Castlewellan

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Castlewellan
Caisleán Uidhilín

Location

Statistics

028, +437

Castlewellan

BT31

? km²

Population (2001)

2,392

Castlewellan Village

Castlewellan Lake and Forest Park

Castlewellan (in Irish: Caisleán Uidhilín, ie Uidhilín’s Castle) is a large village in County Down, Northern Ireland, situated beside Castlewellan Lake and Slievenaslat mountain, 16 miles (25 km) south west of Downpatrick. It lies between the Mourne Mountains and Slieve Croob. It had a population of 2,392 people in the 2001 Census.

It is located in the Down District Council area.

Castlwellan has a wide main street and two squares lined with chestnut trees. The upper square is a semicircle and the lower square is an oval. The old market house in the upper square was built in 1764 and now houses the public library.

1 Places of interest
2 History
- 2.1 The Troubles
3 People
4 Sport
5 2001 Census
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Places of interest

Drumena Cashel is a good example of a small stone built farmstead enclosure or cashel of the Early Christian period. It is situated 2 miles south west of Castlewellan off the A25 road to Rathfriland.
Castlewellan Forest Park and Castlewellan Lake are situated to the northwest of the village. The Arboretum in the park was begun in 1740 and contains plants and trees from many different countries. The Peace Maze, the world's largest permanent hedge maze according to Guinness World Records, was constructed in the park between 2000 and 2001. The lake plays host to the Irish University Rowing Championships and Queen's Regatta annually in April.
Castlewellan Castle, a Scottish baronial castle of 1856, overlooks the lake and the park. Nowadays the castle is used as a christian conference centre, and is not generally open to the public.
Maginns Bar and Bistro. Pub known nationwide for its unique personallity and hospitality

[edit] History

[edit] The Troubles

For more information see The Troubles in Castlewellan, which includes a list of incidents in Castlewellan during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities.

[edit] People

The Irish writer Séamus Ó Néill was born here in 1910.
The actress Greer Garson was born here in 1904.
Footballer Joe Toner is from here.

[edit] Sport

Castlewellan GAC is based in the village.

[edit] 2001 Census

Castlewellan is classified as an intermediate settlement by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 2,250 and 4,500 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 2,392 people living in Castlewellan. Of these:

29.8% were aged under 16 and 13.8% were aged 60 and over
49.4% of the population were male and 50.6% were female
92.1% were from a Catholic background and 6.6% were from a Protestant background
4.8% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service