Dromara ()Placenames NI
is a village,

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

(of 242 acres) and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It lies to the southwest of Ballynahinch on the northern slopes of Slieve Croob, with the

River Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...

flowing through it. It is situated in Dromara (civil parish) and the historic

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Iveagh Lower, Lower Half. In the 2011 census it had a population of 1,006 people. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright.

History

There have been references to a church at Dromara since about 1306. Earlier

anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

names for the church and townland include ''Drummeragh'', ''Drumaragh'' and ''Drumara''—these are likely derived from ''Druim mBearach'' (modern Irish ''Droim mBearach'') meaning "ridge of heifers". Saint John's Church now occupies the site of the original church. Dromara eventually became a small mill village and although many of its buildings date from the early 19th century, the street pattern suggests that the settlement has a much earlier history. It used to have its own court and market house and a market place at the road junction in the middle of the village.

Facilities

Facilities in the village include Dromara Primary School, two churches (St John's

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

and Dromara Second

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Church).

Places of interest

Legannany Dolmen The Legananny Dolmen is a megalithic dolmen or cromlech nine miles southeast of Banbridge and three miles north of Castlewellan, both in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the slopes of Slieve Croob near the village of Leitrim, County Down, ...

, a prehistoric three legged 'giants grave' is just outside the village. * Binder's Cove – a rediscovered souterrain near Finnis, Dromara. Finnis Souterrain (a scheduled ancient monument) is known locally as 'Binders Cove'. Although the first recorded discovery of Binder's Cove was in the 18th century, it actually dates back to the 9th century. Souterrains were "underground stone lined tunnels". Because there was much clann feuding and raiding from foreign invaders such as the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

in the Early

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

period, souterrains are thought to have been places of refuge for the occupants of the monastery or its attached enclosure. They may also have been 'safes' where valuable gold and silver religious artefacts were kept. As they were dark, cold and dry, food might also have been stored in them.

Sport

Dromara Village F.C. play

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

in the

Northern Amateur Football League The Northern Amateur Football League, also known as the Northern Amateur League and often simply as the Amateur League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 13 divisions. These comprise four intermediate sections: ...

People

Eileen Bell Eileen Bell Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 15 August 1943) is a retired Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, Alliance Party politician from Dromara, Northern Ireland. She was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Dow ...

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, 2nd Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, MLA for North Down and former

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

deputy leader, born in Dromara in 1943. *

Harry Ferguson Henry George Ferguson (4 November 188425 October 1960) was an Irish mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its Three-point hitch, three-point linkage system, for being the firs ...

, inventor of the modern gearbox and the 'Ferguson' Tractor, was born near Dromara. * Hugh Hanna, nicknamed 'Roaring Hanna', Presbyterian minister, born in Dromara in 1821.

Demography

On census day (27 March 2011) there were 1,006 people living in Dromara. Of these: *25.45% were aged under 16 years and 12.03 were aged 65 and over *48.01% of the population were male and 51.99% were female *21.77% were from a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

background and 68.99% were from a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and Other Christian background *4.45% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed

References

External links

Historical Walk Through DromoreCulture Northern Ireland
{{authority control Villages in County Down Townlands of County Down Civil parish of Dromara