Portstewart

Portstewart (Irish: Port Stíobhaird) is a small seaside town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 7,854 people in the 2021 United Kingdom census. It is a seaside resort neighbouring Coleraine and Portrush in County Antrim. Its harbour and scenic coastal paths form an Atlantic promenade leading to a two-mile beach (Portstewart Strand), popular with holidaymakers in summer and surfers year-round.
Portstewart was a popular holiday destination for Victorian middle-class families. Its long, crescent-shaped seafront promenade is sheltered by rocky headlands. It is a reasonably prosperous town. Most of the town is contained in the Strand electoral ward and this is one of the most affluent areas in Northern Ireland. In a deprivation index of electoral wards in Northern Ireland the Strand Ward in the town was ranked 570th out of the 582 wards.
House prices in Portstewart have been amongst the highest in Northern Ireland. According to the University of Ulster Quarterly House Price Index report produced in partnership with Bank of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in Q4 2010, the North Coast region (Coleraine/Limavady area) had higher property prices than those of affluent south Belfast.
Portstewart is one of the most integrated towns in Northern Ireland with the religious demographics similar to the population of Northern Ireland as a whole. Community relations are generally good within the town. Dominican College, a Catholic grammar school, is one of the main schools in the area.
Portstewart was founded in 1792 by John Cromie, who named it after his maternal ancestors, the Stewarts of Ballylesse. A Lieutenant Stewart is said to have obtained a lease of land from The 5th Earl of Antrim (first creation; 1713–1775) in 1734. Prior to this, the area was formerly known in Irish as Port na Binne Uaine, a name related to the nearby island and townland of Benoney (an anglicisation of Binne Uaine). The name Port na Binne Uaine is still used today alongside the Gaelicised version Port Stíobhaird.
Portstewart developed to a modest size seaside resort in the mid 19th century under the influence of a local landlord, John Cromie. Its development and character was influenced greatly by the Sabbatarian sensitivities of the Cromies and the consequent resistance to a railway connection in the mid 19th century.
Portstewart is near the Portrush branch line from Coleraine to Portrush, opened by the Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine and Portrush Junction Railway in 1856, which was later absorbed into the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (later Northern Counties Committee) in 1861. There was an intermediate station called Portstewart although it was about a mile from the town. The town was connected to the station by the Portstewart Tramway from 1882 to 1926. After closure of the tramway, the station saw few passengers eventually closing in 1963. It re-opened as Cromore in 1969 when the branch was upgraded but closed again in 1988. The station building has been sold and is now a private house.
Today there is no longer a station in Portstewart, but the nearest ones are Coleraine, University, Dhu Varren and Portrush with Northern Ireland Railways providing connections west to Castlerock and Derry~Londonderry railway station and east to Belfast Lanyon Place railway station and Belfast Grand Central station. Ulsterbus provide connections to the trains at Coleraine railway station.
On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 8,003 people living in Portstewart (3,338 households), accounting for 0.44% of the NI total. The Census 2011 population represented an increase of 2.6% on the Census 2001 figure of 7,803. Of the Census 2011 population:
On Census day (2021) there were 7,854 people living in Portstewart. Of the Census 2021 population: