Irish settlement In 540 AD,
St. Finian founded
Movilla Abbey, a
monastery, on a hill overlooking
Strangford Lough about a mile northeast of present-day Newtownards town centre. "Movilla" (
Magh Bhile) means "the plain of the sacred tree" in
Irish, which suggests that the land had previously been a sacred
pagan site. It became a significant Christian settlement – a centre for worship, study, mission and commercial trade, well known throughout Ireland. It was sacked by the
Vikings sometime after AD 824, though survived for a thousand years as a monastic settlement (becoming part of the
Augustinian Order in 1135), until the
dissolution of the monasteries in 1542. The
Normans conquered east Ulster in the 1170s, founding the
Earldom of Ulster. Around 1226, they established a new town around Movilla, which became known as the "New Town of Blathewic", after the Irish territory of
Uí Blathmhaic. A
Dominican priory was built in 1244 by
Walter de Burgh and was also dissolved in 1542. In 1572, both monasteries were burned by the
Clannaboy O'Neills under Sir
Brian McPhelim O'Neill to deny buildings to the English, who were attempting to
colonize the Ards.
The Scottish town In 1605 (prior to the official
Plantation of Ulster in 1610),
Hugh Montgomery was granted the lands and set about rebuilding what was by then known as
Newtown, later expanded to
Newtownards. Official records show the town was established in 1606. Montgomery built a residence in the ruins of the old priory, the tower of which remains. Scottish Protestant settlers, particularly from
Ayr, and to a lesser extent
Irvine, in
Ayrshire, arrived in large numbers and the town grew quickly. Due to the shallow mud of Strangford Lough, Newtown never developed as a port, with goods instead transported from the nearby town of
Donaghadee on the
Irish Sea coast of the Ards Peninsula. Instead, it became a market town, with the
Market House in Conway Square constructed in 1771.
United Irishmen rebellion North Down and the Ards were briefly held by
United Irish insurgents in the
Irish Rebellion of 1798. On the morning of 9 June, "Pike Sunday", United Irishmen, mainly from
Bangor,
Donaghadee,
Greyabbey and
Ballywalter, under the command of the Presbyterian licentiate (later American diplomat)
David Bailie Warden, marched on the town. They were driven off with
musket fire from the Market House, but the garrison, consisting of troops from the
York Fencible Regiment of Foot subsequently withdrew, allowing the rebels to establish a French revolutionary-style
Committee of Public Safety. The "Republic" in Newtownards did not survive the rout two days later of
the main rebel force at Ballynahinch.
The Great Famine During the
Great Famine, which resulted from the dependence of small tenants and cottiers on a blighted potato crop, the largest local landowner,
Lord Londonderry, rejected the call for rent reductions on grounds of "personal inconvenience". By 1847 the 800 inhabitants of the town were witness to "emaciated and half-famished souls" queuing at soup kitchens and overflowing the newly built
workhouse. Despite Lord Londonderry's objection, several public works programs for famine relief were initiated beginning with the upgrading of the road to Donaghadee. In general, with tenant holdings not as acutely subdivided as in western districts of Ireland, and with the availability of weaving and other employments, the town was saved from the worst.
Victorian growth The early 19th century saw the reclamation of the marshlands south of the town. At the same time, its growth was accelerated by integration into the Belfast and Lagan Valley industrial region and market. The
Belfast and County Down Railway connected Newtownards to
Belfast, via
Comber and
Dundonald, in 1850 (closed in 1950), and to Donaghadee in 1861. By the same year, the town's population had risen to 9,500. On 12 July 1867, despite the
Party Processions Acts, the
Orange Order paraded from Bangor to Newtownards. The parade, in which upwards of 30,000 took part, led to the short-term imprisonment of its principal organiser
William Johnston, and to his subsequent election as an
MP for Belfast. As the nineteenth century progressed the economy became increasingly tied to the growth of Belfast. From mid-20th century it increasingly became a
commuter town. Newtownards' population reached 13,100 in 1961 and had doubled to 28,000 by 2011.
The Troubles During
the Troubles, Newtownards was the scene of a
car bomb attack on 5 July 1993, when Roma's Bar in Regent Street was targeted. The pub was destroyed, but has since been rebuilt. The attack was carried out by the
Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) with a 700 kg (1,500 lb) device. There were no fatalities. Police said the 10-minute warning, telephoned to a local radio station, was "totally inadequate." The warning said the bomb contained 1,500 pounds of explosives.
Recent times On 1 November 2021, a bus in the town was hijacked and set on fire by two masked assailants allegedly protesting the
Northern Ireland Protocol. ==Places of interest==