Overview
Portadown’s People’s Park reopened after a £5.4 million overhaul, and for most visitors it’s the reason to stop – a play park big enough to fill a morning, with a pirate ship, zip line, pyramid climb, sandpit and slides, set among themed gardens and picnic tables with barbecue points. The town sits on the west bank of the River Bann, halfway between Belfast and Dublin. It’s a working town rather than a pretty one, so come for the park, the canal towpath and the cider farms on its edge, not the high street.
With only an afternoon, pair the park with a stretch of the Newry Canal Way. With a second afternoon, the orchards outside town are the surprise.
People’s Park
At 51 Park Road, People’s Park is the main draw. The play park runs from toddler equipment up to a zip line and climbing pyramid, and there are all-weather sports pitches, themed gardens and plenty of picnic tables with barbecue points if you pack a lunch. It’s flat and pram-friendly across most of the grounds.
One caveat on access: step-free routes via ramps reach the rear of the park, but the lower seating area is reached by steps, so it isn’t fully level throughout. Blue Badge parking is provided at the car park.
The Newry Canal Way
For a walk or a cycle, the Newry Canal Way is a flat, traffic-free towpath running all the way from Newry to the Bann Bridge in Portadown. The Portadown end passes Moneypenny’s Lock, with its restored lock-keeper’s house, and keeps to the water the whole way, which makes it an easy outing with children or on a bike.
A bit of history
The name, Port an Dúnáin, means the landing place of the little fort. The first bridge over the Bann went up in the 1630s, and the opening of the Newry Canal in the 1740s turned Portadown into a water-traffic hub; the Great Northern Railway made it a rail crossroads a century later, on the main Belfast–Dublin line. Linen mills swelled the town through the Victorian era.
Its darkest chapter is older. During the 1641 rebellion, around 100 British settlers were killed at the Bann bridge here, in what became known as the Portadown massacre.
Cider country
This is the Orchard County, and the orchards are close. Long Meadow Cider Farm, a working family farm just outside town, runs orchard tours and tastings year-round, and the Armagh Cider Company offers ‘blossom to bottle’ tours through the growing season. If you can, come in May when the apple blossom is out.
More to do
- Portadown Heritage Tours – guided town walks covering Orangeism and the town’s industrial history, led by WorldHost-trained guides.
- Edenvilla Park and Secret Garden – a well-kept park with a walled secret garden on Bachelors Walk, popular for dog walking.
- C&J’s Animal Park – hands-on animal encounters with reptiles, goats, lemurs and meerkats that keep younger children busy.
- Ardress House – a National Trust farmhouse and orchard a short drive out, with guided tours and a café.
Practical information
- Getting there: Portadown is off the M1 (junction 12) and on the NI Railways line between Belfast and Dublin.
- Parking: People’s Park has a 62-space car park; there’s also a free 38-space council car park at Riverbank, Meadow Lane, BT62 1JA.
- Accessibility: the Newry Canal towpath is flat and accessible; People’s Park is largely level but the lower seating area has steps (see above).
- Facilities: toilets and picnic tables in People’s Park; more along the canal towpath.
Time a visit for May, when the apple blossom is out and Long Meadow and the Armagh Cider Company open their orchards.