The name of the
river which runs through
Belfast in
Northern Ireland. It rises to the South-West on
Slieve Croob in
County Down and makes its way to the sea at
Belfast.
The river was the main
communication route between many settlements in "The Lagan
Valley" until the building of the Lagan
Canal in the early 1800s, which runs parallel to the river along much of its course. The canal was used in
import and
export materials from
Northern Ireland's burgeoning
Linen industry and to bring coal to the
inland factories and joined with a number of other
canals to form a vital
network throughout
Ireland.
In the latter part of the
20th century, the
canals fell into
disuse and for many years the river Lagan was
polluted by
effluent from
industry,
sewage and
litter.
During the
1990s a programme of improvements in the treatments of effluents, coupled with the introduction of the Lagan
weir and
aeration systems have contributed to a reduction in pollution. As a result, there has been a great deal of new
development around the
banks of the river in the centre of the
City. These developments have the
umbrella title "Laganside" and include
trendy appartments,
offices and culminate in
The Waterfront Hall, a large and modern
concert hall
venue.
It is worth noting that the Lagan is the
largest and most significant
river which has shaped the
City of
Belfast's development, but the name Belfast comes from two Irish words
Beal-fierste meaning "at the mouth of the Farset"
(excuse bad Gaelic->English spelling!), the other river which now flows
underground through the city centre and joins the Lagan near the
sea.