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
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...
in
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 lies on the east (
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
) coast of 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 of the Irish Sea. Towns and villages on the peninsula include Donaghadee, Millisle ...
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 im ...
, an impressive
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 strateg ...
built in 1622 by Roland Savage. It post-dates the
Plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
but is fully in the late medieval tower-house tradition. Parts of the
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 spe ...
wall survive with three-quarter round flanker towers at the angles. The tower was remodelled in gothic style in 1800. The Environment and Heritage Service opened it to the public for the first time in 2001.
*The nearby South and North Rocks have always been deemed two of the most deadly hazards off the coast of the Ards Peninsula. In the 25 years between 1875 and 1900, 75 boats and 29 men were lost.
Population
2001 Census
Cloghy is classified as a small 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 500 and 1,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 752 people living in Cloghy. Of these:
*20.7% were aged under 16 years and 23.7% were aged 60 and over
*50.4% of the population were male and 49.6% were female
*74.6% 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 and 20.5% 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
*2.6% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed
Sport
The
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 ...
motor racing venue is just over a mile from the village.