Donaghadee
Donaghadee
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Donaghadee

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Donaghadee

Donaghadee (/ˌdɒnəxəˈd/ DON-ə-khə-DEE, from Irish Domhnach Daoi) is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about 18 miles (29 km) east of Belfast and about six miles (10 km) south east of Bangor. It is in the civil parish of Donaghadee and the historic barony of Ards Lower. It had a population of 7,320 people in the 2021 Census.

The name 'Donaghadee' comes from Irish Domhnach Daoi, which has two possible meanings: "church of Daoi", after an unattested saint, or "church of the motte". Originally the site of a Gaelic ringfort, the Anglo-Normans built a motte-and-bailey castle on the site after they conquered the area in the late 12th century.

In the early 17th century, Hugh Montgomery settled Scottish Protestants there as part of the Plantation of Ulster, and it began to grow into a small town. The former Donaghadee Town Hall is a converted merchant's house which was completed in around 1770.

The town featured in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. On the morning of Pike Sunday, 10 June 1798 a force of United Irishmen, mainly from Bangor, Donaghadee, Greyabbey and Ballywalter attempted to occupy the town of Newtownards. They met with musket fire from the market house and were defeated.

Donaghadee was used in the 1759–1826 period by couples going to Portpatrick in Scotland to marry, as there was a daily packet boat. During this period, Portpatrick was known as the "Gretna Green for Ireland".

The population at the time of the 1841 census was 3,151.

The RNLI lifeboat station at Donaghadee harbour, founded in 1910, is one of the most important on the Irish coast. The Sir Samuel Kelly is a noted lifeboat once based in Donaghadee and now on show and preserved at the harbour for her efforts over 50 years ago. On 31 January 1953, the lifeboat rescued many survivors in the Irish Sea from the stricken LarneStranraer car ferry, MV Princess Victoria.

Donaghadee railway station, which was open for passenger traffic from 1861 to 1950, was on the Belfast and County Down Railway.

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