Newtownards History on BBC Radio Ulster
As a native of Newtownards, I was delighted to chat about the history of my hometown with Connor Phillips on BBC Radio Ulster on 5 December 2025. The special programme was recorded live in Ards Shopping Centre, a place I know extremely well.
With Connor Phillips in Ards Shopping Centre before recording. Image from BBC Radio Ulster.
Newtownards has such a long and storied past, from the prehistoric Scrabo Hill which has evidence of neolithic settlement to the rich religious history of the town.
Movilla Abbey was founded by St Finian in 540AD and was sacked by Vikings in the 800s. Anglo-Normans then came to east Ulster in 1170 (including the most famous of the lot, John de Courcy) and established a town around the monastery. The Dominican Priory was built in 1244.
The Abbey and Priory were both burned down in the late 1500s by the O’Neills who refused to let them become strongholds for the Tudor conquest of Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the area saw an influx of Scottish settlers, most notably Hugh Montgomery who based his settlement around the Priory. This is when the New Town of Ards became official and it became an important market town for the whole peninsula. The Market Cross shows its status as does the later Georgian market house built in Conway Square. It was here that a short-lived republic of Newtownards was declared in 1798 by the United Irishmen as part of a wider rebellion against British authority in Ireland and the domination of the Anglican church. The republic fell after 2 days following a defeat at the Battle of Ballynahinch.
The most famous emblem of Newtownards has to be Scrabo Tower. The Londonderry Monument (to give it its full title) was built on lies. As every school child in the town can tell you, the tower was supposedly built as a memorial to the Third Marquess of Londonderry for his generosity to his tenants during the Great Famine. However, most of those who contributed to the monument were not his tenants and they famously had to go with the cheapest design, which was still left unfinished.
To find out more about the Marquess and the Famine, check out this short film I was involved in.
I loved chatting about some of this history and could talk for hours about the fascinating stories from Ards. Thanks to the team at BBC Radio Ulster for a fun Friday afternoon!
