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Where
is Dundonald?
 Dundonald,
County Down
(not to be confused with Dundonald in Ayrshire, Scotland) is
a suburb on the east of Greater Belfast approximately 5 miles from the city
centre. With the explosion in housing development over the past 50 years,
Dundonald has changed in character more than at any other time
during its existence. It’s very easy to forget that not that long ago things
were really quite different. But first some ancient history…
Ancient
Origins
The name Dundonald is an ancient one. It translates as “the fort
of Domnall” (The modern form of Domnall is Donal). This probably refers to a
rath which was situated on Moat hill, now the site of St. Elizabeth’s old
church and burial ground. A rath was a circular construction, usually a high
bank surrounded by a ditch built to protect a homestead. The discovery of
several souterrains in the nearby area seems to confirm this. A souterrain
was a stone lined tunnel built as a hiding place for people and property in
the event of attack.
Sometime
around 1177, John de Courcy came to Ireland,
part of a force of Norman invaders who were ‘invited’ by one of two feuding
Irish kings. John was from Somerset in England
though he could trace his line back through his great grandfather to the
first Norman army that had come to England
with William the Conqueror of France. He was a  very
ambitious man and decided to invade the north of Ireland
which was in the power of the Irish clans. Without the permission of the
Henry II he went north and defeated various clan kings. He divided the land
between his Knights building a network of ‘castles’ to secure the territory.
These were at first wooden forts built on top of large mounds of earth. Often
the Norman’s
choose sites on or beside the raths of the Irish farmers.
The motte at Dundonald is one of the largest in Ulster. It
probably was built near the start of the conquest by Irish serfs or
prisoners. Sitting atop a hill it is still an impressive landmark even today.
One can only imagine how imposing it would have looked to the 12th
century inhabitants of the area. It was from here that the Norman’s
ruled. This fort would have been an important civic and military centre in
the surrounding manor. The first lord was a French speaking knight who is recorded
in one of de Courcy’s charters as “Richard de Dundoenald”. Later as the area
settled and became quiet again the Normans
built a small chapel beside the motte. Remains from that original church have
been found in the old Episcopalian church built on the same site.
Dundonald
the village
 At
the time of the coming of the
railway, Dundonald was a still small village. A long row of whitewashed
cottages called “Gape Row” lined the main Newtownards
Road. The skyline was given a
distinctive character by St. Elizabeth’s Church of
Ireland,
the Cleland Mausoleum and the ancient Norman Motte.
 This
picture was taken some time
around 1930 from a farm known as ‘the Beeches’ (today the site of the Ulster
hospital). It’s hard to imagine now but at this time Dundonald
was quite a popular beauty spot for visitors. The Belfast Telegraph called it
a “ramblers’ paradise” and often visitors from Belfast
would spend the day exploring this quaint little old-fashioned village. Click
>>
here
<<
to read an extract from the 1924 edition of the Belfast &
County Down Railway Company’s Official Tourist Guide to County Down
and Mourne Mountains.
Gape Row was demolished in 1934 to make way for more modern housing. In a way
its passing was symbolic of the wider changes that befell the village. At the
time an anonymous poem “Goodbye
Gape Row, Goodbye” summed up the event. It ends as follows:
They’re tearin’ ould
Dundonald down
They’re tearin’ down Gape
Row,
The ould folks left their
hearts behind
Their ghosts now come and
go.
If you should dander down
that way
You’ll hear the soft winds
sigh,
‘They’re tearin’ ould
Dundonald down
Goodbye Gape Row, Goodbye.’
 Agnes
Romilly White was the daughter of the Rev. Robert White, the rector of St.
Elizabeth’s Church of Ireland. She lived at Dundonald between 1890 and 1913.
The life of the village was the inspiration for her two novels, Gape Row
(1934) and its sequel, Mrs. Murphy Buries the Hachet (1936). The blurb on the
back cover describes Gape Row as follows:
“Can Jinanna escape the poorhouse? Will young Johnny Darragh
jilt Ann? Will Mary get saddled with the awful Andy John McCready? Or will
Happy Bill, the wayside preacher, nip in first and win them all for God?
A boisterous, rich, nostalgic book which immerses the reader in
the cheerful chaos of everyday life in a small Irish village on the eve of
the First World War.”
The only mention of the railway is the following fleeting
reference:
“Gape Row went to bed early, and considered it scarcely
respectable to hear the ten-thirty train whistle, as it rushed through the
station.”
Gape Row just before demolition in 1934
The characters mostly make use of the tram that came as far as the
cemetery on the Newtownards Road. This was within walking distance of the
village. In itself this is an illustration of the competition that existed
against the railway.
The map below shows the village in 1902. The road running across
the centre is the main Newtownards Road.
Click >> here << to
see a larger map of the surrounding area.
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