Comber

Coordinates: 54°32′38″N 5°44′06″W / 54.544°N 5.735°W / 54.544; -5.735

Comber (from Irish: An Comar, meaning "the confluence") is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies 5 miles south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of Castlereagh Lower. Comber is part of the Borough of Ards. It is also known for Comber Whiskey which was last distilled in 1953. A notable native was Thomas Andrews, the designer of the RMS Titanic and was among the many who went down with her. It had a population of 9,078 people in the 2011 Census.

History

The confluence of two rivers, which gave the town its name, is that of the Glen River and the Enler River which meet here. There is believed to have been a church here since the time of St Patrick, while a Cistercian abbey was founded around 1200 on the site of the present Church of Ireland church, a site likely chosen to take advantage of the good access to Strangford Lough. After Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1541, the abbey fell into ruins and its stone has since been used in other buildings.

Comber (civil parish)

Comber (from Irish: An Comar, meaning "the confluence") is a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is mainly situated in the historic barony of Castlereagh Lower, with a small portion in the barony of Castlereagh Upper.

Settlements

Settlements within Comber civil parish include:

Townlands

Comber civil parish contains the following 43 townlands: (Most of the 43 townlands are in the barony of Castlereagh Lower, but 2 townlands (Clontonakelly and Crossnacreevy) are in the barony of Castlereagh Upper.)

Comber (fish)

Comber (Serranus cabrilla), is a species of fish in the family Serranidae.

It lives in the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Atlantic coast from the British Isles to the Cape of Good Hope, including the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. The habitat are rocky or sandy sounding-deeps at depths of 0–200 metres (0–656 ft). Size can vary from 5–25 centimetres (2.0–9.8 in) in normal individual to up to 40 cm (16 in).

The comber feeds on other fish, cephalopods and crustaceans.

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