All Lewis entries for Ballyphilip

BALLYPHILIP

BALLYPHILIP, a parish, in the barony of ARDES, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER; containing, with the post-town of Portaferry, 3090 inhabitants. This parish is situated between Strangford Lough and the eastern coast, and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 2430 statute acres, of which 1839 are applotted under the tithe act. The land is fertile, and, with the exception of about 30 acres of bog, called Ballygaroegan Moss, which supplies the inhabitants with fuel, is in a good state of cultivation. Within its limits is Carney or Kerney Point, off which are two dangerous shoals, called Carney Pladdy and Butter Pladdy. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Down, with the vicarage of Ballytrustin and the rectories of Slanes and Ardglass united by charter in the 7th of Jas. I., which four parishes constitute the union of Ballyphilip and the corps of the

chancellorship of Down, in the patronage of the Bishop the tithes amount to £208. 16. 9; and the gross income, including tithe and glebe, is £490. 10. per annum. The church, situated in the town of Portaferry, is a neat modern edifice, erected in 1787, and has been lately repaired by a grant of £343 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The glebe-house was built in 1818, at an expense of £1090, of which £825 was a loan from the late Board of First Fruits, and £265 was added by the present incumbent, and is chargeable on his successors. The glebe comprises 15 Cunningham acres, valued at £45 per annum. It was recommended by the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Inquiry, in 1831, that the parish of Ardglass, being seven miles distant, and in which a perpetual curacy of small value has been erected, should be severed from the union, and an equivalent given to the chancellor. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the unions or districts of Lower and Upper Ardes, which latter is united to part of Ardkeen, Witter, Ballytrustin, Slanes, and Ardguin; there are two chapels, one near Portaferry, a spacious and handsome edifice, and the other at Witter, three miles distant. There are places of worship at Portaferry for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the second class, and for Wesleyan Methodists. A parochial school of 70 boys and 70 girls, at Portaferry, is aided by an annual donation of £30 late currency from Andrew Nugent, Esq., who built the school-house, and by a smaller from the rector; there are also seven pay schools in the parish, in which are about 60 boys and 60 girls. A bequest of £3 per annum to the poor, by one of the Bangor family, is charged on the Castle-Ward estate. An ancient church, which, according to tradition, belonged to a wealthy abbey, formerly occupied the site of the present glebe-house, near which human bones, tombs, and extensive foundations are frequently dug up. Bankmore, a large and perfect rath, and a smaller fort at Ballytrustin, are within the parish. The late Marquess of Londonderry received the rudiments of his education in the glebe-house, under Dr. Sturrock, then chancellor of Down, and incumbent of this parish-See PORTAFERRY.

PORTAFERRY

PORTAFERRY, a seaport, market, and post-town, partly in the parish of ARDQUIN, and partly in that of BALLYPHILIP, barony of ARDES, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 7 miles (N. E.) from Downpatrick, and 102 (N. N. E.) from Dublin ; containing 2203 inhabitants. It is situated on the eastern side of the inlet to the sea that forms the entrance to Lough Coyne or Strangford Lough, and opposite to the town of Strangford, on the western side of the same inlet, between which two places a constant intercourse is kept up by means of a ferry. The town owes its origin to a castle built by the first of the Savage family who came into this part of the country with John de Courcy, shortly after the arrival of the English, and the place being well secured and garrisoned by that powerful family, its situation on the strait made it a post of great importance in all the subsequent wars, during which neither. it nor the neighbouring district of the Southern Ardes ever fell into the hands of the Irish ; but the town, until lately, was only a small collection of cottages, built under the shelter of the castle, and chiefly inhabited by fishermen, It is now, owing to the exertions of the proprietor, Andrew Nugent, Esq., and the spirit of commercial enterprise in the principal townsmen, a place of considerable business, and increasing yearly in prosperity. It consists of a square and three principal streets, besides a range of good houses on the quay, which is built along the edge of the strait, chiefly at the expense of Mr. Nugent. The only public buildings are the market-house, a substantial old structure in the middle of the square, which in the disturbances of 1798 became a post of defence to the yeomanry of the town, who repulsed a body of the insurgents that attempted to take possession of it ; the church of the parish of Ballyphilip, a neat building erected in 1787 ; a large and commodious Presbyterian meeting - house, and another for Wesleyan Methodists : at a little distance from the town is the R. C. chapel (a large building) for the parishes of Ballyphilip, Ballytrustan, Slane, and Witter. The town is a constabulary police and a coast guard station. The market, on Saturday, is well supplied with provisions ; fairs are held on Jan. 1st, Feb. 13th, Tuesday after May 12th, and Nov. 13th, There is a distillery ; and a brisk trade is carried on, chiefly with Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin and Belfast, whither it sends wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and kelp, and receives in exchange timber, coal, and general merchandise. The situation of the town gives it the command of a fine prospect southward down the strait to the open sea, and in the contrary direction over the greater part of Lough Coyne, stretching ten miles in land and embellished with numerous thickly planted islands. Adjoining the town, on a rising ground, is Portaferry House, the residence of Andrew Nugent, Esq., a large and handsome building, finely situated in an extensive and highly ornamented demesne. The glebe-house of Ballyphilip, the residence of the Chancellor of Down, stands on the site of the ancient parish church, which is said to have been once an abbey. The first Marquess of Londonderry received his early education in this house. The ancient castle, which for more than half a century has been uninhabited, is rapidly falling to ruin: near it are the ruins of a chapel roofed with stone. A school is maintained here under the patronage of Mr. Nugent, who pays £20 annually to the master.