Annahilt / Anahilt () is a

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 ...

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in north

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 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It is 7.5 miles (12 kilometres) south of

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

, and about 14 miles south-west of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, on the main road between

Ballynahinch Ballynahinch may refer to: Northern Ireland * Ballynahinch, County Armagh, a townland *Ballynahinch, County Down, a town Republic of Ireland *Ballynahinch (barony), in County Galway *Ballynahinch, County Galway, a townland in County Galway * Bally ...

and Hillsborough. In the 2001 Census the village had a population of 1,148. Annahilt has a distinctive

drumlin A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...

setting, with a small wooded estate on a ridge to the west, and panoramic views on the approaches to the village. Annahilt has a primary school, hair dressers, Scout Hall, an

Orange Hall Orange Hall may refer to: ;in Ireland * Orange Institution The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protes ...

, a residential care home and a play park. There is also a business park to the north, on the Glebe Road. Annahilt also has a three-star caravan site, known as the 'Lakeside View Caravan Park', on the Magheraconluce Road.

History

Maps of the early 19th century show little development at Annahilt beyond a schoolhouse and a small number of dwellings near the main crossroads. The settlement grew much in the second half of the 20th century. The primary school was founded in 1801. A church was founded on the site of the current Annahilt

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

(Church of the Ascension) in the 8th century. Founded by Saint Molibba, it was known as Enaceilte. The church was rebuilt in 1422 and again in 1741, while the present church was built in 1856. The only remaining part of the medieval church is a ruined tower, which sits in the graveyard.

Transport

Translink Translink (or TransLink) may refer to: * TransLink (British Columbia), the public transport operator in Vancouver, Canada * Translink (Northern Ireland) Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), a ...

(

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, which also ...

) operate bus services linking the village with

, Dromara and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Demography

Annahilt is classified as a village by the

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 (Northern Ireland), Department of Finance in No ...

(NISRA) (i.e. with population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 1148 people living in Annahilt. Of these: *27.2% were aged under 16 years and 13.3% were aged 60 and over *48.3% of the population were male and 51.7% were female *5.1% were from a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

background and 91.3% were from a

Protestant 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 agai ...

background *2.6% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed

Civil parish of Annahilt

The civil parish is mainly in 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 ...

Iveagh Lower, Lower Half Iveagh Lower, Lower Half is the name of a barony in County Down, Northern Ireland. It was created by 1851 with the division of the barony of Iveagh Lower into two. It is bordered by six other baronies: Massereene Upper to the north; Castlere ...

, with one townland in the barony of

Kinelarty Kinelarty () is a former Irish district and barony in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies east of the centre of the county, and is bordered by five other baronies: Iveagh Upper, Lower Half to the west; Lecale Upper to the south and south-east; ...

Townlands

The civil parish contains the following townlands: * Aghnaleck * Ballycrune *

Ballykeel Lougherne Ballykeel (from Irish An Baile Caol, meaning "the narrow townland/farmstead") is a townland, containing a large housing estate off the Crebilly Road in South-East Ballymena, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. History The Ballykeel estate is div ...

* Ballylintagh * Ballymurphy * Cargacreevy * Cargygray * Carricknadarriff * Cluntagh *

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

* Magheraconluce

References

External links

Annahilt Primary School
{{authority control Villages in County Down