History of the Comber Area

A Background Briefing

"Domhnac Combuir", "Kill Combuir", "Comar" and "Cumber" are all earlier titles to a community settlement which grew around the junction of two rivers - the Enler and the Glen. The settlement nestles at the north western tip of Strangford Lough in County Down. In fact the names all reach down through the mists of time to the early Irish descriptions of a river confluence, and the presence of a church or abbey. Nomads arrived here 8,000 years ago to settle in the fertile land and river valleys where fishing, hunting and vegetation were in abundance. Comber is rich in archaeological history where many stone, iron and bronze age implements have been unearthed. Early burial grounds - or cists - have also been found in the river areas, and megaliths and standing stones from these periods are still with us today.

By the time of Christ, Celtic invaders from western Europe had reached the area, and evidence of large settlements can still be found on nearby Scrabo Hill. In AD 432 St. Patrick arrived, and Comber`s first abbey was established by the Celts. It flourished until the Vikings destroyed it in 1031. The English Normans under John de Courcy came along in 1177, and remains of their mottes and strongholds are found around Comber.
1199 heralded a major date in the town`s chronology. At this time a new Cistercian abbey was built on the site of the present Church of Ireland parish church in the Square - close to the confluence of the rivers. The abbey flourished, and provided employment and some means of existence to the gathering population. However, by 1543 King Henry VIII, in dispute with the Catholic Church, sacked the monasteries, and Comber`s abbey fell into ruin.

The Montgomeries and Hamiltons came from Scotland with their followers in 1606, and part of the Cistercian abbey was repaired as a church in 1610. Two men in Montgomery`s forces were surnamed "Andrew", and were the first recorded here in the family tree of the well known Andrews of Comber - an extremely enterprising strain - who brought great employment and prosperity to the town in the form of milling, bleaching, distilling etc., and in 1864, flax spinning which was carried out in the famous Andrews` Mill on the Ballygowan Road. The mill employed almost 900 workers, but in later years, against man
made fibres and textiles, the labour force fell to approx. 200. Sadly the mill closed in 1997, ending 133 years of service.

Gillespie`s Monument in The Square is dedicated to Sir Robert Rollo Gillespie KCB (right). He was a famous soldier in the Dragoons who pursued swashbuckling adventures and dairing raids in Europe and the Far East before being mortally wounded at Kalunga in Nepal in 1814. In his dying breath he is claimed to have shouted to his troops, "One shot more for the honour of Down!". The 55ft high monument was built and dedicated in 1845 by Freemasons from all over Ireland.

There were two distilleries in the town, the "Upper" and the "Lower" dating back to at least 1761. They merged under a new owner John Miller in 1860. At this time there were 9 pubs in the town, and "Old Comber Whiskey" was much famed. It still shows up even yet despite being last stilled in 1956. As a collector`s item it now has it`s price!

Since the Plantation period Comber quickly became a substantial manufacturing and commercial centre. It provided education, banking and other professional services, and was a stage-coach centre before the advent of the railway which arrived in 1850 - and coincidentally closed exactly 100 years later! Comber railway station was at the top of Mill Street on a high embankment overlooking the North Down Pub. The only remaining relic of the railway in Comber today is the goods shed, now very thoughtfully preserved in the form of Comber`s Fire Station.

Two famous heroes of Comber were soldiers of WWI, Capt. George James Bruce, and Lt. Edmond De Wind, who were both "brave beyond the call of duty". De Wind was awarded a posthumous VC, and a captured German field gun was presented to Comber to symbolise his bravery when the town`s war memorial was erected in 1923. Regrettably the gun was cut up for the WW2 effort in 1940.

Street names in Comber perpetuate our history. "Bruce Avenue" and "De Wind Drive" for reasons just mentioned. "Castle Street" and "Castle Lane" once led to a mansion house or castle built by Montgomery in 1622. "Mill Street" passed Andrews` corn mills, and "Windmill Hill" leads to the site of the windmill where the Non Subscribing Presbyterian Church now stands. "Killinchy Street" was once named "Market Street" due to the market house and large market fairs held there every Tuesday. "High Street" led to an abattoir, and was originally called "Coo Vennel" or "Cow Lane" with the early Scottish influence. "Railway Street" reminds us of the trains that once ran alongside it on their way to Ballygowan.

Today Comber`s population is around 10,000 and continues to grow. Luckily it retains a great deal of its past, particularly around The Square where buildings and layout have, in some certain cases, hardly changed in centuries! However, housing has mushroomed on the outside due to our proximity to Belfast just 8 miles to the north-west. As a result of the enlarging population in the local area the rush hour traffic had become a massive problem, choking the town with cars, lorries and buses. It was with great satisfaction to finally see the Comber bypass completed in 2004!