26 Facts About Lurgan

Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh.

Lurgan is about 18 miles south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line.

For some purposes, Lurgan is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area" along with neighbouring Craigavon and Portadown.

Lurgan is characteristic of many Plantation of Ulster settlements, with its straight, wide planned streets.

Lurgan Park is the largest urban park in Northern Ireland.

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Name Lurgan is an anglicisation of the Irish name An Lorgain.

About 1610, during the Plantation and at a time when the area was sparsely populated by Irish Gaels, the lands of Lurgan were granted to the English lord William Brownlow and his family.

Workhouse was built in Lurgan and opened in 1841 under the stipulations of the Poor Law which stated that each Poor Law Union would build a workhouse to give relief to the increasing numbers of destitute poor.

The Lurgan workhouse was situated in the grounds of what is Lurgan Hospital and a commemorative mural can be seen along the adjacent Tandragee Road.

The sort of dedicated bicycle and pedestrian paths that were built in Craigavon were incorporated into newer housing areas in Lurgan, additional land in and around the town was zoned for industrial development, neighbouring rural settlements such as Aghacommon and Aghagallon were developed as housing areas, and there was an increase in the town's population, although not on the scale that had been forecast.

Lurgan sits in a relatively flat part of Ireland by the south east shore of Lough Neagh.

Lurgan has a temperate climate in common with inland areas in Ireland.

Lurgan is part of the Upper Bann constituency for the purpose of elections to the UK Parliament at Westminster.

Lurgan was placed under the jurisdiction of Craigavon Borough Council, and remained so until a new act streamlined and merged the various districts in 2015.

The Lurgan area contains the following wards: Church, Donaghcloney, Knocknashane, Magheralin, Mourneview, Parklake, and Waringstown.

Census purposes, Lurgan is not treated as a separate entity by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Lurgan has historically been an industrial town in which the linen industry predominated as a source of employment during the Industrial Revolution, and is said to have employed as many as 18,000 handloom weavers at the end of the 19th century, a figure significantly higher than the town's resident population at the time.

One theory is that a "Lurgan spade" was an under-paid workman digging what is the Lurgan Park lake.

Lurgan is remembered all over the town, including in its coat of arms.

Today the park is home to annual summer events such as the Lurgan Agricultural Show, and the Lurgan Park Rally, noted as the largest annual motor sport event in Northern Ireland and a stage in the Circuit of Ireland rally.

Lurgan has two 18-hole golf courses, an artificial ski slope and an equestrian centre for show jumping.

Lurgan has a large GAA presence, with Gaelic football being played by clubs Clan na Gael CLG, Clann Eireann GAC, Eire Og CLG, Sarsfields GAC, St Mary's GAC, St Michael's GAC, St Paul's GFC, St Peter's GAC and Wolfe Tone GAC, Derrymacash.

Lurgan Golf Club is an 18-hole challenging parkland course bordering on Lurgan lake.

Lurgan Park is home to Lurgan Bowling Club who field teams in the NIBA, the NIWBA and the Veterans leagues.

Lurgan is situated by the M1 motorway connecting the town to Belfast.

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The Lurgan Mail, published by Johnston Publishing, reports news and sport from around the local area.