So what about Ballynahinch? Article by Joanne Patterson

Looking through this website, it became obvious to me that while there were countless stories coming from many places in Northern Ireland, there were not many originating from my own home town of Ballynahinch in County Down. There must be something of interest about my town, I thought hopefully. Asking anyone about it, they would usually reply “Oh yes, I’ve driven past there on many an occasion” on the way to Belfast or Newcastle or some such place. Its status as a through town has probably been even further cemented with the successful implementation of a one-way system a few years ago, designed to move the commuting traffic through even more efficiently.

But I knew that there must be more than this. To start with, there’s the grand old house of Montalto, hidden deep in its wooded grounds, and which I’ve never been fortunate enough to see in real life, despite living within a mile of it for the first eighteen years of my existence. What about the windmill ruins set high on a hill? And what was that about the Battle of Ballynahinch, one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 rebellion? This was as about as much as I knew and I decided the best thing to do was to call in an expert – local historian Horace Reid. It seemed that Horace was the person to call if you wanted to know any of the history of Ballynahinch. Author of ‘Walks around Ballynahinch’, he has given many group talks and is called upon whenever a builder might find something resembling an ancient relic from the past or when a local newspaper wishes to get historical fact for an article.

We met in the Market house in the square, which in itself has recently gone through a transformation. Indeed a number of years ago, a local regeneration committee was set up to clean up the town and create a focal point for the community. On the back of this, some local business men restored the building and also provided the finance for a series of murals for the town.These were commissioned to celebrate the town’s history as an industrial centre for linen, the local horse fair, and of course the Battle of Ballynahinch.

Horace Reid - Font of all Knowledge

Horace came prepared with illustrations and outlined the subjects he would cover. These included the origins of the town and Lord Moira, the Battle of Ballynahinch, Montalto and the influential Ker family, and finally the Spa Wells. Horace’s knowledge was impressive and I have edited some of what he described in the audio clips found on each page.
For example, did you know that Ballynahinch was once a popular holiday destination with people desperate to experience for themselves the famous health benefits to be granted from the Spa Wells?

And what about the heroic Betsy Gray, a beautiful lass from North Down who fought and died at the front line of the Battle of Ballynahinch? I had been told the story years ago and decided to re-tell it in graphical format in a short Flash animation, revisiting the sites where she fought and died.

What this investigation proved to me is that, before talking to Horace, I did not know very much about the origins of my hometown and had never really thought to ask. History at school centred upon the Kings and Queens of England and the great Irish potato famine, not my own birth-place. Ballynahinch is picking itself up now and dusting itself down, with the regeneration committee trying to create a better future for the town. But the past should never be forgotten, especially when it includes stories to make even the most cynical passer-by sit up and listen. To the common eye, Ballynahinch looks like a pleasant if unremarkable town, but if only those streets and surrounding hills could talk…

Battle of Ballynahinch