Portballintrae

Portballintrae (in Irish: "Port Bhaile an Trá", ie harbour of the settlement of the shore) is a small sea-side village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, four miles east of Portrush and two miles west of the Giant's Causeway. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 734 people, a decline of 10% compared to 1991. It lies within the Coleraine Borough Council area.

History

Originally a fishing village, nestled around the horse shoe-shaped Ballintrae Bay, it was a cluster of whitewashed cottages nestling around the bay. Many of its earlier buildings have been restored and maintained. The original village houses were built in a line along the seashore and many old cottages still stand on the shore. Portballintrae has experienced rapid physical growth since the 1970s. But there has been a steady change in its character, with almost all the recent dwellings completed acquired as second homes, and a considerable proportion of the older housing changing also to second homes. Considerably less than half of the dwellings in the village remain as permanent residences. House prices are high; a modest three bedroom bungalow would be expected to realise anything up to £300,000, those with sea views realise considerably more than this. It is thought that a lot of the housing and development issues were caused by the controversial developer Seymour Sweeney. He ruined his family village through greed.

Donald Trump

Portballintrae was considered as a location for a proposed £1 billion golf course complex by American tycoon Donald Trump. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7123636.stm Trump Gold Complex Welcome in NI] ]

Armada

Off the coast of Portballintrae a team of Belgian divers brought up the greatest find of Spanish Armada treasure ever recovered from a wrecked ship. The Girona’s recovered gold jewellery is on show in the Ulster Museum, Belfast.

Places of interest

*The ruins of Dunluce Castle sit on the edge of a cliff between Portballintrae and Portrush. The castle was the main stronghold of the MacDonnell chiefs of Antrim.

*Much of Portballintrae and its surrounding area is owned by the Macnaghten family of Dundarave House and "Runkerry House". Runkerry, once the home of Lord Macnaghten has since been converted into a series of apartments.

*The Giant's Causeway Tramway runs through the sand dunes above the largest beach in Portballintrae, commonly known as Runkerry Strand, and Bushfoot Golf Club. This railway, popular with tourists runs between The Giants Causeway and Bushmills.

2001 Census

Portballintrae is classified as a small village or hamlet by the [http://www.nisra.gov.uk/ NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)] (ie with population between 500 and 1,000 people).On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 734 people living in Portballintrae. Of these:
*12.0% were aged under 16 years and 33.4% were aged 60 and over
*48.9% of the population were male and 51.1% were female
*1.0% were from a Catholic background and 96.5% were from a Protestant background
*2.1% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed

References

* [http://www.colerainebc.gov.uk/show.php?id=141 Coleraine Borough Council]
*Draft Northern Area Plan 2016
* [http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/town_Home.aspx?co=16&to=340&ca=0&sca=0&navID=1 Culture Northern Ireland]

External links

* [http://www.northantrim.com/portballintrae.htm Portballintrae website]
* [http://www.portballintrae.net/ Portballintrae.net]
* [http://www.ninis.nisra.gov.uk/ NI Neighbourhood Information Service]

ee also

*List of villages in Northern Ireland
*List of towns in Northern Ireland