County Down: a topographical dictionary of the parishes, villages and towns of County Down in the 1830s ... By Samuel Lewis (Belfast, Friar's Bush Press, 2003). V, 90pp, 37 black and white illustrations. ISBN 0 - 946872-62-7. Paperback, £9.99.

Sixteen years ago the Friar's Bush Press put local historians very much in its debt by publishing a facsimile of George Henry Bassett's County Down guide and directory, 'a book for manufacturers, merchants, traders, land-owners, farmers, tourists, anglers, and sportsmen generally'. This, with its topographical and historical descriptions, its lists of residents and its fascinating advertisements, gives a vivid picture of the high Victorian prosperity of the county in the mid-1880s, at a time when major factories and mills were a feature of the countryside. Now Professor Brian Walker has had the happy idea of extracting from Samuel Lewis's enormous topographical dictionary for the whole of Ireland all those entries relating to County Down, a similar time capsule for a period fifty years earlier, when the rural agricultural community was as yet scarcely touched by industry. This is not a straight photographic reprint: the original has been scanned and reprinted in a much more pleasant and easy to read typeface, and reproduction of contemporary maps and line engravings have been incorporated into what was originally an unillustrated text. Fifteen town plans taken from the 1835 six-inch Ordnance Survey maps have been included at a useful magnification of 140%, and there are delightfully atmospheric views from a number of published sources, mostly of the 1830s.

Strangford Lough: an archaeological survey of the maritime cultural landscape. By Thomas McErlean, Rosemary McConkey and Wes Forsythe (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press in association with the Environment and Heritage Service, 2003). xxvi, 689pp, 302 illustrations (mostly colour). ISBN 0-85640-723-2. Hardback, £25.

Readers will be pleased to know that this important book, which was so favourably reviewed by Fred Rankin in the last issue of Lecale Review has indeed been reprinted - at its original bargain price - and with corrections!

Researching Down ancestors. A practical guide for the family and local historian. By Ian Maxwell [and others] (Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2004) (County guides for the family and local historian, 2). xxi, 343pp, 27 black and white illustrations. ISBN 1-903688-01-9. Paperback. £11.99.

Although claiming only to be mainly a detailed guide to the relevant holdings of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, where the vast majority of genealogical records for County Down are held, and dealing principally with the period from the late seventeenth century onwards, this will be a basic aid to anyone embarking on many aspects of local history, besides the family historian. General descriptions of the holdings and facilities of other repositories in Belfast and County Down, and of national collections in Dublin are given, and there is a 20-page bibliography of printed sources for the county. Searchers will be able to arrive at PROM knowing more clearly what they are looking for, thanks to the extensive listings given in various tables and appendices, such as, for example, surviving church records (41 pages); public elementary school records (30 pages); and townland and unofficial placenames with their locations (51 pages).

100 years of Banbridge Library. By Evelyn Hanna. [Banbridge], Centenary Committee, Southern Education and Library Board, [2003]). 35pp, 3 black and white illustrations. Paperback, gratis, from Banbridge Library, Scarva Street, Banbridge, BT32 3AD.

Like many towns in Antrim and Down in the last decade of the eighteenth century, Banbridge had its complement of private reading societies and clubs maintained by subscription. The Banbridge Reading Society eventually sold up its library in 1846, but the Literary and Mutual Improvement Society, founded in 1853, maintained both a lending library and newsroom in the latter half of the century. Following the Public Libraries Act of 1850 it became possible to set up free libraries supported by rates and in 1890 Banbridge adopted the act on the assumption that a benefactor was about to build accommodation for it. Unfortunately this fell through, but an approach to Andrew Carnegie in 1899 was successful, and the town's Carnegie Library opened in 1902. This short booklet celebrates its centenary and chronicles its history, via absorption by the Southern Education and Library Board in 1973 and a new building in 1979, to the age of computers and multi-media materials.

Portavo: an Irish townland and its people. Part one: earliest times to 1844. By Peter Carr (Dundonald, The White Row Press, 2003). xiii, 339pp, 242 colour and black and white illustrations. ISBN 1- 870132-11-4. Paperback, £18.00.

One cannot dispute the claim made in the 'blurb' of this book that it is quite possibly the most intensive study of a townland ever attempted. It also sets a standard for attractive production that will be hard to beat. The author says he is not an academic historian, but his research has been very thoroughly based on archival sources. James and Robert Ross from Irvine in Ayrshire settled in north Down as part of James Hamilton s plantation. At some time before 1617 Robert leased the 1500 acres of Portavo, Ballyfotherly and the Copeland Islands, and Portavo remained in the possession of the Ross family until 1765, when it was bought by David Ker, a Scottish merchant living in London. The Kers were to become one of the wealthiest families in the country, with other estates in Ballynahinch, Clough and Downpatrick, and in Ballycarry and Ballymena in Antrim. The book is by no means, however, solely a history of the 'big house' and its demesne at Portavo, but has much to say about the small tenant farmers, millers and fishermen who made a living on the townland.

Before it's too late. By Willie Crea (Downpatrick, Down Recorder Printing, 2003). i, 86pp. 26 black and white illustrations. Paperback, £7.50.

This is not strictly speaking an autobiography written in a continuous chronological order, but rather a collection of reminiscences of scenes, characters and incidents, chiefly around Ardglass and Ballyculter, from the 1920s to the 1960s. For those familiar with the area and brought up in the same period it will be a delightful trip down memory lane. Willie Crea, a much valued member of the Lecale Historical Society, writes with great lightness of touch and a remarkable recall for detail. His anecdotes are retold with an infectious impish sense of humour: Some of the adventures of the Ardglass Home Guard in the 1940s are in the 'Dads Army' league. The agricultural historian should find the chapter on farming methods and equipment in the first half of the twentieth century of particular interest, particularly because it is written by a farmer who knows what he is talking about from practical experience .

Gordon Wheeler

The Heart's Townland: marking boundaries in Ulster, edited by Brian S Turner (Downpatrick, Ulster Local History Trust, 2004). 128pp, black and white illustrations. ISBN 09542832 1 X. Paperback, £8.00 or €12.00.

This book is a collection of the talks given to the Ulster Local History Trust's conference on townlands, held in Monaghan in November 2003. About 150 local historians from all over Ulster assembled to talk to each other about, and to commend to others, a subject which is at the heart of both the concerns and the techniques of all those interested in local history in Ireland.

The defining of space is an important matter, intimately related to our feelings of identity. For the past thousand years this has been associated with Ireland's unique townland system. It is evident in Lecale and elsewhere that urbanisation of both the physical and the mental landscape is bringing changes to the use and knowledge of townlands and their names, many of which could irrevocably damage our ability to understand the past which has shaped our present.

The Heart's Townland contains many and varied voices, ranging from Pat Loughrey, Director of Nations and Regions for the BBC, talking about the townlands of his Donegal youth, to Professor Paddy Duffy's scholarly exposition on the evolution of the townland system, and Jack Johnston s informative demonstration of how local historians use townland sources as a basic tool for their research. There are maps and stories and humour and polemics.

Edited by the present chairman of the Lecale Historical Society, this book is directly relevant to all those who are interested in our priceless heritage of townlands and their names. It can be obtained from the Down County Museum shop in Downpatrick, or directly from the Ulster Local History Trust at PO Box 900, Downpatrick, County Down; price £8.00 plus £1.00 for postage and packing.

Recent periodicals: selective contents lists

Before I forget. Journal of the Poyntzpass and District Local History Society, No. 9, 2003. 'Dolly Monroe the famous Irish beauty' [1754-1793, of Roe's Hall, Tullylish], Eric McElroy.

Down Survey. Yearbook of Down County Museum. 2003. Thomas Russell bi-centenary.

'Pursuing the millennium: Thomas Russell's attempt to raise Antrim and Down in 1803', James Quinn; 'With pike and drum', M L Simpson [Catalogue of material in Museum relating to 1798 and 1803 risings]; `Freemasonry and the United Irishmen in late eighteenth century Ireland', K L Dawson; 'Thomas Russell: bi-centenary lecture', Marianne Elliot; ' Thomas Russell and County Down: marking the bi-centenary', Linda McKenna.

Due North, Vol. 1, Issue 9, Spring / Summer 2004 (Federation for Ulster Local Studies) 'Ballyedmond Castle [Killowen]: the survival of a big house', Eoin Magennis.

(Inverbrena, No. 8] Strangford. Memories from Inverbrena, 2003. (Inverbrena Local History Group)

`Recollections of sailboat racing in Strangford [1946-1958]', Bobby Magee;'Isle o Valla-the Charter School', Eamon McMullan; [Strangford Women' s Institute 1983-2003', Peig Denvir, Phyl Johnston, Kathleen Price, Sally Maguire, Mary Rooney, Pat McCullough, Joan Miller; 'Articles from "Home Words"' [and Ballyculter Parish Magazine, 1877-1879], abstracted by Isobel Magee; 'The McKibbins in New Zealand', Ronald and Rhona Buchanan [Three brothers from Marshallstown, Ballyculter, who emigrated in 1868]; 'Danes and Norsemen , Isobel Magee [Strangford names and idioms of Scandinavian origin]; 'The labourers' cottages of Lecale c.1900' Sheila Campbell.

Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society,

No. 27, 2003.

'Harry Coulter (1909-2002): obituary', Jim Blaney [Fiddler, story-teller and stone-mason]; 'The journal of Thomas McCarrie ... Part 10 (the last)' [Portaferry photographer, died 1930]; 'No 1 Shore Road, Portaferry', Peter Clegg [Measured drawings and technical survey of early 1920s house demolished in 1998]; 'Queen s University Marine Biology Station, a personal account - plus a little science. Part 2', P J S Boaden; 'The loss of the "Croisset"', Jim Blaney [French barque of Rouen wrecked on South Rock, off Kearney Point in 1908]; 'Upper Ards Historical Society. Part 6' [Precis by Amy Anderson of lecture on history of Portaferry given by E M Griffith in 1973].

- No. 28, 2004

'Sir Thomas Brown: an appreciation'; 'A Tribute to Jack Nihill'; 'Two popular local dance bands: Portaferry Hawaiian Band [1934-1969] and Colm and the Sundowners [1960-1980]',Amy Anderson, Patsy Smyth, Dermot Hamilton; `The great demonstration of 1909' [A squabble over the trusteeship of Portaferry Orange Hall]; 'Father Vincent McNabb [1868-1943]', Michael Hennessy [Portaferry-born Dominican]; 'The Saltpans deeds' [Development of an area of Portaferry, 1783-1999; 'Upper Ards Historical Society. Part 7' [Precis by Amy Anderson of lecture on industrial archaeology of the Ards given by E M Griffith in 1973]; 'Portaferry traders', Harry Murray [Classified list of twentieth-century tradesmen and shopkeepers]; 'Queen s University Marine Biology Station, a personal account - plus a little science. Part 3', P J S Boaden; 'The loss of the "Trientalis"', Jim Blaney [Swedish barque of Gothenburg wrecked at Pladdy Lug in 1908]; 'The Londonderry Estates in County Down in the early to mid-nineteenth century', Anne Casement; 'S.S. Georgetown Victory', Harry Murray [U.S. Troopship wrecked on Killard rocks in 1946].