MOIRA

Moira comes from the Irish Maigh Rath, meaning Plain of the streams or wheels and is a village 17 miles from Belfast, easily connected to it along the M1 Motorway and by the train station opened in 1841. 

The population of the town has grown from just 853 people in 1971, to 5,000 in 2025

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Moira used to hold Ireland's largest horse fair, which attracted thousands of visitors from all over the UK in the 18th and 19th Century and turned the village into a large market town every year. Mechanisation saw the rapid decline of the fair in the 1930s and had ended by the turn of the 1960s. Rapid residential expansion began in the 1970s.

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Major George Rawdon settled in Moira in 1631 and after helping put down the Irish Rebellion there ten years later, he bought a small brick house, which he rapidly developed into a huge manor, calling it Moira Castle. However, as the family rose in status, so too did they stay at Moira Castle less, selling the virtually abandoned property in 1805. The new family stayed there rarely too and it was demolished in the later 19th Century.  

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Today, while all trace of the Castle is gone, the grounds were transformed into Moira Demesne, the principal landscaped parkland of the Village. Today, apart from the Beer Garden's of course, Moira is renowned for it's small boutique shops and cafes. Sadly though, critics cite the Village is spoiled by the immensely busy road, which runs through it's heart.

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Moirans

As well as the Rawdon family, the Bateson's, who bought Moira Castle from them produced Thomas Bateson, born in the Castle before growing up to become a British Government Minister in 1852.

Anne Lutton, the prominent Wesleyan Preacher was born in the Village in 1791 and grew up there.

George Lavery was in the Down All Ireland Sam Maguire winning GAA teams of 1960 & 61

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