Gazetteer of
British Place Names

Castlereagh is a village and a neighbouring urban area in County Down. The village lies within the townland of Castlereagh, in the civil parish of Knockbreda. The village lies along the main north-south road in Castlereagh townland. Castlereagh Presbyterian Church was built around 1835 to designs by John Millar in the Greek-revival style with a bell tower, on the site of an earlier church. The village school house dates from 1858. A supposed site of Conn O’Neill's "Grey Castle", from which the townland is named, is at the northern end of the village. Castlereagh was also the name of a local government rural district from 1901-1973 and a district, later borough, from 1973-2015. This covered a much larger area than the townland and the name is sometimes used to refer to this larger area. Notably, the townlands of Lisnasharragh, Cregagh, Ballymaconaghy, Carnamuck and Braniel were all rural areas in 1901 and put under Castlereagh Rural District Council. From the mid 20th century these areas, along with the northern end of Castlereagh townland, became urban areas contiguous with the south-eastern Belfast suburbs. This urban area was often known as part of Castlereagh and remains so, despite having been put into the Belfast council area in 2015. The village is within the council area of Lisburn and Castlereagh and Belfast.

Place Type: Village
Historic County: Down
Lat, Long: 54.566234,-5.874996
Grid Reference: J 3749 7073
Townland: Castlereagh TD
Civil Parish: Knockbreda CP
Council Area: Lisburn and Castlereagh / Belfast CA
Police Area: Northern Ireland PA
Devolved Legislature:  Northern Ireland Assembly

GBPN ID: 321842
Entry Type: Main listing (P)
URL: https://gazetteer.org.uk/place/Castlereagh,_Down_321842

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