The Road to Bangor

26 ECHOES

A talking guide to Townlands along the A2 and the railway from Belfast to Bangor. For the definitive mapping of the townlands consult https://www.logainm.ie/ For more about a particular townland look up Karolyn Cooper's https://townlandsofulster.com/

Ballymacarret

Ballymacarrett with one or two two tee’s comes from the Irish Baile Mhic Gearóid meaning MacGearóid's settlement') is the name of both the townland and the electoral ward in Belfast. On the east side of the Lagan river the townland is in County Down and is part of the Titanic district of Belfast. The townalnd consists of two distinct districts: Ballymacarrett itself, which is almost entirely Protestant, and the Short Strand which is almost entirely Catholic, with the two separated by a peaceline.
Set in the shadows of the Harland and Wolff cranes Samson & Goliath, large numbers of local men worked in the shipyard during its heyday. The area is also well known for 'Ulster's Freedom Corner', a series of loyalist murals. The twonland of Ballymacarret Intake is mainly the reclaimed land north of the Sydenham bypass

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Strandtown

So where is the strand? There’s no beach here, just a muddy river called the Connswater. But in the past, before the marsh was drained and land reclaimed from Belfast Lough, there was a wide sea estuary. Victoria Park townland to the north is reclaimed land

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Ballymisert

Ballymisert lies north-east of Strandtown, across the Bangor road from the Sydenham intake, which consists of former mudflats which now contain Belfast City Airport. The townland name Ballymisert is now falling out of use, but neans perhaps the "Townland of the Plain" or more descriptively the "Townland of the Sand-dunes"

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Ballymaghan

aka Glenmachan. lies south of Knocknagoney, one of the five church lands supporting the church of Holywood. Maghan is an old version of Meekin, Meghan, Meekin,Meegan and Meehan

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Knocknagoney

The hill of the rabbits

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Holywood

Holywood Motte is an Anglo-Norman castle mound, which probably had a ditch round its base and a timber palisade round the summit. The spiral path and planted trees are the result of 19th - century landscaping. King John stayed at Holywood in 1210 and a castle is mentioned in 1234 but it is not known whether either reference applies to this motte. A fine 13th-century church (the ruins now known as Holywood Friary) in the town was contemporary with the castle

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Ballykeel

Ballykeel meaning ‘the narrow townland’ (An Baile Caol) is a recurring townland name. This one is long and narrow in shape, extending from the coast into the Craigantlet hills. It was a church townland attached to the church of Holywood

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Ballymenagh

Ballymenagh was church land, one of the five townlands once belonging to Holywood Abbey, It might mean Middle Townland but is far more likely to be Baile Manach ‘townland of the monks’.

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Cultra

Originally Ballycutra meaning "townland of the back of the strand". The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is located in Ballycultra

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Craigavad

It means either "rock of the boat" or "rock of the dog’. The latter refering to barking seals. The earliest reference to Craigavad is in 1306 as the ‘church of Cragger' The foundations of the church still remain in a rocky field, which lies between Craigavad House and the lough, and beside them stands a solitary tombstone’ - to James Magee who died in 1714

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Ballygrainey

"townland of the sun" or maybe Grainne's townland. It was recorded in 1645 as church land attached to the ancient church at Craigavad

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Ballyrobert

The name clearly means Robert's townland but the owner of the anglo-norman name hasn't been identifed. The townland belonged to the old church of Craigavad

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Ballydavey

David’s town, though í the Irish personal name Dáthí, was sometimes used to translate the Biblical name David. Dáthí is of native origin, probably deriving from Nath Í meaning ‘warrior of the yew tree’, the name of a legendary king

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Ballygrot

townland of our small eminences, yes you heard that correctly small eminences?

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Ballygilbert

Gilbert's townland as in the Anglo-Norman name Gilbert

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Ballymullan

townland of the low rounded hill? or Malone's townland?

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Ballykillare

townland of the central church or Townland of the Cellarer - cellarer being the quatermaster of a monastery

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Ballyleidy

Liddy’s townland, Liddy being an Irish surname

Image Aubrey Dale, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Carnalea

Thr Rocky Hill of the calf

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Ballyvarnet

Townland of (the) gap. The whole townland being a gap betweeen higher land to the east and the west

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Rathgill

Ráth Giall ‘fort of the hostages’ mentioned in the Annals 1,400 years ago

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Balloo

Baile Aodha or ‘Hugh’s townland’. hosts a fine variety of mature trees including good examples of oak, beech and Scot’s pine, some of which are several hundred years old. Other habitats found here include a small pond, a wildflower meadow and areas of scrub. In spring, carpets of anemones, bluebells, and strong-smelling wild garlic offer a feast for the senses, along with the sounds of many songbirds such as blackcap and chiff-chaff. On sunny summer days, look out for butterflies fluttering around the grassy areas from common blue and peacock to ringlet and scarce holly blue, which was formerly restricted to Co Down.

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Ballymagee

One might think that this is Magee's Townland as it is a very common surname in Ulster’ and is not uncommon in the Ards. But it could be Hayes, Hughes, McHugh, McGee, Wade, McQuaid, Quade. Whichever family it was named after the townland had been a possession of the monastery of Bangor, the family would appear to have been ecclesiastical tenants.

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Ballyholme

It has been suggested that the element holme might be the Old Norse word holmr ‘river meadow’, which was borrowed into English as ‘holm’. One of the few noteworthy Viking burial sites in Ireland has been found near the shore at Ballyholme, and other Vikings pieces have also been found in the area. Ballyholme; Townland of the river meadow.

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Ballymconnell

MCConnell Townland. Mac Connell is very common in Antrim, Down and Tyrone. It can usually be traced back to Irish Mac Dhónaill earlier Mac Dhomhnaill.

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Corporation

The name of the townland should be understood in the context of the seventeenth-century plantation settlement. The town was originallt called Inver Beg after the now culverted stream which ran past the abbey. InverBeg means 'Mouth of the Waters - small". Before that the area was known as Inber Bece, alluding to the finding of the skull of Bece, a pet dog, of one Bredcán or Brecán after his shipwreck. This drowning was linked back tothe whirlpool of Core Brecain, then understood to be located off Rathlin Island. The area was also known as The Vale of Angels, as Saint Patrick once rested there and is said to have had a vision filled with angels. The name Bangor is from the Irish word Beannchor meaning a horned or peaked curve or perhaps a staked enclosure, perhaps (or perhaps not) as the shape of Bangor Bay resembles the horns of a bull. It may also be linked to Beanna, Irish for cliffs. So that's six names for the area!

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