Places, people and parkruns

An initial intention to take an alphabetically ordered trip around the names of our parkruns is first hampered by the first on the list, Bangor which turns out to be a difficult name, and perhaps left to those more committed readers who will make it to the end of the article (as long as you don’t mind loose ends). Either way, will give you due warning!

Luckily then, thanks to the absence of X,Y or Z place-names here, reversing the order of our parkrun places takes us right to Waterworks Parkrun, which was actually the first parkrun in Ireland, and a welcome starting point for our journey! The waterworks in north Belfast was the source of Belfast’s water supply in the mid 19th century. It became a public park in the 1950s and welcomed the first parkrun in Ireland in 2010, which has been acknowledged with inclusion in the revised route for the Belfast marathon (which you can read more about here). Next is Wallace parkrun in Wallace Park, just south of the original site of the fort of Lisburn, the ancient name of which was Lisnagarvey (Lios na gCearrbhach‘fort of the gamesters’). The park itself is named after benefactor Sir Richard Wallace, who donated 50 fountains to Paris and Lisburn to commemorate the ending of the Siege of Paris in 1871. Runners should watch out for the striking blue fountain which still stands in the middle of the park.

Next is Victoria parkrun in Victoria Park, named after Queen Victoria and situated in East Belfast which opened in 1906. Probably most well known as one of the flattest and fastest parkruns in Northern Ireland, visitors to Victoria park can enjoy a poetry trail, which features ten nature-themed poems written by local primary school pupils and etched onto metal plaques, also provides a pleasant route around the park. Belfast Harbour Commissioners investigated opening an park in the area in 1854, however the land was very marshy and needed draining near Belfast Lough and it didn’t open until 1906. The second V belongs to Valley parkrun in The Valley Park, Newtownabbey, in a valley at the foot of Cavehill, a direct translation of its earlier Irish name, Binn Uamha ‘peak cliff of the cave’, but also known locally by its earlier name Beann Mhadagáin ‘Madagán’s peak’, Madagán being a king of Ulster who died in 856AD. The Valley parkrun not only awards you a fantastic view of the hill, but it’s own famous/infamous hill that you have to tackle twice. It’s all worth it when you get to cross the finish line through Stonehenge (ish).

Next on our backwards alphabet is S and Stormont Parkrun. Stormont is the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and its name (from Storm Mount) is said to be a borrowing from another Stormont, district in Perthshire in Scotland (Originally the estate was called Mount Pleasant), and in the absence of a functioning government, it’s a nice place for those of us who like a quiet run! Except on Saturdays at 9:30 of course where runners have been storming past Parliament Buildings since 2015. Rostrevor almost certainly derives from Ros Treabhair  ‘Trevor’s wood’. Edward Trevor, a Welshman, first appears in Co. Down as commander of the English garrison at Newry towards the end of the Nine Years War. Rostrevor Parkrun takes place in Kilbroney Forest, which takes the same name of the townland and civil parish of Kilbroney. With kil- in place-names, it often is virtually impossible to state with certainty whether it refers to coill ‘wood’ or cill ‘church, and one might be forgiven for thinking Killbroney refers to the woodland through which the parkrunners navigate (read here for a blog on trees in place-names). Instead the name comes from Cill Bhrónaí ‘Brónach’s church’. The old name for Kilbroney parish was Glenn Sechis, appearing in both Irish and Latin documents of the late medieval period. Glenn Seichis might mean ‘glen of seclusion’, those of us who have taken a wrong turn on the Kilbroney might well agree with this interpretation! While the old name Glenn Sechis appears in records 17th century. Kilbroney first makes its appearance in 1366. The next parkrun on the list takes little explanation. Queen’s parkrun Queen’s University Sport at Upper Malone, South Belfast. The name Malone derives from Maigh Luain ‘Luan’s plain’ and a map of Belfast by James Williamson in 1792 actually shows this area as ‘The Plain’, and this map can currently be viewed as part of Purpose and Portrayal:Early Irish Maps and Mapping,currently on exhibition at the Ulster Museum (until November 2019).

P takes us to Palace Demense in Armagh, the location of the Armagh parkrun, and the creation of Archbishop Richard Robinson.  The Palace was the residence of the Archbishops of the Church of Ireland from 1770 to 1975. O is for Ormeau parkrun in Ormeau Park, another park on the route of (and the finishing point) of the Belfast marathon. Ormeau park is named after a house that one stood on the site of the park. Ormeau is of French origin and means ‘elms by the water’ (orme ‘elm’ + eau ‘water’). MUSA parkrun represents our only acronym, and stands for Mid-Ulster Sports Arena. Boring. Luckily, MUSA is in Cookstown which is a place-name we can say a little more about. Cookstown is named after the planter Allan Cook who founded a settlement here in 1609 on land leased from the Archbishop of Armagh and obtained a patent for fairs and markets in 1628. There are Lots of L-parkruns to be had, sticking to our reverse alphabet we have Loughshore Park in Antrim, home to Antrim parkrun. Antrim’s Loughshore Park is situated on the shore of Lough Neagh (Loch nEathach ‘Eochu’s lake’). According to one legend, Eochu, son of Mairidh was a Munster prince who was drowned when a well overflowed to form the lake in the first century AD. In fact, the Eochu who gave name to Lough Neagh appears to have been the mythical progenitor of an Irish sept of Uí Eachach ‘descendants of Eochu’ who inhabited the area at an early date. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, unsuccessful attempts were made to re-name the lake Lough Sidney and Lough Chichester after Lord Deputies Sir Henry Sidney and Sir Arthur Chichester respectively. It didn’t catch on. The original name of Antrim was Aontreibh ‘single house/habitation’, referring to an early monastery, the site of which is a little to the north of the modern town and is marked by a round tower locally known as The Steeple. The name was later reinterpreted as Aontroim ‘single ridge’ and this is now the accepted Irish form of the name. Antrim has also given name to the county in which it is situated so technically, many of the parkruns might be referred to as Antrim parkrun and if things had gone a bit differently we might have referred to this one as Lough Chichester parkrun!

Limavady parkrun is in the town of Limavady, a name which comes from Léim an Mhadaidh ‘leap of the dog’. This place-name is said to have its origin in a legend about a dog belonging to a chieftain of the O’Kanes which jumped a steep gorge of the river Roe carrying a message of danger to the O’Cahan castle which formerly stood on the east bank of the river, 2.5km south of the modern town. A clear violation of parkrun rules to have dogs on a short leash, although this one sounds like he might have been good for a PB. Larne parkrunprobably contains our oldest parkrun name, Latharna ‘descendants of Lathar’. According to legend, Lathar was one of the twenty-five children of Úgaine Mór, a pre-Christian king of Ireland. In the early historical period Latharna was a subkingdom of Ulster and it is only in fairly recent times that the name has been used for the parish and town of Larne. Lakeland Forum is the location of our final L- parkrun. Enniskillen parkrun at Fermanagh Lakeland Forum Leisure Complex is located on the banks of the River Erne at Broadmeadow, Enniskillen (Inis Ceithleann ‘Ceithleann’s island’). Ceithleann was reported to be the wife of the legendary Fomorian giant Balar who swam for refuge to the island on which Enniskillen stands after inflicting fatal wounds on the king of the Tuatha Dé Danann at the battle of Moytirra in Sligo. Now there’s an idea for a triathlon ‘kill-swim-run’, or similar? Skipping a few letters brings us back to Belfast and to Falls parkrun in Falls park on the Falls Road. The component ‘Falls’ comes from from the Irish petty kingdom of Tuath na bhFál ‘territory of the enclosures’. The original extent of the territory comprised the greater part of the Co. Antrim portion of the modern city of Belfast. Ecos parkrun takes place in Ecos Nature Park in Ballymena (An Baile Meánach ‘the middle townland or settlement’), possibly named from its central position in the civil parish of Skerry though the exact significance of the element ‘middle’ is often hard to decipher in names. Somewhere that is definitely not in the middle is East Strand Beach in the parkrun in Portrush, the location of the only beach parkrun in Northern Ireland. Portrush parkrun is in Portrush which comes from Port Rois ‘port of the promontory’ after a harbour and a conspicuous promontory here, the tip of which is known as Ramore Head, and the empire of ‘Ramore’ Eateries, within spitting (or boking) distance of the parkrun finish, that is, if they don’t mind sandy trainers. Derry City parkrun then, which actually isn’t in a park. Derry comes from Doire ‘oak-wood’ but previously had a longer name, Doire Chalgaigh ‘Calgach’s oak-wood’. Later, the place was known as Doire Cholm Cille‘Columcille’s oak-wood’ from a monastery founded by St Columcille in 546AD, the site of which appears to be marked by St. Columb’s Cathedral in Fountain Street. In 1613 Derry was renamed Londonderry by the planter London Companies on account of their association with the city of London, while the former county of Coleraine was also renamed Londonderry. Whichever side of the Derry/Londonderry debate you may stand, what you may not know is that the walled city was once an island. The area now known as the Bogside was originally underwater. The Foyle flowed round the island, and was first settled as the river diverted. It dried out into marshland: hence the name Bogside.

Colin Glen, a wooded glen near Dunmurry at the base of the Belfast Hills is home to Colin Glen parkrun, and also also home to the famous Gruffalo Trail. Colin Glen  is on the north east slopes of Collin Mountain (328m), in the townland of Ballycollin (Baile Chollann ‘townland of the height/high ground’). Another C brings us to Comber Parkrun in Comber, a name which comes from An Comar ‘the confluence’. A confluence occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join together to form a single channel, and in Comber it is probably the meeting of the Enler River and the Glen River. However, anyone who has run Comber parkrun will know what happens at the coming together of two bodies of people at this run (clue: they don’t form a single channel)! Craigavon parkrun takes a flat route around the articificial lakes in Citypark, Craigavon. Craigavon was designated a new town in 1965 and named from James Craig the first prime minister of Northern Ireland, whose title was Viscount Craigavon. Next is Castlewellan parkrun, in Castlewellan Forest Park. Castlewellan looks like it might come from Caisleán Uidhilín ‘Hugelin’s castle’, probably borrowed from the Anglo-Norman name Hugelin, an old variant of the name Hugh.

Carrick parkrun then is our penultimate parkrun place. Carrick is a contraction of Carrickfergus Carraig Fhearghasa ‘Fergus’ rock’, and this is also the warning point to stop reading if you don’t like unfinished stories! The rock referred to in Carrickfergus is that on which stands the famous late 12th-century Norman castle. One explanation offers the story of Fergus son of Erc, the sixth-century founder of the joint Irish/Scottish kingdom of Dál Riada who is reputed to have been drowned here, but jury is still out on the man of the rock. Returning as promised then to Bangor parkrun, and Bangor. While there is a consensus that the name contains the word beann which can mean ‘horn’, ‘point’ or ‘peak’ (remember Beann Mhadagáin ‘Madagán’s peak’ above?). its exact significance in this place-name is uncertain. Banagher in Co. Offaly, is said to be named Beannchar ‘peaks’ from the sharp rocks in the adjacent River Shannon.  It is also possible that Bangor, Co. Down, was named from sharp rocks around the shore.  However, most recent attempts to explain the name have taken it to refer to the monastery of Bangor founded by St. Comgall in AD 555 or 559 and our Bangor might have been influenced by the name Bangor which is commonly used as the name of ecclesiastical sites in Wales, maybe.