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County Down Geography
This county is bounded on the east and south by St. George's Channel, on the weft by the county of Armagh, and a small part of Louth, from which it is separated by the river of Newry, on the north by Carrickfergus bay, the county of Antrim, and a part of Lough Neagh, which it scarcely touches. Its greatest length, from Point Cranfield in the south, to Gray Point, its most northerly extremity, is nearly v forty Irish miles; but from Lisburn bridge in the weft, - to Dundrum in the east, it is not more than sixteen. The fifty-fourth degree of north latitude passes close to Point Cranfield, and the sixth degree of west longitude a little to the -weft of Hillsborough. It contains by estimation 344,658 Irish, or 558,289 English acres.
The civil division of the county is into the following baronies:
- Ardesy containing about 30,000 acres, and the towns of Newtown, Bangor, Donaghadee, Portaferry.
- Castlereagh, about 62,560 acres, and the towns of Cumber, Saintfield, and Hollywood.
- Dusserin 9,280 acres, and the town of Killileagh.
- Upper Iveagh 66,049 acres, and the towns of Loughbrickland, Rathfryland, Castlewellan, Rosstrevor, Banbridge, Scarva, &c.
- Lower Iveagh 56,800 acres, contains the towns of Hillsborough, Dormered, Moira, Magheralin, Waring's- town, and Gilford.
- Kinalarty. 26,180 acres, contains- the towns of Ballynahinch, Clogh, and Seaford.
- Lecale 32,100 acres, contains Downpatrick, the county town, Strangford, Killough, Arglafs, and Dundrum.
- Mourne, 30,000 acres, and the town of Kilkeale.
- And the Lordship of Neivry 9,500 acres, with the noted town of that name.
The sum of these makes 322,469 acres, Irish measure, which taken from 344,658, the contents of the county county at large, leaves 22,489 for the different bays, lakes, &c.
SOURCE: Dubourdieu, John. Statistical Survey of the County of Down: With Observations on the Means of Improvement : Drawn Up for the Consideration, and by Order of the Dublin Society. Dublin: Printed by Graisberry and Campbell, 1802. Internet resource.
Genealogy and History Resources
Ulster Historical Foundation
12 College Square
East Belfast
Northern Ireland BT1 6DD
Tel: (01232) 33 22 88 Fax: (01232) 23 98 85Down County Museum
The Mall Downpatrick
County Down BT30 6AH
Down County MuseumBulletin Boards and Surname Resource Pages
Submit and View Queries and Surnames Submit a Query or Surnames for your lost County Down Northern Ireland ancestor. Please use the linking feature only for genealogical material otherwise your query may be deleted.
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County Antrim Mailing List. To subscribe send the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) as the only text in the body of a message to NIR-DOWN-L-request@rootsweb.com for the list mode or NIR-DOWN-D-request@rootsweb.com to just receive the digest.
You will find other mailing lists of interest to Irish researchers on the Northern Ireland Resource Pages.
On-Line Records
World War I TroopsThe WorldGenWeb Project Archives
Related County Down Resources
