Six Mile Water facts for kids

The Six Mile Water is a river in southern County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It flows into Lough Neagh, which then connects to the River Bann. This means the Six Mile Water is like a smaller stream that eventually joins a bigger river, the Bann, but it does so by first flowing into Lough Neagh.

The river starts in the hills west of Larne and north of Carrickfergus. It flows gently westward through or near towns like Ballynure, Ballyclare, Doagh, Parkgate, Templepatrick, Dunadry, and Antrim. Finally, it reaches Lough Neagh.

A special wall called a weir was built at Ballyclare. This weir helped direct water to a paper mill in the past. To help prevent flooding, the Six Mile Water Park was built around the river in Ballyclare. This park helps protect homes from the river when it overflows. The area that drains into the river, called its catchment, is about 117 square miles.

Why Is It Called Six Mile Water?

The Six Mile Water is actually about 26 miles (42 km) long, not just six miles! So, where did its name come from?

The most popular story goes back to the Norman soldiers. These soldiers were marching from Carrickfergus Castle. When they reached the river at Ballyclare, they figured they had walked about six miles (10 km).

At that time, the river was called the Ollar, which means "River of the Rushes." The Norman soldiers started calling it the Six Mile Water because it was six miles from Carrickfergus Castle.

Fishing in the Six Mile Water

The Six Mile Water is a very popular spot for trout fishing. You can find different types of fish here, including brown trout, salmon, and a special kind of trout called dollaghan.

For a while, salmon almost disappeared from the river in the early 1900s. Local anglers, who are people who fish with a rod and line, were worried. So, in the late 1950s, they formed the Antrim and District Angling Association.

They found that the main problems were pollution, damage to the river's natural homes for fish, and blockages like weirs. These weirs were built in the 1800s to power mills.

New rules were put in place to control how many fish could be caught and how they were fished. People also worked to protect the river from illegal fishing and pollution. Because of these efforts, the number of native brown trout and dollaghan grew a lot by the 1970s.

By 2004, over 200 salmon were caught by anglers in just one year! This meant that the number of salmon returning to the river in 2004 was probably the highest it had been in over 100 years.

Images for kids

• 

  A bridge crossing the Six Mile Water river in Antrim.