Ballygowan period, and subsequent to the introduction of the Belfast & County Down Railway in 1850, that the village began to grow. Ballygowan railway station opened on 10 September 1858, but finally closed on 16 January 1950. After the railway closed in 1950 the village became an attractive "dormitory" town and the ensuing 50 years have seen rapid growth. On Monday, 15 September 2014, the remains of The Baron Bannside (better known as The Rev. Ian Paisley) were buried in the graveyard attached to Ballygowan Free Presbyterian Church. Lord Bannside was a former First Minister of Northern Ireland and a former
Stanley Clinton-Davis, Baron Clinton-Davis Stanley Clinton-Davis, Baron Clinton-Davis Stanley Clinton Clinton-Davis, Baron Clinton-Davis, PC (born 6 December 1928), born Stanley Clinton Davis, is a British Labour politician, former European Commissioner, former minister and solicitor. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney Central (1970–1983), and was a minister in the Labour governments of Prime Ministers Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair. He was European Commissioner in the Delors Commission (1985–1989). In 1990, he became a Life Peer as Baron Clinton-Davis, of Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney, sitting on the Labour benches in the House of Lords until his retirement in