Bryansford is a small

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 ...

in County Down,

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 sits at the northern side of

Tollymore Forest Park Tollymore Forest Park was the first state forest park in Northern Ireland, established on 2 June 1955. It is located at Bryansford, near the town of Newcastle in the Mourne and Slieve Croob Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It covers an area ...

, roughly halfway between the towns of

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 ...

and Castlewellan. The village is within 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 orig ...

s of Ballyhafry and Aghacullion. It had a population of 392 people in the 2001 Census.

Places of interest

Kilcoo Parish Church was built in 1712 by the

Annesley Annesley is a village and civil parish in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Hucknall and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,162 (including Annesley Woodhouse to the west). Annesley Hall ...

family, whose family seat is in nearby Castlewellan. Percy Jocelyn, the

Bishop of Clogher The Bishop of Clogher is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clogher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Following the Reformation, there are now parallel apostolic successions: one of the Church of Ireland and the ot ...

from 1820 to 1822, is thought to have been buried in the

Roden Roden is a name of Germanic origin, originally meaning "red valley" or an anglicization of the Gaelic name "O'Rodain". It may refer to: Places * Roden, Bavaria, a town in the Main-Spessart district of Bavaria, Germany * Roden, Netherlands, a tow ...

family vault in the church.

, at the edge of the village, covers 630 hectares and was formerly owned by the

Earl of Roden Earl of Roden is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1771 for Robert Jocelyn, 2nd Viscount Jocelyn. This branch of the Jocelyn family descends from the 1st Viscount, prominent Irish lawyer and politician Robert Jocelyn, the s ...

. Tollymore appears in Season 1 of Game of Thrones as part of "The North".

People

*Sir

Norman Stronge Sir Charles Norman Lockhart Stronge, 8th Baronet, MC, PC, JP (23 July 1894 – 21 January 1981) was a senior Ulster Unionist Party politician in Northern Ireland. Before his involvement in politics, he fought in the First World War as a junio ...

was born in the village. *

Jack Kyle John Wilson Kyle, (10 February 1926 – 27 November 2014), commonly referred to as Jack Kyle or Jackie Kyle, was a rugby union player who played for Ireland, the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians during the 1940s and 1950s. Kyle is bes ...

lived his later life here.

Sport

The village has a successful

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

team,

Bryansford GAC Bryansford GAC ( ga, Áth Bhriain) is a Gaelic football and ladies' Gaelic football club in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland.https://www.facebook.com/bryansford.gac Founded in 1926, their most notable period was in 1970, when they won t ...

. The team have won the

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and t ...

twice, in 1969 and 1970. They play their home matches in St. Patricks Park in the nearby town of Newcastle.

2001 Census

Bryansford is classified as a rural settlement by th
NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 392 people living in Bryansford. Of these: *27.6% were under 16 years old and 14.8% were aged 60 and above *49.5% of the population were male and 50.5% were female *61.4% were from a Catholic Community Background and 34.3% were from a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' Community Background. *1.2% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.NI Neighbourhood Information Service
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References

{{authority control Villages in County Down