ABSTRACT
The origins of Brownlow lie in the partial implementation of a regional strategy for Northern Ireland in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Brownlow was to be a small part of the New Town of Craigavon proposed in the 1960s to provide good quality housing and employment as part of an overspill policy to reduce overcrowding in Belfast. The proposal for a new town resulted from a two-year study by Sir Robert Matthew, completed in 1963. The study looked at the future and the development of Belfast in the context of the whole of Northern Ireland, and concluded that a new town should be located in County Antrim to house a growing population displaced through slum clearance in the city.
