Carrickfergus

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Template:Infobox Irish Place Carrickfergus (Carraig Fhearghais, meaning 'Rock of Fergus', in Irish) is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 27,201 people in the 2001 Census. The town is the administrative centre for Carrickfergus Borough Council.

Carrickfergus stands on the north shore of Belfast Lough and is home to the 12th century Carrickfergus Castle, one of the best-preserved Norman castles in Ireland. The church of St Nicholas also dates from the late 12th century.

The town was formerly an important centre for the textile industry. It now is a centre for leisure sailing, and is home to Carrickfergus Marina. In recent years the town's population has undergone significant expansion and it is now in many respects a dormitory town, gradually merging with the urban expansion of Belfast.

There are many primary and secondary schools in Carrickfergus.

1 People
2 Miscellaneous
3 2001 Census
4 Town twinning
5 External links
6 See also

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People

Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States, was born in 1767 in the predominantly Ulster-Scots Waxshaws area of South Carolina two years after his parents left Boneybefore, near Carrickfergus. A heritage centre in the village pays tribute to the legacy of 'Old Hickory', the People's President.

A couple of miles to the north east of Carrickfergus are the ruins of Kilroot church, where Jonathan Swift was vicar in the 1690s.

Louis MacNeice's family moved to the town when the poet was two years old (his father was appointed vicar of St Nicholas), and he left at the age of ten to attend boarding school in England. One of MacNeice's most well-known poems, Carrickfergus (1937), relates his ambiguous feelings about the town where he spent his early boyhood.

Neighbours actress Jackie Woodburne was born in Carrickfergus in 1957.

Citybeat broadcasting star Andy Pugh hails from Carrickfergus. The popular DJ started locally on Castle FM radio and is now a regualar on the city broadcaster.

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Miscellaneous

Carrickfergus is also immortalised as the title of a popular Irish folk song about a dying man who wishes to return home to the town.

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2001 Census

Carrickfergus is classified by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) as a Large Town (ie population between 18,000 and 75,000 people) and within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area (BMUA). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 27,201 people living in Carrickfergus. Of these:

23.2% were aged under 16 years and 15.9% were aged 60 and over
48.6% of the population were male and 51.4% were female
7.8% were from a Catholic background and 86.1% were from a Protestant background
3.6% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

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