Downpatrick Racecourse

This is claimed to have been the burial place of St Patrick in 461, with St Brigid and St Columba alongside. Multiple churches since that time have been swept away: the present Church of Ireland (Anglican) building from 1818 set out to be so relentlessly medieval Gothic that truly medieval material survives only in traces. These include two 12th-century crosses, an 11th-century font, and part of the walls of the 13th-century Benedictine Abbey. The High Cross is a replica: the 10th-century original suffered weathering and was moved to the nearby museum. A massive granite slab was placed over St Patrick's grave in 1900, to curb a fashion among emigrants of taking a handful of soil away with them.

If you don't know much about the "real" St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, you're in good company — most detail is the invention of later hagiographers. The medieval Armagh scholars were especially busy and inventive, since the primacy of their church depended on the primacy of St Patrick. This gallery and IMAX show explores what we know and why he still matters.

This was the county jail in the late 18th century, and United Irishman Thomas Russell was hanged at its gates in 1803. The museum permanent collections cover an overview of town history, the High Cross, farming and the jail.

Founded before AD 800 on what was then a drumlin island in the marshes. The present ruins are from the 12th-century Cistercian Abbey, which looks to have been small but wealthy. The Cistercians believed in manual labour, farming to support themselves, as well as prayer, abstinence, and above all No damned Irish! The ruins are scenically sited on the west bank of the River Quoile: either approach via A7 Belfast Road or take the steam railway to the Abbey station.

18-hole golf course founded in 1929, course is 5969 yards par 69. With pro shop and restaurant.

A stone circle 30 yards in diameter with 50 upright stones closely placed. The site seems to have been in use from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.