PORTRUSH

Irish Port Rois town, Coleraine district, Northern Ireland, at the northwestern end of the Antrim Coast Road, on the basaltic peninsula of Ramore Head. Offshore in the Atlantic Ocean are the Skerries, a rocky group of islets, forming a natural breakwater. The headland, or rocky projectory, Giant's Causeway, is 7 miles (11 km) east along the coast beyond the White Rocks, with their caves. Nearby is Dunluce Castle (14th century), situated on a rock separated from the mainland by a chasm, which is spanned by a footbridge. Portrush has been an important tourist centre, and there is commercial fishing offshore. It is the seaport for the city of Coleraine to the immediate south. Pop. (1981) 5,114.