Editing Newtownards (section)

===The Scottish town===
[[File:Newtownards Town Hall - geograph.org.uk - 466808.jpg|thumb|280px|[[Market House, Newtownards]]]]
In 1605 (prior to the official [[Plantation of Ulster]] in 1610), [[Hugh Montgomery, 1st Viscount of the Great Ardes|Hugh Montgomery]] was granted the lands and set about rebuilding what was by then known as ''Newtown'', later expanded to ''Newtownards''. Official records show the town was established in 1606. Montgomery built a residence in the ruins of the old priory, the tower of which remains. Scottish Protestant settlers, particularly from [[Ayr]], and to a lesser extent [[Irvine, North Ayrshire|Irvine]], in [[Ayrshire]], arrived in large numbers and the town grew quickly.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Plantation of Ulster|last=Bardon|first=Jonathan|publisher=Gill Books|location=Dublin|date=2012}}</ref>

Due to the shallow mud of Strangford Lough, Newtown never developed as a port, with goods instead transported from the nearby town of [[Donaghadee]] on the [[Irish Sea]] coast of the Ards Peninsula. Instead, it became a market town, with the [[Market House, Newtownards|Market House]] in Conway Square constructed in 1771.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC27HPQ_newtownards-historical-series-9-the-market-house?guid=92e77800-b15f-47eb-9a76-b1b9ac4107d9|publisher= Newtownards Historical Series |title=The Market House|accessdate=21 April 2020}}</ref>