Launch of Lecale Review No.23 (2025)will take place on Thursday 23rd October 2025
The launch of the 23rd Lecale Review, the annual journal of the Lecale & Downe Historical Society, will take place in Down County Museum on Thursday 23 October at 7.30pm.
Following twenty editions of its forerunner Lecale Miscellany (which was edited by Mr Albert Colmer), the Lecale Review was first published in 2001 by the Lecale Historical Society, with Dr Brian Turner and Mr Gordon Wheeler as its editors.
The publication has proved to be a celebration of local scholarship and memory, detailing significant figures and events in the history of Lecale and County Down.
Documenting the past means promoting our local history and environment. The trustees of the Society are grateful for the impressive contributions to this year’s Review and the commitment of the editorial committee, which consists of Pamela Cooper, Patricia Cross, Ken Dawson, Sheila Duff and Colm Rooney.
This year’s journal contains an eclectic mix of articles by a range of well-known local historians.
You will read about Judge Michael Ward of Castleward, a shipwreck off the coast of Tyrella with likely links to the horrors of the slave trade, a consideration of the origin of some common and not so common Christian names and the initial findings of the recent archaeological excavations at Erenagh.
Other articles discuss a nineteenth century dispute among the Presbyterian congregation in Clough, the renowned antiquarian JW Hanna and the Downpatrick diarist, Aynsworth Pilson, one of whose anecdotal accounts of County Down life from the Downpatrick Recorder in 1854 is reproduced in full.
Two of the longer pieces will be of particular interest to many in the local community. Fifteen-year-old Conn Lavery has produced a fascinating article on a cist – a stone-built box grave – in the townland of Carrickinabb.
Dr Dónal McAnallen’s meticulously researched piece on John McKay from the townland of Cargagh, a joint founder of the GAA, will be of significant interest. It is an inspiring tale of historical reclamation and a fulfilling journey for McKay’s living descendants.
The Lecale Review is free to existing paid up members of the Lecale & Downe Historical Society, and it is hoped that as many members as possible will be able to attend the launch. Visitors are also welcome, during which the Lecale Review can be purchased at a cost of £12.
The Museum’s doors will be open from 6.45pm to allow members to pick up their copy of the journal and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee while catching up with old and new friends.
The Chair of the Lecale & Downe Historical Society Mr Ken Dawson has welcomed the 23rd annual Lecale Review and commended the research, originality and generosity of the contributors. He said: “For many years the stories of our home place have been told in ways that strengthen the sense of community.
“The history of families and places continues to be told many years after the earliest journals were produced. It is a wonderful legacy.”
Ken Dawson added that the telling of the history of Lecale would not have been possible but for the existence of the first class Heritage Gallery in Downpatrick Library and the outstanding support that researchers have received there over many years.
“The county would be impoverished in so many ways without this facility.
:Recent uncertainty about future provision undermines the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the people and places in this area that we call home.”
Members of the LDHS and visitors are asked to arrive early for the launch on the 23rd so that proceedings can start promptly at 7.30pm.
