placenamesDromore
Droim Mór
Nineteenth-century school provision and the cathedral’s changing organ arrangements reveal parts of Dromore’s community history.
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
- Droim Mór · Irish · main form
- Dromore · English · main form
Place & story
Schooling across the parish
Samuel Lewis's 1837 description counted nearly 1,500 children in Dromore parish's public schools. Mrs Saurin chiefly supported one school, while Mr Douglass supported another. Eight private schools taught about 430 additional children, and twelve Sunday schools provided a further strand of education. These parish-wide figures describe a much broader network than a single school serving the town. [2]
An organ chamber and a moving choir
Dromore Cathedral gained an organ chamber in a new aisle in 1869, followed within months by an instrument purchased from Conacher. The diocesan history records a later change in musical arrangements in 1962, when the choir moved from its balcony above the north door into new choir stalls. The distant organ console subsequently became an obstacle to coordinating choir and instrument. [3]
Trevor Crowe’s rebuilding
In September 2007 the cathedral's select vestry commissioned County Kildare organ builder Trevor Crowe to rebuild the instrument. His team redesigned and extended it, moving the console nearer the choir and using English oak to match the stalls. Bishop Harold Miller dedicated the rebuilt organ on 20 September 2009. The Pipe Organ Preservation Trust contributed £25,000 towards the restoration. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Iveagh Lower, Lower Half
- Coordinates
- 54.40177, -6.11496 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 65720 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Dromore. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Dromore, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland1837, complete indexed entry · Samuel Lewis; GB Historical GIS, University of Portsmouth
- Dedication of Dromore Cathedral organ,22September2009 · Diocese of Down and Dromore
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-05-28. How this page was prepared.