Killyleagh (; ) is a village 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 authorit ...

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 is on the

A22 road A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

between

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 Kingdom ...

and

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the b ...

, on the western side of

Strangford Lough Strangford Lough (from Old Norse ''Strangr Fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet"PlaceNames N ...

. It had a population of 2,483 people in the 2001 Census. It is best known for its twelfth century

Killyleagh Castle Killyleagh Castle is a castle in the village of Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland. It dominates the small village and is believed to be amongst one of the oldest inhabited castles in the country, with parts dating back to 1180. It follows ...

. Killyleagh lies within the

Newry, Mourne and Down Ulster Scots: ''Newrie, Morne an Doon'' , settlement_type = District , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_type1 = Constituent country , subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_type3 = , subdivisi ...

district.

Demography

Killyleagh is classified as an intermediate settlement by th
NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
(i.e. with population between 2000 and 4000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 2,483 people living in Killyleagh. Of these: *22.5% were aged under 16 years and 20.3% were aged 60 and over *49.5% of the population were male and 50.5% were female *60.4% were from a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

background and 37.8% 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 *4.4% of people aged 16–75 were unemployed. For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service

Places of interest

is a private family residence that is said to be the oldest inhabited castle in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It has been the home of the Hamilton family since the 17th century Plantation of Ulster and acquired its fairy-tale silhouette in the 1850s when the turrets were added, but it is mostly the same castle that the second Earl of Clanbrassil rebuilt in 1666. The castle hosts occasional concerts. In the past performers have included

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gu ...

, Jackson Browne,

Glen Hansard Glen Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and actor. Since 1990, he has been the frontman of the Irish rock band The Frames, with whom he has released six studio albums, four of which have charted in the top te ...

and

Bap Kennedy Martin Christopher Kennedy (17 June 1962 – 1 November 2016), known as Bap Kennedy, was a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was noted for his collaborations with Steve Earle, Van Morrison, Shane MacGowan and Mark Knopfler, a ...

. *

Delamont Country Park Delamont Country Park is located on the shores of Strangford Lough in County Down, Northern Ireland. It covers an area of approximately 200 acres 2 km south of Killyleagh. It is currently maintained by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council h ...

is just outside Killyleagh on the road to Downpatrick.

People

*It was the birthplace of

Sir Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

, 1st Bt. He began collecting plants and

birds' eggs Bird eggs are laid by the females and range in quantity from one (as in condors) to up to seventeen (the grey partridge). Clutch size may vary latitudinally within a species. Some birds lay eggs even when the eggs have not been fertilized; it is ...

on the shores of

Strangford Lough Strangford Lough (from Old Norse ''Strangr Fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet"PlaceNames N ...

and his accumulation grew into a priceless collection that formed the nucleus of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. He was also personal physician to King George II. *Reverend

Edward Hincks Edward Hincks (19 August 1792 – 3 December 1866) was an Irish clergyman, best remembered as an Assyriologist and one of the decipherers of Mesopotamian cuneiform. He was one of the three men known as the "holy trinity of cuneiform", with ...

, a renowned

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

and

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religiou ...

, was appointed

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 secon ...

rector of Killyleagh in 1825, an office he was to hold for the remaining forty-one years of his life. *Killyleagh's adjacent townland, Moymore, was the birthplace of William Carr, who emigrated to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

USA, became an entrepreneur and left his fortune "to his Irish relatives." * Henry Cooke was the minister of 1st Presbyterian Church, who went on to become Moderator of the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presb ...

and a leading exponent of orthodox Presbyterianism in

in the mid 19th century. His statue in Belfast, standing outside the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...

, is known as "The Black Man". *Killyleagh is the home town of David Healy, the retired

football player. Healy is Northern Ireland's record goalscorer by a considerable distance, with 36 goals. The second highest total is 20 goals. He also holds the record for most goals scored in a European Championship Qualifying Phase, with 13 goals during the country's failed bid to reach

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

. Healy's former

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

teammate

Trevor Carson Trevor Carson (born 5 March 1988) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Dundee. Born in Killyleagh, Northern Ireland, Carson started his youth career with Killyleagh Boys before movin ...

is also from Killyleagh. * The present Duke of York, The Prince Andrew, also has the title

Baron Killyleagh Baron Killyleagh is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 23 July 1986 by Queen Elizabeth II as a substantive title for her son Prince Andrew, Duke of York, for the occasion of his marriage to Sarah Ferguson. The ...

. *

Robert Lowry Robert Lowry may refer to: * Robert Lowry (governor) (1829–1910), American politician, governor of Mississippi * Robert Lowry (hymn writer) (1826–1899), American professor of literature, Baptist minister and composer of gospel hymns * Robert L ...

(1824–1904), born in Killyleagh, emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and became a judge and

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. *

Thomas L. Young Thomas Lowry Young (December 14, 1832July 20, 1888) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Ohio. Young, a Republican, served as the 33rd governor of Ohio from March 2, 1877, to January 14, 1878. Early life Young was born in Killylea ...

(1832-1888), born in Killyleagh, served as Governor of Ohio from 1877 to 1878. *

Henry Blackwood Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, 1st Baronet, GCH, KCB (28 December 1770 – 17 December 1832), whose memorial is in Killyleagh Parish Church, was a British sailor. Early life Blackwood was the fourth son of Sir John Blackwood, 2nd Baronet, ...

(1781–1830), born and buried in Killyleagh, vice admiral in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Twin town

Killyleagh is twinned with

Cleveland, North Carolina Cleveland is a town in the Cleveland Township of Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 871 at the 2010 census. History The town dates from 1831 but was not incorporated until 1833. The first post office in Cleveland, ...

Civil parish of Killyleagh

The civil parish is mainly in the

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 ...

of Dufferin, with one

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 ...

in the barony of

Castlereagh Upper Castlereagh Upper (named after the former barony of Castlereagh) is a historic barony in County Down, Northern Ireland. It was created by 1841 with the division of Castlereagh into two. It is bordered by eight other baronies: Castlereagh Lower a ...

. It also contains the village of Killyleagh.

Townlands

The civil parish contains the following townlands: * Ardigoa * Ballyalgan * Ballygoskin * Ballymacarron * Ballymacromwell * Ballytrim * Ballywillin *

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

* Cluntagh *

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons c ...

* Corbally *

Corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

* Derryboy * Dodd's Island * Dunnyneill Islands * Gibb's Island * Island Taggart *

Killinchy in the Woods Killinchy () is a townland and small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is two miles inland from the western shores of Strangford Lough in the Ards and North Down Borough Council, Borough of Ards and North Down. It is situated in the to ...

* Kirkland and Toy * Lisinaw * Moymore * Mullagh * Pawle Island * Rathcunningham * Ringdufferin * Simmy Island * Toy and Kirkland * Tullykin * Tullymacnous * Tullyveery

Sport

* Killyleagh Youth 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: ...

References

External links

Killyleagh Primary School
{{authority control Villages in County Down Former boroughs in Northern Ireland