placenamesBangor
Beannchar
Beyond the coastal town, Bangor’s wider parish held farms, mills, schools and land whose rents supported local institutions.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Beannchar · Irish · main form · validated name
- Bangor · English · main form
Place & story
The cultivated hinterland
Bangor parish extended across parts of Ards and Lower Castlereagh, taking in the Copeland Islands as well as a mainland hinterland. Lewis’s 1837 account describes arable and pasture land, with corn and flax mills powered by streams and three windmills grinding corn. A parochial ploughing society had been established in 1816 under J. Rose Cleland’s patronage. Bangor moss was being reclaimed for cultivation, while other bog remained at Cotton and Balloo. [2]
Patrons and village classrooms
Education drew on several local patrons. Lady Dufferin supported a girls’ school at Ballyleidy, while the executors of Colonel Ward maintained girls’ and infants’ schools. At Crawfordsburn, a schoolhouse built by Lord Dufferin in 1832 received support from John McGowan’s bequest and other contributions. Lewis also named national schools at Crawfordsburn and Conlig. Alongside private and Sunday schools, these institutions served children across the parish rather than only in Bangor town. [2]
Rents for charitable purposes
Land beside Bangor was known as the Charity Lands. Lewis recorded annual rent of just over forty-two pounds, applied towards local institutions and other charitable purposes. The parish’s network of assistance included a subscription-funded mendicity society and a dispensary, alongside a friendly society and savings bank. His account distinguishes several ways of supporting local people: endowed rental income, voluntary contributions, medical provision and organisations concerned with mutual support and saving. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Ards Lower
- Barony
- Castlereagh Lower
- Coordinates
- 54.65337, -5.66395 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 65682 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Bangor. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Bangor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837 · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-10-08. How this page was prepared.