Millisle or Mill Isle (from Scots ''mill'' + ''isle'', meaning "the meadow of the mill") is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

on the

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 (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel of the Irish Sea. Towns and villages on t ...

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 is about south of

Donaghadee Donaghadee ( , ) is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about east of Belfast and about six miles (10 km) south east of Bangor, County Down, Bangor. It is in the Civil paris ...

. It is situated in the

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 ...

s of Ballymacruise () and Ballycopeland (), the

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 ...

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 Ards Lower. It had a population of 2,318 people in the 2011 Census.

Etymology

The name Millisle is possibly derived which was referenced in the seventeenth century. Alternatively it may have been borrowed by the Scottish settlers to the area from the hamlet of Millisle in Wigtownshire.

Population

In the 2011 Census Millisle had a population of 2,318 people (991 households). Millisle is classified as a village by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e. with population between 1,000 and 2,250). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 1,800 people living in Millisle. Of these: *19.0% were aged under 16 years and 25.5% were aged 60 and over *47.7% of the population were male and 52.3% were female *2.9% 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 93.4% 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 ...

background *6.1% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.

History

Some of the Jewish children who arrived in the UK in 1939 under the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children from Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...

program were sent to Northern Ireland. Many of them were looked after by foster parents but others went to the Millisle Refugee Farm ("Magill's Farm", on the Woburn Road) which took refugees from May 1938 until its closure in 1948. In 1944, Millisle Airfield begun constructed but was halted after the ground being found unstable. The airfield was intended for the USAAF. Only 2 concrete runways remain today.

Places of interest

* Ballycopeland Windmill, a late 18th-century tower mill in use until 1915 and still in working order. The visitor centre at the miller's house includes an electrically operated model of the mill and a restored corn-drying kiln. *''Millisle Lagoon and Beach Park'' has 165 yd (150 m) of beachfront and received one of eight

Northern Ireland Tourist Board Tourism Northern Ireland, also known as Tourism NI, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for the Economy. Its primary objective is to promote Northern Ireland as a tourist destination to domestic tourists, from within Northern Ire ...

'Seaside Award' in 2010 for its natural beauty and cleanliness *The Northern Ireland Prison Service College is situated on a site on the outskirts of Millisle. *''The First and Last Pub'' which is situated in Millisle was apparently visited in 1690 by

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

on his way south to the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ) took place in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and James's daughter), had acceded to the Crowns of England and Sc ...

, despite actually being founded in 1790 a full hundred years after the battle. *''The Borstal'', a former family summer home turned young offender's home, is now ''Lisnevin Training School'', a prison officer training centre. This was closed and sold for 1.75 million in 2018 *''Lisnevin School'' was an Industrial School, sometimes called ''Millisle Borstal'' after it moved to its location in 1931. it closed as a detention center on 7 October 2003.

Sport

Abbey Villa 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

Amy Carmichael Amy Beatrice Carmichael (15 December 1867 – 18 January 1951) was an Irish Christian missionary in India who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur. She served in India for 55 years and wrote 35 books about her work as a mission ...

, a Christian missionary to India, was born in the village in 1867. The Carmichael townhouse, which was sited on the junction of Main Street and Abbey Road, was demolished in 2002. A commemorative plaque was erected by the town to mark the site. * William Kelly (1821–1906), prominent member of the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where it originated from Anglica ...

, writer and scholar, was born in Millisle.

References

External links

*
Culture Northern Ireland
{{authority control Villages in County Down Beaches of Northern Ireland Seaside resorts in Northern Ireland Civil parish of Donaghadee