Legamaddy

There is a small lake at the south-west corner of the townland, which may be the ‘hollow’ referred to in the place-name. Legamaddy was originally called Carrowmalt.{{cite book |last=O'Laverty |first=James |title=An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Ancient and Modern |date=1880 |publisher=M.H. Gill |location=Dublin |url=https://archive.org/stream/anhistoricalacc02olagoog/anhistoricalacc02olagoog_djvu.txt |access-date=4 March 2025}} It has also been recorded in deeds of 1729 and 1760 as Catrowmaltagh, to be otherwise Legamuddy, Liag-na-mnda, “the dog’s stone.”{{cite news |title=The mansion house of Erenagh, and the Hamilton Family |newspaper=Downpatrick Recorder |date=27 October 1860 |location=County Down, Northern Ireland |page=4 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=31 March 2025}}

It was owned by Thomas Cromwell, 3rd Earl of Ardglass, in 1669 and leased to Patrick Shane from 1637 to 1669, who then sublet it to William Hamilton Esq.{{cite web |title=Place Names: L |url=https://www.rosdavies.com/PLACENAMES/L.htm |website=Ros Davies' Co. Down, Ireland Genealogy Research Site |page=1066 |access-date=21 March 2025}} The name of this townland seems to have no recorded mention before 1710 when it had a slightly different spelling (Leggamaddy). In 1755 it was named Liggmaddy{{cite book |last=McKay |first=Patrick |title=Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names |publisher=Queen's University of Belfast |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-85389-896-2|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofulst0000mcka/page/94/mode/2up?q=legamaddy |access-date=21 March 2025}} and in 1868 it was known as Liggamaddy.{{cite news |title=General notice to claimants |newspaper=Downpatrick Recorder |date=15 February 1868 |location=County Down, Northern Ireland |page=4 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=31 March 2025}}

The population of Legamaddy in 1841 was 57.{{cite web |title=The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1846 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UZ1bAAAAQAAJ/page/43/mode/2up?q=legamaddy |website=Internet Archive |access-date=21 March 2025}}

St. Patrick's Legamaddy, erected in 1865 by Fr. Richard Killen, Parish Priest, celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2015. This church was built to replace the former church at Coniamstown, which dated back to before 1745.{{cite web |title=The Irish Monthly, 1887 |url=https://archive.org/details/irishmonthly15unkngoog/page/152/mode/2up?q=legamaddy |website=Internet Archive | date=1874 |access-date=21 March 2025}} The original Catholic chapel in Coniamstown was erected around 1745 and re-roofed and slated in 1796. By 1836, this chapel, described as having no seats but accommodating 400 people. It was replaced by the new church in Legamaddy townland with the foundation stone laid on August 27, 1862.

Following the Great Famine,{{cite web |url=https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~rosdavies/genealogy/WORDS/Famine.htm |title=The Famine in Co. Down, Ireland 1845-1850 |website=Ros Davies' Co. Down, Ireland Genealogy Research Site |access-date=26 March 2025}} the Catholic Church in Ireland, along with the diocese of Down and Connor, began revitalizing efforts to support and organize their congregation enabled by the Emancipation Act of 1829. Archbishop Paul Cullen of Armagh led these initiatives.{{cite book |last=Hoppen |first=K. Theodore |title=Elections, Politics, and Society in Ireland, 1832–1885 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=London |date=1984 |isbn=978-0-19-822630-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/electionspolitic0000hopp/page/n7/mode/2up?q=Paul+Cullen |access-date=31 March 2025}} The Great Famine had been a devastating blow, but with over a decade having passed, there was now momentum to establish new catholic churches as well as new primary and secondary schools. So it was in these times that Saint Patrick's Church was designed in the early Gothic style by architect Mr. John O'Neill from Belfast.{{cite web |title=Co. Down, Legamaddy, Church of St. Patrick (RC) |url=https://www.dia.ie/works/view/13397/building/Co.+Down%2C+Legamaddy%2C+Church+of+St.+Patrick+%28RC%29 |website=Dictionary of Irish Architects |access-date=21 March 2025}}{{cite thesis |last=Tracey |first=J J |year=1987 |title=A Dissertation on the Buildings of John O'Neill and O'Neill and Byrne Architects 1862-1883 |type=Master's Thesis (This thesis may be consulted at the Irish Architectural Archive) |publisher=Queen’s University |location=Belfast |page=72 |url=https://irisharchitecturalarchive.ie/visit/reading-room/}}{{cite web |title=John O'Neill |url=https://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4197/O%27NEILL-JOHN |website=Dictionary of Irish Architects |access-date=21 March 2025}} In addition to working on Legamaddy Church, where he was responsible for designing and preparing drawings and documentation for tendering, he was also actively involved in designing and preparing tender documents for the Church of St. Mary, Star of the Sea, in Whitehouse, Newtownabbey. A notice to builders regarding this project was published in the Belfast Morning News on Saturday, November 29, 1862.{{cite web |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&retrievalId=965931d1-0f53-44e9-8af6-b0b614ead625&hitCount=5&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm¤tPosition=5&docId=GALE%7CID3233845755&docType=Advertisement&sort=Pub+Date+Forward+Chron&contentSegment=ZBLF-MOD1&prodId=BNCN&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CID3233845755&searchId=R9&userGroupName=uq&inPS=true |title=Notice "To Builders" (top right of 6th column) |website=Gale |access-date=26 March 2025}}

File:The interior of St Patrick's Church, Legamaddy - geograph.org.uk - 2636688.jpg

The church's architectural elements include a long nave, square ended chancel, a clearly expressed sacristy, porches (on the north, south and western sides of the church).{{cite web |title=St. Patrick's RC Church, Legamaddy |url=https://stonedatabase.com/building/st-patricks-rc-church-legamaddy/ |website=Stone Database |access-date=21 March 2025}} The church also tower features a large, square, and squat tower with corner buttresses and a recessed pointed arch doorway. However, the tower remains incomplete due to insufficient foundations, which were unable to support the originally planned eighty-foot tower with an embattled parapet.

In front of the church stands a stone Celtic cross,{{cite web |url=https://parishofbright.net/ |title=Parish of Bright |website=Parish of Bright |access-date=26 March 2025}} commemorating the missions given by the Passionate Fathers in July 1870 and July 1885. The church with the storey and a half parochial house also has an adjoining graveyard, with the stone ruins of the former primary school still present nearby. The long axis of the church is oriented towards the road and its unfinished tower is positioned away from the entrance gate.

The site also includes a Mass rock where Catholics worshipped during Penal times. The priests in 1704 and 1768 were Rev. Seneca (or Jenkin) Smith and Rev. Magnus Grant, respectively.

The current site of St. Patrick's Primary School is located next door to the church. In 2014, the school was extended and refurbished to create a new learning environment for children from Primary 1 to Primary 7. The building includes seven classrooms with interactive whiteboards, a dedicated play-based learning area for younger pupils, and a fully resourced ICT suite with 12 computer workstations. Pupils also use iPads to support their learning and develop essential digital skills. The school grounds have separate play areas for younger and older pupils. A modular play system includes an outdoor classroom, musical instruments, a water wall, and a trim trail, all on a cushioned surface.{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.stpatrickspslegamaddy.com/our-school/about-us/ |website=St Patrick’s Primary School Legamaddy |access-date=14 May 2025}}

File:St Patrick's Parish Hall, Legamaddy - geograph.org.uk - 2636697.jpg

Adjacent to the church is a stone building which was formerly a primary school, also established by Fr. Richard Killen,{{cite web |title=Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, 1859 |url=https://archive.org/details/accountspapers0059unse_59/page/96/mode/2up?q=legamaddy |page=96 |website=Internet Archive | date=1875 |access-date=21 March 2025}} which now serves as the parish hall and dates back to 1837. Samuel Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, described it as "a school of about 80 boys and 50 girls, for which a school-house in the churchyard was built by subscription; also a pay school, in which are about 20 boys and 20 girls"."{{cite web |title=Bright, a parish - Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) |url=https://www.libraryireland.com/topog/B/Bright-Lecale-Down.php |website=Library Ireland |access-date=21 March 2025}}

In 1883, there were 158 pupils enrolled in the school with an average daily attendance of 64 (86 boys & 72 girls).{{cite web |title=Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, 1830-1840 |url=https://archive.org/details/op1251779-1001/page/406/mode/2up?q=legamaddy |page=406 |website=Internet Archive | date=1884 |access-date=21 March 2025}} By 1892 there were only 64 pupils enrolled in the school with an average daily attendance of just 37 (all were boys).{{cite web |title=Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, 1830-1840 |url=https://archive.org/details/op1253060-1001/page/460/mode/2up?q=legamaddy |page=460 |website=Internet Archive | date=1894 |access-date=21 March 2025}} The school originally featured a one-room design, typical of that era in Ireland, and was heated by a pot belly stove. Over the years, it was converted into three separate classrooms.

• Reality TV star Matthew McNabb attended Legamaddy Primary School.{{cite web |title=DWTS couple Matthew MacNabb and Laura Nolan visit Downpatrick primary school |url=https://www.sundayworld.com/showbiz/irish-showbiz/dwts-couple-matthew-macnabb-and-laura-nolan-visit-downpatrick-primary-school/41480204.html |website=Sunday World |access-date=20 March 2025}}{{cite web |title=Reality TV star Matthew visits ex-primary school |url=http://www.thedownrecorder.co.uk/pages/?title=Reality_TV_star_Matthew_visits_ex-primary_school |website=Down Recorder |access-date=20 March 2025}}
• County Down GAA Senior Football Championship final winners 1994 team member Richard Starkey attended Legamaddy Primary School.{{cite web |url=https://inpho.ie/app/WebObjects/Shop.woa/3/wo/5RZBAzVhWBIEVBGJfiuRJ0/0.0.27.7.16.2?Search=00002113%3ARichard+Starkey+Down+Football+1995&0.27.7.16.2.3=SEARCH+IMAGES&wosid=5RZBAzVhWBIEVBGJfiuRJ0 |title=Richard Starkey Down Football 1995 |website=Inpho Photography |access-date=20 March 2025}}
• Teacher and author John McGrath was headmaster of Legamaddy Primary School.{{cite web |url=http://www.thedownrecorder.co.uk/pages/index.asp?title=Mr_John_McGrath |title=Mr John McGrath |website=The Down Recorder |access-date=20 March 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://parishofbright.net/ |title=Parish of Bright |website=Parish of Bright |access-date=20 March 2025}}

Legamaddy House was originally owned by the Southwell Estate in 1752.{{cite web |title=Southwell, Edward |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/southwell-edward-a8198 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=21 March 2025}} It was later bought by the Ker family in 1835, and as of 1886, it was the residence of John Hutton.{{cite web |title=Thom's Official Directory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1884 |url=https://archive.org/details/vol1884thomsoffi00unse/page/1066/mode/2up?q=legamaddy |website=Internet Archive |access-date=21 March 2025}}

Townlands that border Legamaddy include:{{cite web |title=Down civil parishes (map of Bright townlands) |url=https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/county_civil.php?county=Down |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=John Grenham }}{{cite web |title=PlacenamesNI.org - Legamaddy, County Down (Northern Ireland Place-Name Project, Tionscadal Logainmneacha, Thuaisceart Eirann)|url=https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/9b31e0501b744154b4584b1dce1f859b/page/Place-Name-Info#data_s=id%3AdataSource_1-PlaceNames_Gazeteer_No_Global_IDs_7367%3A70570%2Cid%3AdataSource_1-PlaceNames_Gazeteer_No_Global_IDs_9110%3A471%2Cid%3AdataSource_1-PlaceNames_Gazeteer_No_Global_IDs_3734%3A17946 |website=ArcGIS Experience |access-date=21 March 2025}}

• Ballydargan to the south
• Ballylucas to the west
• Ballynewport to the west
• Ballynoe to the north
• Carrowbane to the east
• Coniamstown to the east
• Whigamstown to the east

Image:The tower of St Patrick's Chapel, Legamaddy - geograph.org.uk - 2636692.jpg|The tower of St Patrick's Chapel, Legamaddy (2011)

Image:Carrowbane Road east of Legamaddy Chapel - geograph.org.uk - 2636654.jpg|Carrowbane Road east of Legamaddy Chapel (2011)

Image:The Ballynoe Road at Legamaddy - geograph.org.uk - 2636705.jpg|The Ballynoe Road at Legamaddy (2011)

Image:The grave yard of St Patrick's Catholic Chapel, Legamaddy - geograph.org.uk - 2636695.jpg|The grave yard of St Patrick's Catholic Chapel, Legamaddy (2011)

Image:View westwards towards Legamaddy Catholic Chapel - geograph.org.uk - 2636622.jpg|View towards Legamaddy Catholic Chapel (2011)

• List of townlands in County Down

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Category:Townlands of County Down

Category:Civil parish of Bright