Townland

Ballyhenry

Nearby Ballyhenry Island connects this Ardquin coast with Strangford Lough’s marine habitats.

Watercolour and fine ink landscape of the boulder-strewn tidal shore between Ballyhenry Island and the nearby mainland.
Illustration, tidal shore at Ballyhenry Island, near Ballyhenry, County Down
Recorded locationBallyhenry54.39308° N · 5.56875° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ie

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

  • Ballyhenry · English · main form

Place & story

An island beside the shore

The Strangford and Lecale partnership describes Ballyhenry Island as a small National Trust property on the lough’s eastern shore, north of Portaferry. Roughly two hundred metres across, it has a boulder shore and becomes cut off at high tide. The island is a nearby coastal feature; it should not be confused with Ballyhenry townland on the mainland. [2]

A dated marine record

The Marine Biodiversity Data Portal NI records a survey at Ballyhenry Island on 16 May 2020. Its list includes sponges, barnacles, molluscs and several seaweeds, among them Fucus serratus and Ascophyllum nodosum. This is evidence from a particular survey and location, rather than a complete inventory of the townland’s wildlife or a guarantee of what is present today. [3]

Geographic information

Place type
Townland
County
Down
Civil parish
Ardquin
Coordinates
54.39308, -5.56875
Mapped area
0.83 km²
Logainm ID
65901 ↗

People & family history

Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.

1901 census

17People recorded
3Households recorded

Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records

  • McCausland 6
  • Breen 3
  • Daley 2
  • Donaldson 2
  • Gibson 2
Explore the 1901 records ↗

1911 census

No verified place match is available for this year. This does not indicate a population of zero.

1926 census

This year is outside the available dataset’s coverage. This does not indicate a population of zero.

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Ballyhenry. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Ballyhenry Island: walking and diving · Strangford and Lecale AONB / Strangford Lough and Lecale Partnership
  3. Ballyhenry Island, Strangford Lough: survey 776, event 20200516/01 · Marine Biodiversity Data Portal NI
  4. Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
  5. Tidal shore at Ballyhenry Island, near Ballyhenry, County Down illustration: based on a Tombolo, Ballyhenry Island by N Chadwick. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-04-07. How this page was prepared.