Water Street: Portadown's forgotten past
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Ask anyone from a bygone era about “The Walk” in Portadown and many will speak of it with affection - remembering a bustling community of school children playing in the streets and a neighbourhood where help was always on hand.
The term “The Walk” refers to the streets radiating off the Garvaghy Road and for years, the term baffled many people - originally coming from the two streets leading from the town centre to an Elizabethan-type mansion ‘The Castle,’ which has long since been demolished.
Whilst this area of the town has enjoyed industrial prosperity - having previously housed two large linen firms and the hardware store formerly known as T. A. Shillington - Water Street, which was originally built by the factory owners for the workers, now stands derelict and in a dilapidated state of repair, almost frozen in time.
Water Street National School, later named Park Road Primary School, provided the education for most of the area’s children and sadly has been demolished to make way for housing.
Related: Plans to convert Portadown terrace property into five-bedroom house of multiple occupancy
Indeed, Water Street and the surrounding area does appear to have been a tight knit community as a stalwart of local journalism, Brian Courtney, who sadly passed in April, recalls in his article for Craigavon Historical Society:
“Water Street had a small confectionery shop belonging to a Mr Livingstone who carried on business in his cosy little premises converted from a parlour for that purpose. Many a night I would sip sarsaparilla with my chums as Mr Livingstone recalled the happenings of the day, or quoted from the Bible”
As Brian recounts, it wasn’t all rosy in the garden, “hundreds of factory workers sweated for small wages in mills built in Victorian times. The houses in which large families were raised lacked amenities like central heating, indoor toilet, baths and gardens.”
Just like the school and many of the independent shops, Castle Avenue is also demolished. Herein lies the question - what is to become of Water Street - a relic of the past? Should they be left to the elements to crumble into oblivion or is there a way to preserve it?
Related: Road plans close to Portadown People’s Park could lead to ‘a lot more fatalities’
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Past issues
Scarva really getting into the swing of things!
I know this is an older post but I've just found it and I think my family (Moffatt) lived in there on Water Street at the turn of the century.