HILLSBOROUGH

HILLSBOROUGH, an incorporated market-town (formerly a parliamentary borough), and a parish, in the barony of LOWER IVEAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 16 miles (W. N. W.) from Downpatrick, and 70 1/4 (N.E.) from Dublin; containing 6386 inhabitants, of which number, 1453 are in the town. This place, originally called Cromlyn, derived its present name from a castle erected by Sir Arthur Hill in the reign of Chas. I., which at the Restoration was made a royal fortress by Chas. II., who made Sir Arthur and his heirs hereditary constables, with 20 warders and a well-appointed garrison. The castle is of great strength and is defended by four bastions commanding the road from Dublin to Belfast and Carrickfergus: it is still kept up as a royal garrison under the hereditary constableship of the present Marquess of Downshire, a descendant of the founder, and is also used as an armoury for the yeomanry. At the time of the Revolution, the army of Wm. III. encamped under its walls: and during the disturbances of 1798, the royal army encamped on Blaris moor, within two miles of this place. The town, which is built on the summit and declivities of a hill, consists of one principal and three smaller streets, and contains 214 houses, many of which are of handsome appearance; it is well paved, partially lighted, and amply supplied with water conveyed by pipes from the neighbouring hills. The approach from the Dublin road has been widened, one of the old streets near the castle has been removed, and other considerable improvements have been made. Races, established under the management of the horse-breeders of the county of Down, incorporated by charter of Jas. II., are held in this neighbourhood and at Downpatrick alternately, and are kept up with great spirit. The course, called the Maze, about two miles from the town, winds round the base of a hill, from the summit of which the spectators have an excellent view of the races, and an elegant stand has been erected. The manufacture of linen and cotton is carried on, chiefly for the Belfast merchants; an extensive ale brewery was established in 1810, and a very large distillery in 1826, which has three stills worked by one fire; in these works, which belong to Messrs. Bradshaw and Co., 40 men are regularly employed, and 2000 tons of grain are annually consumed. The Lagan canal from Belfast to Lough Neagh passes within a mile of the town, and a wharf has been constructed on its bank for landing coal and other necessaries. The market is on Wednesday, and fairs are held on the third Wednesday in Feb., May, Aug., and Nov.; the marketplace is spacious, and shambles and grain stores have been erected. Great agricultural improvements have been carried on in the neighbouring district by the present Marquess during the last twenty-five years. By charter of Chas. II. the corporation consists of a sovereign, 12 burgesses, and an indefinite number of freemen, assisted by a recorder (who is also town-clerk), a serjeant-at-mace, and inferior officers. The sovereign is annually elected from the burgesses, and with his deputy is coroner, and, during his year of office and for one year after, justice of peace within the borough; the burgesses are chosen, as vacancies occur, by a majority of their own body, by whom the recorder and other officers are appointed, and the freemen admitted by favour only. The borough returned two members to the Irish parliament till the Union, when the elective franchise was abolished, and the £15,000 awarded as compensation was paid to Arthur, Marquess of Downshire. A borough court and court of record were formerly held, but have been long discontinued. Courts leet and baron are held every three weeks by the seneschal of the Marquess, for the manor of Hillsborough with jurisdiction to the amount of £2 extending over upwards of 26,000 acres in the parishes of Hillsborough, Blaris, Anahilt, Dromara, Dromore, and Moira; and a court of record for the same manor, for pleas to the amount of £200. Petty sessions are held here every Wednesday, and the quarter sessions for the county alternately here and at Newtownards. The court-house, a handsome building of freestone in the centre of the market-place, was erected by the present Marquess: a district bridewell has been built under the provision of an act of the 7th of Geo. IV.; and a chief constabulary police force has been stationed in the town.

The parish comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 8484 3/4 statute acres, of which 62 1/2 are water and the remainder good arable and pasture land, the principal part of which is under tillage and in a high state of cultivation. Hillsborough Castle, the seat of the Marquess of Downshire, situated at the west end of the town, is in a demesne richly embellished with wood; in the grounds is a fine lake, and the scenery is pleasingly diversified and highly picturesque. At the east side of the town is the park, enclosing a space of 1500 statute acres, surrounded by a wall: it also is beautifully situated, richly wooded, and has a fine lake. Within it is the fort above-mentioned, erected by Sir Arthur Hill, in the centre of the west side of which is a castellated mansion, supposed to have been built as a residence for the constable. King William slept in it when his army was encamped in the neighbourhood. It is entered by an arched gateway, which is the only passage into the fort except a sally-port in the eastern side. It was from this place that King William issued his declaration to grant the Regium Donum to the Presbyterian ministers of Ulster. The other seats are Culcavy Cottage, the residence of H. Bradshaw, Esq.; Eglantine, of Capt. Moore; Carnbane, of H. Moreland, Esq.; Shamrock Vale, of Lieut. Clarke, R.N.; and Blaris House, of Col. Hawkeshaw. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Down, formerly the head of a union comprising also the parishes of Drumbeg, Drumboe, and Kilclief, together constituting the corps of the archdeaconry of Down, but since the dissolution of the union under the Church Temporalities' act, consequent on the demise of the Rev. R. M. Mant, in 1834, it has solely formed the corps of the archdeaconry: the tithes amount to £550. The glebe-house is a handsome residence, and the glebe comprises 22 acres, subject to a rent of £31. 7. 8.; attached to the archdeaconry are also 235 acres of glebe in the parish of Kilclief. The church, a spacious cruciform structure in the later English style, with square embattled towers at the extremities of the transepts, and a similar tower at the west end surmounted by an octagonal spire, was erected in 1774, at the sole expense of the late Marquess. The interior is finely arranged; the windows are embellished with stained glass, and a powerful and sweet-toned organ was presented by the late Marquess, and has been enlarged and much enriched in tone by the present Marquess, by whom also the church is kept in repair, and the salaries of the organist, choristers and vergers paid. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Lisburn, and has a chapel in the town. There are also places of worship for Presbyterians, the Society of Friends, and Moravians. Nearly 300 children are taught in five public schools, "of which the parochial schools are supported by the Marquess and Marchioness of Downshire; and there are four private schools, in which are about 200 children, and a dispensary. Hillsborough gives the inferior titles of Earl and Viscount, and Kilwarlin the title of Viscount, to the Marquess of Downshire.

HILLTOWN

HILLTOWN, a village, in the parish of CLONDUFF, barony of UPPER IVEAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 2 miles (S.) from Rathfriland, on the road from Newry to Downpatrick; containing 39 houses and 170 inhabitants. It is a handsome village, with a small but remarkably well kept inn, strikingly indicating the care which its noble proprietor, the Marquess of Downshire, has bestowed on the improvement of his estates, and the fidelity with which his lordship's views have been promoted by his agent, W. E. Reilly, Esq. In the grant of it to the Hillsborough family it is called Carquillan. There is a market on Saturday, and a large fair for cattle and linen yarn on the second Tuesday in every month. It is a chief constabulary police station, and has a good inn. The parish church of Clonduff having been destroyed in the war of 1641, a church was built here in 1766. It is a large and handsome edifice with a tower, erected by aid of a gift of £338 from the late Board of First Fruits, and recently repaired by a grant of £230 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Here is also the glebe-house, with a glebe of 21 acres; a Presbyterian meeting-house, in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the third class; a R. C. chapel, and the parochial school, for which a house was built in 1824 by the Marquess of Downshire, who has endowed it with £10 per annum.

HOLLYWOOD

HOLLYWOOD, a post-town and parish, in the barony of LOWER CASTLEREAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 4 miles (N. E.) from Belfast, and 84 (N.) from Dublin; containing 4693 inhabitants, of which number, 1288 are in the town. In the year 1200, Thomas Whyte founded at this place a Franciscan priory, which was amply endowed, and continued to flourish till the dissolution. Among its possessions were the Copeland Isles, and the Isle of Rathlin or Raghery, to the north of the county, which, with its other endowments, were granted to Sir Jas. Hamilton in the 3rd of Jas. I. On the 8th of April, 1644, a meeting of the Presbyterian clergy and laity was held here, at which several persons entered into "a solemn league and covenant for the defence of the reformed religion, the safety of the king, and the peace, happiness, and security of the three kingdoms, and to secure and hold fast the league and covenant with England ;" the original document, signed by 32 gentlemen, is preserved in the museum at Belfast. The village, which is delightfully situated on the eastern shore of Carrickfergus bay, and on the road from. Belfast to Bangor, previously to 1800 contained only about 30 dwellings, chiefly poor cabins; but from its proximity to Belfast, and its fine sandy beach, it has since been greatly extended, and is now become a favourite place of resort for sea-bathing. It contains at present 225 houses, mostly well built; bathing-lodges have been erected for the accommodation of visiters, a new road has been made along the shore, and a daily mail has been established. There are several good lodging-houses in the village and its environs; and from the increasing number of visiters, several houses in detached situations, and chiefly in the Elizabethan style of architecture, are now in progress of erection on the Cultra estate, by Thomas Ward, Esq., after designs by Millar. These houses are sheltered with thriving plantations, and beautifully situated on a gentle eminence commanding a richly diversified and extensive prospect of Carrickfergus bay, the Black mountain, Cavehill, the Carumoney mountains, and the town and castle of Carrickfergus, terminating with the basaltic columns of Black Head. Close to the shore is an extensive muscle bank; and about a mile to the north-west of the town, in the lough, is a sand bank, called the Hollywood bank, the greater part of which is dry at low water, but which vessels may easily avoid by sailing nearer to the northern shore. It is a constabulary police station, and also a coast-guard station, forming part of the district of Donaghadee. Fairs, principally for cattle and horses, are held on the first Monday in each quarter. A court leet and baron is held every three weeks by the seneschal of the manor, for pleas in civil bill cases to the amount of £10, and pleas of record and attachment of goods and chattels to the amount of £20; its jurisdiction extends over 27 town-lands in the parish of Hollywood, Knockbreda, Dundonald, and Ballymacarett; but the prison not being now used for that purpose, defaulters are sent to the county gaoL The parish comprises the two ancient parishes of Ballymechan, or Coluxnbkill, and Craigavad, both rectories, one belonging to Hollywood priory, and the other to the abbey of Bangor, which were united in 1626, under the name of Hollywood. It contains, according to the Ordnance survey, 8064* statute acres, principally under an improved system of tillage and in a high state of cultivation. Freestone of excellent quality and coal may be obtained, but the mines are not worked to any extent. The surrounding scenery is, finely varied, and embellished with numerous gentlemen's seats; among which are the episcopal palace of the Bishop of Down; Cultra, the seat of H. Kennedy, Esq.; Ballymenock, of T. Gregg, Esq.; Rockport, of I. Turnley, Esq.; Craigavad, of A. Forbes, Esq.; Garnerville, of Capt. Garner; Hollywood House, of J. Macartney, Esq.; Turf Lodge, of J. Kane, Esq.; Knoekuagoney, of Mrs. Kennedy; Bloomfield, of J. Agnew, Esq.; Clifton, of Dr. Halli day; Richmond Lodge, of F. Turnley, Esq.; Wellington,of W. Crawford, Esq.; Marino, of T. Ward, Esq.; Greenvifie, of I. Stott, Esq.; Glen Carrig, of Miss Synres; and the Spa, of J. Cordukes, Esq. The living is an impropriate curacy, in the diocese of Down, and in the patronage of Viscount Dungannon, in whom the rectory is impropriate. The tithes belong to the proprietors of the soil, and are included in the rent; the patron pays £40 per ann., to the minister, which is augmented to £100 by the trustees of Primate Boulter's fund; the glebehouse was built in 1812, by a gift of £450 and a loan of £50 from the late Board of First Fruits: the glebe comprises 12a. 4p. The church, which is at the eastern extremity of the village, is an ancient building, with several antique heads in the outer wall, which are supposed to have been the corbels of a former church. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Belfast, and has a chapel, which was built in 1828. There is a Presbyterian meeting-house in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the second class, and one belonging to the Presbytery of Antrim. About 230 children are educated in five public schools, one of which is supported by Mr. Turnley; and about 60 in two private schools; there are also two Sunday schools. An establishment for the relief of the poor is supported by subscriptions, in which 15 poor persons constantly reside. The church occupies the site of the ancient priory, of which there are no other remains; and of the churches of Ballymechan and Craigavad not a vestige can be traced; the cemeteries of both were used as places of interment till 1765, and in the former were deposited the remains of Con O'Neil, the last of that powerful sept, whose possessions comprised more than one-third of the county of Down, and an extensive district in the county of Antrim, in which was included the now populous town of Belfast. Some carved stones are preserved at Ballymechan, which are supposed to have belohged to his tomb, but the sculpture is of an earlier date; the site of that church is now a garden and the churchyard an orchard, and at Craigavad only one solitary stone remains to mark the site of the churchyard, which is now under cultivation. A new species of rose was discovered in this parish by John Templeton, Esq., which by the Dublin Society was called "Rosa Hibernica," and afterwards "Rosa Templetonia," in honour of the discoverer.