Holywood
Holywood is a town in the city of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a civil parish and townland consisting of 755 acres lying on the coast of Belfast Lough, in between Belfast and Bangor. Holywood Urban Area is labelled as a medium town within the Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area (BMUA) by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, with the 2001 Census documenting a permanent population of 12037. Within this population, around 20 per cent are aged under 16 years of age and 21 percent were aged 60 and over. 50.6 percent of the population is male and 49.4 percent is female. The train line from Belfast to Holywood arrived in 1848, and this caused rapid progression. This growth, in combination with that of nearby towns and villages along the seaside strip to Bangor, required the development of the Holywood Bypass in the early 1970s. The town is a popular residential region and is noted for its fashionable shops, boutiques, arts and crafts. Holywood is most widely known for its maypole at the crossroads in the centre of town. Its origin remains rather vague, however, in accordance with regional folklore, it comes from 1700, when a Dutch ship is alleged to have run aground on the shore nearby, and the crew put up the damaged mast to display their gratitude of the help provided to them by the townsfolk. The maypole continues to be in routine use for dancing at the annual May Day fair. The town also holds an annual jazz and blues event. There are lots of sporting possibilities in Holywood, being the home of football clubs, golf clubs, cricket clubs and a sports association. For all your home upgrades, make sure to make use of credible specialists in Holywood to make certain of quality.