DOWNPATRICK  , a

market town and the county town of Co . Down, Ireland, in the east parliamentary division, 28 m . S.S.E. of Belfast by the Belfast & County Down railway . Pop . (19o1) 2993 . It stands picturesquely on a sloping site near the south-west extremity of Strangford Lough . It is the seat of the Protestant and Roman Catholic dioceses of Down . St Patrick founded the see about 440, but the present Protestant cathedral dates from 1790, the old structure, after suffering many vicissitudes, having been in ruins for 250 years . The cathedral is said to contain the remains of its founder, together with those of St Columba and St Bridget . A round tower adjoining it was destroyed in 1790 . A small trade is carried on at Strangford Lough by means of vessels up to loo tons, which discharge at Quoile quay, about r m. from the town; but vessels of larger tonnage can discharge at a steamboat quay lower down the Quoile . The imports are principally iron, coal, salt and timber; the exports barley, oats, cattle, pigs and potatoes .

Linen manufacture is also carried on, and brewing, tanning and soap-making give considerable employment . The Down corporation race-meeting is important and attracts visitors from far outside the county . The rath or dun from which the town is named remains as one of the finest in Ireland . It was called Rath-Keltair, or the rath of the hero Keltar, and covers an area of to acres . In the vicinity of the town are remnants of the monastery of Saul, a foundation ascribed to St Patrick, and of Inch Abbey (118o), founded by Sir John de Courcy . Three miles south is a fine stone circle, and to the south-east are the wells of Struell, famous as miraculous healers among the peasantry until modern times . The town is of extreme antiquity . It was called Dun-leth-glas, the fort of the broken fetters, from the miraculous deliverance from bondage of two sons of Dichu, prince of Lecale, and the first convert of St Patrick . It is the Dunum of Ptolemy, and was a residence of the kings of Ulster . It was already incorporated early in the 15th century . It returned two members to the Irish parliament until the Union in 1800, and thereafter one to the Imperial parliament until 1832 .