NEWTOWNARDS (pron. Newtondrds)  , a market town of Co . Down, Ireland, beautifully situated near the northern extremity of Strangford Lough, on a branch of the Belfast and Co . Down railway, 91 M . E. of Belfast . Pop . (1901) 9110 . The town is sheltered by the Scrabo Hills on the west and north, and possesses a fine square, in which the pedestal of an ancient cross was erected in 1636 . Muslin embroidery is the principal industry . There are also mills for flax and hemp yarns, a weaving factory and a hosiery factory . The remains of the old church, originally erected in 1244, contain. good Perpendicular work, and the family vault of the Londonderrys; there are also the parish church and Presbyterian church, with lofty spires, and a Roman Catholic chapel . In the neighbourhood there are freestone quarries . The town owes its origin to a Dominican monastery founded in 1244 by Walter de Burgh .

It was forfeited by the O'Neills, and given to the Hamiltons and Montgomeries, from whom it passed to the

marquess of Londonderry . It received a charter from James I., and until the Union in 1800 returned two members to parliament.' The ruined abbey of Moville, r k m . N.E., is the most notable of the many ecclesiastical remains in the neighbourhood . It is attributed to St Finian (c . 550) .