Whiteabbey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Whiteabbey is a small urban village area in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is on the north coast of Belfast Lough and is part of the Newtownabbey Borough Council area. The area is served by Whiteabbey railway station on the Belfast to Larne line.
[edit] History
Whiteabbey's name is derived from a Premonstratensian abbey which existed in the area in the medieval period, the monks of which are said to have worn white robes. All traces of the abbey are now gone although the site, in the grounds of Whiteabbey Hospital, remains undeveloped. In the first half of the 19th century the village was home to a large bleach works and was an important landing site for coal shipments bound for Belfast. Remnants of the old pier can still be seen in the sea. The importance of the village declined after the channel into Belfast harbour was widened and straightened allowing larger ships to reach the city directly. In 1952 one of Northern Ireland's most controversial murders took place in Whiteabbey when Patricia Curran, the 19 year old daughter of a prominent Judge, was found stabbed near her home in The Glen close to the village. Whiteabbey is also home to the impressive Bleach Green Viaduct which carries the railway line to Larne.
