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DOW
with Hillsborough, under charter of Jas. II., on an
excellent course one mile south of the town. The mem-
bers of the Down Hunt hold their annual meetings in a
handsome building in English-street, called the County
Rooms, which is also used for county meetings, &c.
The barracks are an extensive and convenient range of
buildings, formerly the old gaol, in which a detach-
ment of two companies from the garrison at Belfast is
placed. The only article of maufacture is that of linen,
principally yard wide, for the West Indies and the
English market, and drills for Scotland, in which
about 700 weavers, are employed. There are two ale
breweries in the town. On the banks of the Quoile,
one mile distant, are excellent quays, where vessels of
100 tons’ burden come in from Strangford lough: the
principal imports are iron, coal, salt, timber, bark, and
general merchandise: the exports are wheat, barley,
oats, cattle, pigs, potatoes, and kelp. Formerly the tide
flowed up close to the town, but in 1745 an embank-
ment was constructed across the Quoile water, one mile
distant, by the Rt. Hon. Edward Southwell, lord of the
manor, which restrained it to that point, and about 500
acres of land were recovered: this embankment was
swept away by a storm, and a second was formed by
Lord de Clifford, with floodgates, &c, but after much
rain a considerable portion of meadow land in the
neighbourhood of the town is yet inundated. The
market is on Saturday; it is large and well supplied
with provisions of all kinds, and with pedlery. Brown
linen webs were formerly sold on the market day in
the linen hall, but the sale has of late much declined.
The market-house is an old low building, containing
some good upper rooms, in which the petty sessions are
held and the public business of the town is transacted;
Fairs are held annually on the second Thursday in
January, March 17th, May 19th, June 22nd, Oct. 29th,
and Nov. 19th. This is a chief constabulary police
station, with a force consisting of one officer, one con-
stable, and seven men.
Downpatrick had a corporation at an early period,
the existence of which is recognised in 1403, when
letters of protection were granted to it by Hen. IV.,
under the title of the “Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty
of the city of Down, in Ulster.” The borough returned
two members to the Irish parliament so early as 1585:
this privilege was exercised till the union, since which
they have returned one member to the Imperial parlia-
ment. The right of election was vested in the pot-wal-
lopers, but under an act of the 35th of Geo. III. it was
limited to the resident occupiers of houses of the annual
value of £5 and upwards, who have registered twelve
months before the election: the number of qualifying
tenements under the old law was estimated at about
650. The act of the 2nd of Wm. IV., cap. 88, caused
no alteration in the franchise or in the limits of the
borough, which is co-extensive with the demesne of
Down, containing 1486 statute acres: the number of
voters registered, in 1835, was 525. The seneschal ap-
pointed by the lord of the manor is the returning officer.
The manor, which is the property of David Ker, Esq.,
is very ancient, its existence being noticed in a record
dated 1403. A patent of it was granted to Lord Crom-
well by Jas. I., in 1617, whereby sundry monasteries,
lands, and tenements, including the demesne of Down,
were erected into the manor of Downpatrick the
493
DOW
manorial court, in which the process is either by attach-
ment or civil bill, is held by the seneschal every third
Tuesday, and has jurisdiction to the amount of £10
over 67 townlands in the parishes of Downpatrick, Saul,
Ballee, Bright, Ballyculter, and Inch. The seneschal
holds a court leet for the manor in spring and at
Michaelmas. Petty sessions are held every Thursday:
the assizes for the county are held alternately here and
at Newry; and the county quarter sessions for the divi-
sion of Downpatrick are held here in March and October.
The county hall, or court-house, which was considerably
enlarged and improved in 1834, occupies an elevated
site in English-street; it is a large and handsome
edifice, consisting of a centre and two wings, approached
by a fine flight of stone steps; the centre is appro-
priated to the criminal court, the eastern wing to the
civil court, and in the western are preserved the county
records, &c.; it also contains a suite of assembly-rooms.
The county gaol is a very commodious building, erected
in 1830 at an expense of £60,000, and occupying an
area of one acre and a half: the internal arrangements
and management are calculated to carry into the best
effect the improved system of prison discipline, and
have been recommended as a model for similar establish-
ments by the inspector-general of prisons.
The SEE of DOWN is sup-
posed to have originated in
the abbey founded here by St.
Patrick, but St. Carlan is said
to have been the first bishop.
Its early prelates are called
Bishops of Dundalethglass,
but it is probable that this
see was generally included
in the diocese of Connor,
prior to the episcopacy of
Malachy O’Morgair, who
became bishop in 1137, and
separated it from Connor; his immediate successors are
called bishops of Ulster by some historians. John Cely
was the last bishop who, in modern times, held the
bishoprick of Down separate from that of Connor: he
was deprived of it for his crimes and excesses in 1441,
Archbishop Prene recommended William Bassett, a
Benedictine monk, to the Pope, as a successor to Cely,
but the pope added this see to that of Connor, and they
have remained united to the present time. John, the
first bishop of Down and Connor, was not, however,
allowed to enjoy his united bishopricks in peace; for
Thomas Pollard claimed to be Bishop of Down, and is
supposed to have been supported by the archbishop, but
lost his cause in 1449. John was fined shortly before
his death for not appearing upon summons in Parlia-
ment. Bishop Tiberius, who is stated to have very
much beautified the cathedral, was succeeded, about
1526, by Robert Blyth, abbot of Thorney, in Cambridge-
shire, who held these bishopricks in coinmendam, and
resided in England. The last bishop before the Refor-
mation was Eugene Magenis, who was advanced to
these sees by Pope Paul III.; and although John Mer-
riman, chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, was consecrated
bishop in 1568, the pope appointed Miler Magragh to
the united see: he, however, never had possession of
the temporalties, and subsequently becoming a Protes-
tant was made Archbishop of Cashel. John Tod, who