Newtownards

Encyclopedia : N : NE : NEW : Newtownards

-->

Newtownards (Irish: Baile Nua na hArda), originally known as Movilla (see below), is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. The town lies at the most northernly tip of Strangford Lough, 15 miles east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. Newtownards is the main town of the Ards Borough Council area. It had a population of 27,821 people in the 2001 Census.

Shopping in the town is concentrated around Conway Square in the town centre, and to the west at Ards Shopping Centre. It is a popular commuter town due to its proximity to Belfast. Local housing includes many pink Scrabo sandstone houses. The large Georgian town hall was formerly the market house. It was built in 1770 by the 1st Marquis of Londonderry. A Dominican Friary was founded in 1244 by Walter De Burgo, then Earl of Ulster.

Contents

1 History
2 The Troubles
3 Places of interest
4 Transport
5 People
6 Sport
7 2001 Census
8 Education
9 References
10 Town twinning
11 External links
12 See also

History

The first people to settle in the area were probably hunters and gatherers, most likely from what is now the Isle of Man or Northwest England. They most likely settled here because of its position near to Strangford Lough. Archaeologists have discovered traces of many Mesolithic settlements around Strangford Lough. Strangford Lough and the surrounding area would have beena particularly important piece of land between 7000BC and 3500 B.C.

Movilla Abbey

St. Finian founded the Monastery at Movilla in 545 A.D. He gave it the name 'Movilla', which is Magh Bile in Irish, meaning 'The plain of the sacred tree'. The name suggests that before the introduction of Christianity in Ireland, the land was a sacred pagan site. There was a relic found around this period, a grave slab that bears the inscription ORDODERTREND meaning 'a prayer for Dertrend'. This slab of stone is now built into the north wall of the church, even though we have no idea who 'Dertrend' was. The Monastery at Movilla was a flourishing institution before the Vikings arrived in 824 A.D. Bangor Abbey also lay in ruins after the Vikings fled. In about 910 A.D. the two destroyed monasteries joined together and became an 'Augustian Monastery' in the 12th century. Another relic found linked to Movilla was found at Gransha. Broken slats (trial pieces) were found with unique Celtic lettering on them. This imposes that a monk's school was present at Movilla.
But the Vikings were not the last to invade. Hugh O'Neill and his men from the country of Mid-Ulster raided the monastery again. After these raids, Movilla's urban setlement disappeared and the area around it became known as 'Ballylisnevin', 'the town land of the fort of the family of Nevin'.
The Normans, who arrived in Ireland from 1169, were also attracted to the site and founded a town here, called Nove Ville de Blathewyc, (which means New Town of Blathewyc, the name of an earlier Irish territory) around 1226. Shortly afterwards the Normans established a Dominican order priory in what is now Court Street. However, the town declined and by the 1400s the area was controlled by the O'Neill clan, and the town lay virtually abandoned.

Dominican Priory in Court Street

In 1605, Hugh Montgomery was granted the lands and he set about rebuilding Newtown, as it was then known. He built a residence in the ruins of the old priory, the tower of which can still be seen today. Scottish settlers arrived in large numbers during the Plantation of Ulster and the town grew quickly. Due to the shallow mud of Strangford Lough, Newtownards never developed as a port, with goods instead transported from the nearby town of Donaghadee on the Irish Sea coast of the Ards Peninsula. Rather Newtown became a market town, with the fine Market House in Conway Square constructed in 1770. The market still operates today on a weekly basis, and for special events.
Various industries, such as linen and muslin, were established in the late 1700s by which time the town had adopted its current name (which means New Town of the Ards).
Irish Rebellion of 1798 - On the morning of Pike Sunday, 10 June 1798 a force of United Irishmen, mainly from Bangor, Donaghadee, Greyabbey and Ballywalter attempted to occupy the town of Newtownards. They met with musket fire from the market house and were defeated.
The early 1800s saw the reclamation of the marshlands south of the town. Newtownards acquired rail links to Belfast via Comber and Dundonald in 1850, and to Donaghadee in 1861. By the same year the town's population had risen to 9500. As the economy became increasingly tied to Belfast, the town continued to prosper and in the 20th it increasingly became a commuter town. In 1950 the railway was closed, exactly a century after it opened. Newtownards' population reached 13,100 in 1961 and doubled to 27,800 by the end of the 20th century. The town has two main secondary schools; Regent House Grammar School, and Movilla High School, as well as numerous small primary schools (the Model, Victoria, Castlegardens, Londonderry, the Abbey, St. Finian's, Regent House Prep and Loughries primary schools) and a campus of the North Down and Ards Institute of Further and Higher Education.

The Troubles

During the troubles, Newtownards was the scene of a car bomb attack on July 5 1993, when Roma's Bar in Regent Street was targeted. The pub was completely destroyed, and since rebuilt. The attack, carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, was the largest car bomb ever used in Northern Ireland (1,500 lb). There were no fatalities.

Places of interest

Scrabo Tower, seen from above

The town of Newtownards is overlooked b455454y the 100 ft high Scrabo Tower which sits atop a 534 ft volcanic plug. Scrabo Tower (41 m) was erected as a memorial to Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, in recognition of his concern for the plight of his tenants during the great potato famine. The tower is part of Scrabo Country Park. It is open to the public and houses an historical and local environment exhibition. The basalt topped sandstone hill at Scrabo is one of the dominant features of North Down. The Tower now stands tall in the Country park with its woodland walks and parkland through Killynether Wood. The view from the hill and the summit of the tower are breathtaking, across Strangford Lough, scattered with its many islands, to the Mountains of Mourne and the Scottish coast. The Tower houses two floors of displays and a climb of 122 steps takes the visitor to the open viewing level. Scrabo Country Park is always open, admission to the park and the tower is free.

Newtownards Town Hall

The Somme Heritage Centre, which is situated a little north of the town, is The Somme Association's flagship project. Situated adjacent to the Clandeboye Estate outside Newtownards, the Centre is a unique visitor attraction of international significance showing the awful reality of the Great War and its effects on the community at home. The centre commemorates the involvement of the 36th (Ulster) and 16th (Irish) Divisions in the Battle of the Somme, the 10th (Irish) Division in Gallipoli, Salonika and Palestine and provides displays and information on the entire Irish contribution to the First World War. The centre promotes cross-community contact, mutual understanding, an appreciation of cultural diversity, and is a major visitor attraction. The Centre is built on ground provided by Ards Borough Council in what is to be the Whitespots Country Park. It is linked to Helen's Tower on the Clandeboye Estate via the Ulster Way. Historically, the 36th (Ulster) Division trained over the Estate during the first few months of the war and German Prisoners of War were interned there. A replica of Helen's Tower was built on the Somme battlefield as Northern Ireland's national war memorial.

Also to the north of the town is the Ark Open Farm, specialising in rare and endangered species of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry, many of which are no longer seen in Ireland today. Facilities at the farm include a petting zoo, pony rides and restaurant.

View of the town looking west

Newtownards sits at the most northernly tip of Strangford Lough. The wealth of wildlife in Strangford Lough, unrivalled in Europe, is complex, delicately balanced, dependent on tides, and the variety of habitats found between seabed and shoreline, and of course, how we as humans interact with this precious resource.
On the east shore of Strangford Lough, a few miles outside Newtownards and near Greyabbey, stands Mount Stewart, an 18th century house and garden — the home of the Londonderry family. The house and its contents reflect the history of the Londonderrys who played a leading role in British social and political life. The 98 acre garden at Mount Stewart is widely regarded as one of the greatest in the British Isles and earned it a World Heritage Site nomination. Largely created by Edith, Lady Londonderry, wife of the 7th Marquess, in the 1920s, it has an unrivalled collection of rare and unusual plants.

Transport

Newtownards is on the A20 main road between Belfast and the Ards Peninsula. It is the largest Northern Ireland town to have no railway service.

People

Newtownards is well-known for being the home town of the Second World War SAS veteran Robert Blair 'Paddy' Mayne.

Sport

The local football team, Ards F.C., plays in the Irish Football League. The club, founded in 1902, play their home matches at Clandeboye Park in Bangor, which they share with Bangor F.C., due to the sale of local ground Castlereagh Park.
There is also another football team named Ards Rangers FC who play several leagues lower than Ards FC. Their pitch is located beside the location of the former Castlereagh Park.
From 1928 to 1936, the Tourist Trophy (TT) motorcar Races took place on a road circuit encompassing Newtownards, Comber and Dundonald in County Down. At the time it was Northern Ireland’s premier sporting event, regularly attracting crowds in excess of a quarter of a million people. The first driver to complete 30 laps of the circuit was the winner. On September 5, 1936, in wet conditions, one driver lost control of his car and crashed into the crowd, killing eight spectators. This tragedy brought an end to nine years of racing over the Ards road circuit.

2001 Census

Newtownards is classified as a Large Town by the [NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)] (ie with population between 18,000 and 75,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 27,821 people living in Newtownards. Of these:

22.2% were aged under 16 years and 15.9% were aged 60 and over
48.3% of the population were male and 51.7% were female
8.4% were from a Catholic background and 85.9% were from a Protestant background
3.6% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: [NI Neighbourhood Information Service]

Education

Regent House Grammar School

References

Town twinning

Kemi, Finland