Downpatrick is a town in County Down in Northern Ireland, now governed as part of Newry, Mourne and Down District. It's best known as the place where St Patrick supposedly returned to Ireland, and his burial place, and the area is dotted with prehistoric and early Christian sites. Belfast is only 21 miles to the north so Downpatrick is nowadays a commuter town, with a population in 2021 of 11,500.
Understand
[edit]Much of this area was wetland in early medieval times, with lakes and bogs dotted by drumlins - hillocks of rubble dumped by melting glaciers. Settlements and religious sites grew up on these, and in 432 AD a boat carrying St Patrick was supposedly swept ashore by the strong currents of Strangford Lough. He converted the local chieftain, who gave him a barn to preach from - saball is Old Irish for barn and the place became known as Saul. St Patrick founded a church here and when he died he was eventually taken to nearby Downpatrick for burial. The town has traded on this connection ever since.
Visitor information is based in St Patrick's Centre on Market St, same hours.
Get in
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By road from Belfast, take A24 south to Carryduff then A7 into Downpatrick. From Dublin leave A1 at the first exit after the border near Newry, to follow A25 east via Castlewellan.
Goldliner Bus 215 / 515 runs from Belfast Grand Central, taking an hour via Saintfield. These run M-F every 20 min, Sa hourly and every couple of hours on Sunday.
Goldliner 240 runs from Newry every two hours daily, taking 80 min via Newcastle.
Ulsterbus 16 runs every hour or two from Strangford, connecting with the ferry and buses along the peninsula from Newtownards.
Bus 17 takes 30 min between Newcastle, Castlewellan and Downpatrick. It's every hour or so M-F, but only four on Saturday and none on Sunday.
Bus 14 runs from Shrigley Mill, taking 20 min. It's hourly M-F and every two hours on Saturday.
Bus 19 takes 20 min from Ballynahinch, running every hour or so M-F, but only four on Saturday and none on Sunday.
1 Downpatrick bus station is on A25 Market Street, 200 yards south of town centre.
Get around
[edit]You can walk to many of the sights including Inch Abbey, and Rowallane Garden is on the bus route from Belfast. You need wheels for the outlying attractions.
The local taxi firm is Downpatrick Taxis (+44 28 4461 4515).
National Cycleway 99 runs from Bangor down the peninsula to Portaferry, Strangford and Downpatrick, continuing to Newcastle. It's all on-road. From Belfast follow the traffic-free Comber cycleway, then hug the west bank of Strangford Lough to Downpatrick.
See
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- Town centre has many pleasant Georgian buildings along English St and Irish St.
- 1 Down Cathedral (Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity), 35 English St BT30 6AB, ☏ +44 28 4461 4922, [email protected]. M-Sa 10AM-3:30PM. This is claimed to have been the burial place of St Patrick in 461, with St Brigid and St Columba alongside. Multiple churches since that time have been swept away: the present Church of Ireland (Anglican) building from 1818 set out to be so relentlessly medieval Gothic that truly medieval material survives only in traces. These include two 12th-century crosses, an 11th-century font, and part of the walls of the 13th-century Benedictine Abbey. The High Cross is a replica: the 10th-century original suffered weathering and was moved to the nearby museum. A massive granite slab was placed over St Patrick's grave in 1900, to curb a fashion among emigrants of taking a handful of soil away with them. Free.
- 2 Down County Museum, The Mall, English Street BT30 6AH, ☏ +44 330 137 4049. Tu-Sa 10AM-4:30PM. This was the county jail in the late 18th century, and United Irishman Thomas Russell was hanged at its gates in 1803. The museum permanent collections cover an overview of town history, the High Cross, farming and the jail. Free.
- 3 St Patrick Centre, 53A Market St BT30 6LZ, ☏ +44 28 4461 9000, [email protected]. Daily 9AM-4PM. If you don't know much about the "real" St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, you're in good company — most detail is the invention of later hagiographers. The medieval Armagh scholars were especially busy and inventive, since the primacy of their church depended on the primacy of St Patrick. This gallery and IMAX show explores what we know and why he still matters. Adult £7.75.
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- 4 Inch Abbey, Inch Abbey Road BT30 9AT. 24 hours. Founded before AD 800 on what was then a drumlin island in the marshes. The present ruins are from the 12th-century Cistercian Abbey, which looks to have been small but wealthy. The Cistercians believed in manual labour, farming to support themselves, as well as prayer, abstinence, and above all No damned Irish! The ruins are scenically sited on the west bank of the River Quoile: either approach via A7 Belfast Road or take the steam railway to the Abbey station. Free.
- 5 Quoile Castle is the shell of a 16th century tower house, along A25 a mile northeast of town. The riverbank is a wetland wildlife reserve.
- 6 Saul Church was built in 1933, with a replica Round Tower, and incorporating fragments of a medieval abbey. Saul derives from sabhall, barn, where St Patrick is said to have sheltered and preached after the Strangford Lough currents spat him ashore nearby. His colossal statue on the hill is also modern.
- Ballydugan Medieval Settlement, Drumcullan Rd BT30 8HZT (next to Ballydugan Mills). Apr-Sep Sa Su noon-5PM. Recreation of a medieval village.
- 7 Ballynoe Stone Circle, Ballynoe Rd BT30 8ET. 24 hours. A stone circle 30 yards in diameter with 50 upright stones closely placed. The site seems to have been in use from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Free.
- 8 Struell Wells, Struell Wells Road BT30 6RL. 24 hours. Sruthail means stream. It flows down a rocky valley, partly underground, supplying a series of wells with supposed healing or holy properties. Inevitably Saint Patrick gets in on the act, but the site predates him. There are four main wells, and the bath houses you see now are from the 17th century. Pilgrims conducted complicated penances and observances, but in the 19th century they became rowdy so there was a clamp-down. The wells dried up around 2006 when the culverts feeding them fell into disrepair, but this has been remedied. Free.
- 9 Rowallane Garden, Crossgar Road, Saintfield BT24 7LH, ☏ +44 28 9751 0131. Daily 10AM-4PM. Extensive garden founded in the 1860s with many exotic species. Adult £12, child £6, NT free.
- 10 Ardglass is a fishing village ringed by medieval turrets in various stages of decay. Jordan's Castle, south end of Quay Street by the golf club, is the only one you can visit within. Isabella's Tower to the west however is a Victorian folly. Ardtole church is a 15th-century ruin on the hill north of the village.
- Legananny Dolmen: see Newcastle for this impressive 5000 year-old megalithic tripod, and for Finnis Souterrain nearby.
Do
[edit]- What's on? Read The Down Recorder or Down News.
- Down Arts Centre, 26 Irish Street BT30 6BP, ☏ +44 28 4461 0747. Music, drama and exhibitions.
- Omniplex Cinema is on Owenbeg Ave.
- Downpatrick & County Down Railway, Market Street BT30 6LZ (next to bus station), ☏ +44 28 4461 5779, [email protected]. Running days 12:30-5PM. The railway from Belfast reached Downpatrick in 1859 and Newcastle in 1869. The line closed in 1950 but re-opened in 1987 as a heritage railway. Steam trains chunter down 3 miles of track to Inch Abbey; see website for schedule of running days. The two locomotives are 0-4-0 "Sugarpuffs" built by O&K of Berlin in 1934/35 for the Irish sugar beet factories: Thurles #1 and Mallow #3. After these were replaced by diesel shunters in the 1960s, a railway enthusiast went to considerable trouble and expense to preserve them for use on a British heritage railway, as he'd been assured — correctly — that they were standard gauge. It was 15 years down the line before he discovered that they were Irish standard gauge of 1600 mm, used to this day by all mainline railways across Ireland. Those locos couldn't possibly run on the British and European standard gauge of 1435 mm.
- 1 Downpatrick Racecourse, 24 Ballydugan Road BT30 6TE, ☏ +44 28 4461 2054, [email protected]. This has National Hunt (jumps) meetings, mostly Mar-Oct. Horse-racing is on an all-Ireland basis so the course follows the Irish not the UK race season.
- 2 St Patrick's Golf Club, 43 Saul Road BT30 6PA, ☏ +44 28 4461 5947. 18-hole golf course founded in 1929, course is 5969 yards par 69. With pro shop and restaurant.
- Cricket: Downpatrick CC play in the amateur leagues at The Meadow, 2 Strangford Rd BT30 6SL, half a mile north of town.
- Beaches: most of County Down's beaches are rocky. The best sandy stretches are south of Downpatrick around Tyrella.
Buy
[edit]- Grove Shopping Centre, Market Street, is by the bus station.
- Downpatrick Retail Park is quarter of a mile further south along Ballydugan Road. Asda is open M-Sa 7AM-10PM, Su 1-6PM and has a filling station.
Eat
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- The Daily Grind, 20 St Patrick's Ave BT30 6DW, ☏ +44 28 4461 7173. M-Sa 10AM-3PM. Upstairs cafe for lunches and sandwiches.
- Bizzy Bee is at 13 St Patrick's Ave, open daily 9:30AM-3:30PM.
- Oakley Fayre Cafe and Deli, 52 Market Street BT30 6LY, ☏ +44 28 4461 2500. M-Sa 9AM-4:30PM. Bakery shop and cafe, has GF options.
- Kismat is an Indian restaurant at 28 Irish St, open daily 5-9PM.
- Golden Dragon, 21 Scotch Street BT30 6AQ, ☏ +44 28 4461 2596. W-Su 4:30-9:30PM. Chinese takeaway, no dine-in.
- The Emperor, 13 Church Street BT30 6EH, ☏ +44 28 4461 7775. Th-Tu 4:30-10:30PM. Chinese restaurant, sit-in and takeaway
Drink
[edit]- Mirabelle Bar, 28 Market Street BT30 6LY, ☏ +44 28 4461 2565. M-Sa 11:30AM-11PM, Su 12:30-10PM. Grand little pub squeezed between shops and a deli.
- Avenue Bar, 18 St Patrick's Ave BT30 6DW, ☏ +44 28 4461 7609. M-Sa 11AM-11PM, Su noon-10PM. Lively sports bar.
- Murphy's is at 78 Market St, open M Tu 11:30AM-5PM, W-Su 11:30AM-9PM.
- Brendan's, 94 Market Street BT30 6LZ, ☏ +44 28 4483 5644. M Tu noon-6PM, Th-Su noon-8PM. Friendly well-run place with filling food.
- Turley's is at 5 Scotch St, open M-Sa 11AM-1AM, Su 12:30-10PM.
- Distillery: Shortcross makes gin and whiskey at Crossgar 10 miles north on A7, and offers tours.
Sleep
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- 1 Denvir's Hotel, English Street BT30 6AB, ☏ +44 28 4461 2012, [email protected]. Established as a coaching inn in 1642, it's a clean, friendly hotel with six rooms. Also has a pub and restaurant. Cornelius Denvir (1791-1865) who grew up in Downpatrick was a notable RC bishop, natural scientist and educator. B&B double £130.
- 2 Dunleath House, 33 St Patrick's Drive BT30 6NE, ☏ +44 28 4461 3221. Clean peaceful B&B.
- 3 Ballymote House, 84 Killough Rd BT30 8BJ, ☏ +44 28 4461 5500. Charming welcoming B&B 3 miles south of town. B&B double £130.
- 4 The Mill at Ballydugan, 3 Drumcullan Rd, Ballydugan BT30 8HZ, ☏ +44 28 4461 3654. This converted flour mill is primarily a wedding venue but has accommodation for others.
- Buckshill camping and caravan site, on A25 towards Strangford, is open to CCC members only but you can sign up online.
Connect
[edit]As of Oct 2025, Downpatrick and its approach roads have 4G from EE and Vodafone, and 5G from O2 and Three.
Go next
[edit]- Strangford has a grand mansion, a couple of ruined castles and a neolithic tomb. It was Winterfell in Game of Thrones.
- Ards Peninsula is reached by ferry from Strangford. Top sights are Mount Stewart and Grey Abbey.
- Newcastle is a coastal town. The castle is long gone, but it's a good base for the Mourne Mountains.