DROMORE  , a

market town of Co . Down, Ireland, in the west parliamentary division, on the upper Lagan, 172 m . S.W. of Belfast by a branch of the Great Northern railway . Pop. of urban district (1901) 2307 . It is in the linen manufacturing district . The town is of high antiquity, and was the seat of a bishopric, which grew out of an abbey of Canons Regular attributed to St Colman in the 6th century, and was united in 1842 to Down and Connor . The town and cathedral were wholly destroyed during the insurrection of 1641, and the present church was built by Bishop Jeremy Taylor in 1661, who is buried here, as also is Thomas Percy, another famous bishop of the diocese, who laid out the fine grounds of the palace . Remains of a castle and earthworks are to be seen, together with a large rath or encampment known as the Great Fort . The town gives its name to a Roman Catholic diocese .