Ballynahinch, County Down

Ballynahinch (from the Irish: Baile na hInse meaning "townland of the island" or "townland of the river meadow") is a market town in County Down, Northern Ireland and with Newcastle and Downpatrick, one of the three largest towns of the Down District Council area. It had a population of 5,364 people in the 2001 Census.

The town lies on the main A24 Belfast to Newcastle road 15 miles south of Belfast. Facilities in the town include a leisure centre. In recent years a regeneration committee has been formed for the development of the town and the surrounding Spa, County Down and Drumaness areas. The town is twinned with Lamorlaye, France.

1 History
- 1.1 The Troubles
2 Demographics
3 Buildings of note
4 Traffic Congestion
5 Education
6 Sport
7 References
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] History

Ballynahinch was founded by Sir George Rawdon in the 1600s and remained in the family's hands until the time of the rebellion of 1798. The Battle of Ballynahinch in 1798 ended the United Irishmen movement which was formed in 1791 with the aim of Irish independence from Great Britain.

Prime Minister John Major visited Ballynahinch in December 1996.

[edit] The Troubles

For more information see The Troubles in Ballynahinch (Down), which includes a list of incidents in Ballynahinch during the Troubles.

[edit] Demographics

Ballynahinch is classified as a Small Town by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 4,500 and 10,000). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 5,364 people living in Ballynahinch. Of these:

22.4% were aged under 16 years and 17.0% were aged 60 and over
48.3% of the population were male and 51.7% were female
31.3% were from a Catholic background and 65.4% were from a Protestant background
3.7% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

[edit] Buildings of note

The town’s market house was built in 1795 and is currently used as a community centre
An old flax mill and corn mill stand on the outskirts of the town.

[edit] Traffic Congestion

The town is well known for its heavy congestion. A long-running campaign to provide a bypass for the town has so far been unsuccessful. Geological surveys were conducted over twenty years ago to determine the route of the bypass but money has never been allocated by the Department of the Environment. In the 1990s various traffic control measures were introduced including the present one way system, however all have failed to cope with the sheer volume of traffic which passes through the town daily. The establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 led to reports that a bypass may commence sooner than the 6 to 15 year projection of the DoE, supposing that a coalition of County Down MLAs could push the executive to approve the project faster than the British Northern Ireland Office ministers would. However the stop-start status of devolution has made such a move impossible and the NIO's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State has continued to be responsible for infrastructure decisions.