St Mary’s Parish Church Comber Walking Guide visitstrangfordlough.co.uk 1 St Mary’s Parish Church 6 First Comber and Non Subscribing Please note that this map is not 2 The Gillespie Monument Presbyterian Churches to scale and is for reference only Comber 3 Comber & District War Memorial 7 Comber Spinning Mill 4 The Georgian House 8 Andrews Memorial Hall Map 5 Aureen 9 North Down Cricket Club Comber Greenway 9 Castle Lane Newtownarsd R ao d Car Park & Leisure Centre Bridge S t Mill Street Car Park Cast le St reet 4 2 3 The C B Windmill Hill o e Square m l 1 fa 6 b s e t r R o 5 R a t iv e d e K e i n re i r L t l y S li e h n l ig c a H h yv y rr S e t h r C e e 7 t C 8 omb e r By psa s d oa R an w go ly al B Comber River Comber Walking Guide Historical Walking Trail of Comber, Co Down The main route consists of flat all times. The tour will last one concrete footpaths with pedestrian hour approximately which will crossing opportunities but there is one provide time for you to enjoy the steeper hill to climb going towards the tour. For your convenience, there Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church. are also public toilets and a wide Comber River Please be aware when crossing the range of cafes and restaurants road and keep an eye out for traffic at in Comber. We hope you enjoy learning more about the area. Be sure to look out for the other walking guides in the series. These can be downloaded from www.visitstrangfordlough.co.uk along with ideas on what to see and do in the area. We appreciate your comments and suggestions so please contact us via the website. Just to set the scene, let’s start with a little history about Comber Just to set the scene, the town This tour begins in the of Comber is located near the heart of Comber at the estuary of the Comber River. The Town Square, where name comes from the Irish, Comar, nestled in the corner meaning meeting place of the rivers. you will see St Mary’s Tradition relates how St Patrick Parish Church, came here but didn’t receive a the first point. warm welcome. He is said to have d a o built a church on the Plain of Elom, R n a w o possibly near the cricket green. This g y l l a B became part of a network of Celtic monasteries in the area. Pages 2 – 3 Let’s begin the walking trail St Mary’s Parish Church 1 St Mary’s Church, tucked in the corner, to funding. Also you may notice a a little further up from Tesco, stands on the headstone resting against the wall site of a Cistercian Abbey built in 1199. of the church in memory of Isaac It was of similar size and architecture to Meredith of Kilbreght who died in the one in Greyabbey and survived until 1723 at the ripe old age of 127! 1543 when it was closed by order of Henry Some one may have mischievously VIII. The present church dates from 1840. added in the 1. The interior of the church may be viewed in daylight Study the right-hand pillar of the hours and here you will see exhibited entrance gates which bears an interesting nineteen stones from Comber Abbey inscription. The names of Thomas Andrews under the care of the Northern Ireland and James Lemont, eighteenth century Environment Agency. Of major churchwardens, are legibly engraved importance is a monument to three into the upper stone. Pass through the members of the York Fencibles entrance and on your left you will see regiment killed at the Battle of the Andrews Mausoleum. It contains no Saintfield in 1798. They are Captain burials but is built over the tomb of the Chetwynd, Lieutenant Unite and ancestors of Thomas Andrews, Titanic’s Ensign Sparks. The minister of the architect. Read the inscriptions on the church at that time, Reverend Robert walls of the Mausoleum. It is in need of Mortimer, was also killed at the Battle. restoration and the Andrews family have plans to complete this work, subject The Gillespie Monument 2 The Square has long been a meeting sword, he killed six of them and the point for townspeople, a landmark for other two fled. In 1814, at the beginning visitors, and a haven for pedestrians of the Gurkha War, Gillespie led a seeking refuge from the surrounding column to attack a Nepalese hill fort traffic. Looming high above you, keeping at Kalunga. He was, unfortunately, shot a silent vigil atop an impressive 55ft through the heart and killed by a Gurkha column, is Comber’s hero general, Robert sharpshooter when just thirty yards Rollo Gillespie who fought in the armies from the fort, and the attack collapsed. of King George III against the French and His reputed last words, recorded on the their allies. Gillespie was born in Comber Monument, are “One shot more for the Square in 1766. Instead of following an honour of Down”. Gillespie received his academic career, he enlisted in the army, posthumous knighthood in the 1815 serving in the West Indies, India and New Years Honours list and his memorial Indonesia. Among his battles, listed on was unveiled on 24 June 1845. It is a the sides of the monument, are Tiburon, Masonic monument and some 30,000 Port-au-Prince, Fort Bizotten and Fort people witnessed its unveiling, including de L’Hopital. He was Adjutant-General representatives from a large number of of St. Domingo when eight men broke Masonic lodges. Masonic symbols are into his house. Armed only with his visible on the Monument. Comber Walking Guide St Mary’s Parish Church The Gillespie Monument Pages 4 – 5 Comber & District War Memorial 3 Located in the north-west corner of The the Canadian Expeditionary Force, later Square, this memorial commemorates the transferring to the 36th Ulster Division in sacrifice of the local soldiers who gave 1917. While being overrun by a German their lives fighting in the First World War. offensive, De Wind got out under heavy They include three brothers killed side by fire and cleared the enemy from his side at the Battle of the Somme – James, trench. He single-handedly held a post Samuel and John Donaldson, as well as against the Germans for around 7 hours Capt James Bruce and Lt Edmund de Wind at Racecourse Redoubt near Grougies in VC. The garden in the Square was laid out Picardy, continuing to repel attack after in 1952 as a memorial garden to locals attack until he was mortally wounded and who fought and died in the Second World collapsed. There is a plaque to his memory War. Their names can be found on the in St Mary’s Parish Church. After the end of pillars on the west side of the Square. the war a large German gun was presented to Comber in memory of de Wind and it ‘Brave beyond the call of duty’ was placed in the Square. The gun was Edmund de Wind was the only later taken apart to use for scrap metal in Comber man to win the Victoria Cross the Second World War and the inscribed (posthumously) in recognition of his plaques were removed. Today they can be valour and self-sacrifice. He was born in seen inside St Mary’s Church on the west 1883, the son of the chief engineer of the wall of the nave. Belfast & Co. Down Railway, but emigrated to Canada in 1911. There he enlisted in The Georgian House 4 The Square is largely Georgian in origin and you can observe the houses on the north side with sentry box doorways. An example is seen at the Ulster Bank. The Georgian House, located beside Horner’s Chemist is now a coffee shop and bistro but once was used as a bank. The building frontage dates to the mid 18th century, with rear extensions dating from 1840, most likely by a Dr Jonathan Allen. Horner’s chemist is located on the site of an old tannery which was owned by the Allen family. At a later date, traction engines were built on the site by James George Allen. As you walk along the path from the Square towards the car park you will note traces of the furnaces in the wall. Comber Walking Guide Aureen – The Hound Chasing the Hare 5 The house called Aureen which is on the Local stories suggest that this hunting opposite side of the Square from St scene was fashioned as a memorial to Mary’s Church was the home of John Master McGra, the famous greyhound Miller (1796-1883), a significant local belonging to Lord Lurgan, which won industrialist who by 1860 had taken over the Waterloo Cup, held in Liverpool. both the Upper and Lower Distilleries. The greyhound died of heart failure in Here he produced the famous Old 1871. John Miller was connected to Comber Whiskey until he sold the the Andrews family. He married Agnes business to Samuel Bruce in 1871. Pirrie, an aunt of William James (Lord) It is believed Miller created the cobbled Pirrie and Eliza Pirrie. In 1870, Thomas footpath outside the house and his name Andrews, father of the shipbuilder, is recorded here in white stone along married Eliza.