Crawfordsburn

Crawfordsburn
Irish: *Sruth Chráfard^[1]*
Scots: *Crawford's burn*
Crawfordsburn Irish: Sruth Chráfard; Scots: Crawford's burn;
	The Old Inn, Crawfordsburn
	Location within County Down
Population	632 (2021 Census)
District	Ards and North Down Borough;
County	County Down;
Country	Northern Ireland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BANGOR
Postcode district	BT19
Dialling code	028
UK Parliament	North Down;
NI Assembly	North Down;
	List of places UK Northern Ireland Down 54°39′30″N 5°43′52″W / 54.65833°N 5.73111°W

Crawfordsburn (from Scots Crawford's burn 'Crawford's stream') is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. The village, which is now effectively a commuter town, lies between Holywood and Bangor to the north of the A2 road, about 4 km west of Bangor city centre. Bounded to the north and north east by Crawfordsburn Country Park, the village attracts many visitors. It had a population of 632 people in the 2021 Census. the village is served by the nearby Helen's Bay railway station.

History

Before the Plantation of Ulster, the area of Crawfordsburn was known as Ballymullan (Irish: Baile Uí Mhaoláin). It was named after a stream which flows through the village.

Places of interest

The Old Inn, Crawfordsburn has been in existence since the 17th century. Records show this building to have been standing in its present form since 1614. There is evidence that substantial additions were made in the middle of the 18th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Donaghadee was one of the principal cross-channel ports between Ireland and Great Britain. The mail coach making connections with the sailing packet, changed horses at The Old Inn at Crawfordsburn and so it came to be patronised by many notable people including Swift, Tennyson, Thackeray, Dickens and Trollope. It was also frequented by C. S. Lewis.
Crawfordsburn Orange Hall.

At present it is used by the owners Crawfordsburn Chosen Few LOL 1091 who originally met in the old school house from 1905 and then bought their current building which is still in use to this day and continues to flourish with increased memberships. The hall is also used by Robert Whiteside Memorial LOL 1229 and Sir Henry Wilson RBP 1104. Also used by different community groups.

Crawfordsburn Scout Activity Centre is adjacent to the Country Park. It consists of 22 acres (9 hectares) of camping ground including several accommodation buildings.^[2] Originally part of the Sharman estate, it opened for Scout camping in October 1948.^[3]

People

Samuel Hall-Thompson (1885–1954) was a Unionist politician born in Crawfordsburn.^[4]

Sport

Bryansburn Rangers F.C. are an intermediate football club founded in the nearby town of Bangor, however their home ground named Ballywooley is situated on the Crawfordsburn Road on the way into the village from Bangor.

2011 Census

Crawfordsburn is classified by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)^[5] as being within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area (BMUA). On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 587 people living in Crawfordsburn. Of these:

18.2% were aged under 17 years and 27.4% were aged 65 and over
48.5% of the population were male and 51.5% were female
65.6% identified as Protestant, 23.4% as non-religious and 10.1% as Roman Catholic specifically.
1.5% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed