Edited by Adrian G. Hanna. "GI0SMU" Please bookmark this page .
COMBER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
WELCOME
COMBER HISTORICAL SOCIETY (CHS)
Welcome to the Website of Comber Historical Society. The Society was formed in 2000 and aims to preserve and record information relating to Comber and to make it available to all those with an interest in our town. Whether you are interested in the history of the town, its people, places and events - or want to learn more about Comber as it is today, there will be something on the site for everybody. Please do get in touch with any comments and we'd be delighted to receive any old photographs or information you may have about Comber. This site will be regularly updated so please keep visiting and click on "reload" to refresh the page.
Latest
This web site is undergoing a serious update and division into two parts.
Part 1. Is this page with components which are not strictly relevant will be stripped out and placed into a new page which can be accessed by simply clicking anywhere on this blue box.
Part 2. The new page is where you will find everything stripped out of this the original page.
You will find the following:-
HOW YOU MAY CONTRIBUTE
IMPORTANT CONTACT NOTE FROM THE WEB EDITOR
OFFICERS of COMBER HISTORICAL SOCIETY for the current year
INTRODUCING COMBER
IN MEMORIAM to past members.
CONTACTING US
OTHER INFORMATION
Naturally these changes must meet with the approval of the CHS committee and based upon the feedback from you the membership and visitors. Just click anywhere on this blue box to see the proposed changes. WHY ? The page has become far too big and combersom to both read and edit. The original page (this page) will retain all of the links to the articles previously published nothing has been deleted just moved.
Next meeting.
Awaiting Update.
Comber Historical Society
Programme
For further details contact:
Elizabeth McCullough (Hon., Secretary) (028) 97521014
The 2023 Programme is still being devised
2022 SUMMER OUTING TO WHITEHEAD
Done and dusted
Report on other page.
IMPORTANT CONTACT NOTE FROM THE WEB EDITOR
The web editor is Adrian Hanna. I can be contacted at the address shown below. <adrian@sixgolds.com>
The main researchers for this web site are
Desmond Rainey on 028 9187 8482 or email :- <comberhistory@hotmail.co.uk>
Len Ball only contactable through Desmond or Adrian.
⇐ CLICK
A new book by Josh De Wind highlighting the life and times of Edmund De Wind VC (Victoria Cross). First printed June 30, 2019 by the
New Milford Printing Company, Connecticut. The cover design by Mylessia Tkacs. This PDF digital version especially for Comber Historical Society with Additions and Corrections: January 2, 2022
This version is full of Maps and other images taking us through Edmund's life and journey through the First World War to the place he was killed defending “Racecourse Redoubt” France.
“Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.”
This is a mega sized work containing valuable information collated by Norman.
A Taste of Old Comber A good read by Len Ball & Desmond Rainey
ISBN1 - 870132 - 06 - 08
A book well worth having in your library and provides a lot of good reference material
A chronicle of Comber. by Desmond Rainey and Laura Spence
ISBN: 978-1-908448-07-1
Price: £9.99
Order online now at:- <www.booksireland.org.uk>
Comber can produce some wonderful books and this is no exception.
A NEW BOOK "Remembering Rolo" Gillespie by Desmond Rainey and Laura Spence
What a character.. Rollo an enigma onto everyone including himself. A good read.
EDMUND De WIND V. C.
Memorial badges depicting Edmund De Wind VC are available from Comber Historical Society the price
is £3 Sterling plus P&P. Size is 2cm x 2.6cm or ¾" x1 inch approximately.
Desmond Rainey
Len Ball
Marion Hanna
Hill Wilson
Susan McCullough
Don Johnston
All elected unanimously.
Honorary Life Member
Mrs Kathleen Coulter (Deceased)
INTRODUCING COMBER
Comar, meeting place of the waters, that was the name given by the ancients to a settlement at the northwest corner of Strangford Lough at the confluence of the Enler and Glen Rivers. Today we call it Comber, famous for its spuds.
Nomadic hunter gatherers arrived here around 10,000 years ago. St Patrick followed in their footsteps and founded a monastery, but its fame was eclipsed by the medieval Cistercian Abbey. Today that has vanished, and St Mary's Parish Church occupies the site. 1606 saw an influx of Scots under James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery. Among the newcomers were the ancestors of the Andrews family who brought much prosperity to Comber. By the late 18th century John, known as "the great", had established a linen bleach green, corn mills and a flour mill. In 1864 his grandson erected a flax spinning mill. Later members of the family include Thomas of Titanic fame and his elder brother John Miller, wartime prime minister.
Old Comber whiskey was produced at two distilleries in the town. Last distilling was in 1952, although the odd bottle is still available, at a price! Comber was also a railway junction, with steam trains chugging their way through for exactly 100 years from 1850. Today the long-awaited bypass runs along the route of the old track.
No visitor can fail to notice a tall monument in Comber's Georgian Square. This commemorates Sir Robert Rollo Gillespie, who fought against the French and was killed while attempting to storm the fortress of Kalunga in Nepal in 1814. His reputed last words were "One shot more for the honour of Down" Another valiant soldier who made the supreme sacrifice was Edmund de Wind, awarded the Victoria Cross in 1918.
HOW YOU MAY CONTRIBUTE
One of the aims of Comber Historical Society is to preserve and record the history of Comber by noting all historical documents, artefacts, photographs and audio-video material relating to the town. We would be delighted if anyone who has any records or memories of Comber would get in touch.
Contact Desmond Rainey on 028 9187 8482 or email :-
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