Dundonald, United Kingdom

In July 1210, King John of England arrived in Ulster to rein in the de Lacys, as they had become too independent of the English Crown. The king used Dundonald fort as a Royal residence. A record from this visit remains in the Royal "Prest" (payment) accounts: while staying at Dundonald, King John reportedly lost 2 pence while playing a game of cards with the Earl of Winchester.

Dundonald acquired rail links to Belfast and Newtownards in 1850, Downpatrick in 1859 and Newcastle in 1869. The town was located on the once extensive Belfast and County Down Railway mainline. The rail link with Belfast encouraged Dundonald to expand as a commuter town, but in 1950, the railway line running through Dundonald was closed. Dundonald railway station was opened on 6 May 1850, but finally closed on 24 April 1950.

The old railway line has now been converted to the Comber Greenway, a pedestrian and cycle path running from East Belfast, through Dundonald to Comber.

In 1877, the Dundonald Purple Vine Orange Lodge was established, taking on the warrant of LOL 1056.

The Independent Orange Order, constituted in June 1903, held its first ever parade that same year. Dundonald was selected as the host town. It was attended by around 500 members.

The Robbs were tenant farmers who went on to own a vast majority of the land in Dundonald. The family originally arrived from Scotland during the Plantation of Ulster, arriving in the Dundonald area around 1700. The farmland is now Ballybeen Housing Estate, which was built in the 1960s when the Robbs sold around 220 to 250 acres of this land in Ballybeen to the Northern Ireland Housing Trust. This changed Dundonald from a rural farming village into a town. Robbs Road, a main road today, was once a private lane to the farm. The Castlereagh Council named the road after the family.

Ballybeen House was the Robbs family seat, an elegant country house located where Ballybeen Square is today. The family home was eventually used as offices by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. It was demolished in the late 1980s. Today, only a few old trees and the layout of certain paths hint at where the grand gardens once were.

The Cleland family were also landowners in Dundonald. St. Elizabeth's Church is located beside the moat, with the Cleland Mausoleum in the adjacent graveyard. The mausoleum was built for Samuel Jackson Cleland, by his wife, Eliza Cleland.

In 1966, following a bodybuilding competition, judge Ivan Dunbar invited Arnold Schwarzenegger to Belfast for a bodybuilding exhibition at the Ulster Hall. Arnold stayed at the Dunbar family home in Wanstead, Dundonald, where he was served a traditional Ulster fry. Schwarzenegger credited Dunbar with helping him overcome a fear of public speaking. In March 2026, Schwarzenegger returned to the Belfast area to receive an honorary doctorate from Ulster University, where he publicly reminisced about his 1966 stay in Dundonald as the catalyst for his international career and reunited with local residents from his initial visit.

In the 1960s, Dundonald was deemed a small village. In the late 20th century, Dundonald saw a spike increase in housing developments, given its proximity to Belfast, Bangor, Stormont and Ballyhackamore.