Notes on Portavogie:
Portavogie was the last place to be developed in the Ards peninsula and only came about when the Echlin's drained the Great Bog. This opened up the access to the land where Portavogie is now. The east side was all sand dunes and the west bog. (There is still the Bog Road where the Kirkistown race track is. It is an old WW2 airfield and is still used for Motorbike and car races. This was where Eddie Irvine from Ferrari did some of his training.) This made more land available and the early family names moved in. These early families whose descendants are still living there today, moved from Ballyeasborough and Ballyhalbert via Ballyfrench and Stable Hole when the family holdings could no longer be divided among younger sons, grandsons etc.
Contributed by Lena McVea
Posted by Mary Becker
Group Administrator
Ards Peninsula Families DNA Project
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/ardsdnaproject/default.aspx
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