Tourist attractions Killyleagh

Grounds dominating Strangford Lough provide the superb setting for this residence, built from 1760 to 1775. It is a unique architectural compromise between the tastes of Bernard Ward and his wife Anne. He had a penchant for the rigour of classical ..

More than a simple aquarium, Exploris has convincing reconstructions of different underwater habitat and banks showing waterlife in Strangford Lough and the Irish Sea in all its splendour. There are touching basins, a sea discovery laboratory and an ..

Nothing remains of the monastery that grew here during the centuries from the time of St Patrick, although a round bell tower is said to have survived until 1780. In 1790, the building was restored and the western tower erected with stones from the r..

Audley's Castle, a medieval tower house now in ruins, was designed in the "gatehouse" style. It stands on a spit of land projecting into Strangford Lough, a huge landlocked sea inlet that resembles a lake. A walk across the fields to the we..

Rowallane Gardens are famous for massed plantings of azaleas and rhododendrons. They are the work of a horticulturist who inherited the estate in 1903 and spent the next half-century transforming it. Features include a rock garden, patches of wild fl..

The centre is part of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and occupies a pleasant site on the western bank of Strangford Lough. The freshwater lakes that formed in the old clay and chalk pits (for bricks, tiles and pottery) make this an ideal area for hi..

The ruins of a Cistercian foundation which began in 1193. Its church, one of Ireland’s earliest to use the primitive Gothic style, has a magnificent west doorway (1220-1230) with worked mouldings and dentilled friezes. Damaged in the Elizabethan peri..

On a pleasant grassy and wooded site to the north of the town stand at the summit of a hill the ruins of a castle, known as Magennis Castle, after the Irish family that owned it at the end of the Middle Ages. The lower courtyard (13-15C) houses the r..

The walled garden here is planted with French style flowerbeds. The park goes up to Strangford Lough. In spring, the woods are dotted with wildflower and the moors with young lamb. There are also foxes, badgers and, near the water, otters and beavers..

The summit of the hill where St Patrick is said to have converted the first Irishman to Christianity is today dominated by St Patrick's Memorial Church, built in Mourne granite in 1932 to celebrate the 1,500th anniversary of St Patrick's arrival near..

A dam built in 19587 on the Isle of Hare separated the sea from the Quoile Estuary, once under the influence of the tides. The last kilometres of the river have been turned into a freshwater lake with flood barriers. This 200 ha area is now a natural..

The ruins of this abbey stand on a charming spot that was once an island in the centre of the marshes on the northern banks of the Quoile. It was reached via a dyke, that is now the foundations of the road. Most of the monastery wall is covered in gr..

A large mound of earth dating back to the Iron Age stands above the marshes around the town. This tree-covered hillock once stood next to a settlement that was destroyed by Jean de Courcy in 1177.

When the new prison was built in 1803, the buildings of the old county prison were occupied by the South Down militia, then by the army until the mid-20C. The museum housed in this building shows the cells that have been preserved. The guardroom ho..

The Southwell Foundation , which includes a school and several homes, was founded in 1733 by Edward Southwell, Secretary of State for Ireland. The buildings are brick, with cornerstones and plinths in sandstone; the main building is arranged around ..

Some interesting buildings line this street: the tribunal (1834), decorated with stucco and preceded by a wide granite staircase; a building further own, the former prison that has housed the Down Hunt since 1798, where records have been kept ever ..

The ruins of Sketrick Castle stand on the shores of Strangford Lough, a vast sea inlet that cuts deep into Ulster. Probably built to command the approach to an island, the castle collapsed in a storm in 1896. The largest room, which is vaulted, was p..

Three ruined churches stand on Loughinisland. The oldest church (13C) stands in the middle. The larger church dates from the 15C and was in use until 1720. The smaller church bears the date 1636 over the door but it may be earlier; there are also the..

Ards Peninsula is a narrow tongue of land 37km long and 5 to 8km wide. Owing to its soil and climate, the low-lying land is one of the best grain-producing regions of Ireland. Sandy beaches and occasional rocky outcrops line the coast road. One of Ul..

The cromlech is composed of groups of stones, not very high, surrounding an oval tumulus with a stone cist at each end. During excavations from 1937 to 1938, burnt bones were unearthed. The cromlech is thought to have been built in the late Neolith..