| |
DUNSFORD,
or DUNSPORT, a parish, in the barony of LECALE, county of DOWN, and province
of ULSTER, 3 ½ miles (E. S. E.) from Downpatrick, containing 1680
inhabitants.
This parish, which is situated near the southern
entrance to Strangford Lough, comprises, with Guns island, according to
the Ordnance survey, 4239 statute acres, all under cultivation, except
40 acres of bog, and very fertile, much grain being exported from the
stores at Ballyhornan, where small vessels land coal. Guns island lies
off the coast, which is bold and rocky, and includes Killard Point.
The parish is in the diocese of Down, and is a
rectory, forming the corps of the prebend of Dunsford in the cathedral
of the Holy Trinity, and in the patronage of the Bishop : the tithes amount
to £382, of which £263 is payable to the incumbent and £139
to the impropriators.
The church is a small plain edifice with a bell
tower. In the R. C. divisions it is the head of a union or district comprising
this parish and Ardglass, and containing two chapels, of which the one
for Dunsford is at Ballydock. About 350 children are educated in four
public schools.
|
|
