An important part of Sir James Hamilton’s estate in 1606, this coastal village with popular sandy beaches attracts visitors all year round.
When it was built in the 1200s, Whitechurch (also known as Alba Ecclesia – which translates as both ‘White Church’ or ‘Scots Church’) was one of the biggest churches in County Down.
Today some stone coffin-lids of its Anglo-Norman founders can be still be seen.
The gravestones include that of John Cooper,originallyof Kilwinning in Ayrshire, who settled with his family at nearby Ballyhaskin. One of the first Scots to settle here, he died in 1608 aged 92.
Thomas Makie, an early 17th-century Burgess of Stranraer also lies here.Look out for the 1798 Rebellion gravestones of David and Hugh Maxwell, James Kain and William Stuart, all killed on the attack on Newtownards Market House.
In 1623 King James I granted James Hamilton permission to build a harbour which is still in daily use by small pleasure boats and local fishermen as they land crubins (large edible crabs), lobsters in creels, and line-caught fish.
In 1626 Hamilton’s nephew Rev James Hamilton became the first Presbyterian
minister on the Ards Peninsula – a date stone can be seen on the community centre in Main Street. A stone bearing the date 1644 can be seen at Whitechurch – this was the year in which the Solemn League and Covenant was signed here.
Ballywalter has many brown heritage street signs which recall the original Ulster-Scotsstreet names around the village. The main street is dominated by the Presbyterian Church, built in 1889, with the smaller Parish Church built in 1849.
Ballywalter Park (private property) is the seat of Lord and Lady Dunleath. The estate
was bought in 1846 by Andrew Mulholland, from a Belfast Ulster-Scots merchant family.
