Six Mile Water
{{Short description|River in Northern Ireland}}
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File:Deerpark Bridge in the former Antrim Castle grounds, now a public park.jpg]]
The Six Mile Water is a river in southern County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is an indirect tributary of the River Bann, via Lough Neagh.
Name
The river was historically called the Ollarbha and is known in Irish as Abhainn na bhFiodh{{cite web|url=https://www.logainm.ie/en/118072?s=Six+Mile+Water|title=Placenames Database of Ireland|accessdate=10 December 2018}} ("river of the woods"), which was formerly anglicized 'Owenaview'.{{cite web |title=Six Mile Water, Co Antrim |url=https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/9b31e0501b744154b4584b1dce1f859b/page/Place-Name-Info/?data_id=dataSource_1-PlaceNames_Gazeteer_No_Global_IDs_3734%3A23955 |website=Northern Ireland Place-Name Project}}
Accounts vary as to the origin of the name. The river is almost {{convert|26|mi|km}} long rather than six.Ordnance Survey of Ireland: Rivers and their Catchment Basins 1958 (Table of Reference) It is said to be named from a crossing point six Irish miles from Antrim, on the road to Carrickfergus. Another story is that it was named by English soldiers, who calculated that it was a six-mile march from Carrickfergus Castle to the ford at Ballyclare.{{cite web | title=History of the area | work=Antrim and District Angling Association| url=http://www.sixmilewater.co.uk/History.html | accessdate=28 February 2009}}
Course and catchment
It rises in the hills west of Larne and north of Carrickfergus and descends gently westward, flowing through or close to the communities of Ballynure, Ballyclare, Doagh, Parkgate, Templepatrick, Dunadry and Antrim into Lough Neagh. A weir exists at Ballyclare where water was diverted to the paper mill. The Six Mile Water Park was constructed around the river in Ballyclare, in order that the river's frequent floods would not affect houses in the area. It has a catchment of 117 square miles.{{cite web|title=The Six Mile water |work=Antrim and District Angling Association |url=http://www.sixmilewater.co.uk/The%20Six%20Mile%20Water.html |access-date=28 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411072434/http://www.sixmilewater.co.uk/The%20Six%20Mile%20Water.html |archive-date=11 April 2008 }}
Culture
The river is the subject of the song "Six Mile Water", by the Metal band Therapy?. It appeared on their fifth full-length album Suicide Pact – You First released in 1999.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1116715 Geograph – Bridge over Six Mile Water, Antrim Photograph]
{{coord|54.71788|N|6.23122|W|type:river_region:GB|display=title}}
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