County Down - Heritage/Historical

Here's a selection of Down Heritage/Historical.Click on the 'Go to ALL' link to get the full list.

1. Museums	Go to ALL Museums in Down
Down County Museum The Mall, Co. 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. Now this old building has a happier purpose. Within the high walls you can enjoy discovering the past, which helps to explain the present. In the gate house is the Saint Patrick Heritage Centre, telling the story of Ireland's patron saint and emphasising the strong links of south-east Ulster with Patrick and early Irish Christianity. In the Governor's Residence, where the gaoler used to live, are modern displays on the history of the county, and a shop. In the Cell Block at the back of the complex visitors can see genuine eighteenth century cells in which people were held for prison terms, for execution, or for transportation to Australia. Life size figures represent actual figures from the gaol's history. This museum occupies the same hill whose ancient fort or 'dun' gave its name to the town and county of Down, and which is now crowned by Down Cathedral. In the Cathedral graveyard is the traditional burial place of Patrick, and only two miles away is Saul, the reputed site of his first church. STITCHING TIME TOGETHER A decade of wall quilts by Irene McWilliams. Exhibitions of Drawings by William Conor. A selection of drawings from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Show me all the details for Down County Museum

2. Heritage Centres	Go to ALL Heritage Centres in Down

3. Towers (Round)	Go to ALL Towers (Round) in Down
Kilclief Tower-House Co. Down It was built as a manorial residence of the Bishops of Down, and is attributed to John Sely who became bishop in 1413, but was deprived of his See in 1441 for having lived in the castle with a married woman. If the date be correct, this would make Kilclief the oldest known tower-house in Ireland. It was garrisoned for the Crown by Nicholas Fitzsymon and ten warders in 1601-2. The entrance to the four storey tower was on the east side, protected by two flanking towers which are joined by an arch beneath the parapet level. The ground floor is roofed by a stone vault. Show me all the details for Kilclief Tower-House

4. Railway Museums	Go to ALL Railway Museums in Down
Downpatrick Steam Railway Railway Station, Market St, Co. Down A restored section of the BCDR Downpatrick-Ardglass branch line runs from Market St, Downpatrick, along one mile of standard gauge track, to the grave site of Magnus Barefoot, a viking king. Working engines include steam locomotive Guinness and two E-class Maybach diesels built in Dublin for CIE. Restored signal cabin. Photographic display and model railway in station house. The Golfers' Saloon was used between Belfast and the Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastle. Show me all the details for Downpatrick Steam Railway

5. Monuments	Go to ALL Monuments in Down
Captain Crozier Monument Co. 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. Show me all the details for Captain Crozier Monument

6. Interpretative Centre	Go to ALL Interpretative Centre in Down
Acton Interpretive/Visitors Centre Co. Down Acton Interpretive/Visitors Centre is situated on the shores of Lough Shark on the site of the original Sluice-Keeper's cottage and is open seasonally. The Visitors Centre explains, through a series of illustrative panels, how the Canal was built, the technology involved and the problems encountered. Show me all the details for Acton Interpretive/Visitors Centre

7. Heritage Centres	Go to ALL Heritage Centres in Down
Scarva Visitors Centre Co. Down Scarva Visitors Centre is located at the dock on the Canal where vast quantities of coal were unloaded for use in the local Linen industry. It helps to explain the building of the Canal, its trade and Scarva's role within this. Linked to this development, the towpath has been restored from Poyntzpass to the quaintly named Tally-Ho Bridge at Terryhoogan Locks, passing, on the way, Action Lake. Show me all the details for Scarva Visitors Centre

8. Motte (Historical)	Go to ALL Motte (Historical) in Down
Holywood Motte Mound Motte, Co. 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. Show me all the details for Holywood Motte

9. Cathedrals (Historical)	Go to ALL Cathedrals (Historical) in Down
Down Cathedral Co. Down Down Cathedral built in 1177 with St. Patrick's Grave in the grounds. Show me all the details for Down Cathedral

10. Archaeological	Go to ALL Archaeological in Down
Goward Goward, Co. Down Known colloquially as 'The Cloghmore ( Irish for 'great stone'), this prodigious monument fully lives up to the name. The corpulent capstone, 13 feet long and 10 feet wide, has an estimated weight of 50 tons and stands 14 feet high overall. This ponderous load has shifted sideways on its supporting uprights, possibly due to the collapse of the backstone, and now overhangs the chamber on its north side. The unsegmented burial chamber is 9 feet long with an entrance on the east, flanked by orthostats which could be the remains of a crescentic facade such as is found in the court-tombs, from which portal-tombs, or dolmens as a class may have derived. This extraordinary megalith has inspired a variety of descriptive names in the past, among them Finn's Finger (after the legendary giant Finn MacCoul of causeway-building fame), presumably on account of the tall slender upright stone at the front of the chamber; while to some of the older people of the neighbourhood it is Pat Kearney's Big Stone, so-called after the occupier of an adjacent cottage who for many years assumed the unofficial role of custodian of the monument. Pat Kearney lived here around the turn of the century and is of course long gone. So too is him humble house, now crumbled to its moss-covered foundations. Only the Cloghmore remains, dark and immutable in its tree-shaded field, a singular testimony tot he enduring works of prehistoric man. Show me all the details for Goward

11. Towers (Historical)	Go to ALL Towers (Historical) in Down
Scrabo Tower Co. Down On a hill, 3 miles across the valley, and twice as tall as Helen's Tower, Scrabo Tower was built at about the same time in memory of the third Marquis of Londonderry. It has 122 steps up to a good view of Strangford Lough and beyond (open in summer). Part of it was lived in untill about 1970. There is a golf course round the tower, with bluebell woods on the south side. Show me all the details for Scrabo Tower

12. Castles (Historical)	Go to ALL Castles (Historical) in Down
Castle Ward Strangford, Co. Down Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor and his wife Anne could not agree, especially when it came to the architectural style of their home. A compromise was reached. Lady Anne got her way with the back of the 1760s house, which is in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style, while the front facade reflects here husband's neo-classic taste. This division of styles runs right through the house; the music room is in the severe classic style with Doric frieze and columns while the whimsical Gothic boudoir has spectacular fan vaulting. However the Viscount got one up on his wife by having a classical staircase. Interior decoration is a known cause of marital disharmony and Lady Anne eventually left her husband for good. The house is stunningly situated, surrounded by woods, farmland, landscaped gardens and lakes, including the Temple Water which is overlooked by a pedimented temple. An underground passage links the house to the stableyard, a hub of activity for visitors to the estate. Here visitors will find: The Victorian pastimes centre where children can dress in clothes from the period and play with popular Victorian toys A well-stocked gift shop A restaurant The laundry with examples of laundered linen, clothes and laundry machinery from the late 19th century. Show me all the details for Castle Ward

13. Dolmens	Go to ALL Dolmens in Down
Goward Dolmen Co. Down Its largest stone is the enormous capstone which has fallen sideways, revealing the megalithic chamber it once covered, in which a cremation urn and a flint arrowhead were found in 1834. Stones standing independently at the eastern side of the monument suggest that it may once have had a forecourt facade like a court-tomb. Show me all the details for Goward Dolmen

14. Forts (Historical)	Go to ALL Forts (Historical) in Down
Hillsborough Fort Co. 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. Show me all the details for Hillsborough Fort

15. Tombs	Go to ALL Tombs in Down
Annadorn Megalith Co. Down What may at first seem like a low dolmen on a hillock overlooking Loughin island lake at a cross-roads on the Seaforde-Crossgar road is, in fact, a large, low capstone resting on a number of smaller stones. These may once have been part of a passage-tomb, as an account of 1802 talks of it being beneath a cairn 60ft in diameter and having a lintelled passage approaching it. Show me all the details for Annadorn Megalith

16. Homes (Historical)	Go to ALL Homes (Historical) in Down
Mount Stewart House Co. Down Mount Stewart offers to the visitor one of the most complete gardens in the care of the National Trust. The garden, designed by Edith, Lady Londonderry, from 1921 includes almost every style of gardening and supports an incomparable plant collection. Frances and Charles, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, became celebrated figures, leading a glittering social life and travelling extensively. They collected works of art and furniture on their travels and brought them back to Mount Stewart and among their more spectacular aquisitions were the 22 chairs used at the Congress of Vienna. When King Edward and Queen Alexandra visited the house in 1903 their hostess the 6th Marchioness had 274 servants to keep the royal guests happy. As a bride the 7th Marchioness thought Mount Stewart the 'dampest, darkest' place and completely refurbished the interiors and created a series of gardens. Show me all the details for Mount Stewart House

17. Crosses (Historical)	Go to ALL Crosses (Historical) in Down
Dromore High Cross Co. Down In Dromore is the ancient Celtic Cross and old town stocks where those who misbehaved were locked in full public view. Show me all the details for Dromore High Cross

18. Gallery Graves	Go to ALL Gallery Graves in Down
St Patrick's Grave Co. 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). Show me all the details for St Patrick's Grave

19. Stones (Historical)	Go to ALL Stones (Historical) in Down
Coagh Co. 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. Show me all the details for Coagh

20. Abbeys	Go to ALL Abbeys in Down
Grey Abbey Co. Down Grey Abbey, near Strangford Lough. Ruins of Cistercian Abbey with medieval-style physic garden and surrounded by 18th Century landscape. The Cistercian abbey was founded in 1193 by Affreca, daughter of the King of Man and wife of John de Courcy. It was colonised by monks from Holm Cultram in Cumbria. The French background of the Cistercian Order, and the English Origins of Grey Abbey, resulted in an elegant 'Gothic' building with tall, pointed lancet windows, the first truly Gothic structure in Ireland. The Cistercian monks had great knowledge of plants, both wild and cultivated, and made use of this in their practice of medicine. A herb garden has been carefully recreated at Grey Abbey. Based on medieval paintings and texts it contains over fifty different medicinal plants and herbs. Show me all the details for Grey Abbey

21. Churches (Historical)	Go to ALL Churches (Historical) in Down
Ardtole Church Co. Down A 15th century church dedicated to St. Nicholas, with a door in the north and south walls, but spoliation down the centuries has robbed its openings of any decorative stonework. However, a cross-decorated slab of the Early Christian period, now in the Roman Catholic church at Chapletown, just over a mile to the north-north-east, was removed from Ardtole in 1791, showing that the site has a longer tradition than the surviving church would suggest. Show me all the details for Ardtole Church

22. Monastery	Go to ALL Monastery in Down
Mourne Countryside Centre Co. Down The special landscapes of the Mournes and Slieve Croob qualify them as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - an important designation which carries a committment to safeguard the natural beauty, wildlife and historic heritage of the area, and to promote its enjoyment by the public. Mourne Countryside Centre in Newcastle provides staff to assist in protecting habitats and wildlife, and tackle human-related problems ranging from path erosion to illegal dumping. It also has an important role in advising and grant-aiding others - such as local councils and other government departments - who are involved in developing public access throughout the area. The Centre is part of Environment Service, Countryside and Wildlife. Improbable as it may seem, much of the moorland habitat on the lower mountain slopes has arisen through man's removal of trees and the prevention of regeneration by grazing livestock and occasional burning. The native woods that remain are few and far between. For example only one pocket of extensive oak forest survives, now protected as a nature reserve on the slopes behind Rostrevor. Elsewhere, planted woods enhance the landscape at Mourne Park, Tollymore, Castlewellan and Donard Park, where older stands of mixed broadleaved trees grow alongside more recent coniferous plantations. Stone walls rather than hedgerows are the common field boundary between the mountains and the sea, whereas inland of the mountains there is a distinctive mix of tall hedgerows, streamside woods and ribbons of trees around lakes trapped by drumlins. Show me all the details for Mourne Countryside Centre

23. Bridges	Go to ALL Bridges in Down
Gamble's Bridge Co. 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'. Show me all the details for Gamble's Bridge

24. Windmills	Go to ALL Windmills in Down
Ballycopeland Windmill Co. 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

25. Mills (Historical)	Go to ALL Mills (Historical) in Down
Annalong Cornmill Annalong, Co. Down Ireland's most picturesque cornmill is to be found beside Annalong harbour at the foot of the Mourne Mountains. Built in the early 1800s, it operated until the 1960's, being one of Ulster's last working watermills. The complex contains a grain-drying kiln and 3 pairs of millstones. It is powered by a 15ft waterwheel (a form of technology over 2000 years old) and a 1920's Marshall 'hot-bulb' 20hp engine. 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. Show me all the details for Annalong Cornmill

26. Stone Circles	Go to ALL Stone Circles in Down
Ballynoe Lecale Peninsula, Co. Down Set in the verdant agricultural landscape of the Lecale peninsula, this large ring of ancient stones and the mound it encloses are of special archaeological interest. A combination of stone circle and long-cairn or barrow, its hybrid features are unknown elsewhere in Ireland and it may possibly be a multi-phase monument resulting from a mingling of different cultural traditions. The circle has a diameter of 108 feet and is composed of about fifty-five stones set contiguously, some standing 6 feet high. Several have fallen and others may have been removed. The entrance appears to have been on the west where four large boulders form a kind of double portal, and there are a number of random outliers. A kerb-edged elongated mound in the eastern part of the circle covered a cairn with two cists in which were cremated bones; altogether the remains of seven individuals were identified. Also buried in the mound were a number of water-smoothed stones called baetyls, thought to have had a religious significance. The discovery of a pottery sherd of Carrowkeel Ware points to a date in the late Neolithic period, which if contemporary would place Ballynoe near the beginning of the stone circle cult. Show me all the details for Ballynoe

27. Wells (Historical)	Go to ALL Wells (Historical) in Down
Struell Wells Co. 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. Show me all the details for Struell Wells

28. Town Information	Go to ALL Town Information in Down
Hillsborough Town Lisburn Borough Council, Co. 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. Show me all the details for Hillsborough Town

29. Priory	Go to ALL Priory in Down
Newtownards Priory Co. 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. Show me all the details for Newtownards Priory

30. Rath	Go to ALL Rath in Down
Lisnavaragh Rath Co. Down On the same ridge, and in the same townland, as Lisnagade, this is also a multi-vallate rath or lios, but oval in shape. It has three deep ditches. Excavations in 1951 produced a massive gatepost at the entrance on the south-eastern side. Show me all the details for Lisnavaragh Rath

31. Cairn	Go to ALL Cairn in Down
Millin Bay Cairn Co. Down A dozen larger stones and a low, oval mound is all that is now visible of a complex Neolithic monument. Excavations in 1953 revealed that within the mound was a long, stone-lined cist containing the disarticulated remains of at least 15 individuals, whose de-fleshed bones were brought here for re-burial , the skulls and long bones being grouped together according to type. The cist was surrounded by two rows of upright stones with sand and shingle filling the area between the two, and outside these were placed the large stones which are now visible above the cairn. Unexpected were a number of stones decorated with patterns echoing some of those on the Boyne Valley Tombs. Show me all the details for Millin Bay Cairn

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