On 10 October 2024 the chairman of Bangor Historical Society welcomed Peter Gibson as our speaker. Peter has done much to promote knowledge of the history of Groomsport through the group called ‘Discover Groomsport’. Its website (www.discovergroomsport.com) contains a digital archive on the village with old photographs and articles on its history.

He began by explaining that Groomsport owes its existence to the fact that it is a sheltered port. Among those who exploited this were the Vikings. It was said a Viking longship could enter the harbour even at low tide. Archaeologists think that some of the stones of the harbour may date from Viking times.

The speaker then turned to events of the early seventeenth century. Con O’Neill got into trouble with the authorities. He received a pardon, but he lost two-thirds of his land. The beneficiaries were two Scots. Hugh Montgomery got one-third, while James Hamilton got the third which included Bangor and Groomsport. Both men encouraged their fellow Scots to settle in north Down. There were disagreements between the two men and so Hamilton commissioned Thomas Raven to produce maps of his lands about 1625. These survive and are displayed in the North Down Museum. One of these depicts the townland of Groomsport with the village on the shore of the then Carrickfergus Lough.

Many of the new arrivals from Scotland were Presbyterians and their ministers arrived with them. They held services in the buildings of the Church of Ireland. By the early 1630s things began to change. Archbishop Laud decreed that the Presbyterians were no longer to be tolerated. Local Presbyterians decided to leave for America. They contacted the Massachusetts Bay Company which welcomed their voyage.

In September 1636 more than 100 Presbyterians set off for America. Their journey in the Eagle Wing started in Belfast Lough, traditionally from Groomsport. This was a late time in the year for sailing across the Atlantic, but the departure had been delayed so that the travellers could attend the funeral of Hugh Montgomery on the 8th. The ship reached about two-thirds of the way to America, but then encountered very stormy weather. The four minsters on the ship concluded that God must be against their endeavour and so they decided to sail back. Some then returned to Scotland.

By the late 17th century the Hamiltons had transferred the lands of Groomsport to the Maxwell family, who were still associated with the area in the early 20th century. By then they were known as the Perceval-Maxwells due to their property passing down the female line.

Peter then mentioned the tradition that William III’s general, Schomberg, landed at Groomsport in 1689 bringing troops to support William’s cause in Ireland. There is some dispute about where the landing actually took place. Ballyholme Bay in Bangor has been suggested as it would have provided a better anchorage for a large fleet.

We were then treated to a tour of some of the more interesting buildings of the village. The Watch House was built by the Preventive Water Guard in 1821 to combat smuggling on the North Down coast. The Cockle Row cottages are probably seventeenth century fisherman’s cottages. They are the lone survivors of the redevelopment of the village in the 1960s. They were saved from demolition by the Rev David Irwin and his wife who saw what was happening to them when they were walking nearby.

The boathouse was designed by the famous architect Lanyon. In the 1850s there were many shipwrecks and so the RNLI put a lifeboat at the harbour. It remained there until 1920 and saved a number of lives. Landing at the harbour, however, was difficult in stormy weather. Indeed in 1897 the lifeboat had to be transported overland to Bangor and launched from there. An old photograph shows it leaving Bangor harbour. Ultimately Donaghadee provided a safer base for the lifeboat.

Groomsport House dates from the late 1840s. It provided a summer house for the Maxwell family after they moved their main residence to Finnebrogue, outside Downpatrick. During the war it was used by an American army photographic unit. During the second half of the nineteenth century schools, churches and halls were all built in the village. One notable Presbyterian minister was the Rev Isaac Mack who built the church and school as well as the Dufferin Villas at Ballyholme.