South of modern day Comber, Cattogs is outside Comber on the Killinchy side, stretching from the confluence where Comber River meets the Strangford Lough. Cattogs is just over 380 acres or 0.6 square miles and is part of the Southern boundary of Comber Parish, bordering Drumhirk and Ballygraffan of Kilmood Parish.
Originally its likely this townland was Ballycattogs or in Irish, Baile na gCatóg, however at some point the Bally/Baile fell out of use and it became Cattogs. Na Catóga meaning 'Little cats' or originally 'Place of the Little Cats'.
There is a deep mythological connection between cats and tricksy Irish faefolk, with cats seen as symbols of both good luck and doom. Indeed, modern superstitions surrounding black cats may originate from Irish mythological or pagan practices. If you do see a cat in Cattogs maybe best not to follow it lest you end up in the 'Otherworld' the domain of the fairies! Yet despite this association, it appears there are no known enclosures or raths or indeed any sites of archaeological interest within the townland.
Cattogs may have housed the post-medieval settlement known as 'New Comber' with Thomas Raven's map of 1625 showing a plantation settlement between the river and the Ballydrain Road. The supposed location of 'New Comber' has been scheduled for protection however any archaeological excavations have failed to find much evidence of a settlement here, suggesting that the New Comber map may have been a plan rather than an actual built settlement. To be sure, further archaeological investigation would be needed to prove one way or another, and if it did house the New Comber settlement, this only raises more questions in particular why the settlement of Comber is further north now. Today New Comber survives only in the name of the New Comber Bridge and New Comber House both in the vicinity of the supposed site.
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