Ballyblack
Ballyblack is an area of rural townland in the Ards Peninsula, approximately 6 miles South East from Newtownards. The area falls into greenbelt. The presence of drumlins gives the landscape a bumpy texture with hills often compared to the curves of a basket of eggs. The drumlins also make this an area of special scientific interest.
According to placenamesni the name Ballyblack originates from "Baile Bhláca" meaning Black’s or Blake’s townland. "The name of the townland of Ballyblack has its origin in the gaelicization of an earlier Anglo-Norman name, which probably resembled Blacke(s)ton. The trouble lies in trying to establish the exact meaning of the English surname Black(e)/Blake. Reaney (1958, 34) shows that Anglo-Norman names in Britain such as Willelmus Blac, Niger (1086AD) did mean ‘the Black’." [1]