Moneyreagh Irish: Mónaidh Riabhach
Moneyreagh Village as seen on Street View in 2009
Moneyreagh Location within County Down
Population	1,594 (Census 2021)
Irish grid reference	J4051266736
District	Lisburn and Castlereagh
County	County Down
Country	Northern Ireland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEWTOWNARDS
Postcode district	BT23
Dialling code	028
Police	Northern Ireland
Fire	Northern Ireland
Ambulance	Northern Ireland
UK Parliament	Strangford
NI Assembly	Strangford
List of places UK Northern Ireland Down 54°31′52″N 5°49′49″W / 54.5312°N 5.8304°W / 54.5312; -5.8304

Moneyreagh or Moneyrea (from Irish Mónaidh Riabhach, meaning 'grey bog or moor'^[1]) is a small village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is just off the main road between Belfast and Ballygowan. It is situated in the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of Castlereagh Lower.^[1] It had a population of 1,594 people in the 2021 Census.^[2]

History

On the 26 May 1942 a Royal Air Force, Bristol Beaufighter (X7573) crashed near village shortly after taking off from RAF Ballyhalbert, killing all Three crew.^[3]

Demography

2011 Census

On Census Day, 27 March 2011, the usual resident of the Moneyreagh Settlement was 1,384 (519 households).^[4]

• 17.92% were aged under 16 years and 13.37% were aged 65 and over
• 50.29% of the usually resident population were male and 49.71% were female
• 44 was the average (median) age of the population
• 99.71% were from the white (including Irish Traveller) ethnic group
• 2.24% belong to or were brought up as Catholic
• 90.39% belong to or were brought as 'Protestant and other Christian (including Christian related)' religion
• 83.31% indicated that they had a British national identity, 2.53% had an Irish national identity and 29.77% had a Northern Irish national identity.

Respondents could indicate more than one national identity.

Language

• 1.04% had some knowledge of the Irish Language
• 9.07% had some knowledge of the Ulster Scots Language
• 0.30% did not have English as their first language

Education

Primary

Moneyreagh has one primary school locally, seen at the top of the table below.

Other schools nearby have been added also.

Secondary

Moneyreagh does not have any secondary schools locally.

Those located nearby (<10 mi (16 km) away) are shown in the table below:

Notable People

Golfer, Rory McIlroy, lived near the village until March 2013.^{[citation needed]}

Transport

Moneyreagh is connected to Belfast City Centre by the 12/512 bus route ran by Translink. This route also connects Moneyreagh to the neighbouring small town of Ballygowan.