Monastic governance of cathedrals continued in England, Scotland and Wales throughout the medieval period ; whereas elsewhere in western Europe it was found only at Monreale in Sicily and Downpatrick in Ireland.

In 1260 Brian O ' Neill ( Brian Ua Néill ), King of Tír Eoghain ( Tyrone ) and who had been acknowledged as High King of Ireland by Hugh O ' Conor of Connacht and Tadhg O ' Brien of Thomond marched to Downpatrick, a centre of English settlement, and, allied with a Connacht force under Hugh O ' Conor, fought the foreigners in the Battle of Down.

Downpatrick Racecourse Platform had opened on 8 March 1893, but closed in September 1949.

Downpatrick has had mixed fortunes over the years but has still managed to produce excellent county footballers such as Ray McConville, William Walsh, Conor Deegan, Barry Breen all of whom won All-Irelands with Down.

The following year he entered parliament as member for Downpatrick, obtaining the seat on petition, though he had been unsuccessful at the poll.

Upon her marriage in 1934, Princess Marina had become HRH The Duchess of Kent, Countess of St. Andrews, and Baroness Downpatrick.

He had previously represented Downpatrick in the Irish House of Commons.

The Council has periodically had to provide funding to ensure that the Saint Patrick Visitor Centre in Downpatrick remains in operation.

:... the Earl of Ulster was treacherously seized while performing penance, unarmed and barefooted, in the churchyard of Downpatrick, on Good Friday, anno 1203, and sent over to England, where the king condemned him to perpetual imprisonment in the Tower ... After de Courcy had been in confinement about a year, a dispute happening to arise between King John and Philip Augustus of France concerning the Duchy of Normandy, the decision of which being referred to single combat, King John, more hasty than advised, appointed the day, against which the King of France provided his champion ; but the King of England, less fortunate, could find no one of his subjects willing to take up the gauntlet, until his captive in the Tower, the stout Earl of Ulster, was prevailed upon to accept the challenge.

Lord Dunleath, whose father had purchased the railway trackbed adjacent to his estate after the closure of the B & CDR in Downpatrick, gave the newly formed society a package of land on which to build the line and station for a peppercorn rent.

This was on the approaches to the old Downpatrick station, which had been demolished in the 1970s.

Downpatrick () is a medium-sized town about south of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland.

As the largest town in the Lecale area, Downpatrick is a commercial, recreational and administrative centre for the locality and serves as a hub for the nearby towns and villages.

Downpatrick was an open ecclesiastical town of the old type and the invaders rode in and surprised it in the small hours of February 2.

* Downpatrick & County Down Railway is Ireland's only full-sized heritage railway, built on the town's former rail link to Belfast, links the town with Inch Abbey.

Downpatrick is classified as a medium town by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency ( i. e. with population between 10, 000 and 18, 000 people ).

He served as town clerk of Downpatrick in the 1960s, succeeding his father in the role.

The town also has its own tennis club Downpatrick Tennis Club Downpatrick has several other clubs that use the facilities of the Down Leisure Centre ( run by Down District Council ) such as the Lecale Amateur Swimming Club, the Downpatrick School of Lifesaving and the East Down Athletics Club.

County Down ( named after its county town, Downpatrick ) is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland.

Closer to home, however, as chief engineer of the Belfast and County Down Railway ( founded in 1846 ), he was responsible for crossing the marshy estuary of the River Quoile ( the first bridge was constructed of timber piles driven into the riverbed ) to bring the line to Downpatrick in March 1859 ( part of the line is still operational from the town ’ s railway museum ).

Many people from west Belfast also left the city, re-settling in the town of Downpatrick.

In early January 1177 he assembled a small army of 22 Knights and 300 foot soldiers and marched north, at the rate of thirty miles a day, skirted the back of the Mourne Mountains and took the town of Dun de Lethglas ( later Downpatrick ) by surprise.

Down Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of Ireland cathedral located in the town of Downpatrick in Northern Ireland.

The modern A7 primary route from Belfast, via Carryduff and Saintfield, to Downpatrick, also now runs through the townland.

This then becomes the Quoile proper, which flows through Downpatrick and the Quoile Pondage before finally emptying into Strangford Lough.

* April 10-An unarmed Provisional Irish Republican Army Volunteer was shot died in Downpatrick by the RUC.

Following the rebellion of Shane O ' Neill in 1567, Downpatrick fell briefly into Irish hands before being re-taken by Sir Richard Morrison ( Moryson ).

Downpatrick Cricket Club has won the Irish Senior Cup on two occasions, the NCU Senior League on six occasions and the NCU Challenge Cup on six occasions.

Downpatrick is home to one of the biggest Irish branches of the Manchester United Supporters ' Club, the Downpatrick Manchester United Supporters ' Club, which was founded in 1993.

It is situated on the B1 Ardglass to Downpatrick road, about 11 kilometres to the south east of Downpatrick, in the Lecale peninsula on the Irish Sea.

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway operates the only Irish Gauge heritage railway in Northern Ireland on the former BCDR main line.

He lives in Dún Lethglaise, also known as the Mound of Down ( Irish Dún ), or Rathkeltair ( Irish Ráth Celtchair or Celtchar's Fort ) in Downpatrick, County Down.

* 039: Irish Traction Group On loan to the Downpatrick & Co Down Railway where it is in full working order.

* G611, G616 and G617: Owned by the Irish Traction Group, G616 is at Carrick-on-Suir, while the other two are on loan to the Downpatrick & County Down Railway, Northern Ireland.

* December 5 – Downpatrick & Ardglass Railway begins public operation, the first Irish gauge heritage railway in Ireland.

* Lynn Doyle, the pseudonym of the humorist & playwright Leslie Alexander Montgomery, was born in Downpatrick on 5 October 1873 ( died 18 August 1961 ).

Most famous football side out of Downpatrick were Downpatrick Rec who won the Steel & Sons Cup in 1978.

Downpatrick is also the home of the Downpatrick & District Snooker & Billiard League.

* Downpatrick & County Down Railway

* Downpatrick & District Snooker & Billiards League

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway is the only self-contained full-size heritage railway in Ireland.

* Downpatrick & County Down Railway

The logo of the Downpatrick & County Down Railway, inspired by traditional heraldic railway emblems, featuring a monogram based on a Belfast & County Down Railway | BCDR original and shamrock reflecting the town's connection to Saint Patrick | St. Patrick.

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 began life as the Downpatrick & Ardglass Railway, as the original intention was to extend the railway to this fishing port on the south coast of County Down.

This name was dropped in 1996 following the abandonment of this proposal and the railway was renamed the Downpatrick Railway Museum until 2005 when the new name, Downpatrick & County Down Railway was adopted following the opening of the Inch Abbey extension.

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway was the subject of a BBC1 Northern Ireland 40-minute documentary, " Raising Steam ", which was broadcast on Monday 14 January 2008.