Clough ( ; ) is a village and townland 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. It sits about 3 miles from Dundrum on the A2 between Newcastle and Belfast. The A2 continues via Downpatrick and the coast via

Strangford Strangford (from Old Norse ''Strangr fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet") is a small village at the mouth of Strangford Lough, on the Lecale peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 475 at the 2001 Census. On the ...

and the Portaferry - Strangford Ferry to Portaferry to Belfast, whilst most road traffic heads along from Clough along the A24 via Carryduff to Belfast. It had a population of 255 people in the 2001 Census. Clough is situated within the Newry, Mourne and Down area.

Places of interest

* Clough Castle, an excellent example of an

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 *Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature *Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...

motte-and-bailey castle with stone tower.

Etymology

A map of 1634 marked the village as ''Machaeracate'' and the castle is "Stone castle of the plain of the cat". This comes from a local legend of the chase of magic cat.

References

NI Neighbourhood Information ServiceCulture Northern Ireland
Villages in County Down Townlands of County Down Civil parish of Loughinisland {{Down-geo-stub