Bangor (/ˈbæŋɡər/ BANG-gər;[3] from Irish Beannchar [ˈbʲaːn̪ˠəxəɾˠ])[1] is a city in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the southern side of Belfast Lough.

Today, tourism is important to the local economy, particularly in the summer months, and plans are being made for the long-delayed redevelopment of the seafront; a notable historical building in the city is Bangor Old Custom House.

The largest plot of private land in the area, the Clandeboye Estate, which is a few miles from the city centre, belonged to the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava.

When they came to shore at what is now Bangor Bay, the cattle shed their horns, thus giving rise to the name Trácht mBennchoir, "the strand of the horn-casting".

[9] Bangor has a long and varied history, from the Bronze Age people whose swords were discovered in 1949 or the Viking burial found on Ballyholme beach, to the Victorian pleasure seekers who travelled on the new railway from Belfast to take in the sea air.

The city has been the site of a Gaelic Irish monastery renowned throughout Europe for its learning and scholarship, the victim of violent Viking raids in the 8th and 9th centuries, and the new home of Scottish and English planters during the Plantation of Ulster.

The monastery, situated roughly where the Church of Ireland Bangor Abbey stands at the head of the city, became a centre of great learning and was among the most eminent of Europe's missionary institutions in the Early Middle Ages.

Named Bennchor Mór, "the great Bangor", to distinguish it from its British contemporaries, it became the greatest monastic school in Ulster as well as one of the three leading monasteries of Celtic Christianity.

In the twelfth century, Bernard of Clairvaux spoke of Comgall and Bangor, stating, "the solemnization of divine offices was kept up by companies, who relieved each other in succession, so that not for one moment day and night was there an intermission of their devotions."

This continuous singing was antiphonal in nature, based on the call and response reminiscent of Patrick's vision, but also practised by St. Martin's houses in France.

[21] In 580, a Bangor monk named Mirin took Christianity to Paisley in the west of Scotland, where he died "full of sanctity and miracles".

In 590, the fiery Colombanus, one of Comgall's leaders, set out from Bangor with twelve other brothers, including Saint Gall who planted monasteries throughout Switzerland.

His extensive travels around Europe inspired him to rejuvenate the monasteries in Ireland, and he replaced the existing wooden huts with stone buildings.

[25] In 1689 during the Williamite War in Ireland, Marshal Schomberg's expedition landed at Ballyholme Bay and captured Bangor, before going on to besiege Carrickfergus.

The United Irishmen, inspired by the American and French Revolutions, sought to achieve a greater degree of independence from Britain.

On the morning of 10 June during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, a force of United Irishmen, mainly from Bangor, Donaghadee, Greyabbey and Ballywalter attempted to occupy the nearby town of Newtownards.

The laying of the railway in 1865 meant that inexpensive travel from Belfast was possible, and working-class people could afford for the first time to holiday in the city.

[31] During World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower addressed Allied troops in Bangor, who were departing to take part in the D-Day landings.

[32] With the growing popularity of inexpensive foreign holidays from the 1960s onwards, Bangor declined as a tourist resort and was forced to rethink its future.

[35] The former seafront of the city is awaiting redevelopment and has been for over two decades, with a large part of the frontage already demolished, leaving a patch of derelict ground facing onto the marina.

[36][37] In May 2022, it was announced that, as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours, Bangor would be granted city status by Letters Patent.

[38] It received the status on 2 December 2022,[39] becoming Northern Ireland's sixth city, alongside Armagh, Belfast, Derry, Lisburn, and Newry.

[42][43] On 21 October 1992, an IRA unit from the lower Ormeau exploded a 200-pound (91 kg) bomb in Main Street, causing large amounts of damage to nearby buildings.

In 1903 a Viking grave was found on the shore at Ballyholme Bay: it contained two bronze brooches, a bowl, a fragment of chain and some textile material.

On 21 December 2010 an unofficial weather station staffed by a retired meteorological officer in the Springhill area recorded a low of −8.1 °C (17.4 °F), and a high of −2.0 °C (28.4 °F).

[64] Most of the BCDR's network was shut down by its successor, the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) in 1950, two years after nationalisation and only the branch to Bangor survived.

The line received a further blow in 1965 when it was isolated from the rest of the Irish railway system by closure of the Belfast Central Railway line from Ballymacarrett Junction (east of Queen’s Quay station in Belfast) to Central Junction, just west of the former GNR(I) Great Victoria Street station.

Fortunately the connection was rebuilt in 1976 to allow Bangor line services to transfer to Belfast Central (now Lanyon Place) and run directly through to the rest of the Northern Ireland railway network.

Based at Ward Park the club comprises three competitive teams; the Buccaneers, the Barracudas (2023) & the Sluggers (2024) Bangor Aurora Aquatic and Leisure Complex includes Northern Ireland's only Olympic-size swimming pool.