Belmullet
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| Belmullet Béal an Mhuirthead |
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| Location | ||
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WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
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| Irish grid reference F701326 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Connacht | |
| County: | County Mayo | |
| Elevation: | 1 m | |
| Population (2006) - Town: - Environs: |
2,009 7,909 |
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Belmullet, (official name: Béal an Mhuirthead), is a market town with a population of around 2,000 lying on The Mullet Peninsula in the barony of Erris, County Mayo, in the west of Ireland. Its name means the "mouth of the mullet".
Belmullet has two bays, Blacksod Bay and Broadhaven Bay, joined by Carter's canal running through the town.
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[edit] History
In 1822 a coastguard station was built at what is now Belmullet town. In 1825 William Henry Carter, a local landlord and architect, decided to establish his own settlement and a new pier was built by the Fishery Board and Carter in 1826. W.H. Carter's stated objective was to "create a home market for produce that did not previously exist nearer than thirty miles by land" and his aim was to thrust the older village of An Geata Mór (Binghamstown), a village founded by the powerful Bingham family on the Mullet peninsula into a secondary position.[citation needed]
Belmullet established a monthly cattle fair, and the town began to take trade from An Geatta Mór.[citation needed] The Bingham family fought back but their village was more or less deserted by the cattle traders by the late nineteenth century.[citation needed]
The area around Belmullet was impacted by the Great Irish Famine in the 19th century and in the next 100 years many people emigrated from the area to the United States and to England.
Into recent years, improvements in the Irish economy has reversed population decline and Belmullet has seem some immigration.
[edit] Culture and tourism
Although officially part of the Mayo Gaeltacht, it is both an English- and Irish speaking town. The area plays host in summer months to students enrolled in local Irish language summer schools.
John Millington Synge's play the The Playboy of the Western World was based on his experience of the Belmullet area.[citation needed] Synge also wrote a poem entitled "Danny" about a character who was murdered by a group of local men as he was on his way back into Belmullet from Bangor Erris.
The area is popular for fishing, with both fresh-water and sea-angling off Broadhaven Bay. Watersports are also common, with surfing, windsurfing and sailing.
[edit] Transport
| Belmullet Aerodrome Belmullet Airfield |
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| IATA: N/A – ICAO: EIBT | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Serves | Belmullet, co. Mayo, Ireland | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| ... | ... | 450m | .grass |
| ... | ... | 450m | grass |
| Statistics | |||
| North east | |||
| South-west | |||
| No I.L.S. No Lighting | |||
Belmullet [1] has two landing strip approaches in grass, both of which are 450 metres long.
