Qualla: Ballyhornan https://qualla.com/ballyhornan en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/h/ballyhornan-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Ballyhornan https://qualla.com/ballyhornan Ballyhornan: Introduction https://qualla.com/ballyhornan/ Photo credit Wickedwritah, CC BY-SA 3.0. The bus from Downpatrick still ends at Cable Bar. That is what tells you what Ballyhornan is now, and what it used to be. Ballyhornan, from the Irish Baile an Eoirna, the townland of the barley, sits along the Irish Sea coast roughly ten miles from Downpatrick. Its population, in the 2021 census, was 455. There are no shops here, no school, no doctor. There is a pub, a community centre, a nature reserve, and an undersea cable that runs from the shore across to the Isle of Man. The BBC once called Ballyhornan County Down's lost village, and the name has stuck, partly because it is unfair and partly because it is not.

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Image: Wickedwritah | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/h/ballyhornan-wp/gcsh-ballyhornan-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Ballyhornan: The Airbase Years https://qualla.com/ballyhornan/ Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. Most of Ballyhornan's modern housing was not built for the village. It was built for the airmen at RAF Bishopscourt, the radar station that opened during the Second World War and stayed active until 1990. Killard Square, the rows of housing strung out along the road, were quarter...

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/h/ballyhornan-wp/gcsh-ballyhornan-the-airbase-years.mp3 0:06 2 full Ballyhornan: The Cable and the Bar https://qualla.com/ballyhornan/ Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cable Bar takes its name from what runs out into the sea here. The undersea telecom cable that connects the County Down coast to the Isle of Man comes ashore at the Cable House in Ballyhornan, and the bar across the road has carried the name long enough that nobody quite remember...

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/h/ballyhornan-wp/gcsh-ballyhornan-the-cable-and-the-bar.mp3 0:06 3 full Ballyhornan: Killard Point https://qualla.com/ballyhornan/ Photo credit Caoilinn259, CC BY-SA 4.0. A mile north of the village, along Killard Road, the land falls away to the sea at Killard Nature Reserve, run by the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The recorded history of the site goes back to 1403. Over the centuries it has been a hu...

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Image: Caoilinn259 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/h/ballyhornan-wp/gcsh-ballyhornan-killard-point.mp3 0:06 4 full Ballyhornan: The Saint and the Townland https://qualla.com/ballyhornan/ Photo credit Irishdeltaforce, CC BY-SA 3.0. The name itself has two readings, and both belong to Ballyhornan. The more popular explanation traces it to Baile Uí Chornáin, the townland of Ó Cornáin, naming the place for a family that once held the ground. More recent placename research argues for Baile Torannan, Toranan's t...

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Image: Irishdeltaforce | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/h/ballyhornan-wp/gcsh-ballyhornan-the-saint-and-the-townland.mp3 0:06 5 full