Dunsford (or Chapeltown)

Two miles from Ardglass is the quiet little hamlet of Dunsford - listed on maps as Chapeltown.  The older name of Dunsford  (Dune or Down fjord)  indicates the presence of Viking raiders some two thousand years ago.

The Ardglass-Strangford road winds dangerously round what was obviously an old cart track past the stone wall surrounding the beautiful little Chapel of St. Mary, located in an old graveyard that is well worth browsing through.   Half-a-dozen houses cluster round the church and alongside it is the Old Schoolhouse, built in 1841, which was about to be renovated and modernised to create the Dunsford Cross-Community Resource Centre when a local family claimed ownership.  Hopefully this problem will be solved and the building will be given an extra lease of life as a Community centre, continuing a local tradition whereby pupils of all religious denominations were educated under the same roof.  This was the case for some 120 years, until the new primary school was built on the outskirts of the hamlet  (Roll was usually about 75). The simple but elegant facade of the Old School will remain substantially the same when renovated.

A few yards from the Old School is a lively Open Farm run by the Gilchrist family (also housing the local Post Office) which, in addition to being open to casual callers, is regularly visited by busloads of children from schools in the area.  Just across the road from the Church is Curran's Bar - Steak & Seafood Restaurant, serving excellent restaurant and bar food all day.  An elegant venue for evening dining and a lively spot for families during the day, with children's play area, beer terrace, summer skittles, weekend discos and evenings of live music.

St. Mary's Dunsford was built in 1790, when penal laws began to be relaxed and public Catholic worship was once more permitted. The Church is well worth looking at - here and in reality.

For the religious minded Weekend Masses are:  The Vigil Mass at 7.30 p.m. each Saturday Evening & on Sunday Morning at 10 a.m. .   Weekday Masses are usually at 10 a.m. each morning (but no Mass on Saturdays at present). 

St Mary's is the comparatively modern expression of Catholicism in the area. A  restored mediaeval statue of Virgin and Child is enshrined above the Eastern gable door of the church.  The torso was found about fifty years ago in a cesspit, presumably dumped by the zealous religious reformers who smashed the heads off Mother and Child in those intolerant days.  page.) Replacement   heads - rather too modern in style - were carved in fresh sandstone and the repaired statue placed in its present position.
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Our Lady of Dunsford is much venerated in the locality.