Portaferry
| Portaferry | |
| County Down | |
|---|---|
 Portaferry from the pier towards the north | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | J594509 |
| Location: | 54°22’51"N, 5°32’55"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,467 (2001) |
| Post town: | Newtownards |
| Postcode: | BT22 |
| Dialling code: | 028 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Newry, Mourne and Down |
Portaferry is a small and pretty town in County Down, at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula, near the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough. It had a population of 2,467 people in the 2001. It has an aquarium and is well known for the annual Galway Hookers Regatta. It hosts its own small Marina, the Portaferry Marina. A passenger/car ferry service operates daily at 15-minute intervals (8am to 11pm) between the villages of Portaferry and Strangford, less than a mile apart, conveying about 500,000 passengers a year.
Commercial fishing for clams and king prawns and the farming of oysters and mussels takes place within the confines of Strangford Lough. This is supplemented by the presence in Portaferry of the Marine Laboratory of the Queen's University of Belfast.[1] There are fine Georgian buildings in the town square, including a Market House, now used as a community centre.
Portaferry Lifeboat is an essential lifeline for local fishermen and yachtsmen. In 1987 a lifeboat house was built aided by money raised through the Belfast Newsletter's Lord Louis Mountbatten Appeal Fund. In 1994 a new Atlantic 75 inshore lifeboat, also named 'Blue Peter V', replaced the Atlantic 21. (The Atlantic 75 is the fastest seagoing lifeboat in the RNLI's fleet and is capable of speeds up to 34 knots.)[2][3]
Contents
History
In the 17th century Ulster ports began to rise in prominence. In 1625 William Pitt was appointed as Customer of the ports of Newcastle, Dundrum, Killough, Portaferry, Donaghadee, Bangor and Holywood.[4]
Places of interest
- Portaferry is the home of the Northern Ireland Aquarium – Exploris.[5] It was opened by the local council in 1987 and extended and re-opened by Prince Charles in 1994 as Exploris. It is Northern Ireland's premier marine life centre and aquarium, featuring walk-through tanks which house examples of Strangford Lough's marine inhabitants.
- Roads Service (Department for Regional Development) operates a car ferry service across Strangford Lough between the villages of Strangford and Portaferry, saving a road journey of approximately 47 miles or an hour and a half
- Portaferry Castle is a small 16th-century tower house built by William Le Savage.[6] It is a square building with a small projecting turret at the south corner. It is three storeys high plus attic. There is no vault. Most of the eastern corner is ruinous.
In the media and popular culture
Two famed actors who regularly visited Portaferry were Oliver Reed (usually arriving by boat from his holiday home in Cork) and in an earlier generation Errol Flynn, whose father Theodore Thomson Flynn was a Professor at Queen's University Belfast, and who for many years rented a holiday house on the shores of Strangford Lough, at Kilclief.
- The Invisibles, a BBC comedy/drama series broadcast in 2008 was filmed here: it stood in for a Devon village.
- Small Island, a BBC series, was filmed in Portaferry, doubling for a Yorkshire town during Second World War. The Square was used extensively with the old Stewart & James' shop disguised as a cinema and the Market House as a Tearoom in a crucial scene.
Environment
The Portaferry area is popular with tourists for its beauty, history, wildlife and other visitor attractions. Other pursuits enjoyed in the area are angling, wildfowling and birdwatching. Strangford Lough is the largest sea inlet in the British Isles.
Industry
Portaferry industrial activities include agriculture, fishing, tourism. 'Suki Tea' announced as of 2014 that experimental tea growing will commence in the area, utilizing the relatively warm and dry climate, with frost protection from Strangford lough. 'Exploris' aquarium may cease trading as of 2014 due to lack of funding, with local people striving to maintain it. Portaferry's access to Strangford Narrows is being used for testing a scale model of Evopod, a Tidal Stream Turbine; for electricity generation.[7] In 2008 a twin rotor 1.2MW SeaGen was installed; it generates 10MWh of energy. Tidal energy, unlike wind or wave, is a renewable energy resource which can be predicted.[www.marineturbines.com]
Pictures
Portaferry from the pier towards the south
The MV Portaferry II returning from Strangford
Portaferry Marina
Portaferry Castle
Portaferry from the pier towards the north
Portaferry From Castleward.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Portaferry) |
- Exploris [1]
- Portaferry Gala Week
- Culture Northern Ireland
- Portaferry Sailing Club
- Naomh Padraig Port an Pheire, Down Senior Hurling Champions 2006
- Portaferry RNLI Lifeboat Station
- Ardbrae Country House
References
- ↑ Marine Laboratory
- ↑ Portaferry Lifeboat
- ↑ Culture Northern Ireland – Portaferry Lifeboat Station
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Aidan & Breen, Colin (2007). Maritime Ireland. An Archaeology of Coastal Communities. Stroud: Tempus. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-7524-2509-2.
- ↑ Exploris
- ↑ Portaferry Castle
- ↑ First Testing of Evopod at Strangford Narrows
