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Here's a selection of Down heritage / historical, if you want the full list, Click on the "Go to ALL" link on the right.

Go to ALL Abbeys in Down

Cistercians were brought from Furness in Lancashire to construct the monastic buildings, which were laid out according to the accustomed Cistercian ground-plan, with a church on the northern side of an open cloister garth and with community and domestic buildings enclosing the other three sides. Of these, only the choir with its graceful triple lancet windows in the east gable survives to anything like its original height, though the transepts with their rib-vaulted open twin chapels, and the buildings on the eastern side of the cloister garth, are sufficiently well preserved to give a good idea of their original appearance. The monastery was a centre of English influence to such an extent that the Irish were debarred in 1380. Twenty-four years later, the abbey was burned and that, perhaps together with the collapse of a central tower and a dwindling community, gave the impetus to cut down considerably the extent of the nave by building a new west wall to the church near the crossing, which incorporated an earlier doorway. The monastery had been suppressed by 1541. Lying apart, to the south-east, are two separate buildings, an oven in one of them indicating its former use as a bake-house for the monastery.

Go to ALL Bridges in Down

Gamble's Bridge is situated between Poyntzpass and Jerrettspass. The bridge is known locally as the 'Crack Bridge', as it was a meeting place for all the locals who gathered there to share their 'crack'.

Go to ALL Castles (Historical) in Down

Well-preserved four-storey tower house which withstood a siege around 1600. Largest of cluster of castles built in Ardglass in Middle Ages to protect the port. Other tower houses at Kilclief and Strangford.

Go to ALL Cathedrals (Historical) in Down

The place-name Downpatrick comprises two elements - dun, an early Irish fortified site (on which the present Cathedral was erected), and the name of Ireland's National Apostle. Some say St. Patrick was buried here, but there is no early tradition to substantiate the claim, and the inscribed stone allegedly marking the Saint's burial place just south of the Cathedral dates from as recently as 1900. Indeed, very little is known of the early history of the site until the 12th century, when a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity is recorded. In 1177, John de Courcy replaced its canons by Benedictines from St. Werburg's in Chester. The cathedral, though heavily restored in 1789 - 1812, still retains its characteristic three-aisled form from the 13th century, its interesting decorated capitals suggesting a date in the second half of the century. But the Cathedral does preserve earlier crosses; there are fragments of two 9th/10th century crosses in the modern tower vestibule; two 12th century examples bearing reliquary - or book - holding figures are inserted into a west-facing 19th century wall in the south aisle; the baptismal font may be the base of an early cross, and outside the east end of the church two further fragments of a cross were mounted together in 1897. A Round Tower which stood close to the Cathedral was demolished for safety reasons almost two centuries ago. To the north of English Street leading up to the Cathedral is the old Down County gaol (1789-96) which now serves as a Museum, offering fine displays and exhibits of local history. it includes the St. Patrick Heritage Centre, which provides a visual rendering of the story of St. Patrick and also houses some attractive Early Christian slabs borrowed from Saul, two miles to the north-east, where the Saint is said to have died in the later 5th century. In the low-lying quoile marshes, a few hundred yards north of the Cathedral, stands the Mound, which may have been a secular site located close to Cathedral Hill (the ancient Dundalethglas). The extensive bank and external ditch was, perhaps, a pre-Norman enclosure of the regal mac Dunlevy family, and it is likely that the high mound inside was a motte built by John de Courcy.

Go to ALL Churches (Historical) in Down

This church, which was altered in 1960, has kept its fifteenth century tower and octagonal spire dated 1693. Memorials inside include a marble statue and cameo busts of John Hamilton (died 1693) and his wife, Sophia Mordaunt, made in 1760 by Scheemaker.

Go to ALL Crosses (Historical) in Down

In Dromore is the ancient Celtic Cross and old town stocks where those who misbehaved were locked in full public view.

Go to ALL Dolmens in Down

This dramatic granite dolmen consists of three comparatively thin and widely spaced uprights. They carry a large and seemingly almost weightless capstone which - appropriately enough for a Stone Age burial place - looks rather like a coffin on stilts. It is one of Ireland's most frequently illustrated dolmens.

Go to ALL Forts (Historical) in Down

A fine artillery fort, 270 feet square and with spear-shaped bastions at the corners, was built here by Colonel Arthur Hill around 1650 to command the road from Dublin to Belfast and Carrickfergus. It stands on the site of an Early Christian period rath, the circular ditch of which has been left open in the central grassed area of the fort. In the min 18th century, the Hill family transformed the north-western gatehouse entrance into a two-storey 'gothick' fort or castle for the entertainment of their friends, and the entrance was transferred to the centre of the north-east wall which was also refurbished as a 'gothick' gazebo. Nearby is the fine 17th century parish church of the Hills, heavily gothicised in the 1760s.

Go to ALL Gallery Graves in Down

The Patron Saint of Ireland was buried on Cathedral Hill in 461 AD. His grave is a place of pilgrimage on St. Patrick's Day (17 March).

Go to ALL Heritage Centres in Down

The entrance to Hillsborough Castle is ornamented by a fine set of gates and railings originally erected at Richill Castle in Co. Armagh. Said to have been erected by William Richardson in 1745, and wrought by two brothers named Thornberry from Falmouth in Cornwall, there were moved to Hillsborough in 1936.

The plain railings are contrasted with upright panels bearing spear-and-boss motifs, and the fine central gates are surmounted by an overthrow with a decorative coat of arms.

Go to ALL Homes (Historical) in Down

The Market House forms the large centerpiece of the town square in from of Hillsborough Castle. It was first built around 1760 as a two-storey structure with an archway running through the centre from east to west. In 1810 the present north and south side wings were added, one to provide a courtroom and the other a market hall, and at the same time a new granite plinth, various decorations as well as a new clock and bell, were provided.

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Go to ALL Interpretative Centre's in Down

You can easily follow the story of Patrick Bronte and his family through the buildings that survive within the Homeland.

Go to ALL Mills (Historical) in Down

Acquired by Newry and Mourne District Council, restoration began in 1983, and it reopened in 1985. Guided tours take place regularly, and one can see the production of flour and oatmeal. Visitors may also grind their own corn or have a browse at the exhibition on milling.

Go to ALL Monastery's in Down

Co Down's Mountains of Mourne have become part of folk history, not just of Northern Ireland, but of the world. Happily much of the area's scenery and unspoiled rural charm still exists, and its countryside retains an importance for wildlife, agriculture and recreation.

Our aim is to protect and conserve the natural and man-made environment and to promote its' appreciation for the benefits of present and future generations.

Go to ALL Monuments in Down

Bannbridge town's most famous son was probably Captain Crozier of North West Passage fame who was born in 1796 at a large house in the town's Church Square. Today the house looks out onto the Crozier Monument which has a unique feature at its base - four polar bears who look up at a statue of Captain Crozier whose gaze is to the North West.

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Go to ALL Motte (Historical) in Down

This earthen mound, 15 feet high and 37 feet across the top, located off Brook Street in the centre of Holywood, was almost certainly a Norman motte of c. 1200, though there is nothing to associate it with King John's visit to provision of a spiral access path ascending the mound. Nearby is a ruined church with excellent 13th century ornament.

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Go to ALL Museums in Down

This is a community museum helping to explain the history and environment of County Down. It occupies the restored buildings of the old Down County Gaol, built between 1789 and 1796. This is the most complete surviving Irish Gaol of its type and period. Its best known prisoner was the United Irishman, Thomas Russell, who was hanged at the gateway in 1803. The building ceased to function as a prison in the 1830s, after a new gaol was built nearby. For the next 150 years it had a chequered history, often serving as a military barracks, and falling into ruin.

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Go to ALL Priory's in Down

Newtownards priory is the only reasonably well-preserved medieval Dominican priory to survive in Northern Ireland. It was probably founded by the Savage family around 1244. The lower parts of the nave, as well as two blocked doors in the south wall leading to a vanished cloister, survive from the period of foundation. The upper parts of the nave, its westward extension and the north aisle arcade date from a 14th century rebuilding, probably undertaken by the de Burgh family. After the priory was dissolved in 1541, it was involved in warfare and burned; later, it was granted to Hugh, the first Viscount Montgomery. He it was who rebuilt the north aisle, and added the tall tower at the entrance, with its Renaissance doorway bearing his initials. The soft local Scrabo sandstone from which it was carved has incurred much weathering of the details, but a modern copy was built into the north wall further to the east in 1988. Close by is the unusual octagonal market cross of 1636. Another fine building in the town is the Town Hall designed by the Bristol architect Stratford in 1765.

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Go to ALL Railway Museums in Down

Climb on board for a short train ride - or travel further afield on a special mainline steam excursion. Many engines and coaches are on display in transport museums and railway centres, with memorabilia from the golden age of steam.

The first railway in Ireland opened in 1834, and the network quickly reached into all corners of the island. By 1920 almost 3,500 miles of track threaded the countryside and no Irish town was more than 10 miles from a railway station.

Ireland's national railway gauge is 5ft 3 inches. This, together with the widespread use of the 3 ft narrow gauge, makes Irish railways quite distinctive.

Show me all the details for Downpatrick Steam Railway

Go to ALL Stones (Historical) in Down

Though ignored by some guide books, this is a very fine megalith which unfortunately loses much of its impressiveness on account of the roadside hedge which threatens to envelop it. It has long been neglected and abused; a photograph taken in 1914 shows it defaced with auctioneers; posters; latterly it has become a target for religious graffiti.

The bulky granite capstone is 8 feet long and up to 5 feet thick and rests, somewhat precariously it would appear, on four of the six basalt uprights forming the chamber. The total height of the tomb is nearly 12 feet. Its local name, Tamlaght, means 'plague stone'; it is also know by the more common appellation Cloghogle, 'raised stone'. An account cited by Borlase states that several other dolmens formerly stood in close proximity here, possibly as an integral group of which the present monument is the sole survivor.

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Go to ALL Tombs in Down

One of the most aesthetically satisfying megalithic structures of the Irish countryside, a 4,000 year-old Neolithic tomb that might equally be a work of modern sculpture. If proof were needed that Stone Age man built his monuments to impress as well as to last, then here it is. Its rugged geometry has long been admired, and illustrations of it have appeared in innumerable publications as well as in television commercials promoting tourism and butter. It was Fergusson who coined the term 'tripod-dolmen' to describe this and similar portal tombs, believing that it never had a covering cairn but was always intended to be seen as it stands now, 'a studied exhibition of a tour de force'. This is an opinion shared by some archaelogists today.

As with all tripod-dolmens, Legananny consists of just three uprights and a capstone. The dominant portal stones are some 6 feet high and the tapered back-stone 41/2 feet. The smooth-topped granite capstone is 101/2 feet long and characteristically uptilted at the front, decreasing in width towards the back of the tomb. Though it is somewhat off the beaten track, the megalith is well signposted and can be reached by car. Not in the least among the rewards of seeking it out in the stony acres of Cratlieve under Slieve Croob, are the splendid views of the Mourne Mountains far to the south.

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Go to ALL Towers (Historical) in Down

Three storey Helen's Tower built in about 1858, prominent on a hilltop at the far end, was erected in honour of Helen, Lady Dufferin, grand daughter of Sheridan and composer of the popular ballad The Irish Emigrant. In 1915 and 1916, the 36th Division was camped at Clandeboye and drilled in sight of this romantic tower. A das replica, called the Ulster Memorial Tower, was later erected on the Somme battlefield at Thiepval where nearly 6,000 Ulstermen were killed or injured in July 1916. Helen's Tower, a biography of the first marquis by his nephew, Harold Nicolson, is one of the tower's numerous literary connections. Nicolson (1886-1968) belonged to the Bloomsbury Group.

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Go to ALL Towers (Round) in Down

The rectangular church, possibly of c. 1200, and the now-featureless Round Tower (reduced to a stump in a storm around 1710) both probably belonged to a monastery founded by St. Domangart of Donard in the 6th century on a site probably now occupied by Maghera Church of Ireland church. Excavations in 1965 provided evidence of occupation near the tower during the Early Christian period.

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Go to ALL Town Information's in Down

The Georgian village of Hillsborough is rich in history. Hillsborough Fort with its eight foot high earth ramparts, dates back to around 1650 and was used as a Royal Fortress by King Charles II. Other buildings of note include the market house, the parish church of St Malachy, built in 1636 and the Castle, seat of the former Governors of Northern Ireland.

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Go to ALL Wells (Historical) in Down

Struell wells are hauntingly located in a rocky valley between Downpatrick and Saul, and since medieval times and probably before, they have been the resort of pilgrims who came here in search of cures which they believed the waters from the wells could provide. The buildings are grouped in and around a roughly triangular grassed area, in the centre of which is a small structure known as the Eye Well. At the north-eastern end is a rectangular church building of c. 1750, but probably never completed. Beside it is the Drinking Well, from which the water flowed underground through the Eye Well to the two bath houses located at the south-eastern end of the complex. The smaller of the two was reserved for women, while the larger - barrel-vaulted and roofed with large stone slates - was the men's preserve.

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Go to ALL Windmills in Down

Now around two centuries old, it was worked as a mill by the McGilton family until 1915. After that, it lay disused for many years, but after much painstaking repair and reconstruction by what is now the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland, the mill ground its corn again in 1978. It can, therefore, work, but is not normally operational during the visiting hours, which are indicated on a notice-board outside. The mill is only one of around 100 windmills known to have been worked in the grain-rich county of Down. It is a tall, tapering tower of stone, plastered and whitewashed, and with its four sails being turnable by a fan-tail on the revolving cap, so that the sails could always face into the wind. As the machinery is now in working order again, the milling process can be best followed by climbing to the top floor and working downwards to the ground floor. Between the road and the mill is the miller's house and the kiln-house, where the grain was dried before being ground.

Show me all the details for Ballycopeland Windmill

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