Dromara (from Irish Droim mBearach, meaning 'ridge of heifers') is a village, townland (of 242 acres) and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the southwest of Ballynahinch on the northern slopes of Slieve Croob, with the River Lagan flowing through it. It is situated in Dromara (civil parish) and the historic barony of Iveagh Lower, Lower Half. In the 2021 census it had a population of 1,118 people.
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👉 Dromara in the context of Slieve Croob
Slieve Croob (from Irish Sliabh Crúibe 'mountain of the hoof') is a mountain with a height of 534 metres (1,752 ft) in the middle of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the heart of a mountainous area, the Dromara Hills, north of the Mourne Mountains. It is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is the source of the River Lagan. There is a small road to the summit, where there is an ancient burial cairn and several transmitter stations with radio masts. It has wide views over all of County Down and further afield. The Dromara Hills also includes Slievenisky, Cratlieve, Slievegarran and Slievenaboley.
Slieve Croob may have been the mountain named Brí Erigi or Brí Airige in medieval writings. The cairn on its summit is believed to be the remains of an ancient burial mound, possibly of a passage tomb like the one on Slieve Gullion. In the 19th century it was recorded to be 77 yards (70 m) around and 18 yards (16 m) in "conical height", with forty-two "pillar stones" or kerbstones around the edge. The cairn would have had a well-defined shape when it was built. Still, over time it has slipped and been damaged by visitors. Irish folklore holds that it is bad luck to damage such cairns. Some of its stones have been piled into smaller cairns on top of it, which led to the summit being nicknamed 'The Twelve Cairns'. Traditionally, people would gather on the summit at Lughnasadh where they would add a stone to one of the cairns. They would collect and eat bilberries and there would be folk music, dancing and games.
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Dromara in the context of River Lagan
The River Lagan (from Irish Abhainn an Lagáin 'river of the low-lying district'; Ulster Scots: Lagan Wattèr) is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs 53.5 mi (86.1 km) from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The Lagan forms much of the border between County Antrim and County Down in the east of Ulster. It rises as a stream near to the summit of Slieve Croob. It runs to Belfast through Dromara, Donaghcloney and Dromore. On the lower slopes of the mountain, it combines with a branch from Legananny Mountain, just opposite Slieve Croob. The river then turns east to Magheralin into a broad plain between the plateaus of Antrim and Down.
The river drains approximately 609 square km of agricultural land and flows to the Stranmillis Weir, from which point on it is estuarine. The catchment consists mainly of enriched agricultural grassland in the upper parts, with the lower section draining urban Belfast and Lisburn. There is one significant tributary, the Ravernet River, and there are several minor tributaries, including the Carryduff River, the River Farset and the Blackstaff River. Work is proceeding to restore a self-sustaining population of Atlantic salmon to the river.
View the full Wikipedia page for River LaganDromara in the context of Lisburn City Council
Lisburn City Council was the local authority for an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. As of May 2015 it was merged with Castlereagh Borough Council as part of the reform of local government in Northern Ireland to become Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council.
Created in 1974, the council was the second largest in the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Council headquarters were in the city of Lisburn. It was the second-largest council area in Northern Ireland with over 120,000 people and an area of 174 square miles (450 km) of southwest Antrim and northwest Down. The council area included Glenavy and Dundrod in the north, Dromara and Hillsborough in the south, Moira and Aghalee in the west, and Drumbo in the east.
View the full Wikipedia page for Lisburn City Council