[edit]
Pre-history[edit]
An early Bronze Age site was excavated in the Meadowlands area of Downpatrick, revealing two roundhouses, one was four metres across and the other was over seven metres across. Archaeological excavations in the 1950s found what was thought to be a Bronze Age hillfort on Cathedral Hill, but further work in the 1980s revealed that this was a much later rampart surrounding an early Christian monastery.
Early history[edit]
The remains of the 'Mound of Down'.
Reputed grave of St Patrick
Downpatrick is one of Ireland's oldest towns. It takes its name from a dún, a medieval royal fort, which stood on a drumlin overlooking the River Quoile. In the Middle Ages, the river was an estuary that would have surrounded the drumlin on most sides. It is believed that there was a ringfort on the site in the early Middle Ages. This may have been the site called Ráth Celtchair (later anglicized Rathkeltair), the 'fort of Celtchar', after a hero in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.
A small Christian monastic settlement was also built on the neighbouring drumlin to the south, now known as 'Cathedral Hill'. Nearby Saul Monastery was associated with Saint Patrick. The saint is said to have been buried on Cathedral Hill in the 5th century, and his reputed grave is still a place of pilgrimage. Down Cathedral was later built on this spot.
In the early 11th century, a much bigger fort with earthen ramparts was built on the northern drumlin, now known as the 'Mound of Down'. This was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaidh (Ulster), who held the title "Rí Uladh", "King of Ulster". Deirdre Flanagan suggests that the older name Dún Lethglaise referred to Cathedral Hill, while Dún da Lethglas was the name of this new royal residence.
The King of Norway, Magnus Barefoot, was killed in an ambush near Downpatrick in 1102. It is believed his grave is marked by a mound at Horse Island, southwest of Cathedral Hill.
Saint Malachy became the Bishop of Down (Dún da Lethglas) in 1137. He administered the diocese from Bangor and introduced a community of Augustinians (canons) to Dún da Lethglas dedicated to St John the Evangelist. Malachy and his successors repaired and enlarged Down Cathedral.
In the late 12th century, the area was conquered by Anglo-Normans led by John de Courcy, becoming part of his Earldom of Ulster. In February 1177, a Norman army of 300 men and 20 knights marched north from Dublin and took the town by surprise. The King of Ulster and Dál Fiatach, Ruaidrí mac Duinn Sléibe (Rory MacDunleavy), tried to retake the town, but was forced to withdraw after a fierce battle. The Normans began building a motte (fortified mound) inside the older royal fort, but abandoned it when de Courcy made Carrickfergus his capital in 1178.
In 1183, de Courcy brought in Benedictine monks from the abbey of St Werburgh in Chester (today Chester Cathedral), England. He built a friary for them at Downpatrick; this building was destroyed by an earthquake in 1245. He also re-dedicated the cathedral to Saint Patrick, giving it the name Ecclesia S. Patricii Duni in Latin. It is claimed that de Courcy miraculously found the bones of St Patrick, St Brigid and St Colmcille at Downpatrick. In the presence of the Papal Legate, Vivian, the relics were reburied inside the cathedral on 9 June 1196. This story of their discovery is thought to have been crafted by de Courcy for political reasons. In the Anglo-Norman and later medieval era the town's name in Latin and English documentation is variously 'Dunum', 'Dun' or 'Down'. The oldest surviving record of the name 'Downpatrick' is in the Bodley Survey of the early 1600s.
In 1260 Brian O'Neill, King of Tír Eoghain (Tyrone) and claimed High King of Ireland, marched to Downpatrick, which was then part of the Anglo-Norman earldom of Ulster. Allied with a Connacht force under Hugh O'Conor, he fought the Anglo-Normans in the Battle of Down. O'Neill was killed and the Irish were defeated. The death of O'Neill and defeat of the Irish was lamented in a poem by the Cenél nEógain bard Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe (1210–1272).
The earldom collapsed in the 1300s, but the English retained a foothold in Lecale. In 1375, Niall O'Neill of Tyrone defeated the English at Dundalethglas.
Reformation and aftermath[edit]
A view of the old Abbey of Downpatrick, before it was rebuilt, anno 1790
Under orders from King Henry VIII of England, Downpatrick's monastic community was dissolved by the English around 1540, and the Cathedral fell into ruins. In 1600, the cathedral was allegedly burnt by English forces led by Edward Cromwell. A painting from 1788 shows the abbey ruins and its round tower.
The Archbishop of Armagh, composer of Irish bardic poetry and Christian poetry in the Classical Gaelic literary language, and Franciscan Counter-Reformation theologian Aodh Mac Cathmhaoil was born outside Downpatrick in 1571. On 21 January 1575, Franciscans John Lochran, Donagh O'Rorke, and Edmund Fitzsimon were hanged by Protestants at Downpatrick.
After his 25 April 1681 assassination by his foster brother, Art McCall O'Hanlon near Hilltown, County Down, rapparee leader Count Redmond O'Hanlon's severed head was displayed spiked upon Downpatrick Gaol. The Count's body was buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery at Ballynabeck, on the road between Tandragee and Scarva.
Cathedral Hill was the subject of an archaeological investigation in Series 5 of the Channel 4 Time Team programme.
18th century[edit]
Four main thoroughfares are shown converging on a town plan of 1724, namely English Street, Scotch (now Saul) Street, Barrack (now Scotch) Street, and Irish Street. The landscape limited the growth of the town. The early-18th-century street plan continued largely unchanged until 1838 when Church Street was built, followed by Market Street in 1846.
The condition of the town was greatly improved in the 18th century by a land-owning family named Southwell. The first Edward Southwell was responsible for building a shambles in 1719 and paving of the streets, which started in 1727. In 1717 he built a quay and grain store at Quoile Quay, contributing to the economic growth of the town. The second Edward Southwell was responsible for building Southwell School in 1733.
Down County Infirmary was established in a house in Saul Street in October 1767, where it operated for seven years. It was moved to Barrack Lane (now Fountain Street) where the former Horse Barracks was bought in 1774 for £150 by Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor for use as the Infirmary. It was used until the new Infirmary (later known as the Downe Hospital) was opened in 1834.
In June 1778, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, preached in the new preaching house in Downpatrick and in The Grove beside the ruins of Down Cathedral, which he called a "noble ruin".
Downpatrick in the late 19th century
19th century[edit]
On 21 October 1803, a co-founder and leader of the United Irishmen, Thomas Russell, was hanged outside Downpatrick Gaol for his part in trying to raise local United Irishmen and Defenders in support of Robert Emmet's rebellion in July of that year. Russell is buried in the graveyard of the Anglican parish Church of Downpatrick, St Margaret's, in a grave paid for by his friend Mary Ann McCracken, sister of leading Belfast United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken who had been hanged in 1798.
In his role as barrister, Daniel O'Connell, "The Liberator", was called away from London to Downpatrick to attend the County Down Assizes, as counsel in a case heard on 1 April 1829. As the leading campaigner for Catholic Emancipation, he had been in London for the parliamentary passage of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 which lifted the sacramental test bar to Catholics entering the British Parliament. On 2 April 1829, O'Connell attended a public dinner at Downpatrick in his honour, along with "upwards of eighty gentlemen, of different religious persuasions".
The population at the time of the 1841 census was 4,651 inhabitants.
On St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1848, a crowd of 2,000–3,000 Catholics set off from Old Course Road intending to parade to the reputed grave of St Patrick on Cathedral Hill. They were attacked by Protestant Orangemen at the Irish Street shambles and a riot ensued.
St Patrick's Catholic Church
The Troubles[edit]
There were many gun attacks and bombings in Downpatrick during the Troubles. The deadliest incident was the Downpatrick landmine attack on 9 April 1990. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a massive improvised land mine under a British Army convoy on Ballydugan Road, just outside the town. Four soldiers of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) were killed
