Heritage Day Out in County Down — Wells, Towers, Crosses and More

On this site for County Down

Holy wells 2Pattern days 1Round towers 0High crosses 0Ogham stones 0Mass rocks 0Sweathouses 0Megalithic tombs 0Crannógs 0Abbeys and friaries 0Castles 24Lighthouses 8Award beaches 3National parks 0

Holy wells · 2

St. Anne's well · Saint Anne · Wikidata ↗ · map ↗
St. Mary's Well · Wikidata ↗ · map ↗

From: Sites and Monuments Record (Republic); Wikidata for Northern Ireland. Holy wells page →

Pattern days · 1

Struell Wells · Midsummer Eve (St John's Eve) and the Friday before Lammas · Struell · “Hundreds of pilgrims used to visit these four holy wells near Downpatrick on Midsummer Eve and the Friday before Lammas, and the wells are still used by people seeking cures.” · Source ↗

From: Sites and Monuments Record descriptions and Wikipedia. Pattern days page →

Round towers · not listed here; 2 in the Northern Ireland record (count only)

From: Sites and Monuments Record. Round towers page →

High crosses · not listed here; 2 in the Northern Ireland record (count only)

From: Sites and Monuments Record. High crosses page →

Ogham stones · not listed here; 0 in the Northern Ireland record (count only)

From: Sites and Monuments Record. Ogham stones page →

Mass rocks · not listed here; 11 in the Northern Ireland record (count only)

From: Sites and Monuments Record. Mass rocks page →

Sweathouses · not listed here; 0 in the Northern Ireland record (count only)

From: Sites and Monuments Record. Sweathouses page →

Megalithic tombs · not listed here; 50 in the Northern Ireland record (count only)

From: Sites and Monuments Record. Megalithic tombs page →

Crannógs · not listed here; 46 in the Northern Ireland record (count only)

From: Sites and Monuments Record. Crannógs page →

Abbeys and friaries · not listed here; 19 in the Northern Ireland record (count only)

From: Sites and Monuments Record. Abbeys and friaries page →

Castles · 24

Ardglass Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Audley's Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Bagenal's Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Ballyroney Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Bangor Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Bright Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Clough Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Dundrum Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Greencastle, County Down · On the castles page · map ↗
Hillsborough Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Jordan's Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Kilclief Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Killowen Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Killyleagh Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
King's Castle, Ardglass · On the castles page · map ↗
Kirkistown Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Margaret's Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Narrow Water Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Portaferry Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Quintin Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Quoile Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Rathfriland Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
Sketrick Castle · On the castles page · map ↗
The New Castle, County Down · On the castles page · map ↗

From: Wikipedia's castle categories. Castles page →

Lighthouses · 8

Mew Island Lighthouse · Mew Island · tower built 1884 · Wikipedia ↗ · map ↗
Donaghadee Lighthouse · Donaghadee · tower built 1836 · Wikipedia ↗ · map ↗
Angus Rock Lighthouse · Strangford Lough · tower built 1983 · map ↗
St John's Point Lighthouse, County Down · Killough · tower built 1844 · Wikipedia ↗ · map ↗
Green Island Leading Light · Carlingford Lough · tower built 1873 · map ↗
Vidal Bank Leading Light · Carlingford Lough · tower built 1873 · map ↗
Haulbowline Lighthouse · Carlingford Lough · tower built 1824 · Wikipedia ↗ · map ↗
South Rock (Kilwarlin) · Kearney · tower built 1797 · no longer lit

From: Wikipedia's list of lighthouses in Ireland. Lighthouses page →

Award beaches · 3

Cranfield Beach · Blue Flag 2026
Murlough Beach · Blue Flag 2026
Tyrella Beach · Blue Flag 2026

From: Blue Flag and Green Coast awards. Award beaches page →

National parks · none on our lists

From: Wikipedia, National parks of Ireland. National parks page →

Before you go looking

A record is a survey entry, not a promise that something is there. The Sites and Monuments Record lists sites that are known, reported or marked on old maps, including some that have been destroyed, moved, or were never found when inspected. Each record's own description says what the surveyors saw; read it before you set out.
A present location record is where a moved object (in a church, a museum, a school, a garden) is now. The place it was found or first stood usually has a record of its own, so one object can appear twice.
Some records have no description uploaded yet, and a few have no usable position; they are marked as such.
Most sites are on private land. Ask before you cross a field, and leave things as you find them: monuments in the Record of Monuments and Places are protected under section 12 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994 ↗.
The Sites and Monuments Record covers the Republic only. Northern Ireland's record (the NISMR) is counted here by county from its open data, by matching the record descriptions; it is not listed site by site and its counts are not directly comparable.
This planner only gathers what is already on this site's other pages. It gives no directions, opening hours, admission prices or access arrangements, because we do not hold them. Check locally, or with the landowner or the site's operator, before you travel.
Castles, lighthouses and national parks come from Wikipedia, and the beaches from the current Blue Flag and Green Coast award lists, not from the Sites and Monuments Record. A castle or lighthouse being listed does not mean it is open to visitors. Pattern days are listed as the records describe them; a pattern that was once held may no longer be.
The lists are what we have, not everything there is. A county with none of something here may simply have none on our sources.

Source: National Monuments Service, Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Sites and Monuments Record, open data via data.gov.ie ↗ (CC BY 4.0); every record links to the Historic Environment Viewer ↗. Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record (Department for Communities, Historic Environment Division), OpenDataNI ↗.

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A heritage day out in County Down