Bellanaleck (Flanagan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 182. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a small village in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. It lies just south of

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 ...

on the main A509 ( N3) road towards

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Ba ...

and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 213. It is situated within

Fermanagh and Omagh Ulster Scots: ''Fermanay an Omey'' , settlement_type = District , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_type1 = Constituent country , subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_type3 = , subdivision_typ ...

district.

Transport

Bellanaleck is a stop on the Donegal-

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport ( Irish: ''Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath'') is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinstown, north of Dublin, and south of ...

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subs ...

''Expressway'' route 30. There is a coach in each direction every two hours during the day as well as an overnight journey. Services operate daily including Sundays.

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, which als ...

route 58 from

Belturbet Belturbet (; ) is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. It lies on the N3 road, around north of Cavan town and from Dublin. It is also located around south of the border with Northern Ireland, between the counties of Cavan and Fermanagh, and fr ...

via

Kinawley Kinawley or Kinawly () is a small village, townland (of 187 acres) and civil parish straddling County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland and County Cavan, Republic of Ireland. The village and townland are both in the civil parish of Kinawley (founded b ...

also serves Bellanaleck several times a day, Mondays to Saturdays.

Demography

According to the 2001 census, Bellanaleck had a population of 213 people, of these: *21% were from a Catholic background *74% were from a Protestant background *5% were stated as other On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 532 people living in Bellanaleck. * 58.46% belong to or were brought up in the Catholic religion and 33.83% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' religion; * 32.52% indicated that they had a British national identity, 40.60% had an Irish national identity and 28.95% had a Northern Irish national identity*. (* Respondents could indicate more than one national identity) * 11.53% had some knowledge of Irish; * 2.52% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots; and * 3.14% did not have English as their first language.

People

Cathal McConnell Cathal McConnell (born 1944) is a musician and singer best known as the mainstay of traditional band The Boys of the Lough, of which he was a founder member. His main instruments are the Irish flute and the tin whistle. Early life McConnell came ...

, traditional flute player and singer, is from Bellanaleck. He is also a founding member of the famed international group

The Boys of the Lough The Boys of the Lough is a Scottish-Irish Celtic music band active since the 1970s. Early years Their first album, called ''Boys of the Lough'' (1972) consisted of Aly Bain ( fiddle), Cathal McConnell ( flute), Dick Gaughan (vocals and guitar) a ...

. *

Father Brian D'Arcy Brian D'Arcy CP OBE (born 1 June 1945) is an Irish Passionist priest based in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. A writer, newspaper columnist, broadcaster and preacher. He is the author of several books of trite musings including ...

Passionist The Passionists, officially named Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (), abbreviated CP, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720 with a special emphasis on and de ...

priest and newspaper columnist, grew up in Bellanaleck. * Mickey MacConnell, musician and writer of the song ''Only Our Rivers Run Free''

References

Villages in County Fermanagh Fermanagh and Omagh district {{Fermanagh-geo-stub