Kilbride, County Down
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Kilbride
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 Coastal inlet south of Corbet Head in Kilbride | |
  Kilbride Location within Northern Ireland  Kilbride Location within County Down  Kilbride Kilbride (County Down) | |
| Irish grid reference | J496438 |
| District |
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| County |
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| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DOWNPATRICK |
| Postcode district | BT30 |
| Dialling code | 028 |
| UK Parliament |
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| NI Assembly |
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(ruins of a windmill in the background)
Kilbride (Irish: Cill Bhríde, meaning '(Saint) Brigid’s church') is a townland located south of Downpatrick in County Down, Northern Ireland. It covers approximately 1.4 km2 (335.96 acres).[1] The townland lies within the civil parish of Bright and the historic barony of Lecale Upper.[2]
The townland is historically associated with the site of an early church. The church is recorded as Kilbride in Lethcathel in a charter dated 1168 (commonly referred to as the Dower Charter), and as Capella de Kilbride in the Papal Taxation of circa 1306 (Ecclesiastical Taxation, entry 34).[3] According to an Inquisition held in the third year of Edward VI and the Terrier of ecclesiastical property, the church of Kilbride, with an annual value of 53 shillings and 4 pence, was appropriated to the Priory of Regular Canons of Down. Under the charter of James I, it was annexed to the Deanery of Down under the name Kilbriditche.[3]
The church was located in a field known locally as "the Church Park," approximately three-quarters of a mile southwest of Killough. It was demolished in 1830, and no structural remains survive. However, an ancient tombstone bearing a carved cross was preserved and incorporated into a nearby stile. Writing in 1878, historian James O’Laverty noted that stone-lined graves had been discovered around the site, indicating the presence of a substantial cemetery, which had since been brought under cultivation.[4]
