Ballywalter

Ballywalter ( and Walter) is a village or townland (of 437 acres) and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the east (Irish Sea) coast of the Ards Peninsula between Donaghadee and Ballyhalbert. Ballywalter was formerly known as Whitkirk as far back as the 12th century. It had a population of 2,027 people in the 2011 census. Etymology The name of the village is derived from the Irish Baile Bhaltair meaning Walter's townland. This may have been a gaelicisation of Walter(s)ton. The name Walter was common among the Anglo-Normans who began to arrive in Ireland in the late 1100s. The taxation of Pope Nicholas IV known as Taxatio Ecclesiastica and compiled in 1291-1292 refers to Rector ville Walteri de Logan, i.e. ‘the rector of Walter-de-Logan’s town’. Places of interest On the northern edge of Ballywalter is the townland of Whitechurch (which has been translated as Whitkirk in Ulster Scots). Within this townland is the Whitechurch graveyard, an important burial place. The oldest gravestone is to John Cooper who had emigrated from Scotland to Ireland in 1606. He died aged 90 in 1608. The graveyard also contains the graves of several United Irishmen who were killed in a battle in Newtownards in 1798. Inside the church, there is a headstone to Arthur Lusks who sailed around the world in 1753 with George Anson. On the southern edge of the village is Ballywalter Park, open to the public by appointment. The house is the ancestral seat of The 6th Baron Dunleath. The park plays host to the Northern Ireland Game Fair, which has attracted nearly 40,000 people over a single weekend. Ballywalter Park is a Grade A listed stately home, deemed to be of exceptional architectural importance.