Lawrencetown, County Down

Lawrencetown or Laurencetown is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits on the River Bann, along the main road between the towns of Banbridge and Portadown. It is within the parish of Tullylish and covers the townlands of Knocknagore and Drumnascamph. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 629 people. In Irish, it is known as Baile Labhráis.

Places of interest

• Lawrencetown House, close to the village, was built before 1834 and features a walled garden and extensive lawns stretching to the River Bann.

2001 Census

Lawrencetown is classified as a small village or hamlet by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e. with population between 500 and 1,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 629 people living in Lawrencetown. Of these:

• 24.6% were aged under 16 years and 16.7% were aged 60 and over
• 50.4% of the population were male and 49.6% were female
• 87.4% were from a Catholic background and 12.1% were from a Protestant background
• 3.1% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

People

• John Butler Yeats (1839-1922), an Irish artist and the father of William Butler Yeats and Jack Butler Yeats was born here.
• Lawrencetown was also the birthplace of William Dawson Lawrence (1817-1886), a successful shipbuilder, businessman and politician in Canada, who is reported to have built the largest wooden ship in the world in 1874.

Education

• St. Colman's Primary School

Sport

• Lawrencetown is home to Tullylish GAA club, which was formed in July 1944 and originally called 'Saint Patrick's GAA club'.

See also

• List of villages in Northern Ireland
• List of towns in Northern Ireland

External links

• John Butler Yeats
• Tullylish GAA Club