Rathfriland is a
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
in
County DownCounty Down is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland....
,
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. It is a hilltop
Plantation of UlsterThe Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster by people from Britain. Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while official plantation controlled by the monarchy began in 1609. All land owned by Irish chieftains the Ó Neills and Ó Donnells were confiscated...
settlement between the Mourne Mountains,
Slieve CroobSlieve Croob is the largest of a small group of peaks in the centre of County Down, north of the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. Slieve Croob is near Dromara, Ballynahinch and Castlewellan. Slieve Croob has been given the conservation designation Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
and
BanbridgeBanbridge is a rapidly growing town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road. It grew as a coaching stop and from Irish linen manufacturing. Its population was 14,744 people in the 2001 Census though is said to have raised in population by a fifth since then,...
. It had a population of 2,079 people in the
2001 CensusA nationwide census, commonly known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census....
. It is within the
Banbridge District CouncilBanbridge District Council is a district council in counties Down and Armagh in Northern Ireland. The headquarters of the council are in the town of Banbridge. The Council area is to the north-west of County Down and covers an area of of countryside - from Slieve Croob in the east to the River...
area.
The town was once owned by John Percy Meade, (1847-1919), (see his great-grandmother:
Theodosia Hawkins-MagillTheodosia Hawkins-Magill , later Countess of Clanwilliam, was a great heiress and landowner in County Down.She was daughter and heir of Robert Hawkins-Magill , of Gill Hall, Dromore, co. Down, by his second wife, Anne , daughter of John , first Earl of Darnley.She married John Meade Theodosia...
), who was the lineal descendant of
AldermanAn alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions. Historically the term could also refer to local municipal judges in small legal proceedings...
Hawkins of
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, who received the site and a considerable tract of the country from
Charles IICharles II was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time. Instead they passed a statute making such a...
for services provided during the Parliamentary Wars.
Although the history of the town began with Ald.
Rathfriland is a
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
in
County DownCounty Down is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland....
,
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. It is a hilltop
Plantation of UlsterThe Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster by people from Britain. Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while official plantation controlled by the monarchy began in 1609. All land owned by Irish chieftains the Ó Neills and Ó Donnells were confiscated...
settlement between the Mourne Mountains,
Slieve CroobSlieve Croob is the largest of a small group of peaks in the centre of County Down, north of the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. Slieve Croob is near Dromara, Ballynahinch and Castlewellan. Slieve Croob has been given the conservation designation Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
and
BanbridgeBanbridge is a rapidly growing town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road. It grew as a coaching stop and from Irish linen manufacturing. Its population was 14,744 people in the 2001 Census though is said to have raised in population by a fifth since then,...
. It had a population of 2,079 people in the
2001 CensusA nationwide census, commonly known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census....
. It is within the
Banbridge District CouncilBanbridge District Council is a district council in counties Down and Armagh in Northern Ireland. The headquarters of the council are in the town of Banbridge. The Council area is to the north-west of County Down and covers an area of of countryside - from Slieve Croob in the east to the River...
area.
History
The town was once owned by John Percy Meade, (1847-1919), (see his great-grandmother:
Theodosia Hawkins-MagillTheodosia Hawkins-Magill , later Countess of Clanwilliam, was a great heiress and landowner in County Down.She was daughter and heir of Robert Hawkins-Magill , of Gill Hall, Dromore, co. Down, by his second wife, Anne , daughter of John , first Earl of Darnley.She married John Meade Theodosia...
), who was the lineal descendant of
AldermanAn alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions. Historically the term could also refer to local municipal judges in small legal proceedings...
Hawkins of
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, who received the site and a considerable tract of the country from
Charles IICharles II was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time. Instead they passed a statute making such a...
for services provided during the Parliamentary Wars.
Although the history of the town began with Ald. Hawkins, the high hill upon which it stands was famous long before his time as the natural fortress upon which the
MagennisMagennis is an Irish surname, derived from or the Sons of Angus.-People:*James Joseph Magennis , Northern Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross*Josh Magennis , Northern Irish professional footballer...
es maintained their strongest castle. At the summit of the hill are the remains of the castle. There is a large water tower on the top of the hill which can be seen from many miles around.
Rathfriland was originally spelt with a
y instead of an
i.
The town square is located on top of the hill, and a market house (erected around 1764), which dominates the main square, was built for the linen market by Theodosia Hawkins-Magill. A clock-faced
war memorialA war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
stands in the square on the south eastern side.
To this day the Names Meade, Maginess and Hawkins live on in Rathfriland, most notably in Iveagh Primary School where the three surnames are the name of the houses on sports day.
People
Patrick BrontëReverend Patrick Brontë was an Irish Anglican curate and writer, who spent most of his adult life in England and was the father of the writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, and of Branwell Brontë, his only son.-Origins:He was the first of ten children born to Hugh Brunty and Alice McClory,...
, the father of the
BrontëThe Brontë sisters , Charlotte , Emily and Anne , were English writers of the 1840s and 1850s...
sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) was born in 1777 in a cottage close to
LoughbricklandLoughbrickland is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is situated on the main Belfast to Dublin road. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 681 people. It lies within the Banbridge District Council area....
, where he lived until a local vicar paid his way to Cambridge University in 1802. While studying at
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
, he changed his name to Brontë. He preached and taught at Drumballyroney Church and School House, between Rathfriland and Moneyslane. The Brontë Homeland Interpretative Centre is at Drumballyroney.
George W Bush, the 43rd President of
The United States of AmericaThe United States of America may refer to:* United States, the country* The United States of America...
. One of president's five times great-grandfathers, William Holliday, was born in Rathfriland, Co Down, about 1755, and died in Kentucky about 1811-12.
Catherine O'Hare, mother of the first European child born west of the Rockies was herself born in Rathfriland in 1835. She and her husband, Augustus Schubert, joined 200
Overlanders"Overlander" or "Overlanders" has a number of meanings. These include:*An Australian name for a Drover who covers very long distances, with large mobs of sheep or cattle to open up new land...
who went west across
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in search of gold, and blazed the trail for the
Canadian Pacific RailwayThe Canadian Pacific Railway , known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a Canadian Class I railway operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited. Its rail network stretches from Vancouver to Montreal, and also serves major cities in the United States such as Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City...
.
Andrew George Scott (alias "
Captain MoonlightAndrew George Scott , Aka Captain Moonlite, was an Australian bushranger.-Early peregrinations :Scott was born in Rathfriland, Northern Ireland, son of an Anglican clergyman, but of Scottish descent...
") was born in Rathfriland in 1842 in a house on Castle Hill. A notorious Australian
BushrangerBushrangers, or bush rangers, were outlaws in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities....
.
Margaret Byers née Morrow was born in Rathfriland in 1832. Margaret Byers was a teacher, a businesswoman, a pioneer of higher education for girls, a philanthropist and a suffragist. She said: 'My aim was to provide for girls an education...as thorough as that which is afforded to boys in the schools of the highest order.' In 1905 she was given an honorary degree by
Trinity College, DublinTrinity College Dublin , corporately designated as the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", and is the only constituent college of...
and in 1908 Queen's University, Belfast, appointed her to its Senate.
Francis BrookFrancis Brooks Francis Brooks Francis Brooks (born 14 January, 1924 is the Roman Catholic Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Dromore, Ireland. He was born in Rathfriland, County Down, Northern Ireland. He was ordained a priest on 19 June, 1949 for the Diocese of Dromore and was appointed bishop of...
was born in Rathfriland 1924. He is the Roman Catholic
BishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
EmeritusEmeritus is an adjective that is used in the title of a retired professor, bishop, or other professional. Emerita is often used as the female equivalent, although avoided by purists, since phrases such as professor emerita are ungrammatical in Latin...
of the
Diocese of DromoreDiocese of Dromore can refer to:*The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dromore*The Church of Ireland Diocese of Down and Dromore...
,
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
.
Places of Worship
- The 1st Rathfriland Presbyterian Church
- The 2nd Rathfriland Presbyterian Church
- The 3rd Rathfriland Presbyterian Church
- St. John's Church of Ireland
- St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church
- Rathfriland Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanters)
- Rathfriland Baptist Church
- Elim Pentecostal Church
The Elim Pentecostal Church is a UK-based Pentecostal Christian denomination.-History:George Jeffreys , a Welshman, founded the Elim Pentecostal Church in Monaghan, Ireland in 1915. Jeffreys was an evangelist with a Welsh Congregational church background. He was converted at age 15 during the...
Transport and Communications
Rathfriland was served by Ballyroney Railway Station, three miles away. Goods and passengers were transported from the station to the village. The former GNR (I) line between Banbridge and Newcastle closed in 1955.
Rathfriland's official
telephone dialling codeSubscriber trunk dialling is a term for a telephone system allowing subscribers to dial trunk calls without operator assistance.- Terminology :...
, like the rest of
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
is
028. Local subscriber numbers commence with 4063xxxx. Rathfriland was a sub-exchange of
BanbridgeBanbridge is a rapidly growing town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road. It grew as a coaching stop and from Irish linen manufacturing. Its population was 14,744 people in the 2001 Census though is said to have raised in population by a fifth since then,...
, and thus until the 2000
Big Number ChangeThe Big Number Change was an update of telephone dialling codes in the UK in response to the rapid late-1990s growth of telecommunications and impending exhaustion of numbers. The change greatly expanded the pool of available numbers while helping to retain 'local dialling'...
, shared its 018206 area code. Like elsewhere in the former 018206 area (now (028) 406) is still normal to hear local numbers quoted in the old 5-digit format (3xxxx)
Education
- Iveagh Primary School
Iveagh Primary School is a primary school located in Rathfriland, County Down, Northern Ireland. It caters for girls and boys aged from 3 to 11 and has 279 pupils. It is within the Southern Education and Library Board area....
- Rathfriland High School http://www.rathfrilandhigh.co.uk
- St Marys Primary School
- St Patricks Primary School
Sport
- Rathfriland Rangers F.C. - Formed in 1962.
- Rathfriland Bowling Club - Level Green Bowls.
- Rathfriland Junior F.C. - Formed in 2002.
2001 Census
Rathfriland is classified as a village by the
NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 2,079 people living in Rathfriland. Of these:
- 22.6% were aged under 16 years and 21.2% were aged 60 and over
- 48.2% of the population were male and 51.9% were female
- 33.5% were from a Roman Catholic background and 63.6% were from a Protestant background
- 3.2% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.
For more details see:
NI Neighbourhood Information Service
See also
External links