Museum

Lisburn is also known as the birthplace of Ireland's linen industry, which was established in 1698 by Louis Crommelin and other Huguenots. An exhibition about the Irish linen industry is now housed in the Irish Linen Centre, which can be found in the town’s old Market House in Market Square.[2]

Lisburn is one of the constituent cities that makes up the Dublin-Belfast corridor region which has a population of just under 3 million.

The Troubles

Main article: The Troubles in Lisburn

The Cold War

Between 1954 and 1992 Lisburn contained the operational headquarters of No 31 Belfast Group Royal Observer Corps[3] who operated from a protected nuclear bunker on Knox Road within Thiepval Barracks. Converted from a 1940s Anti-aircraft Operations Room (AAOR) the bunker would support over one hundred ROC volunteers and a ten man United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation warning team responsible for the famous Four-minute warning in the event of a nuclear strike on the UK. The ROC would also have detected radioactive fallout from the nuclear bursts and warned the public of approaching fallout.

The two organisations were stood down in 1992 at the end of the Cold War. In 2007 a commemorative plaque was mounted on the wall of the nuclear bunker which still stands, marking the volunteer service of ROC volunteers all over the Province. The well known BBC newsreader, TV personality and steam railway enthusiast Sullivan Boomer was an Observer Commander in the ROC and served as Group Commandant of the Belfast group during the 1970s and 1980s.

Lisburn Civic Centre

Administration

Lisburn is the administrative centre of the Lisburn City Council area,[4] which also includes Hillsborough, Moira, Dromara, Glenavy, Dunmurry and Drumbo.

In elections for the Westminster Parliament the city falls mainly into the Lagan Valley constituency but partly into West Belfast.

The headquarters of the British Army in Northern Ireland at Thiepval Barracks and the headquarters of the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade are located in the city.

Demographics and education

Historical population
YearPop.±%
18214,684—    
18315,745+22.7%
18416,284+9.4%
18516,533+4.0%
18617,462+14.2%
18717,876+5.5%
188110,755+36.6%
189112,250+13.9%
190111,461−6.4%
191112,388+8.1%
192612,406+0.1%
193713,042+5.1%
195114,781+13.3%
196117,700+19.7%
196621,522+21.6%
197131,836+47.9%
198140,391+26.9%
199142,110+4.3%
200171,465+69.7%
[5]

Demographics

Lisburn Urban Area is within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area (BMUA)and 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 71,465 people living in Lisburn. Of these:

  • 25.4% were aged under 16 years and 15.6% were aged 60 and over.
  • 52.1% were female and 47.9% were male.
  • 62.8% were from a Protestant background and 33.4% were from a Catholic background.
  • 4.0% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.[6]

Education

  • Central Primary School
  • Tonagh Primary School
  • Largymore Primary School
  • St. Aloysius Primary School
  • Killowen Primary School
  • Ballymacash Primary School
  • Brownlee Primary School
  • Forthill Primary School
  • Harmony Hill Primary School
  • St. Joseph's Primary School

Churches

Main article: List of churches in Lisburn

Lisburn is notable for its large number of churches, with 134 churches listed in the Lisburn City Council area.[7] One of two cathedrals in the Church of Ireland Diocese of Connor is in Lisburn, Christ Church Cathedral.

Transport

Rail

Lisburn railway station was opened on 12 August 1839.[8] The railway remains a popular means of transport between Lisburn and Belfast, with the express trains taking 8–10 minutes to reach Belfast's Great Victoria Street. The train also links the city directly with Portadown, Lurgan, Moira and Bangor. The station also serves connections to Dublin which require a change at either Portadown or Belfast Central. All railway services from the station are provided by Northern Ireland Railways, a subsidiary of Translink.

Bus

  • Ulsterbus provides various bus services that connect the city with Belfast city centre, which lies eight miles northeast. These services generally operate either along Belfast's Lisburn Road or through the Falls area in west Belfast. In addition to long-distance services to Craigavon, Newry and Banbridge, there is also a network of buses that serve the rural areas around the city, such as Glenavy and Dromara.
  • The city has a vast network of local buses, serving the local housing developments and amenities. These are operated by Ulsterbus.[9]
  • A new Bus Centre, provided by the regional public transport provider Translink, opened on 30 June 2008 at the corner of Smithfield Street and the Hillsborough Road. It replaced the shelters that formerly stood in Smithfield Square.[10]

Road

The city has a favourable position on the Belfast-Dublin corridor, being connected with the former by the M1 motorway from which it can be accessed through junctions 3, 6, 7 and 8. The A1 road to Newry and Dublin deviates from the M1 at the Sprucefield interchange, which is positioned one mile southeast of the city centre. An inner orbital route was formed throughout the 1980s which has permitted the city centre to operate a one-way system as well as the pedestrianisation of the Bow Street shopping precinct.[11] In addition to this, a feeder road leading from Milltown on the outskirts of Belfast to Ballymacash in north Lisburn, was opened in 2006. This route connects with the A512 and permits traffic from Lisburn to easily access the M1 at junction 3 (Dunmurry) thus relieving pressure on the southern approaches to the city.[12]

Communications

Main article: Lisburn telephone exchange code

The local area code, like the rest of Northern Ireland is 028. However all local 8-digit subscriber numbers are found in the form 92xx-xxxx. Before the Big Number Change in 2000, the STD code for Lisburn and its surrounding area was 01846.

Health care

The main hospital in the city is the Lagan Valley Hospital, which provides Accident and Emergency services to the area. The hospital lost its acute services in 2006 and is set to lose maternity services in 2009. Residents now must travel to Belfast for acute surgery. Primary care in the area is provided by the Lisburn Health Centre, which opened in 1977.[13] The city lies within the South Eastern Health and Social Care Board area, formerly known as Down and Lisburn Trust.

Sport

  • Lisburn Distillery is an association football (soccer) club playing in the Irish Premier League. The club, founded in 1879, originated in West Belfast, where it was based at Distillery Street off Grosvenor Road until 1971. After sharing Skegoneill Avenue (Brantwood FC) and Seaview (Crusaders FC) for some years the club again moved in 1980 to New Grosvenor Stadium, Ballyskeagh, near Dunmurry on the outskirts of the city. The club was known as 'Distillery' until 1999, when it changed its name to 'Lisburn Distillery' in an attempt to associate itself more closely with its adopted borough of Lisburn. The club's colours are all white, and the current manager is Paul Kirk. Despite the change in name, Belfast clubs Glentoran and Linfield remain more popular with the population of Lisburn.
  • Lisburn Basketball Club
  • Lisburn Cricket Club
  • Lisburn Racquets Club
  • St. Patrick's GAA

People

See also

References

  1. ^ It should be noted that this population figure includes Dunmurry and its associated housing areas. There is uncertainty as to whether these areas will remain in the Lisburn/Castlereagh council area after the proposed Local Government reform in 2011 - which may see them transfer to Belfast [1].
  2. ^ Lisburn City Council: Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum
  3. ^ ROC HQ locations and photographs
  4. ^ Office of Public Sector Information
  5. ^ http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census and http://www.histpop.org for post 1821 figures, 1813 estimate from Mason’s Statistical Survey For a discussion on the accuracy of pre-famine census returns see J. J. Lee “On the accuracy of the pre-famine Irish censuses Irish Population, Economy and Society edited by J. M. Goldstrom and LA Clarkson (1981) p54, in and also New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850 by Joel Mokyr and Cormac Ó Gráda in The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov, 1984), pp. 473-488.
  6. ^ NI neighbourhood Information Service
  7. ^ http://www.lisburn.com/churches/Lisburn-churches/churches-list.htm
  8. ^ "Lisburn station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
  9. ^ Translink Service 325: "Lisburn City Service"
  10. ^ Translink Press Release 16-Jun-2008: "Passengers to benefit from Brand New Lisburn Buscentre
  11. ^ Planning Service: BMAP 2015. Transportation in Lisburn
  12. ^ Northern Ireland Roads Site (Wesley Johnston): North Lisburn Feeder Road
  13. ^ "Health and Wealth in the Borough of Lisburn. By E.J.Best". Lisburn Historical Society (Vol. 2). Retrieved 2008-08-01. {{cite web}}: Text """ ignored (help)
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