Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for DOWNPATRICK

DOWNPATRICK, an unincorporated borough, market, and post-town, and parish, in the barony of LECALE, county of DOWN, (of which it is the chief town), and province of ULSTER, 18 miles (S. E. by S.) from Belfast, and 74 (N.) from Dublin; containing 9203 inhabitants, of which number, 4784 are in the town.

This place, which was anciently the residence of the native kings of Ullagh or Ulidia, was originally named Aras-Celtair and Rath-Keltair, one signifying the house and the other the castle or fortification of Celtair, the son of Duach; by Ptolemy it was called Dunum. Its present name is derived from its situation on a hill, and from its having been the chosen residence of St. Patrick, who, on his arrival here in 432, founded in its vicinity the abbey of Saul, and, shortly after, an abbey of regular canons near the ancient Doon or fort, the site of which was granted to him by Dichu, sou of Trichem, lord of the country, whom he had converted to the Christian faith. St. Patrick presided over these religious establishments till his death in 493, and was interred in the abbey here, in which also the remains of St. Bridget and St. Columbkill, the two other tutelar saints of Ireland, were subsequently deposited. The town was constantly exposed to the ravages of the Danes, by whom it was plundered and burnt six or seven times between the years 940 and 1111; and on all these occasions the cathedral was pillaged by them. In 1177, John de Courcy took possession of the town, then the residence of Mac Dunleve, Prince of Ullagh, who, unprepared for defence against an invasion so unexpected, fled precipitately. De Courcy fortified himself here, and maintained his position against all the efforts of Mac Dunleve, aided by the native chieftains, for its recovery. In 1183, he displaced the canons and substituted a society of Benedictine monks from the abbey of St. Werburgh at Chester. Both he and Bishop Malachy III., endowed the abbey with large revenues; and in 1186 they sent an embassy to Pope Urban III. to obtain a bull for translating into shrines the sacred reliques of the three saints above named, which was performed with great solemnity by the pope's nuncio in the same year. De Courcy having espoused the claims of Prince Arthur, Duke of Brittany, assumed, in common with other English barons who had obtained extensive settlements in Ireland, an independent state, and renounced his allegiance to King John, who summoned him to appear and do homage. His mandate being treated with contempt, the provoked monarch, in 1203, invested De Lacy and his brother Walter with a commission to enter Ulster and reduce the revolted baron. De Lacy advanced with his troops to Down, where an engagement took place in which he was signally defeated and obliged to retreat with considerable loss of men. De Courcy, however, was ultimately obliged to acknowledge his submission and consent to do homage. A romantic description of the issue of this contest is related by several writers, according to whom De Courcy, after the termination of the battle, challenged De Lacy to single combat, which the latter declined on the plea that his commission, as the King's representative, forbade him to enter the lists against a rebellious subject, and subsequently proclaimed a reward for De Courcy's apprehension, which proving ineffectual, he then prevailed upon his servants by bribes and promises to betray their master. This act of perfidy was carried into execution whilst De Courcy was performing his devotions unarmed in the burial-ground of the cathedral: the assailants rushed upon him and slew some of his retinue; De Courcy seized a large wooden cross, with which, being a man of great prowess, he killed thirteen of them, but was overpowered by the rest and bound and led captive to De Lacy, who delivered him a prisoner to the king. In 1205, Hugh de Lacy was made Earl of Ulster, and for a while fixed his residence at the castle erected here by De Courcy. In 1245, part of the abbey was thrown down and the walls of the cathedral much damaged by an earthquake. A desperate battle was fought in the streets of this town, in 1259, between Stephen de Longespee and the chief of the O'Neils, in which the latter and 352 of his men were slain. Edward Bruce, in his invasion of Ulster, in 1315, having marched hither, plundered and destroyed the abbey, and burnt part of the town : he again plundered the town three years afterwards, and on that occasion caused himself to be proclaimed King of Ireland at the cross near the cathedral. To subdue the opposition raised by the wealthy abbots of this district, under Primate Cromer, against the spiritual supremacy of Henry VIII., Lord Grey, then lord-deputy, marched with a powerful army into Lecale, took Dun-drum and seven other castles, and in May 1538, having defaced the monuments of the three patron saints and perpetrated other acts of sacrilege, set fire to the cathedral and the town; three years afterwards, this act was made one of the charges on which he was impeached and beheaded. On the surrender of the abbey in 1539, its possessions, with those of the other religious establishments in the town, were granted to Gerald, eleventh Earl of Kildare. In 1552, the town was plundered and partially destroyed by Con O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone; and two years afterwards it was assaulted by his son Shane, who destroyed its gates and ramparts. During the war of 1641, the Protestants of the surrounding district having fled hither for protection, the town was attacked by the Irish under the command of Col. Bryan O'Neil, who burnt a magnificent castle erected by Lord Okeham, and committed a great slaughter of the townsmen; many that escaped were afterwards massacred at Killyleagh.

The town is built upon a group of little hills, on the south shore of the western branch of Lough Cone or Strangford Lough, and consists of four principal streets rising with a steep ascent from the market-place in the centre, and intersected by several smaller streets and lanes : on the eastern side the hills rise abruptly behind it, commanding views of a fertile and well-cultivated tract abounding with richly diversified and picturesque scenery. It is divided according to ancient usage into three districts, called respectively the English, Irish, and Scottish quarters, and contains about 900 houses, most of which are well built: the streets are well paved, and were first lighted with oil in 1830; and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. An ancient ferry across the western arm of Strangford lough connected this town with the neighbourhood to the north until a bridge was erected about one mile from the town, with a tower gate-house upon it, which was destroyed and the bridge itself greatly damaged in 1641. A public library and news-room was erected by subscription in 1825; and races are held in July alternately with Hillsborough, under charter of James II., on an excellent course one mile south of the town. The members of the Down Hunt hold their annual meetings in a handsome building in English-street, called the County Rooms, which is also used for county meetings, &c. The barracks are an extensive and convenient range of buildings, formerly the old gaol, in which a detachment of two companies from the garrison at Belfast is placed. The only article of manufacture is that of linen, principally yard wide, for the West Indies and the English market, and drills for Scotland, in which about 700 weavers, are employed. There are two ale breweries in the town. On the hanks of the Quoile, one mile distant, are excellent quays, where vessels of 100 tons' burden come in from Strangford lough: the principal imports are iron, coal, salt, timber, bark, and general merchandise : the exports are wheat, barley, oats, cattle, pigs, potatoes, and kelp. Formerly the tide flowed up close to the town, but in 1745 an embankment was constructed across the Quoile water, one mile distant, by the Rt. Hon. Edward Southwell, lord of the manor, which restrained it to that point, and about 500 acres of land were recovered: this embankment was swept away by a storm, and a second was formed by Lord de Clifford, with floodgates, &c., but after much rain a considerable portion of meadow land in the neighbourhood of the town is yet inundated. The market is on Saturday; it is large and well supplied with provisions of all kinds, and with pedlery. Brown linen webs were formerly sold on the market day in the linen hall, but the sale has of late much declined. The market-house is an old low building, containing some good upper rooms, in which the petty sessions are held and the public business of the town is transacted. Fairs are held annually on the second Thursday in January, March 17th, May 19th, June 22nd, Oct. 29th, and Nov. 19th. This is a chief constabulary police station, with a force consisting of one officer, one constable, and seven men.

Downpatrick had a corporation at an early period, the existence of which is recognised in 1403, when letters of protection were granted to it by Henry IV., under the title of the " Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the city of Down, in Ulster." The borough returned two members to the Irish parliament so early as 1585 : this privilege was exercised till the union, since which they have returned one member to the Imperial parliament. The right of election was vested in the pot-wallopers, but under an act of the 35th of George III. it was limited to the resident occupiers of houses of the annual value of £5 and upwards, who have registered twelve months before the election : the number of qualifying tenements under the old law was estimated at about 650. The act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 88, caused no alteration in the franchise or in the limits of the borough, which is co-extensive with the demesne of Down, containing 1486 statute acres : the number of voters registered, in 1835, was 525. The seneschal appointed by the lord of the manor is the returning officer. The manor, which is the property of David Ker, Esq., is very ancient, its existence being noticed in a record dated 1403. A patent of it was granted to Lord Cromwell by James I., in 1617, whereby sundry monasteries, lands, and tenements, including the demesne of Down, were erected into the manor of Downpatrick the manorial court, in which the process is either by attachment or civil bill, is held by the seneschal every third Tuesday, and has jurisdiction to the amount of £10 over 67 townlands in the parishes of Downpatrick, Saul, Bailee, Bright, Ballyculter, and Inch. The seneschal holds a court leet for the manor in spring and at Michaelmas. Petty sessions are held every Thursday : the assizes for the county are held alternately here and at Newry; and the county quarter sessions for the division of Downpatrick are held here in March and October. The county hall, or court-house, which was considerably enlarged and improved in 1834, occupies an elevated site in English-street; it is a large and handsome edifice, consisting of a centre and two wings, approached by a fine flight of stone steps; the centre is appropriated to the criminal court, the eastern wing to the civil court, and in the western are preserved the county records, &c.; it also contains a suite of assembly-rooms. The county gaol is a very commodious building, erected in 1830 at an expense of £60,000, and occupying an area of one acre and a half: the internal arrangements and management are calculated to carry into the best effect the improved system of prison discipline, and have been recommended as a model for similar establishments by the inspector-general of prisons.

The SEE of DOWN is supposed to have originated in the abbey founded here by St. Patrick, but St. Carlan is said to have been the first bishop. Its early prelates are called Bishops of Dundalethglass, but it is probable that this see was generally included in the diocese of Connor, prior to the episcopacy of Malachy O'Morgair, who became bishop in 1137, and separated it from Connor; his immediate successors are called bishops of Ulster by some historians. John Cely was the last bishop who, in modern times, held the bishoprick of Down separate from that of Connor : he was deprived of it for his crimes and excesses in 1441. Archbishop Prene recommended William Bassett, a Benedictine monk, to the Pope, as a successor to Cely, hut the pope added this see to that of Connor, and they have remained united to the present time. John, the first bishop of Down and Connor, was not, however, allowed to enjoy his united bishopricks in peace; for Thomas Pollard claimed to be Bishop of Down, and is supposed to have been supported by the archbishop, but lost his cause in 1449. John was fined shortly before his death for not appearing upon summons in Parliament. Bishop Tiberius, who is stated to have very much beautified the cathedral, was succeeded, about 1526, by Robert Blyth, abbot of Thorney, in Cambridgeshire, who held these bishopricks in commendam, and resided in England. The last bishop before the Reformation was Eugene Magenis, who was advanced to these sees by Pope Paul III.; and although John Merriman, chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, was consecrated bishop in 1568, the pope appointed Miler Magragh to the united see : he, however, never had possession of the temporalties, and subsequently becoming a Protestant was made Archbishop of Cashel. John Tod, who had been educated at Rome, but had renounced popery, was nominated bishop by James I., in 1604, and held the see of Dromore in commendam : he was tried before the High Commission Court, which deprived him of the bishopricks, and afterwards poisoned himself in London. From 1660 to 1667 these sees were held by the celebrated Jeremy Taylor, who had also the administration of the see of Dromore, and was a privy counsellor and Vice Chancellor of the University of Dublin. Bishop Hutchinson, whose episcopacy commenced in 1720, had the church catechism translated into Irish, and printed in English and Irish, primarily for the use of the inhabitants of Rathlin, and hence it is called the Rathlin Catechism. Under the Church Temporalities Act, when either the bishoprick of Down and Connor, or of Dromore, becomes vacant, Dromore is to be added to Down and Connor, and the surviving bishop is to take the title of Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore, and the temporalities of the see of Dromore are to be vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The diocese is one of the ten that constitute the ecclesiastical province of Armagh : it comprehends part of the county of Antrim, and the greater part of Down, extending 52 British miles in length by about 28 in breadth, and comprises an estimated area of 201,950 acres, of which, 800 are in Antrim and 201,150 in Down. The gross annual revenue of the see of Down, on an average of three years ending Dec. 31st, 1831, amounted to £2830. 16. 8 ½.; and there are 6411 acres of profitable land belonging to the diocese. The entire revenue of the united sees of Down and Connor averages £5896 per annum, and the see lands comprise 30,244 statute acres. The chapter consists of a dean, archdeacon, precentor, and treasurer, and the two prebendaries of St. Andrew's and Dunsford. The abbey founded by St. Patrick appears to have been the first cathedral of this see; it was several times plundered and burnt by the Danes. It was repaired by Malachy O'Morgair, in 1137, and by Malachy III., aided by John de Courcy, in ] 176, and was burnt in 1315 by Lord Edward Bruce. Having been repaired or rebuilt, it was again burnt, in 1538, by Lord Leonard de Grey. In 1609, James I. changed the name of the cathedral from St. Patrick's to the Holy Trinity, which was its original designation; and on account of its being in a ruinous condition, Charles II., in 1663, erected the church of Lisburn into a cathedral and bishop's see for the diocese of Down and Connor. It continued in ruins till the year 1790, when it was restored by a grant of £1000 from Government and liberal subscriptions from the nobility and gentry of the county; and in the same year a rent-charge of £300 late currency on the tithes of the ancient union was appropriated by act of parliament for its repairs and for the support of an organist, three vicars choral, and six choristers. It is situated on an eminence to the west of the town, and is a stately embattled edifice chiefly of unhewn stone, supported externally by buttresses, and comprising a nave, choir, and aisles, with a lofty square tower at, the west end, embattled and pinnacled, and smaller square towers at each corner of the east gable, in one of which is a spiral stone staircase leading to the roof. The aisles are separated from the nave by lofty elegant arches resting on massive piers, from the corbels of which spring ribs supporting the roof, which is richly groined and ornamented at the intersections with clusters of foliage. The lofty windows of the aisles are divided by a single mullion; the nave is lighted by a long range of clerestory windows, and the choir by a handsome east window divided by mullions into twelve compartments, which appears to be the only window remaining of the splendid edifice erected in 1412, and destroyed by Lord de Grey. Over the east window are three elegant niches with ogee pointed arches, containing on pedestals the remains of the mutilated effigies of St. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St. Columbkill. The choir is handsomely fitted up with stalls for the dignitaries. The cathedral was opened for the performance of divine service, after its restoration in 1817: the tower was completed in 1829, at an expense of £1900. It contains a monument to the memory of Edward Cromwell, Baron Okeham, who was proprietor of nearly all Lecale, and who died and was buried here in 1607; and another to his grandson Oliver, Earl of Ardglass, who was interred in 1668. The cathedral service is not performed, the building being used rather as a second parish church. The consistorial court of the united diocese is at Lisburn : it consists of a vicar-general, two surrogates, a registrar, deputy-registrar, and several proctors. The registrars are keepers of the records of the united diocese, which consist of the documents relating to the see lands, benefices, inductions, and wills, the earliest of which is dated 1650. The number of parishes in the diocese is 43, which are comprehended in 37 benefices, of which 6 are in the patronage of the Crown, 2 in that of the Lord-Primate, 12 in that of the Bishop, 1 in the gift of the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, 13 in lay patronage, and the remainder are perpetual curacies, in the gift of the incumbents of the parishes out of which they have been formed. The number of churches is 40, and there are 2 other episcopal places of worship, and 25 glebe-houses.

In the R. C. divisions this diocese is united as in the Established Church, forming the bishoprick of Down and Connor: in the Bishoprick of Down are 18 parochial districts, containing 37 chapels served by 28 clergymen, 18 of whom are parish priests and 10 coadjutors or curates. The cathedral of the united diocese is at Belfast, where the R. C. bishop resides.

The parish comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 11,484 ½ statute acres, of which 125 are water, and there is neither waste land nor bog within its limits; the land is very fertile, and, with the exception of some marshes, is all arable, and in an improved state of cultivation. There are several quarries of rubble stone, which is used principally for building. The scenery is enriched with numerous gentlemen's seats, of which the principal are Hollymount, the beautiful residence of Col. Forde, situated in an extensive demesne, richly planted and well watered; Ballykilbeg House, the residence of J. Brett Johnston, Esq.; and Vianstown, of Mrs. Ward. About two miles from the town is the beautiful lake of Ballydugan; and near it is Ballydugan. House, memorable as the residence of Col. White, who was murdered, and the mansion burnt in the war of 1641. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Down, formerly united, by royal charter in the 7th of James I., to the rectories of Saul, Ballyculter, Bailee, Bright, and Tyrella, which together constituted the union and corps of the deanery of Down; but under the provisions of the Church Temporalities Act, the ancient union has been dissolved, and by act of council, in 1834, the rectories of Down and Tyrella, seven townlands in the parish of Bailee, one in that of Kilclief, and four in that of Bright, have been made to constitute the incumbency and corps of the deanery, which is in the patronage of the Crown. The gross income of the present deanery amounts to £1554. 15. 11 ½., of which £1078. 11. 3. is paid by the parish of Down, £164. 15. 9. by that of Tyrella; £6. 6. is the rental of a small glebe of la. Or. 7p.; £146. 7. is received from the townlands of Ballee; £148. 2. 8 ½. from those of Bright, and £10. 13. 3. from that of Kilclief. Out of this income the dean pays £6 to the diocesan schoolmaster, £12. 16. for proxies, a quit-rent of £7. 9.4 ½., £100 to a curate, &c., £100 for a residence (there being no deanery or glebe-house), and £127. 7. 10 ½. as a contribution to the cathedral. The parish church, a neat edifice in the Grecian style, was rebuilt on an enlarged scale in 1735, partly at the expense of Mr. Southwell, lord of the manor, and the Rev. — Daniel, then Dean of Down; it was repaired and newly roofed in 1760 and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £200 for its further repair. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church, and contains two chapels, one in the town (built in 1790) and the other at Ballykilbeg, three miles distant. There are also two places of worship for Presbyterians, one in connection with the Synod of Ulster (completed in 1827, at an expense of £900, and now about to be enlarged), and of the second class; and the other with the presbytery of Antrim of the first class; and one each for Wesleyan Methodists, Methodists of the new connection, and Primitive Methodists.

The diocesan school, founded in the 12th of Elizabeth, appears to have fallen into decay until the year 1823, when it was united to that of Dromore, and an excellent school-room and residence for the master were erected at the end of Saul-street, in this town, in 1829, at an expense of £1000, defrayed by the county at large, on a site given by Lord de Clifford. It is free to all boys of both dioceses, and is endowed with £50 per annum from the diocese of Dromore, and £40 from that of Down, of which one-third is paid by the bishops and two-thirds by the clergymen, being a per centage on the net value of their livings; it is also further supported by a contribution of £10. 10. per ann. from the lay impropriators, a rent-charge of £20 on the estate of the late Lord de Clifford, and the rental of the land on which the school premises at Dromore were situated, amounting to £4. 4. The master is appointed by the lord-lieutenant, on the recommendation of the bishop. A parochial school conducted on the Lancasterian plan, and an infants' school, established in 1832, are supported by voluntary contributions; in connection with the Presbyterian meeting-house of the Synod of Ulster, is a large school-house for girls, and the trustees intend immediately to erect another for boys; at Hollymount are schools for boys and girls, supported by Lady Harriet Forde; and there are other day and Sunday schools supported by subscription. The number of children on the books of these day schools is 646, namely, 440 boys and 206 girls; and in the private pay schools are 340 boys and 200 girls. On a gentle eminence, a short distance southward from the town, stands the county infirmary, a large and handsome building erected in 1832, comprising a centre and two wings, which extend rearward, and containing 11 wards, in which are 40 beds, 20 for males and 20 for females. Near it is the fever hospital, also a large and well-arranged building, erected in the same year, and divided into 8 wards, containing 20 beds : these two buildings cost £6500. In English-street is an hospital founded in 1731 by the Rt. Hon. Edward Southwell, ancestor of the late Lord de Clifford, who endowed it with £237 per ann. payable out of the lands of Listonder and Ballydyan, in the parish of Kilmore, now the property of David Ker, Esq. The building, which is of brick, underwent a thorough repair in 1826, at an expense of £1000, defrayed by Lord de Clifford : it comprises a centre and two wings, the former occupied as an asylum for six aged men and six aged women, who have two rooms and a garden and £5 per ann. each; and the latter as schools for ten boys and ten girls, who are clothed and educated for four years, and receive £3 per ann. each towards their support, and on leaving the school at the age of 15 are apprenticed : the schoolmaster receives a salary of £15, with house, garden, and fuel, and the schoolmistress £12, with similar advantages. In the same street are four good houses for clergymen's widows of the diocese, of which two were founded in 1730 by the Rev. H. Leslie, Rev. J. Mathews, and Rev. J. Hamilton, who endowed them with £40 per annum from lands in Ballybranagh; and two in 1750, by the Rev. Edward Mathews, D. D., who endowed them with £42 per ann. from lands in Tubermony, Grangetown, and Ballywarren, all in this parish : the management is vested in the Dean and Chapter. John Brett, Esq., in 1810, bequeathed £300 in trust, the interest to be distributed annually among the poor of the town. A society for clothing the poor in winter, and a mendicity society for assisting the aged and infirm and preventing vagrancy, have been established. Besides the abbey founded by St. Patrick, there were, prior to the dissolution, a priory of regular canons, called the priory of the Irish, founded in honour of St. Thomas, in 1138, by Malachy O'Morgair, Bishop of Down; the priory of St. John the Baptist, called the priory of the English, founded by John de Courcy for crossbearers of the order of St. Augustine; an abbey of Cistercian monks, founded in the 12th century by — Bagnal, and a Cistercian nunnery, of both which no further particulars have been recorded; a Franciscan friary, founded about 1240 by Hugh de Lacy, or, according to some writers, by Africa, daughter of Godred, King of Man, and wife of John de Courcy; and an hospital for lepers, dedicated to St. Nicholas, which in 1413 was, with the hospital of St. Peter at Kilclief, granted in trust to certain individuals by royal charter : there are no remains of these ancient establishments, even their sites can scarcely be distinctly traced. There are several forts and raths in the parish; the most noted are the large rath or doon near the cathedral, which gave name to the town and county, and one at Ballykilbeg, finely planted by J. B. Johnston, Esq. In 1825, the head and horns of an elk of large size, the latter measuring 5 feet 11 inches between their extremities, and the head of a spear, were found in a marl-pit near the town. The celebrated Duns Scotus was born here in 1274 : he was educated at Oxford, and in 1307 was appointed Regent of Divinity in the schools of Paris; his works are very voluminous. For a description of the Struel wells, see the county article.


(Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837); Transcription © Derek Rowlinson, 2005-10. Reproduced from LibraryIreland. We are deeply grateful to LibraryIreland for allowing us to use their transcription.)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "an unincorporated borough, market, and post-town, and parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Lecale IrlBarony       Down IrlC
Place: Downpatrick

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