Ballywalter

Ballywalter (from Irish Baile, meaning 'homestead' and Walter) is a village or townland (of 437 acres) and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the east (Irish Sea) coast of the Ards Peninsula between Donaghadee and Ballyhalbert. Ballywalter was formerly known as Whitkirk as far back as the 12th century.[1] It had a population of 2,027 people in the 2011 census.[3]

Ballywalter
Location within County Down
Population2,027 (2011 census)
District
County
CountryNorthern Ireland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNEWTOWNARDS
Postcode districtBT22
Dialling code028
UK Parliament
NI Assembly

Places of interest

Ballywalter Park is a stately home on the outskirts of Ballywalter. It is open to the public, by appointment only, as the Mulholland family still lives on the estate. The house is the ancestral seat of The 6th Baron Dunleath. The park plays host to the Northern Ireland Game Fair, which has attracted nearly 40,000 people over a single weekend. Ballywalter Park is a Grade A listed stately home, deemed to be of exceptional architectural importance.

History

Irish Rebellion of 1798
Main article: Irish Rebellion of 1798

On the morning of 10 June 1798 (known thereafter as "Pike Sunday"), a force of United Irishmen, mainly from Bangor, Donaghadee, Greyabbey and Ballywalter, attempted to occupy the town of Newtownards. They were met with musket fire from the market house and among those killed was James Cain, an 18-year old man from Ballyferris outside Ballywalter. Cain was buried in Whitechurch graveyard.

The extent to which the people of Ballywalter were involved in the 1798 Rebellion is illustrated by an announcement in the Freeman's Journal on 11 August 1798, which stated:

"...the magnitude of the punishment of many districts of County Down may be conceived from this single fact-of the inhabitants of the little village of Ballywalter nine men were actually killed and thirteen returned wounded, victims of their folly. If a trifling village suffered so much what must have been the aggregate loss in those parts of the country which were in a state of rebellion."

A number of Presbyterian ministers in the Ards were deemed to have taken part in the rebellion and were tried, found guilty, and executed. Among the executed was a minister from near Ballywalter, Rev. Robert Goudy of Dunover. After the insurrection, bands of soldiers and yeomen scoured the country looking for United Irishmen. It is said locally that some Ballywalter men escaped capture by spending days at sea, hiding behind the Long Rock.

It is recorded that the Ballywalter lifeboat saved 154 lives between the late 1800's and its disbandment. By 1906, the coastguards had been withdrawn from the village and there was some difficulty in finding a crew to man the lifeboat, so it too was withdrawn.

Population

2011 census

In the 2011 census, Ballywalter had a population of 2,027 people (874 households).[3]

2001 census

Ballywalter is classified as a village (a population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On census day (29 April 2001) there were 1,416 people living in Ballywalter.[4] Of these:

  • 18.5 percent were aged under 16 years and 27.0 percent were aged 60 and over
  • 48.9 percent of the population were male and 51.1 percent were female
  • 1.0 percent were from a Catholic background and 95.7 percent were from a Protestant background
  • 4.6 percent of persons aged 16–74 were unemployed
  • 2.3 percent of inhabitants identified as neither male nor female

Loyal Orange Lodge

A Loyal Orange Lodge, working under the authority of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, sits in the Orange Hall, Main Street, Ballywalter. It takes the title of Ballywalter Heroes Loyal Orange Lodge, number 1884, and is itself part of the Upper Ards District LOL No 11, in the County Down Grand Orange Lodge. It was first formed in the village in the mid-19th century and has had continued membership to the present day.

Sport

Ballywalter Recreation F.C. has become well known, due to the talent in the younger teams, right through to the runner-up league and cup team, the Ballywalter rec u17s.

People
  • Thomas Jamison (1752/53-1811), born in Ballywalter, became a surgeon, government official, mercantile trader and land owner in Sydney, Australia.
  • Celebrity chef Paul Rankin is from Ballywalter.

Civil parish of Ballywalter

The civil parish of Ballywalter contains the village of the same name.[5]

Townlands

The civil parish contains the following townlands:[5]

  • Ballyatwood
  • Ballyferis
  • Ballylimp
  • Ballywalter
  • Dunover
  • Ganaway
  • Springvale
  • Whitechurch
gollark: THAT would destroy the sun, if you have high enough speed.
gollark: Oh, *or* launch a gas giant at relativistic speeds from the next solar system along somehow.
gollark: Maybe just put the black hole into the sun.
gollark: So how much do you think adding 0.002% more mass to the sun will do?
gollark: > The principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a G2 main-sequence star that contains 99.86% of the system's known mass and dominates it gravitationally.[18] The Sun's four largest orbiting bodies, the giant planets, account for 99% of the remaining mass, with Jupiter and Saturn together comprising more than 90%. The remaining objects of the Solar System (including the four terrestrial planets, the dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and comets) together comprise less than 0.002% of the Solar System's total mass.[h]

See also

References
  1. Ulster Scots Agency, page 20.
  2. Placenames Database of Ireland
  3. "Ballywalter". Census 2011 Results. NI Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  4. "Population Estimates for Ballywalter Ward". Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service (NINIS). Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  5. "Ballywalter". IreAtlas Townlands Database. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
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