Greenisland

Greenisland is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies 7 miles north-east of Belfast and 3 miles south-west of Carrickfergus. The town is on the coast of Belfast Lough and is named after a tiny islet to the west, the Green Island.

It is a semi-rural community located at the foot of Carn Hill , upon which stands the Knockagh Monument, a war memorial for those from County Antrim who died in the first and second world wars.

The town has two distinct areas, known locally as Upper Greenisland and Lower Greenisland after the upper Station Road and lower Station Road around which two parts are respectively located. Upper Greenisland stretches from Upper Road (B90) to the railway station at the bottom of Upper Station Road, includes Greenisland Primary School and features predominantly middle-class demographics and housing. Lower Greenisland runs from the railway station, down Station Road and ends at Shore Road (part of the A2 road). It features a large, predominantly Protestant working-class housing estate built during the 1950s and 1960s and includes Greenisland Library, Greenisland Community Centre, a number of churches, a small shopping parade at Glassillan Court and Silverstream Primary School. The village in its entirety stretches from the foot of the hill to the shore of Belfast Lough.

History

Originally, the area now known as Greenisland was merely an unnamed area of the town of Carrickfergus with the Silverstream river, now the western boundary of Greenisland, marking the westernmost boundary of the large town. Today, roadsigns indicate that the river, which now flows through the grounds of Belfast High School, is the exact boundary between the Carrickfergus and Newtownabbey boroughs. From 1602 to 1606 the "freemen", leading citizens of Carrickfergus, obtained the right to redistribute this area of land from the Crown, renaming the area the West Division - a name which remains legal today. During this period, Bassett's directory of 1888 notes that the area was "devoted entirely to handsome residences occupied for the greater part by gentlemen engaged in commercial and professional pursuits in Belfast". provides direct rail links in both the Belfast and Larne directions, from around 5am until 11pm. The vast majority of train services from the Belfast and Larne directions stop at Greenisland, with the exception of occasional express Belfast to Carrickfergus services.

Bus

A majority of Ulsterbus Belfast and Carrickfergus/Whitehead bus services take a ten-minute detour into the Greenisland estate before continuing to their destination, providing the village with frequent transport links in each direction.

Road

There have been multiple attempts, since the 1970s, for the A2 Shore Road bottleneck to be removed and a dual carriageway to be built. Proposals began to re-emerge around 2005 for the introduction of a multimillion-pound dual carriageway along the A2. In preparation for this, public consultations were conducted and relevant properties purchased. Conor Murphy, the then Regional Development Minister, stated in June 2010 that subject to "finances being available, delivery is expected to start in 2011-12, and the project should be completed in 2013". This was then further delayed until finances could be found. In January 2013, a contract for the widening of the A2 shore road was awarded to Graham Construction. Work began in March 2013 and was opened to traffic on 28 September 2015.

Education

Greenisland Primary School is the primary education establishment in the village, located on the Upper Station Road.
Silverstream Primary School is the second primary school in the area, and is located in the estate area in the south of Greenisland.
Belfast High School is a grammar school located to the west of the village.
The Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster is less than a mile from Greenisland.

Sports clubs

Greenisland has a number of sports clubs and facilities including Greenisland Golf Club, Greenisland Bowling Green, Greenisland War Memorial Sports Club (GWMSC), Greenisland Ladies Hockey Club, Greenisland Boys Football Club, Knockagh View Equestrian Centre, Knockagh Wrestling Club (operated by Dave Finlay Sr.)

Politics

Greenisland was part of Carrickfergus Borough Council but is now part of the much larger Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and forms part of the Knockagh district electoral area. It is also in the East Antrim Westminster and Assembly constituencies.

Demography

On census day 2011 (27 March 2011), there were 5,486 people living in Greenisland, an increase of 8.6% on the Census 2001 figure of 5,050. Of these:

19.1% were aged under 16 years and 17.4% were aged 65 and over
48.8% of the population were male and 51.2% were female
11.1% were from a Catholic background and 77.6% were from a Protestant or other Christian background.
4.2% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.

Notable people

Maurice Field (born 1964), rugby union player
Robert James Johnstone (1872–1938), physician and politician
William Edward Wilson (1851–1908), astronomer
Jonny Evans (born 1988), footballer for Manchester United