Dundonald (from Irish Dún Dónaill, meaning 'Donald's fort')[4] is a large settlement and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland.

[4] The forename Dónall is of Gaelic origin, thus "it is likely that the place was named from a pre-Norman fort, perhaps on the same site".

[9] In the late 20th century, Dundonald saw a spike increase in housing developments, given its proximity to Belfast, Bangor, Stormont and Ballyhackamore.

[10] For census purposes, Dundonald is not treated as a separate entity by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

[11] Instead, it is combined with a large part of east and southeast Belfast to form the "Castlereagh Urban Area".

A fairly accurate population count can be found by combining the data of the electoral wards that make up Dundonald.

Like the rest of the island of Ireland, this parish has long been divided into townlands, whose names mostly come from Gaelic.

This originally comprised an Olympic sized ice rink and a 20 lane AMF ten pin bowling alley.

[17] In 2008, an Omniplex cinema was built on the opposite side of the Old Dundonald Road, together with several leisure and restaurant units, which later on now became what is now known as the OmniPark.

Moat Park Rangers and 43RD Old Boys Dundonald play in the Down Area Winter Football League.

At the time, it was Northern Ireland's premier sporting event, regularly attracting crowds in excess of a quarter of a million people.