In 1837, Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland described Kircubbin like this:
KIRCUBBIN, a market and post-town, in the parish of ST. ANDREW, barony of ARDES, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 8 ¾ miles (S. E.) from Newtown-Ardes, and 96 ¼ (N. by E.) from Dublin, on the road from Belfast to Portaferry; containing 537 inhabitants. This town, which is situated on the shore of Strangford lough, is of very recent origin, having been built since the year 1790, previously to which time there were not more than five houses in the place. ...
The present town contains 117 houses, for the greater part neatly built, and the inhabitants carry on a small but prosperous trade. The manufacture of straw hats and bonnets, of which great numbers are sent every year into the interior, affords employment to most of the industrious female population of the town and adjoining parishes; great quantities of kelp are burned and sent annually to Liverpool, and corn and potatoes are shipped hence for the Liverpool and Glasgow markets to a considerable extent. The situation of the town, close to which is an excellent landing-place, affords every facility of conveyance by land and water. The market is held every third Wednesday, and is well supplied with provisions of every kind and with brown linens. Fairs are held on the 28th of April, May, Aug., and Nov. A neat market-house, with a brown linen hall in the rear of it, was erected by the late Hon. Robert Ward; the same family are about to expend a considerable sum in the erection of quays for the greater convenience of shipping the produce of the neighbourhood. A court leet and baron is held every three weeks by the seneschal of the manor, in which pleas are entertained to the amount of £20, with jurisdiction over all the parishes of the union; and the magistrates hold a petty session here every alternate Monday.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Kircubbin, in and County Down | Map and description, A Vision of Ireland through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofireland.org/place/29315
Date accessed: 29th May 2024
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