Editing Newtownards (section)

===Irish settlement===
In 540 AD, [[Finnian of Moville|St. Finian]] founded [[Movilla Abbey]], a [[monastery]], on a hill overlooking [[Strangford Lough]] about a mile northeast of present-day Newtownards town centre. "Movilla" (''Magh Bhile'') means "the plain of the sacred tree" in [[Irish language|Irish]], which suggests that the land had previously been a sacred [[Celtic paganism|pagan]] site. It became a significant Christian settlement – a centre for worship, study, mission and commercial trade, well known throughout Ireland. It was sacked by the [[Vikings]] sometime after AD 824, though survived for a thousand years as a monastic settlement (becoming part of the [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] Order in 1135), until the [[dissolution of the monasteries]] in 1542.<ref>{{cite web|title=Movilla Abbey|url=http://www.irishstones.org/place.aspx?p=1076|website=Irish Stones|accessdate=8 July 2017}}</ref>

The [[Normans in Ireland|Normans]] conquered east Ulster in the 1170s, founding the [[Earldom of Ulster]]. Around 1226, they established a new town around Movilla, which became known as the "New Town of Blathewic", after the Irish territory of [[Blathewyc|Uí Blathmhaic]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Newtownards, Co Down |url=http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=6802 |publisher=Place Names NI}}</ref> A [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] priory was built in 1244 by [[Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster|Walter de Burgh]]<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Newtownards |volume=19 |page=594}}</ref> and was also dissolved in 1542.<ref name="Thompson09">{{cite web|last1=Thompson|first1=Mark|title=Newtownards Priory – one of the great Ulster-Scots churches|url=http://clydesburn.blogspot.com/2009/02/newtownards-priory-one-of-great-ulster.html|website=clydesburn.blogspot.com (blog)|access-date=15 September 2016|date=2 February 2009}}</ref>

In 1572, both monasteries were burned by the [[Clannaboy]] [[O'Neill dynasty#O'Neills of Clanaboy|O'Neills]] under Sir [[Brian McPhelim O'Neill]] to deny buildings to the English, who were attempting to [[Plantations of Ireland#East Ulster|colonize the Ards]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Newtownards Priory|url=http://ulsterscotstrail.com/newtownards/newtownards-priory|website=Ulster Scots Heritage Trail|access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="Thompson09"/> After this the urban settlement at Movilla disappeared and the area around it became known as "Ballylisnevin" ("the town of Nevin's fort").<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e3r-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT139|title=That Place We Call Home: A Journey Through the Place Names of Ireland|first=John|last= Creedon |year= 2020|publisher=Gill Books|isbn=978-0717189861}}</ref>