Place · city

Downpatrick

Also known as Dún Lethglaise

Downpatrick is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland, near the south-western shore of Strangford Lough. Its early name, Dún Lethglaise, refers to the fort of the Dál Fiatach kings of the Ulaid, and tradition holds that Saint Patrick is buried at Down Cathedral. John de Courcy seized it in 1177 and made it the centre of the Anglo-Norman lordship of Ulster.

Downpatrick — Image: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 3 state histories

Kingdom of Ulaid Dal Fiatach Earldom of Ulster

See also

Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Downpatrick. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/downpatrick
MLA: “Downpatrick.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/downpatrick. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Downpatrick.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/downpatrick.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Downpatrick’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/downpatrick (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻