Editing Portrush (section)

==History==
[[File:HarbourPortrush2.jpg|thumb|left|Portrush Harbour c.1900]]
[[File:Portrush Chapel, Ireland (VII, p.31, March 1950) - Copy.jpg|thumb|left|Portrush Chapel, Ireland (1850)<ref name=Offering1850>{{cite journal|title=Portrush Chapel, Ireland|journal=Wesleyan Juvenile Offering|date=March 1850|volume=VII|page=31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1wEAAAAQAAJ|access-date=19 November 2015|publisher=Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society|location=London}}</ref>]]
A number of flint tools found during the late 19th century show that the site of Portrush was occupied during the "Larnian" (late [[Irish Mesolithic]]) period;<ref>
* {{cite journal |jstor=25506293 |page=244|last1=Woodman|first1=P. C.|title=The Chronological Position of the Latest Phases of the Larnian|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature|year=1974|volume=74}}
* {{cite journal |jstor=25513788 |pages=238–242| title=Notes on Irish Sandhills | last1=Hewson | first1=L. M. | journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland | year=1935 | volume=5 | issue=2 }}</ref> recent estimates date this to around 4000 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=25800527 |page=249|title=The Mesolithic of Western Europe|last1=Price|first1=T. Douglas|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|year=1987|volume=1|issue=3|doi=10.1007/BF00975322|s2cid=162271625}}</ref>

The site of Portrush, with its excellent natural defences, probably became a permanent settlement around the 12th or 13th century. A church is known to have existed on [[Ramore Head]] at this time, but no part of it now survives. From the records of the papal taxation of 1306, the Portrush church – and by extension the village – appears to have been reasonably wealthy. The promontory also held two castles, at varying periods. The first of these, Caisleán an Teenie, is believed to have been at the tip of Ramore Head, and probably destroyed in the late 16th century; the other, Portrush Castle, may have been built around the time of the [[Plantation of Ulster]] in the early 17th century. Nothing survives of either castle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/CentreforArchaeologicalFieldworkCAF/PDFFileStore/Filetoupload,274001,en.pdf |title=Cite information |publisher=Queen's University Belfast |access-date=2019-09-08}}</ref>

Following the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]] in the mid-17th century, Portrush became a small fishing town. It grew substantially in the 19th century as a tourist destination, following the opening of the [[Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine and Portrush Junction Railway]] in 1855, and by the turn of the 20th century had become one of the major resort towns of Ireland, with a number of large hotels and boarding houses including the prominent Northern Counties Hotel. As well as the town's beaches and the [[Royal Portrush Golf Club]] (opened 1888), the nearby [[Giant's Causeway]] was a popular tourist destination, with the [[Giant's Causeway Tramway]] – at the time, one of the world's longest electrified railways – built in 1893 to cater to travellers coming from Portrush.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Giant's Causeway Tramway – Discover Portrush|url=https://discoverportrush.com/buildings/transport-travel/giants-causeway-tramway/|access-date=2021-08-04|website=discoverportrush.com}}</ref>

The town's fortunes peaked in the late 19th and early 20th century, and declined after the [[Second World War]] with the growth of foreign travel. It escaped any involvement in [[the Troubles]] until 3 August 1976, when a series of bombings of properties burned out and destroyed several buildings, though with no loss of life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch76.htm|title=CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1976|first=Dr Martin|last=Melaugh|website=cain.ulst.ac.uk|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> In a second attack in April 1987, two officers of the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC) were shot in the back by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] while on foot patrol on Main Street.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch87.htm|title=CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1987|first=Dr Martin|last=Melaugh|website=cain.ulst.ac.uk|access-date=23 March 2018|archive-date=7 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207062946/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch87.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>