Adavoyle railway station

Adavoyle was a station in the rural townland of Adavoyle, County Armagh, Northern Ireland.

History

The station was opened in 1892 by the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway railways, then absorbed into the Northern Railway of Ireland. Then it was taken over by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland). The station closed under this management in 1933.

On 24 June 1921, during the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) derailed a British military train near the station. Four British soldiers were killed and twenty wounded. The attack was carried out by volunteers of the IRA's Fourth Northern Division, led by Frank Aiken. The soldiers had been returning from the opening of Northern Ireland's new parliament, which took place in Belfast two days before.^[1]

Future Taoiseach Éamon de Valera was ‘deported’ through this station by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1924 when he was arrested at the Canal Street police station , and put on the train to Dublin at Adavoyle..

The building is in ruins. A dwelling house has recently been built in the grounds of the station. The Dublin-Belfast railway line, including the Enterprise services, still passes the former platforms.

References

1. ↑ http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/june_1921.htm

• R.V.J.Butt, (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd.  ISBN 1-85260-508-1

• Geograph

Coordinates: 54°06′25″N 6°23′13″W / 54.107°N 6.387°W / 54.107; -6.387

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