Ballyorgan, County Down

A church called Chapel naCoole once stood in the townland of Ballyorgan, which had, in 1615, been under the ownership of Bangor Abbey. In 1605, at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the church at Ballyorgan (in Lecale), was then called Ballilughan or Ballyurkegan. It belonged to Bangor Abbey, under the abbot William O’Dornan. The churches of the Abbey and related tithes and alterages were seized along with the Abbey. The chapel at Ballyorgan had also been called Baliurgan, and the townland in which it stood had also been known as Ballyurcegan, Ballyverdgan, and Balleurcegan. Reeves, in 1847, also referred to Ballyorgan as Baliurgan, Ballyurcegan, Ballelughan, and Balleurkegan…