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Tower House
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces. At the same time, they were also used as an aristocrat's residence, around which a castle town was often constructed. Europe After their initial appearance in Ireland, Scotland, the Frisian lands, Basque Country and England during the High Middle Ages, tower houses were also built in other parts of western Europe, especially in parts of France and Italy. In Italian medieval communes, urban ''palazzi'' with a very tall tower were increasingly built by the local highly competitive patrician families as power centres during times of internal strife. Most north Italian cities had a number of these by the end of the Middles Ages, but few now remain, notably two towers in Bologna, twenty towers in Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirkistown Circuit
Kirkistown Motor Racing Circuit is a permanent motorsport circuit located between the villages of Kirkistown and Portavogie, on the Ards Peninsula of County Down in Northern Ireland. History The circuit is owned and operated by the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland (500 MRCI), who opened the circuit in 1953 on the site of the former RAF Kirkistown Royal Air Force airfield. Kirkistown's main circuit runs clockwise, and was laid out using portions of the aerodrome's major east–west runway and northern perimeter roadways. The layout it relatively simple, with four main corners and a main straight. During the 1970s, a right-left chicane was constructed approximately one third of the way along the main straight, to reduce approach speeds to the Maguires Hairpin turn. Current use In its present configuration, Kirkistown's track length is and it is Northern Ireland's only MSA-licensed permanent race track. In addition to the 500 MRCI's own events and other automobile circuit r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British population). Overview and history Divisions between Irish Roman Catholics and Irish Protestants played a major role in the history of Ireland from the 16th century to the 20th century, especially during the Home Rule Crisis and the Troubles. While religion broadly marks the delineation of these divisions, the contentions were primarily political and they were also related to access to power. For example, while the majority of Irish Catholics had an identity which was independent from Britain's identity and were excluded from power because they were Catholic, a number of the instigators of rebellions against British rule were actually Protestant Irish nationalists, although most Irish Protestants opposed separatism. In the Irish Reb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protestantism
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to be growing Criticism of the Catholic Church, errors, abuses, and discrepancies within it. Protestantism emphasizes the Christian believer's justification by God in faith alone (') rather than by a combination of faith with good works as in Catholicism; the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by Grace in Christianity, divine grace or "unmerited favor" only ('); the Universal priesthood, priesthood of all faithful believers in the Church; and the ''sola scriptura'' ("scripture alone") that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. Most Protestants, with the exception of Anglo-Papalism, reject the Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Ireland Statistics And Research Agency
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA, ga, Gníomhaireacht Thuaisceart Éireann um Staitisticí agus Taighde, links=no) is an executive agency within the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland. The organisation is responsible for the collection and publication of statistics related to the economy, population and society of Northern Ireland. It is responsible for conducting the decennial census, with the last Census in Northern Ireland held on 21 March 2021, and incorporates the General Register Office (GRO) for Northern Ireland which is responsible for the registration of births, marriages, civil partnerships and deaths. See also * Central Statistics Office (Ireland) * Office for National Statistics * UK Statistics Authority * Census in the United Kingdom Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 (during the Second World War), Ireland in 1921/ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bawn
A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional spellings under ''badhbhdhún'' in ''Foclóir Uí Dhuinnín'': http://www.scriobh.ie/Page.aspx?id=26&l=1. The standard modern spelling is ''bábhún'': Ó Domhnaill, Niall (eag.), ''Foclóir Gaeilge Béarla'', Baile Átha Cliath: Oifig an tSoláthair (1977), p. 73. The Irish word for "cow" is ''bó'' and its plural is ''ba''. The Irish word for "stronghold, enclosure" is ''dún'', whose genitive case is ''dúin'". The original purpose of bawns was to protect cattle from attack. They included trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plantation Of Ulster
The Plantation of Ulster ( gle, Plandáil Uladh; Ulster-Scots: ''Plantin o Ulstèr'') was the organised colonisation ('' plantation'') of Ulstera province of Irelandby people from Great Britain during the reign of King James I. Most of the settlers (or ''planters'') came from southern Scotland and northern England; their culture differed from that of the native Irish. Small privately funded plantations by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while the official plantation began in 1609. Most of the colonised land had been confiscated from the native Gaelic chiefs, several of whom had fled Ireland for mainland Europe in 1607 following the Nine Years' War against English rule. The official plantation comprised an estimated half a million acres (2,000 km2) of arable land in counties Armagh, Cavan, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Donegal, and Londonderry. Land in counties Antrim, Down, and Monaghan was privately colonised with the king's support. Among those involved in planning an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirkistown Castle
Kirkistown Castle is a castle situated near Cloghy, County Down, Northern Ireland. The tower house and bawn is a state care historic monument in the townland of Kirkistown, in Ards and North Down Borough (at grid ref: J6450 5800). It is an impressive three-storey tower house, built in 1622 by Roland Savage, a Norman landlord, at the site of a ninth-century round tower. It was occupied until 1731, when it was deserted. It post-dates the Plantation, but is fully in the late medieval tower-house tradition. Parts of the bawn wall survive with three-quarter round flanker towers at the angles. The tower was remodelled in Gothic style in 1800 by a Col. Johnston, and in 1836 some further work was performed by a very young Master Montgomery of Grey Abbey. The building was left, however, with a partial roof and broken windows, and the elements soon returned it to disrepair. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency opened it to the public for the first time in 2001. See also *Castles in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Though villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighborhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a dispersed settlement. In the past, villages were a usual form of community for societies that practice subsistence agriculture, and also for some non-agricultural societies. In Great Britain, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ards And North Down Borough Council
Ards and North Down Borough Council is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ards Borough Council and North Down Borough Council. The first elections to the authority were on 22 May 2014 and it acted as a shadow authority, prior to the creation of the Ards and North Down district on 1 April 2015. The district was originally called "North Down and Ards" but the council was known as "Ards and North Down District Council". Councillors on the transitional shadow authority (prior to the council's official creation) voted on 15 December 2014 to submit an application to the Department of the Environment to change the name to ''East Coast Borough Council'' with effect from 1 April 2015. Negative public reaction to the proposed name prompted a rethink. The district name "Ards and North Down" was not finalised until 2016. The transfer of the borough charter from North Down Borough Council was delayed until after the district naming. May ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ards Peninsula
The Ards Peninsula () is a peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the north-east coast of Ireland. It separates Strangford Lough from the North Channel of the Irish Sea. Towns and villages on the peninsula include Donaghadee, Millisle, Portavogie and Portaferry. The large towns of Newtownards and Bangor are at the mainland edge of the peninsula. Burr Point is the easternmost point on the island of Ireland. History In the Middle Ages, the Ards peninsula was inhabited by the Uí Echach Arda, a Gaelic Irish clan, and was part of the kingdom of Ulaid. In the late 12th century it was invaded and conquered by the Anglo-Normans under John de Courcy, becoming a county of the Earldom of Ulster. The Earldom collapsed in the 14th century, but the Hiberno-Norman Savage family controlled the southern portion of the peninsula (the 'Upper Ards' or 'Little Ards') over the following three centuries, while the northern portion (the 'Lower Ards' or 'Great Ards') became part of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
