Newtownards

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City view from Scrabo Tower

Newtownards ( Irish Baile Nua na hArda ) is a Northern Irish town in historic County Down on the Ards Peninsula . From 1973 until its dissolution in 2015, the place was the administrative seat of District Ards , now part of District Ards and North Down .

history

In 540 the Movilla Abbey monastery was founded in what is now the settlement area . In the 13th century the place was settled by the Normans , but abandoned in the 16th century. Under Hugh Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery , to whom the land came in 1605, the repopulation began, which progressed rapidly with immigration from Scotland. After a close connection with Belfast was established with the construction of a railway line by the Belfast and County Down Railway in 1850 , the place flourished. Quite a few commuters who work in the Northern Irish capital now live here .

In 1973 the traditional counties were abolished in Northern Ireland and 26 districts were established, with Newtownards becoming the capital of the newly created Ards district. On April 1, 2015, a reorganization of the administration in Northern Ireland came into effect, with the number of districts being reduced to eleven. Ards was merged with North Down to Ards and North Down , with the status of a borough it is administered with its seat in Bangor .

Sports

Newtownards is the hometown of two nationally known sports clubs.

The rugby club Ards RFC , founded in 1928, played only at regional level for a long time until the team was accepted into the Ulster Senior League in the late 1970s . In the top division she won the championship title in 1984, and two cup victories. In the mid-1990s, the club rose from the league as a result of financial problems.

The football club Ards FC , founded in 1900, is a member of the Northern Ireland Football League . The club won the Northern Irish Championship in 1958; In 1927, 1952, 1969 and 1974 they won the Northern Irish Cup. The team plays its home games in Bangor in Clandeboye Park .

At times, motor sport races were also held in the area around the town, including the RAC Tourist Trophy competition between 1928 and 1936 (with Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz SSK as the winner in 1929).

Famous daughters and sons