Downpatrick/Dún da Lethglas is one of the most ancient towns of Ireland, with archaeological evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements. By 130 AD, it was included in Ptolemy’s map of Ireland. Saint Patrick is believed to have been buried there in the year 461. He said his first Eucharist mass on Irish soil in the town of Saul in county Down.

Victory at the Battle of Moira in 637 established the Northern O’Neill as the dominant force in the north of Ireland.

From the seventh century, Down was the center of the lands held by the Dál Fiatach until the Normans arrived in 1177 when John de Courcy received a grant of all of Ulster from King Henry II.

The Battle of Down, which took place in 1260, pitted Brian O’Neill, King of Tir Eoghain, against the Normans in a bid for Irish independence. The Normans were victorious but by 1333…