placenamesNewtownards
Baile Nua na hArda
Lewis recorded textile employment linked with Glasgow and a locally supported charitable institution.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Baile Nua na hArda · Irish · main form · validated name
- Newtownards · English · main form
Place & story
Embroidery for Glasgow merchants
In 1837 Samuel Lewis reported more than a thousand women employed in embroidering muslin sent to Newtownards by Glasgow merchants. He separately counted about six hundred looms weaving muslin and twenty producing coarse linen for domestic use. Embroidery and weaving were distinct activities in this account; the figures do not identify a single factory or measure every textile worker in the parish. [2]
Subscriptions and rent-free premises
The parish’s house of industry relied on general subscriptions. The Marquess of Londonderry contributed £25 annually and provided its house and premises without rent. These were separate forms of assistance: continuing cash support and the use of a building. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Ards Lower
- Barony
- Castlereagh Lower
- Coordinates
- 54.58380, -5.72597 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 65685 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Newtownards. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Newtown-Ardes: 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.