Town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Newtownabbey
Newtownabbey is a place name that was made up in the 1950s, stitched together from a string of villages along the northern edge of Belfast.
Key information
- County
- County Antrim
- Nation
- Northern Ireland
- Known for
- Belfast Lough shoreline, Mossley Mill, Carnmoney Hill and a former big university campus
About Newtownabbey
The town that was invented in 1958
Most towns grow slowly and collect their names along the way. Newtownabbey was assembled. In 1958 a run of villages and suburbs north of Belfast was brought together under a single new name, and the name was put together to match. The pieces were older and much better known locally: Whiteabbey on the lough shore, Glengormley on the main road out of Belfast, Carnmoney on its hill, plus Jordanstown, Monkstown, Mossley and Whitehouse. Many people still say they come from one of those, not from Newtownabbey itself. That's part of the charm. Ask for directions and you'll be told which village you're really in.
An abbey, a glen and a lost medieval friary
The names inside Newtownabbey carry the older story. Whiteabbey takes its name from a medieval abbey that once stood by the shore of Belfast Lough. Glengormley comes from the Irish Gleann Ghormlaithe, Gormlaith's glen. Whiteabbey became a popular spot in the 19th century, when villas and seaside homes went up along the lough and the railway made it an easy run from Belfast. It had a long later life as a hospital site, too, treating patients with tuberculosis when that was one of the great killers of the age. The lough itself is still the town's best front garden. Loughshore Park gives walkers and cyclists a flat run beside the water, with views across to Carrickfergus and the Co Down shore.
Linen, water and Mossley Mill
Long before the suburbs, this was mill country. The Three Mile Water drops from the Antrim hills towards Belfast Lough, and its fall powered the mills that turned flax into linen, the trade that made Ulster rich. Mossley Mill is the best-known survivor. The old linen mill was given a second life as a civic building, and its brick shell and tall mill chimney are still a landmark in the valley. It's a neat reminder that the quiet green parks and riverside paths here once ran to the clatter of industry.
Rathcoole and the post-war housing boom
Newtownabbey's population jumped in the decades after the Second World War as Belfast looked outwards for space. Rathcoole, built from the 1950s, was one of the big housing estates created to rehouse families from the crowded streets of the city. It gave the area a new, younger population, and the new name made sense: this wasn't a single old village any more but a fast-growing urban area on the northern edge of the city. The Troubles hit communities here hard, as they did across Northern Ireland, but the area's later chapters have been about regeneration, parks and shopping, with the Abbey Centre serving as one of the busiest retail spots on the north side of Belfast.
Hills, parks and a campus on the lough
For a place so close to Belfast, Newtownabbey has some surprisingly good views. Carnmoney Hill rises above Glengormley and gives walkers a wide look across the lough and the city. Hazelbank Park runs down to the water at Whiteabbey, handy for a picnic or a bracing stroll. Jordanstown gave the area one of its best-known institutions. The Jordanstown campus was for decades the main base of the University of Ulster, which was formed in 1984. Much of that university activity has since moved to Belfast city centre, but generations of students still know the name Jordanstown. Jordanstown is also known for its specialist school for children with sensory impairments, adding another educational name to a place whose villages punch above their weight.