Occupying a key position at the head of Strangford Lough, Newtownards had a somewhat battlescarred early history. Viking raiders were responsible for the destruction of its first incarnation, Movilla in the ninth century and this was followed by various power struggles between landowning nobles through succeeding centuries. Finally, in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the English, the town was completely destroyed by the O'Neills in 1572. From the seventeenth century on however, the town was allowed peace to develop as an important market town and administrative centre in north Co. Down and in 1770 it was redesigned and largely rebuilt into the town of large squares and wide streets that it is today. Containing fifty-two photographs, this book details the full history of Newtownards, while also giving an insight into its life during the first half of the twentieth century - a time when the horse-drawn Co-op bread van still made the rounds and when the local Sunday schools could have a combi |
