Holywood

Name

The English name Holywood comes from Latin Sanctus Boscus, meaning 'holy wood'. This was the name the Normans gave to the woodland surrounding the monastery of St Laiseran, son of Nasca. The monastery was founded by Laiseran before 640 and was on the site of the present Holywood Priory. The earliest Anglicized form appears as Haliwode in a 14th-century document. Today, the name is pronounced the same as Hollywood.

The Irish name for Holywood is Ard Mhic Nasca meaning "high ground of Mac Nasca".

History

In the 17th century, Ulster ports began to rise in prominence. In 1625, William Pitt was appointed as Customer of the ports of Newcastle, Dundrum, Killough, Portaferry, Donaghadee, Bangor and Holywood.

In the early 19th century, Holywood, like many other coastal villages throughout Ireland, became popular as a resort for sea-bathing. Many wealthy Belfast merchants chose the town and the surrounding area to build large homes for themselves. These included the Kennedys of Cultra and the Harrisons of Holywood. Dalchoolin House stood on the site of the present Ulster Transport Museum, while Cultra Manor was built between 1902–04 and now houses part of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

The railway line from Belfast to Holywood opened in 1848, and this led to rapid development. The population of Holywood was approximately 3,500 in 1900 and had grown to 12,000 by 2001. This growth, coupled with that of other towns and villages along the coastal strip to Bangor, necessitated the construction of the Holywood Bypass in the early 1970s. Holywood today is a popular residential area and is well known for its fashionable shops, boutiques, arts and crafts.

The Old Priory ruins lie at the bottom of the High Street. The tower dates from 1800, but the oldest ruins date from the early 13th century. The Priory graveyard is the resting place for many distinguished citizens including the educational reformer, Dr Robert Sullivan, and the Praeger family. Robert Lloyd Praeger (1865–1953) was an internationally renowned botanist and his sister, Rosamond Praeger (1867–1954), gained fame as a sculptor and writer. "Johnny the Jig", one of her sculptures, is situated in the town. Praeger House at Sullivan Upper Grammar School is named after the family. Bishop Robert Bent Knox is also buried there.

Violent incidents

On 17 June 1994, Garnet Bell, a former pupil bearing a grudge, entered an assembly hall at Sullivan Upper School and used a flamethrower to attack students taking A-level examinations. Six pupils were injured; three of them seriously.

On 12 April 2010, at around 12:24am, a car bombing occurred near Palace Barracks, a British Army barracks on the edge of Holywood's town centre. An elderly man was blown off his feet and had to be treated in hospital. The bomb was allegedly driven towards the base in a hijacked taxi. The Real IRA claimed responsibility for the attack.

Demography

Holywood Urban Area is a medium town within the Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area (BMUA) as classified by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (i.e. with population between 10,000 and 18,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 12,037 people living in Holywood. Of these:

Places of interest

Transport

The first section of the Belfast and County Down Railway (BCDR) line from Belfast to Holywood, along with Holywood railway station, opened on 2 August 1848. The line was extended to Bangor by the Belfast, Holywood and Bangor Railway (BHBR), opening on 1 May 1865, and acquired by the BCDR in 1884. Holywood station was closed for goods traffic on 24 April 1950.

Plant

Records of the marine algae include: Polysiphonia elongata (Huds.) Spreng.; Laurencia obtuse (Huds.) Lamour.; Chondria dasyphylla (Woodw.) C.Ag.; Pterothamnion plumula (Ellis) Näg.; Rhodophyllis divaricate (Stackh.) Papenf.; Coccotylus truncates (Pall.) Wynne et Heine.

Industry

The Crosslé Car Company, a manufacturer of racing cars is based in Holywood.

Education

The town contains the following schools: Holywood Primary School, Holywood Nursery SchoolHolywood Rudolf Steiner School, Priory Integrated College, Rockport School, St Patrick's Primary School, and Sullivan Preparatory School and Sullivan Upper School.

Cricket

Holywood Cricket Club is amalgamated with the Holywood R.F.C. Cricket may have been played in Holywood as early as 1860 but the present club, as we know it, was formed as a result of a meeting held on Monday, 28 March 1881. In the first season games against Ballynahinch, Enfield, Lurgan, North Down and Sydenham followed the opening game against Wellington, when the team was captained by Joe Ross. The club's first home was at Kinnegar where the club President and Benefactor for many years gave use of part of his land to the club free of charge. The members worked hard to turn the area into a cricket ground and by 1883 had secured sufficient money to erect a new pavilion.

North Down Borough Council has provided HCC with a new home at Seapark. "Seapark Oval" was finally ready during the 2005 season, after 8 years of using the pitch at Sullivan School. The club had been forced off the Belfast Road grounds it occupied for 100+ years due to the GAA upgrading the pitch it leases from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Connor and Down, which meant that with the playing surfaces of the two sports pitches being at different levels, cricket could no longer be played at this venue unless the ground was raised to the same level as the GAA pitch. The cricket club now share the Seapark grounds with a bowling club and Holywood Football Club, the latter hoping to secure new grounds at Spafield in the near future. There are also plans for a new club house at the Seapark grounds.

Football

Holywood F.C. was formed in 1983 following the amalgamation of two Northern Amateur League teams, Loughview Star (1961–83) and Holywood Town (1972–83). These two clubs had not been very successful, though Loughview had caused a sensation when they reached the Clarence Cup final while still a Second Division club, losing 2–0 to Lisburn Rangers in 1964–65. Loughview won Division 2B in 1981–82 and after the amalgamation, the new club finished runners up in 2b in 1992–93, but were soon relegated again. The club's biggest day came when they won the IFA Junior Cup final in 1989–90, beating their town rivals Holywood Rec. in the decider. The club has enjoyed success in recent years, by winning the 2a title and the Cochrane & Corry Cup in the 1999–2000 season. As a result, the club were promoted for the first time in their history to intermediate status in Division 1B.

GAA

The first Gaelic Athletic Association club in Holywood was organised in 1927. It was called St Colmcille's. The team's strip was made up of black shorts and black shirts with white collars. This early club team also sponsored a handball team and a drama club. Although successful in the early days, the club lasted only ten years. It was revived in 1948 under the title of Holywood's Patron Saint, St. Laiseran, by John Regan, Davy McCoy and Paddy McNally, and lasted until it withdrew from the League in 1956.

The successful Thomas Russell Gaelic Club was formed in 1962 and soon earned the name "the Holywood Giant Killers". It played on a notoriously uneven pitch in the 'Convent Fields'. But early success did not continue – the club struggled on until 1976 when it withdrew from the Antrim League. St. Paul's Gaelic Football Club was founded in 1979 as an amalgamation of the Holywood, Bangor, and Newtownards clubs. It operated under a deal with Holywood Cricket Club which maintained the Gaelic pitch in return for using a small section of the lower pitch as part of its 'out-field'.

Golf

Holywood is the home of the Royal Belfast Golf Club, the oldest in Ireland, dating from 1881. The club's present course was designed by architect Harry Colt in 1926. The town also features the Holywood Golf Club, which was founded in 1904; this course is where 2011 US Open, 2012 US PGA, 2014 British Open, and 2014 US PGA champion Rory McIlroy learned his golf, and the champion still calls it his home course.

Notable people