Lecale Heritage Hub

11/06/2026

'Where the Mountains of Mourne Sweep Down to the Sea'
by William Carey (1953)
watercolor

Dundrum and the Mournes, as viewed from Ballykinlar, Lecale.

[Ross's Auctions]

09/06/2026

The old cricket pavilion at The Meadow on the Strangford Road; clubhouse of Downpatrick Cricket Club 1849 from the early 1900s until 1969 when it was replaced by the first brick-built clubhouse.
This pavilion was originally half the size (the left-hand-side), being only dressing rooms; the right-hand-side was added in the 1920s to create a tea room.

09/06/2026

📣 AVAILABLE JULY 1ST 2026...

Downpatrick’s earliest written history will soon be available to the public for the first time.

After 180 years hidden away in private collections and archives, J.T. Cleland’s Annals of Downpatrick is soon to be published.

Written in 1846 by a 17 year old John Thompson Cleland, this remarkable manuscript charts the story of Downpatrick from the age of Ptolemy and St Patrick right up to the 19th century. It includes local traditions, early Christian history, Viking raids, medieval upheaval, and vivid descriptions of buildings long vanished.

📘 Who will love this book? • Anyone interested in Downpatrick or Lecale’s history • Genealogists tracing local families • Archaeology and architecture enthusiasts • Students of early Irish Christianity • Anyone who simply loves learning about the place they call home.

Because history lives best when it’s shared.

fans

08/06/2026

Market Street and the Circular Road (now St Patrick's Avenue), Downpatrick, as viewed from the gardens of the Southwell School on The Mall.

Zooming in, you can see the graveyard on the Killough Road, then well out of the town.

[Lawrence Collection, National Library of Ireland]

04/06/2026

Staff and owner (Fred Muldrew) of Kerr & Belshaw's grocers on Scotch Street, Downpatrick in 1940.

03/06/2026

Down Hockey Club team, 1920s, in front of the Downpatrick Cricket Club pavilion, where the hockey pitch was also located until 1979.
Can anyone suggest any names?

02/06/2026

Rules for the Relieving Officer of the Downpatrick Union, 1899, signed off by John Wilson Montgomery, Clerk of the Union, noted poet, and father of composer, Alicia Adelaide Needham (see our Faces of Lecale album). A biography of J.W. Montgomery was recently published.

From a batch of original Downpatrick Workhouse related documents, sent by Mr Paddy Waters for the Lecale Heritage Hub

02/06/2026

Anyone interested in volunteering as a tour guide?

Down Cathedral appeal for volunteers

“The Cathedral staff are developing different tours and need more support from volunteers.”

https://thedownrecorder.co.uk/2026/05/31/down-cathedral-appeal-for-volunteers/

01/06/2026

'Tommy Sharvin [right], captain of Bright, runners-up in the five-a-side soccer competition, congratulating Alistair Fitzsimons [left], captain of the winning Mills team.'

Can anyone name the others in the photograph, and what year it might have been?