•  Bryansford, County Down

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In 1837, Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland described Bryansford like this:

BRYANSFORD, a village, in the parish of KILCOO, barony of UPPER IVEAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 2 ½ miles (S.) from Castlewellan; containing 185 inhabitants. This village, which is situated on the road from Newry to Newcastle, contains about 30 houses neatly built, chiefly in the Elizabethan style, the gardens in front of which give it a comfortable and rural appearance, and the surrounding scenery is agreeably diversified. ...

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Tollymore Park, the seat of the Earl of Roden, is a beautiful residence situated in extensive grounds embellished with some of the finest larch trees in the country; it is approached by three noble entrances, called respectively the barbican, the central, and the hilltown; the central entrance from the village is through a very lofty archway, and in the lodge is kept a book for entering the names of visiters; the grounds are always open to the public. There is a good inn and posting-house, with every accommodation for families.

The parish church of Kilcoo, a spacious edifice with a lofty embattled tower, is situated in the village; and at a short distance to the north of it is a R. C. chapel, belonging to the union of Bryansford or Lower Kilcoo; it is a neat edifice in the later English style, erected in 1831 at an expense of £900, on a site given by the Earl of Roden. A school for boys, built in 1826, is supported by the same nobleman; and adjoining it is a circulating library also maintained by the Earl and gratuitously open to all the people of the village: there is a female school, built in 1822 and supported wholly by the Countess of Roden.—See KILCOO.

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