Comber.

The name Comber is derived from the Irish 'An Comar' which means the confluence of two rivers, referring to the Enler River and the Glen River which meet in the town. It is thought there was a church in the town dating to the early Christian period (Mid 400's) a Cistercian abbey was founded around 1200 on the site of the present Church of Ireland church. After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1541 the abbey was abandoned and its stones used for other buildings.

Prior to the plantation of Ulster in the early 1600's Comber and much of eastern County Down belonged to the O'Neill clan. After The Flight of the Earls in 1607, the O'Neill lands were confiscated and the English crown gave it to planters who undertook to plant the land with English and Scottish settlers. James Hamilton was granted the town of Killyleagh and surrounding area and Hugh Montgomery who held Newtownards and the Ards peninsular, the boundary between the estates passed through Comber, its exact location was always disputed and the pair eventually entered into expensive litigation to resolve the matter.

During this period the two tried to establish towns, Hamilton's was about one mile south of the present town in the townland of Cattogs, this town evidently didn't prosper and fell into disuse, recently the story of Hamilton and Montgomery was told on the BBC's (British Broadcasting Company) program 'Coast' during the making of the program the foundations of Hamilton's town was discovered using geophysics equipment.

The water of Comber's rivers was put to use powering mills, with linen production and grain milling taking place. The Andrews family were prominent in these spheres in the second half of the 18th century. One member of the Andrews family Thomas became world famous as the designer of the Titanic which sunk on its maiden voyage, Andrews was one of the 1503 who perished in the cold Atlantic waters on the 15th April 1912.

Comber became a centre of whiskey distilling in the mid 18th century, John Miller was probably the most prominent, erecting his distillery in 1765.

In the town square stands an imposing monument to Major General Rollo Gillespie, nicknamed 'Rollicking Rollo' at the unveiling of this monument on 4th June, 1845 there is said to been 25 to 30,000 people present, many of these members of fifty Masonic lodges, this may have been the largest Masonic gathering ever to have taken place in Ireland.

Gillespie was born in a large house in the town in 1766, he took up a military career serving in The West Indies, Java and Nepal, he is said to have fought several duels, and at one time acted as a secret agent against the French. At the foot of his memorial are carved his last words "One shot more for the honour of Down" before he died in action in 1614.

The railway came to Comber in 1850 an era which was to last 100 years, the line was closed in 1950.

Between the years of 1928-36 the Tourist Trophy (TT) motor car road race took place, the circuit encompassed the towns of Comber, Newtownards and Dundonald. The race was over thirty laps, on September 5th 1936 one of the drivers lost control of his car, and crashed into a group of spectators killing eight of them. This tragic event brought to an end an event which had frequently attracted crowds in excess of a quarter of a million.

Since 1857 Comber has had a cricket club, the North Down CC may be the oldest club in Ireland.

Today Comber has lost most of its industry and has became a thriving dormitory town of Belfast, its population has more than doubled since 1961 to a figure of 8,933 in the 2001 census.

The information below is taken from Lewis's Topographical Directory of Ireland 1834.

Coal is at present brought up in small lighters, but the principal fuel is peat; there is a very extensive bog, called Moneyreagh, or the Royal Bog, from which great quantities are sent to Belfast and other places.

Fairs are held on Jan. 5th, the second Monday in April, June 19th, and Oct. 28th, principally for farming horses and cattle. Here is a constabulary police station. A manorial court is held here every third Thursday, for the manor of Comber, or Mount Alexander, which has jurisdiction in debts not exceeding £2 over 30 townlands in the parish of Comber, Barnemagarry, in the parish of Kilmud, and Ballycloghan, in that of Saintfield. There is also a court for the recovery of debts not exceeding £20 late currency.

There is a large druidical altar in Ballygraphan, the table stone of which, now lying on the grounds measures 19 feet by 6 and is 4 feet thick : the five upright stones are in an adjoining edge-row. Numerous forts and rates are scattered over the parish.

Lewis also tells us that coal is to be found in three locations although no mines have been opened.