Garrison (An Garastún in Irish) is a small village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, 5 miles south of Belleek, at the eastern end of Lough Melvin. The Roogagh River runs through the village. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 357 people. It is within the Fermanagh District Council area. A village is a human residential settlement commonly found in rural areas. ... Statistics Province: Ulster County Town: Enniskillen Area: 1,691 km² Population (est. ... Motto: (French for God and my right)2 Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (De facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (De facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Office suspended... Belleek is a village in the west of County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. ... Lough Melvin is a freshwater lake in the NorthWest of Ireland which straddles the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. ... Census 2001 is the name by which the national census conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 29 April 2001 is known. ... Fermanagh District Council is a Local Council in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. ...

Visitors to Garrison can enjoy a wide range of activities including golfing, fishing, hill-walking, water sports, horse-riding, cycling, camping and caving. The Lough Melvin Holiday Centre [1] caters for large groups and there is a plethera of local guesthouses and chalets to let. Two local pubs - The Melvin Bar and The Riverside Bar - provide music and craic and the local restuarant - The Bilberry - is well established and well renowned in the North-West region.

According to the UK Met Office [2], the highest temperature ever recorded in Northern Ireland is 30.8 °C at Knockaraven, Garrison in County Fermanagh on 30 June 1976.

Lough Melvin in Ireland is home to the Gillaroo or 'salmo stomachius' - a species of trout which eats primarily snails. Gillaroo is derived from the Gaeilge or Irish for 'red fellow' (giolla rua). This is due to the fish's distinctive colouring. It has a bright buttery golden colour on its flanks with bight crimson and vermillion spots. The gillaroo is characterised by deep red spots and a "gizzard", which is used to aid the digestion of hard food items such as water snails. Experiments carried out by Queens University, Belfast established that the Lough Melvin gillaroo species cannot be found anywhere else in the world. They feed almost exclusively on bottom living animals (snails, sedge fly larva and freshwater shrimp) with the exception of late summer when they come to the surface to feed and may be caught on the dry fly. Other lakes reputed to contain the gillaroo are Lough Neagh, Lough Conn, Lough Mask and Lough Corrib. However, the unique gene found in the Lough Melvin trout has not been found in some 200 trout populations in Ireland or Britain.

Legend has it that St Brigid was offered chicken to eat on a Friday as she walked through Garrison (a big no-no to Catholics) and she was so enraged she threw the entire bird into the river where it changed into a fish, hence the "gizzard". The gizzard is an adapted stomach that is found in birds, earthworms, and other animals. ...

The sonaghan trout (Salmo nigripinnis) is another species unique to Lough Melvin. It can have a light brown or silvery hue with large, distinctive black spots. There are sometimes small, inconspicuous red spots located along its posterior region. Its fins are dark brown or black with elongated pectorals. Sonaghan are found in areas of open, deep water, where they feed on mid-water planktonic organisms.

History

Garrison is named from a barracks erected by William III who halted here after the Battle of Aughrim. William III of England (14 November 1650 – 8 March 1702; also known as William II of Scotland and William III of Orange) was a Dutch aristocrat and a Protestant Prince of Orange from his birth, Stadtholder of the United Netherlands from 28 June 1672, King of England and King of... The Battle of Aughrim was the decisive battle of the Williamite war in Ireland. ...

Garrison was a thriving town before The Troubles when it was cut off from the Republic of Ireland after the roads were blown up by the British Security Forces in an attempt to stop the transportation of explosives into Northern Ireland. When cross-border business halted, the town suffered from lack of trade and it is only since the roads reopened in 1994 that Garrison has found its feet again. The Troubles is a generic and euphemistic term used to describe a period of sporadic communal violence involving paramilitary organisations, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the British Army and others in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s until the mid-1990s with the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998. ... The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majestys Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. ... Motto: (French for God and my right)2 Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (De facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (De facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Office suspended...

The Melvin Hotel, previously owned by the McGovern family, was blown up by the IRA as retaliation for allowing members of the security forces to stay on the premises. In reality, it was a dry run for the bomb makers and planters to detonate a bomb in an area that was not easily accessible to the local police who were in barracks in Belleek, five miles away. A Republican mural in Belfast depicting the hunger strikes of 1981. ... Belleek is a village in the west of County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. ...

Charlie Chaplin fished Lough Melvin extensively and stayed in Garrison while he was in the locality. For other persons named Chaplin, see Chaplin (disambiguation). ...

References

• NI Neighbourhood Information Service
• Culture Northern Ireland

See also

• List of villages in Northern Ireland
• List of towns in Northern Ireland