Saintfield
'field of saints'; recorded as Tawnaghnym in 1605 and Taunaghnieve in 1663, with the English translation used from the 18th century; Joyce agrees (Tamhnach-naemh, 'the field of saints')
A County Down village halfway between Belfast and Downpatrick, named in English as a translation of its old Irish name. On 9 June 1798 United Irishmen ambushed a British force in a wood nearby, and about 100 men died; the rebels' headstones are in the First Presbyterian graveyard. The town was sacked after the defeat at Ballynahinch, so few buildings older than 1798 remain.
In the 16th century the area was part of South Clannaboy under Sir Con McNeil Oge O'Neill, whose lands were taken in 1602 and granted in 1605 to Sir James Hamilton, who brought in English and Scottish settlers; the first church was built about 1633. In 1709 Hamilton sold to Major General Nicholas Price, who laid out the town, renamed it Saintfield in 1712 and drew in linen makers, while the family moved to the new Saintfield House in 1750. Churches of several denominations followed in 1776, 1777, 1787 and 1796.
In 1792 the Presbyterian minister Thomas Ledlie Birch set up a United Irish society here. On 9 June 1798 the rebels won the Battle of Saintfield and then marched to Ballynahinch, where they were routed on 13 June, and Saintfield was sacked. It was rebuilt, with the Market House going up in 1803, but declined from the mid-19th century, falling from 923 people in 1851 to 533 before the First World War.
Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on Saintfield ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Drumbo · round tower · 11 km
- Giant's Ring · dolmen · 12 km
- Nendrum · round tower · 13 km
- Annadorn Dolmen · dolmen · 13 km
- Sketrick Castle · castle · 13 km
- Killyleagh Castle · castle · 13 km
Straight-line distances from the town centre, from each site's documented coordinates.
- Struell Wells · Four holy wells in a rocky glen outside Downpatrick, with separate stone bath houses for men and women. A chapel is recorded here in 1306; hundreds came on Midsummer Eve and the Friday before Lammas. Nothing standing is older than about 1600.
- Nendrum Monastery · Three concentric drystone enclosures, a round tower stump, and a sundial from around 900. Beside them, dug out of the shore, the oldest excavated tide mill anywhere in the world — tree-ring dated to 619, rebuilt in 787.
All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.
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