"The shore being divided in 1682 by the erection of the famous Long Bridge, the portion towards the river mouth was known as the Long Strand, and the upper portion as the Short Strand, which name is still in use" (John J. Marshall, Belfast Telegraph, 14/02/1941). Short Strand, the east strand between the Queens and Albert Bridges. "Short Strand This is a name I am always being asked about and it is in fact one of the oldest streets in the area, going back to about I630 or there abouts. The Strand is actually one of the old boundaries of the townland as the land between there and the Lagan was in the early days unclaimed from the sea. The water lapped one side of the street and course, there was a small sandy beach, which in 'Irish is 'tra' later corrupted to strand. St John Ervine ,one of Ballymacarrett's more famous sons, mentions in one of his books about fishing the Lagan from the Short Strand. On the other side of the Newtownards Rd stretching from the Long Bridge was another strand. This was the Long Strand which went all the way to West Holywood, Iater called Strandtown. This strand or beach was of good sand and it was only with the growth industry that it finally was so saturated with dirt, oil and so forth that it would* be hard to believe it was so Beautiful in the past. Most of the tame birds in the wee streets had the bottom of their cages fIlled with golden sand from Ballymacarretts shore. Strandtown,at the end the beach, obviously named for its position, was one of three villages that in time became shopping centres, as they still are today. They were Strandtom, Newbridge and Ballyhackanore. Newbridge was named for the new Conswater bridge and Strandtown was anciently called Ballymachorts, Or, Baile-magha Reisk, - magha-plain, reisk-marsh. 'The place of the marshy plain'." James Patton in his book on Ballymacarrett.