Guide to Portrush

About Portrush

About Portrush

The town was granted to Richard de Burgo in 1305 and derives its name from Portros, Portross or Portrossce, the meaning relates to its location, Port of the Promontory. Shortly after the last ice age some ten thousand years ago, the promontory was an island surrounded by marsh and bogland, peat deposits are sometimes exposed under the sand at Mill Strand (West Strand). During construction work, evidence of early settlements were uncovered near Curran Strand (East Strand) car park and Causeway Street. The town once had an ancient church and castle of strategic importance, nothing remains of either, they were both ransacked and partly destroyed by General Munro during the 1641- 49 conflict in Ireland.

The harbour was the home port for the lifeboat 'Katie Hannan' which was wrecked on Rathin Island in January 2008 during an attempted rescue, she arrived in Portrush in September of 2000 and was named after the late Mrs Katrina Hannan of London who bequeathed a share of her estate to the RNLI. The 'Severn' class lifeboat was the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, with a range of 250 nautical miles and a speed of 25 knots and was well able to cover the often rough waters of the north channel and western approaches. Today another Severn class boat ahs replaced her to carry out this much-needed service. The lifeboat station was founded here 1860 and to date has saved over three hundred lives and received eight silver and one bronze medals for bravery.

Photo of East Strand Portrush by Art Ward

The original harbour nestles behind the shelter of Ramore head and is still used today for berthing small tenders and open rowing boats. Like most small coastal towns and villages Portrush developed and expanded from a safe harbour and fishing port. It remained like this until the early 19th century when in parallel to the industrial revolution its full potential as a port was realized, it then became a major shipping and commercial focus along the north coast. One hundred years ago you would have seen coastal schooners, square riggers, steamships and fishing smacks plying in and out of the harbour, timber came from America, potatoes went to Glasgow, grain went to Cork, fish came in and went to Belfast, coal, bauxite and other raw materials all came and went from the busy quayside.

Today the harbour can still service ocean-going yachts and small cruise ships during the summer season. The harbour was used by fishermen from near and far to land their catches or shelter from storms, it is known that Breton and Spanish fishermen were frequent visitors who came here seasonally to catch dogfish and rays. The expanding rail network reached here in 1855 when the Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine and Portrush Junction Railway Company built a railway line and terminus, a period of prosperity followed which saw the town become a major destination for holidaymakers from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. The Belfast & Northern Counties Railway Company acquired the Northern Counties Hotel in 1881, Berkeley Deane Wise the chief engineer for the company.

Although the history of the hotel goes back to 1837 its name was derived from the railway company. You can still see and feel a sense of the splendour and affluence of that time in the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian terraces, the fine examples of 'Art Nouveau' and the wonderful White House department store. Some of the larger hotels have gone but others have taken on new roles in the townscape. The centre-piece of the town up until the early 1990s was the famous Northern Counties Hotel which had all the splendour of the Victorian era with seaweed baths, exquisite tiled toilets, a ballroom, tapestries, oak-lined reception rooms, grand stairways, chandeliers and sculptures.

Unfortunately, its unique architectural heritage was taken from Portrush by a malicious fire which destroyed it completely. After being sold by the family who had run it for decades, the hotel was closed and within one year two arson attacks happened, the second resulted in its destruction. Today the Ramada Hotel occupies the site. Proposals were made in the 1880s to link Portrush and Ballycastle by a railway, surveys and costing were done but the proposal could not secure the financial backing needed. In 1883 the Giant's Causeway, Portrush and Bush Valley Tramway Company opened the world's first narrow-gauge hydro-electric powered tramway between Portrush and Bushmills with a later extension to the Giant's Causeway.

Pioneered by William and Anthony Traill of Ballyclough the tram used the Seimens electric railway system and derived its power from water turbines at the Walkmill Falls in Bushmills. From 1883 until its closure in 1949 visitors were able to arrive in Portrush by train or ship and journey by tram to the Giant's Causeway along one of the most spectacular stretches of coastline in Ulster. The line from the Giant's Causeway to Bushmills re-opened in 2001 using a Peckett and a Barclay steam locomotive and a Simplex Diesel locomotive. The recently renovated Portrush Town Hall was built in 1872 and provides a fitting architectural focal point, in front is the fabulous war memorial by the sculptor Frank Ransom in collaboration with the sculptor George Frampton.

The sculpture was completed in 1922 and is a wonderful piece of 'classical' art. During the 18th century, a famous geological feature at Landsdowne Crescent known as the Portrush Sill became the centre for debate between the Neptunists and the Plutonists. The Neptunists believed that basalt crystalised from seawater while the Plutonists believed it to be volcanic activity. The argument was settled here by the presence of ammonite fossils in mudstone which were baked by the overlying sill. You can walk over the rock and see the fabulous patterns of ammonites in the mudstone and the layer of magma which covered and intruded into it. This was formed at the same time as the Giant’s Causeway.

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