Walter Harris, writing in 1744, mistakenly believed that the first part of the name came from Sir Edward Trevor's wife Rose, a daughter of Henry Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh.

[3] Nearby Cloughmore is a 50-ton granite boulder perched on the slopes of Slieve Martin, 1,000 ft above the village of Rostrevor, and known locally as 'the big stone'.

Local legend states that the stone was thrown by Irish mythological hero and frequent giant Finn McCool from the Cooley Mountains, on the other side of Carlingford Lough, to settle a fight with a local frost-giant named Ruiscairre, burying him underneath the boulder.

The old church, supposedly built on an original site established by St Brónach, stands in the graveyard on the Kilbroney road.

There are many stories of how the bell used to scare locals walking past St Bronach's church on stormy nights.