Crossgar

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Crossgar (in Irish: An Chrois Ghearr, ie the short cross) is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland, approximately 15 miles south of Belfast in Northern Ireland on the main A7 road between Saintfield and Downpatrick. It is about 5 miles south of Saintfield and in the 19th century was a small hamlet. Crossgar has a good selection of pubs and restaurants and also boasts a fine nine-hole golf course. It had a population of 1,539 people in the 2001 Census. Crossgar is situated in the Down District Council area.

1 Demographics
2 Places of interest
3 People
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Demographics

Crossgar is classified as a village by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 1,539 people living in Crossgar. Of these:

23.8% were aged under 16 and 18.6% were aged 60 and over
49.2% of the population were male and 50.8% were female
60.0% were from a Catholic background and 38.2% were from a Protestant background
2.4% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

[edit] Places of interest

Situated in the village is the famous Ulster Wildlife Centre, run by the Ulster Wildlife Trust [1] and which is situated in a Victorian walled garden in the grounds of Tobar Muire Monastery (owned by the Passionist missionary order). Sir David Attenborough opened the Wildlife Centre in 1992 and the Trust is a charity to promote conservation in its natural habitat in Northern Ireland. Also situated in the same grounds is a huge Victorian conservatory with vines that were planted as far back as the last century.
The Market House is currently unused, missing its clock and boarded up.

[edit] People

The James Martin Memorial Stone is located in The Square in Crossgar and is maintained by Down District Council. Sir James Martin, who hailed from Crossgar, was born on 11 September 1893, and died on 5 January 1981, was awarded for services to Engineering an OBE in 1950 and a CBE in 1957. He is famous as the inventor of the Ejector seat for aircraft. A three foot high stone has been erected in his memory.