Bannfoot

river
River Bann at Bannfoot
Bannfoot Orange Hall

Bannfoot is a small village in the townland of Derryinver, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It sits where the Upper Bann flows into Lough Neagh. Bannfoot is within the Craigavon Borough Council area.

History

The surrounding area was originally known as Bun na Banna, and this name has been adopted as the modern Irish for Bannfoot.[1] There was once a fort at the mouth of the Upper Bann known as Bun an Bhealaigh, meaning "end of foot of the road or pass".[2] This fort has been anglicised in past as "Fort Bunvalle".[1]

In 1760 reference is made of the "Bann Foot Ferry" (sic).[1] Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan, built the village near the Bannfoot ferry, naming it Charlestown, in about 1830.[3] It is claimed he intentionally erected it equidistant (seven miles) each from Portadown, Lurgan and Stewartstown.[4]

The ferry no longer operates and a bridge has never been constructed across the river, but there have been calls for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge as a means of boosting tourism.[5] Proposals for bridging the river at this point go back as far as the 1830s.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Placenames Database of Ireland (see scanned images)
  2. ↑ Ulster Place Names – Craigavon (Derrytrasna Ward)
  3. ↑ "Craigavon Borough Council, Derrytrasna Ward" (PDF). Ulster Place-Name Society. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  4. ↑ "The Montiaghs". Craigavon Historical Society. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  5. ↑ 13 January 2009. "Bridge call". Lurgan Mail. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  6. ↑ McCorry, Francis. "The Lough Gullion Drainage Attempt". Craigavon Historical Society. Retrieved 9 June 2011.

Coordinates: 54°30′N 6°31′W / 54.500°N 6.517°W / 54.500; -6.517

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