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

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 of the Irish Sea. Towns and villages on the peninsula include Donaghadee, Millisle ...

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 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. It is in the civil parish of Donaghadee and t ...

. It is situated in the

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 ...

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

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 ...

Ards Lower Ards Lower (named after the former barony of Ards), alternatively known as North Ards, is a barony in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northern half of the Ards Peninsula in the north-east of the county, with the Irish Sea to its eas ...

. 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 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 93.4% 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 *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 (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

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.

Places of interest

Ballycopeland Windmill Ballycopeland Windmill is a functioning windmill located one mile west of Millisle, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is managed by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities and is open to the public. It is known in Irish ...

, 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 Irela ...

'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 16508 March 1702), also widely 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 ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and ...

, 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 Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

, 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 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 (16 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 miss ...

, 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 non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...

, 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