County Down

County Down
Contae an Dúin (Irish)
Coontie Doon/Countie Doun (Ulster-Scots)
County
Coat of arms of County Down
Coat of arms
Nickname: 
Mourne Country
Motto(s): 
Absque Labore Nihil  (Latin)
"Nothing Without Labour"
Location of County Down
CountryUnited Kingdom
Constituent CountryNorthern Ireland
ProvinceUlster
EstablishedEarly 16th century
County townDownpatrick
Area
[1]
 • Total
961 sq mi (2,489 km2)
 • Rank12th
Highest elevation
(Slieve Donard)
2,790 ft (850 m)
Population
 (2021)
553,261
 • Rank4th
Time zoneUTC±0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode area
BT
Contae an Dúin is the Irish name, Countie Doun[2] and Coontie Doon[3] are Ulster Scots spellings.

County Down (Irish: Contae an Dúin) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland.[4][5] It covers an area of 961 sq mi (2,490 km2) and has a population of 552,261.[6] It borders County Antrim to the north, the Irish Sea to the east, County Armagh to the west, and County Louth across Carlingford Lough to the southwest.

In the east of the county is Strangford Lough and the Ards Peninsula. The largest settlement is Bangor, a city on the northeast coast. Three other large towns and cities are on its border: Newry lies on the western border with County Armagh, while Lisburn and Belfast lie on the northern border with County Antrim. Down contains both the southernmost point of Northern Ireland (Cranfield Point) and the easternmost point of Ireland (Burr Point).

It was one of two counties of Northern Ireland to have a Protestant majority at the time of the 2001 census. The other Protestant-majority County was County Antrim to the north.[7] However, as of the 2021 Census, it is now the only county in which there is a Protestant background majority, as Antrim has Protestant background plurality.[8] In the 2021 census, Ards and North Down had the highest number of "No Religion" responses (30.6%) for Northern Ireland.[9]

In March 2018, The Sunday Times published its list of Best Places to Live in Britain, including five in Northern Ireland. The list included three in County Down: Holywood, Newcastle, and Strangford.[10]

The county has two cities: Newry and Bangor. The latter is the more recent, gaining city status on 2 December 2022.[11]

  1. ^ Northern Ireland General Register Office (1975). "Table 1: Area, Buildings for Habitation and Population, 1971". Census of Population 1971; Summary Tables (PDF). Belfast: HMSO. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  2. ^ 2008 Annual Report in Ulster Scots Archived 29 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine North–South Ministerial Council.
  3. ^ 2006 Annual Report in Ulster Scots Archived 27 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine North–South Ministerial Council.
  4. ^ Taylor, Isaac. Names and Their Histories. Rivingtons, 1898. p.111
  5. ^ Lewis, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837); "The See of Down" Archived 1 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ "County". NISRA. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  7. ^ Wouters, Ferre (6 March 2019). "Communal counting: The Northern Ireland census". FactCheckNI. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Religion or religion brought up in". NISRA. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Northern Ireland Census 2021" (PDF).
  10. ^ Price, Ryan (16 March 2018). "Five places in Northern Ireland included in Best Places to Live in Britain list". The Irish Post. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Bangor receives city status in Princess Anne visit". BBC News. 2 December 2022.