Donaghcloney, are served by unclassified rural routes.
In 2009 a grade-separated junction featuring an underpass was constructed at the junction of the B2
Banbridge
Banbridge ( ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. It is in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper ...
Road, A1 dual-carriageway and the Rowantree Road. It was one of four junctions that were grade separated along the route as part of £30 million of safety improvements. It followed the successful construction of a similar style junction at the B2
Hillsborough Road/A1 junction on the northern end of the town.
Rail
Dromore was situated on the
Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Junction Railway, part of the
Great Northern Railway, which ran from Knockmore Junction to
Banbridge
Banbridge ( ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. It is in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper ...
.
Immediately to the west of
Dromore Railway Station is the
Dromore Viaduct, which once carried trains across the
River Lagan
The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...
. At tall and 7 arches long, the eye-catching viaduct was the most noteworthy piece of engineering on the line.
Having opened on 13 July 1863, Dromore Station, along with the rest of the line via
Dromore to
Banbridge
Banbridge ( ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. It is in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper ...
and
Newcastle
Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
, was closed under the auspices of the
Ulster Transport Authority on 30 April 1956.
Communications
The dialling code for Dromore, like the rest of Northern Ireland, is 028. Local landline numbers typically appear in the format 028 9269 xxxx. The town's local telephone exchange falls under the
Lisburn telephone exchange code, which prior to the
Big Number Change
The Big Number Change addressed various issues with the telephone dialling plan in the United Kingdom, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the country was running short of new telephone numbers.
Overview
The first was an update to a s ...
in 2000, used area code 01846.
Townlands
Dromore sprang up within the
townland
A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
of the same name. The following is a list of townlands that are now within the town's urban area, alongside their likely
etymologies
Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...
:
* Balleny, historically Ballyeany ()
* Ballymacormick ()
* Ballymaganlis, historically Ballymagarly ()
* Ballyvicknacally ()
* Drumbroneth, historically Drumbrony, Drumfrony ()
* Lurganbane ()
People
Past and present notable residents include:
*
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish former politician, who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2021 to 2024 and leader of the DUP in the UK House of Commons from 2019 to 2024. He was t ...
, Northern Ireland politician,
MP for
Lagan Valley and former leader of the
DUP
*
Harry Ferguson
Henry George Ferguson (4 November 188425 October 1960) was an Irish mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its Three-point hitch, three-point linkage system, for being the firs ...
(1884–1960), inventor who made the
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...
practical
*
Sir Clarence Graham, Bt., former
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...
politician
*
Melissa Hamilton, ballet dancer
*
Tyrone Howe
Tyrone Gyle Howe (born 2 April 1971, Newtownards, Northern Ireland) is a former rugby player who played on the wing for University of St Andrews RFC, Ulster, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
Howe was brought up in Dromore, attended Banb ...
,
Irish rugby international and former local
UUP Councillor
*
David Humphreys,
Irish rugby international
*
John Leslie (1814–1897), first-class cricketer
*
Drew Nelson (1956–2016), former Grand Secretary of the
Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...
*
Sam Ferris, Olympic marathon runner
*
John Frazer (1827 – 1884), Irish-born Australian businessman and politician.
Education
* Primary Schools
**
Dromore Central Primary School: opened 1938
**
St. Colman's Primary School
* Secondary Schools
** Dromore High School: opened 1958.
formerly ''Dromore Secondary Intermediate School''
Sport
Despite the town's small population, Dromore has a multitude of sport teams and venues.
The most prominent sports in the town are
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
and
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
, with
cycling
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
,
hockey
''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
,
lawn bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
, and
athletics having some popularity also.
Cycling
Dromore has a number of cycling clubs in the local area including Dromore Cycling Club, West Down Wheelers, and Dromara Cycling Club. The town is also home to a number of former national and international event winning cyclists including Terry Mackin, double silver medalist at the National Track Championships and a bronze medal in the Kilometre Time Trial event in the UCI World Masters Track Championships, Gareth Rogers, two time All Ireland Hill Climb Champion.
Seamus Downey competed in the
individual road race event at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...
, his son
Sean Downey winning a bronze medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the team pursuit as part of the Northern Ireland team and riding for the An Post–Chain Reaction team between 2012 and 2015, and
Mark Downey competing at the
2015 UEC European Track Championships
The 2015 UEC European Track Championships was the sixth edition of the elite UEC European Track Championships in track cycling and took place at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland, between 14 and 18 October. The Event was organised by ...
in the points race and team pursuit. Mark won the gold medal at the
2016–17 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Round 2 in Apeldoorn in the points race. He also won the third round of the World Cup points race held in Cali, Colombia and picked up a Silver in the
Madison with his teammate Felix English. Mark concluding his 2017 World Cup campaign by winning the Madison in Los Angeles Round 4 and was overall series winner in the points race.
Football
The town has one
intermediate football team,
Dromore Amateurs F.C., who compete in a regional league and play home matches at Ferris Park.
Dromore also has its very own grassroots football set-up: Dromore Amateurs Youth Football Club, which coaches kids from all over the surrounding district. Having only recently formed in 2005/06, the club has continued to grow from strength to strength and now cater for an impressive 200+ kids from ages 5 to 17.
The club currently runs a number of youth football teams. For the 2011/2012 season they have teams from the Under 8s and Under 9s playing in the Mid Ulster Youth League Games Development League, teams at Under 10s, Under 11s and Under 12s playing in the George Best Youth League, teams at Under 13s, Under 14s, Under 15s and Under 17s playing in the Mid Ulster Youth League plus a team at Under 16s playing in the Carnbane Youth Football League. The club is also affiliated to the 'Northern Ireland Boys Football Association' and enters teams into the N.I.B.F.A. Cup each season.
Football is also very popular as a social sport, with many groups playing on a daily basis at both municipal sports facilities at Ferris Park and Dromore Community Centre.
Rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
is represented through Dromore Rugby Football Club, who have had some success in recent years. The club are based on Barban Hill in the town and have three rugby pitches and a clubhouse on that site. The club's 1st XV team presently compete in the
Ulster Branch of the
IRFU's Qualifying League.
Ladies' hockey
The town is represented on a provincial level in ladies
field hockey
Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
by Dromore Ladies Hockey Club, whose 1st XI competed in the Ulster Women's Hockey Union Senior One league for the 2010/11 season,
having won the Ulster Women's Hockey Union "Club of the Year" title in 2007/8. The club have six senior teams and junior teams at all age levels, playing home matches and training at Ferris Park.
Gaelic Games
The Gaelic games of
hurling
Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...
and
camogie
Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities.
A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...
are catered for at the
Ballela Club in the nearby village of
Ballela.
Facilities
The main sports facility in the town is Dromore Community Centre (also known as ''Holm Park''), which offers two grass soccer pitches, two tennis courts and a bowling green. In addition to this, the main building contains a gymnasium, an indoor multipurpose hall and two squash courts (the squash courts are now closed for re-purposing). The secondary facility is Ferris Park, named after local Olympian Sam Ferris, which provides a full-sized sand-based floodlit hockey pitch, two floodlit tennis courts, a grass soccer pitch and a changing pavilion. Both are maintained by
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council is a local authority that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Armagh City and District Council, Banbridge District Council and Craigavon Borough Council. The first elections to the ...
.
Churches
* St Colman's Catholic Church
* Banbridge Road (Ban Road) Presbyterian Church
* Dromore Elim Pentecostal Church
* Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church
* Dromore Methodist Church
* Dromore Free Presbyterian Church
* The Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer, Dromore (Church of Ireland (Anglican/Episcopal))
* Dromore Baptist Church
* Dromore Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church
* First Dromore Presbyterian Church
See also
*
Dromore, County Down (civil parish)
*
List of towns and villages in Northern Ireland
This is an alphabetical list of towns and villages in Northern Ireland. For a list sorted by population, see the list of settlements in Northern Ireland by population. The towns of Armagh, Lisburn and Newry are also classed as cities (see city ...
*
List of localities in Northern Ireland by population
This is a list of settlements in Northern Ireland by population, based on data published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), from the 2021 Census. Settlement classification
NISRA's classification of settlements is a ...
*
Market houses in Northern Ireland
References
Sources
*
*
External links
Dromore Mound
{{authority control
Civil parish of Dromore, County Down
Towns in County Down
Towns with cathedrals in the United Kingdom