Co.Down is possibly the major County in Northern Ireland and incorporates parts of the cities of Belfast, Lisburn and Newry.
Many might consider that County Down should have Downpatrick as the major town but through the years it has been overtaken by other towns which have become commuter towns for people who travel to the capital city for work each day.
Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland is buried in Downpatrick and visitors to the Saint Patick Centre can learn of his life in greater detail than we could post here.
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| Visitors to Downpatrick might also visit Inch Abbey a large, ruined monastic site 0.75 miles north-west of Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, on the north bank of the River Quoile in a hollow between two drumlins and featuring early Gothic architecture. |  |
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The Downpatrick & County Down Railway is a heritage railway in County Down, Northern Ireland. The project is based at Downpatrick, on part of the former route of the Belfast & County Down Railway.
The railway, which has a triangular layout, connects two local tourist attractions, Inch Abbey to the north, and a locally famous Viking site (‘King Magnus‘ Grave’) to the south. An aspiration exists to reach an 18th-century corn mill to the West near the Ballydugan Lake. It is the only operational Irish standard gauge (5′ 3″) heritage railway in the whole of Ireland. |
