Glimpses of old Newtownards
Based on the books of the same name published by
Stewart McClean, Derek Harkness, Jonathan Coates
Pictured below are some of the streets where I lived and played for many years. Huge changes have been made to this small area of Newtownards but the memories of those days and the people who shared them with me are still fresh in my mind.The Blaxnit factory was a main employer and provided work for many thousands of people from all corners of the Ards Peninsula. I hope to be able to add the names and house numbers of those families that I can remember.
I must thank Derek Beattie for finding and allowing me to use this picture
Looking down at the picture over the rooftops of the houses on Thomas Street you can see the main offices of the Blaxnit factory.
On the left is Mark Street,on the right is Robert Street, at the top is Mary Street and leading of Robert Street is Brewery Lane which ran from Robert Street crossing over West Street onto Regent Street
These are the five main streets where I spent most of my youth And I hope to be able to name as many of the residents as possible, if you know of anymore please e-mail me at email@example.com
|Robert Street was first known as Front Shuttlefield and the road behind it was Back Shuttlefield Street. It was sometime after the 1911 census that the name change took place. The small street that joined them was called Short Street and during my growing years Davy and Jimmy Jamison had a garage there, I always just new it as just "round the row". There were some houses a scout hall the Blacks factory canteen, the back of Bibbys feed merchent and ending in the back gates of the Blaxnit factory. I will try and find names of the people who lived there, I know a few of them, Grahams, McKittericks an old lady called Mrs Kyle and Mrs Maureen Cric.|
There was also The Brewery Lane which ran between Robert Street and Regent Street, crossing West Street. The town council had a yard for the steet sweepers carts and there was the main entrance to The Swiss embrordiey works and a side entrance to Debrettas One name for a resident that I have is Stevenson. There was the main entrance for The Salvation army hall. There was also a small lane that led off Mary Street, locally known as "the lane". Two families that lived there were The Wests and the Moores
The Orange Hall
|McDade||Bailie||Carnduff||Russells||Jefferson's off liscence||Muir||Savage||The cattle and sheep auction yard|
|Adams||McAlpine||McAllister||McDaid||Strain Church||Woods||Hedley||Jeffersons public house|
|Fisher||Bailies||Harvey||Pinnins||Savage||Algie||Evans||The Queen's Hall|
|Malone||Campbell||Kennedy||Pools||McClenaghan||McCorriston||Heron||The Weigh station***|
|McCreadie||Mooney||Cauhgey||Doakes||Montgomery||Strain Church and church hall|
|McKimm||Buckly||Burke||Pipers||Cavan||Smyths chip shop|
|Heron||Glenford table tennis club||Cardys||McNeills||Gaw||Hardford Lodge|
|Rowleys||O'Reileys||*The Lane*||bus station|
|Palmer memorial hall||McMeekin||McLaughlin|
|Fergusons grocery store, later became Debrettas factory shop|
I am deeply indebted to Mr James McCorriston, originally a resident of Thomas Street and now residing in Canada for his help with names
I have also been able to add some more names to Mark Street thanks to Sandra Campbell and have recently added new names to Mary Street thanks to Ellan McVeigh
Two of Newtown's finest ladies have been and are still looking for more names for me, Christine Stafford and Karen Murphy (Heaney)
*** The original weigh bridge is still on the road but has been covered
The Ards Peninsula
|27 See article below on the murder at Flush Hall||28|
The photograph above of the old lead mines workings is from a book called Old Newtownards by John Hanna & Des Quail
|Above is a photograph of what is known locally as the Low Dam. The view is looking towards Glen House|
Three aerial photographic views of Newtownards. On the left, a shot looking down on the town square, the middle picture was taken before the making of the roundabout at the junction of East Street, the Bangor and Donaghadee roads. On the right, is the the large green field area before the building of the Scrabo estate in the early 1950's.
(See picture No 3 above)
Below are four different images of The Town Hall in past times, it still remains one of the most iconic and easily recognised buildings in our town.
(see brief history above)
This is a drawing of what the original Old Cross looked like before it was destroyed by the soldiers of Oliver Cromwells army in 1653.
Newtownards was also famous throughout the world for The Ards TT (tourist trophy) These races were held from 1928 until they ended in 1936 when a fatal accident happened killing spectators
These races could almost certainly regarded as the Formula 1 of it's day, pictured below are some of the cars that took part in this world famous event
This black marble memorial stands on the opposite corner of the statue to Lt. Col R. B. Mayne
The Blair Mayne Assocition are proud to have made the first donation of £500 towards this fitting tribute
Please remember to credit this web-site at all times and do not use any of this material for financial gain
Site updated 6th November
The Middle row
The Borough Creast
A map of the Ards penninsula and Strangford Lough
St Marks Curch of Ireland church
The Old Cross
The Old Priory
Note the many buildings standing behind the old cross
No war memorial in front of the old priory
it now stands on what was a bowling green.
There has been a public house on the corner of Court Square
for many years. It is now called The Point but for quite some
time it was known as
The Bowling Green.
Two views of Conway Square and High Street
The original war memorial which stood in Victoria Avenue
The bank which is now an insurance office
Looking down Little Francis Street towards the Town Hall
A brief description of the Town Hall.
St. Finians primary school Ann Street
Newtownards Railway station
The old St Patricks Roman Catholic Church, Ann Street
Newtownards train station
Airmail from Ards Airport
Artist's impression of how Scrabo Tower was meant to have been finished
but the building was never finished due to the lack of funds.
St Patricks Chapel, the gentleman standing at the chapel gates was Mr. Jack Slowey, caretaker, bell ringer, gardener and stalwart of St Patricks billiard club.
The Royal train heading towards Newtownards.
The workings at the lead mines
The Low dam, looking towards Glen House.
Robert Street looking towards Thomas Street
The Transit van was used by Ards FC and driven by
Looking down towards West Street
The Church Primary School in Regent Street
Now in the Glen Estate and known as Londonderry Primary School
The newly built Scrabo Estate Viewed from Scrabo Tower
|5||Mark Street looking towards James Street|
|6||Mary Street viewed from outside the Orange Hall
looking towards West Street
|7||Looking from West Street towards the junction of
William Street and Corry Street
Fredrick Street looking towards Mill Street
Mill Street looking towards the Model School
|10||The Gas works in Mill Street, sadly now just another car park|
|11||The Old Court House Regent Street sadly replaced by an ugly building|
Talbot Street fom the junction with the North Road.
The railway embankment on the right was connected by a bridge
to the long gone train station. The site is now occupied by a college
|13||An early aerial view of the town|
Before the building of the new Regent House Grammer school,
bottom left is Dairyhall playing fields and the driver examination
center which is now occupied by the Ambulance Service
Mill Street the building on the right is now where the public toilets are located
McConnells fish and chip shop and Mrs Haskins on left
John Street viewed from what was the driving test centre and is now the
The Ulster Print Works the caption under the picture tells the story
|18||The Glen Factory building on the Crawfordsburn Road|
|19||Greenwell Street Church|
Pound Street all of the old buildings have recently been replaced with new
housing much of the old property belonged to The Mayne family
The boarded up shop on the corner of Queen Street
was once owned by the Ferguson family.
|25||Corry Street, across from Glenford Park. Viewed towards the Shorts factory|
|33||The train station at Victoria Street|
|35||The Ards FC social club|
|36||The Newtownards war Memorial|
|37||The Masonic Hall Regent Street|
|38||As stated on the photograph|
|39||Looking towards Newtownards from the Portaferry road|
|40||A colour (tinted) photo of the town square|
|41||A painting of Scrabo Tower fron the duck pond|
|42||An early colour photograph of the Town Hall|
This page is under regular construction and contains many old photographs,
some of them will be of gone and forgotten places in the town.
I hope that you will enjoy the memories that they bring as much as I do.