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Photo: Peter Clarke at English Wikipedia, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Extensive garden founded in the 1860s with many exotic species.
Rowallane Garden is a National Trust property located immediately south of Saintfield, County Down, Northern Ireland, on the A7 road. It is particularly noted for its extensive collection of azaleas and rhododendrons. It is also home to the National Collection of penstemons. It was officially opened on 16 May 1956 by Cynthia, Viscountess Brookeborough, after being taken over by the National Trust in July 1955.
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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.
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.
Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity
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.
18-hole golf course founded in 1929, course is 5969 yards par 69. With pro shop and restaurant.
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 has National Hunt (jumps) meetings, mostly Mar-Oct. Horse-racing is on an all-Ireland basis so the course follows the Irish not the UK race season.