Church Of Downpatrick
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Down Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
cathedral located in the town of
Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Down Cathedral, Its cathedral is sai ...
in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. It stands on Cathedral Hill overlooking the town. It is one of two cathedrals in the
Diocese of Down and Dromore The Diocese of Down and Dromore (also known as the United Dioceses of Down and Dromore) is a diocese of the Church of Ireland in the south east of Northern Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Armagh. The geographical remit of the d ...
(the other is
Dromore Cathedral Dromore Cathedral, formally The Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer, Dromore, is one of two cathedral churches (the other is Down Cathedral) in the Diocese of Down and Dromore of the Church of Ireland (Anglican / Episcopal). It is situated ...
). The cathedral is the centre point of Downpatrick, a relatively new name for the settlement, having only come into usage in the seventeenth century.


History

The annals record that St Fergus was the first bishop of Down and there are good historical reasons to connect him, from about the end of the sixth century, to the broad area of mid-Down. Although not as ancient or carrying such well-attested historical importance as nearby
Bangor Abbey Bangor Abbey was established by Saint Comgall in 558 in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland and was famous for its learning and austere rule. It is not to be confused with the slightly older abbey in Wales on the site of Bangor Cathedral. Hi ...
, there is little doubt that in the period of the
Celtic church Celtic Christianity is a form of Christianity that was common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages. The term Celtic Church is deprecated by many historians as it implies a unified and identifiab ...
, when
monasticism Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Chr ...
was such a hallmark of Christian settlements, that a community of monks lived on - or near - the hill overlooking the Quoile. These would have been wooden buildings and only by the tenth century would stone built buildings have existed, in part due to developing technology. The annals record various attacks, not all of which were successful, on the community at Down in the early eleventh century. The cathedral is dedicated to the
Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...
, a dedication first recorded in the 12th century. In 1124
St Malachy Malachy (; ; Modern ; ) ( 1094 – 2 November 1148) is an Irish saint who was Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and an alleged vision of 112 popes later attributed to the apocryphal (i.e. of doubtful authenti ...
became
Bishop of Down The Bishop of Down was an episcopal title which took its name from the town of Downpatrick in Northern Ireland. The bishop's seat (Cathedra) was located on the site of present cathedral church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the Church of ...
, and set about repairing and enlarging the cathedral. In 1177, Sir
John de Courcy Sir John de Courcy (c. 1150–1219) was an Anglo-Norman knight who lived in Ireland from 1176 until his expulsion in 1204. He conquered a considerable territory, endowed religious establishments, built abbeys for both the Benedictines and the ...
(
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
conqueror of
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
) brought in
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
monks and expelled the older monastic community. De Courcy, who had enraged the king by his seizure of lands in Ireland beyond what he was granted, was taken prisoner there on
Good Friday Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha). It is observed during ...
1204. According to the account, the unarmed de Courcy managed to take a weapon from one of his attackers and killed 13 men before being overpowered and taken prisoner. The
royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
was granted to Down Cathedral on 20 July 1609.
John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...
visited Downpatrick four times between 1778 and 1789 and on each occasion preached in the Grove on the hill of Down Cathedral. A memorial stone marking his mission can be seen there today.


Restoration

The cathedral incorporates parts of the 13th-century church of the Benedictine Abbey of Down (Black Monks). It lay in ruins after the dissolution of the monastery in 1541. The restoration of the ruined 14th-century cathedral of Downpatrick was initiated after an act of the Irish Parliament, the (30 Geo. 3. c. 43 (I)), granted I£1,000 (approximately £ in ) for the purpose. It reopened for divine service on 23 August 1818. Work on a tower started later, and it was finally consecrated in 1829. Crosses from the 9th, 10th and 12th centuries are preserved in the cathedral. The building today is mainly the original chancel from the 15th century, with a vestibule and tower added. It had a second major restoration from 1985 to 1987, during which time the cathedral was closed.


Burials

*
Edward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell Edward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell (– 27 April 1607) was an English peer. He was the son of Henry Cromwell, 2nd Baron Cromwell by his wife Mary, daughter of John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester and his first wife Elizabeth Willoughby. Hi ...
*
Vere Essex Cromwell, 4th Earl of Ardglass Vere Essex Cromwell, 4th Earl of Ardglass PC (I), (2 October 1625 – 26 November 1687) was an English nobleman, son of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Ardglass and Elizabeth Meverell. He was the last direct male descendant of Henry VIII's ch ...


Today

It houses an 11th-century
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
font discovered in use as a watering trough in 1927 and installed in the cathedral in 1931. In the cathedral grounds is the burial place of
St Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba ...
, believed to have died in 461. However, the inscribed stone of Mourne granite allegedly marking the grave was actually put in place in 1900. Outside the east end of the cathedral stands the replica of a weathered
high cross A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...
made of granite. The 10th- or 11th-century original, which formerly stood in the centre of Downpatrick and was moved to the cathedral in 1897, has been on display in Down County Museum since 2015. Two small stone crosses now built into a wall in Down Cathedral appear to be 12th-century work and are carved with monks holding books.


References


External links

* {{Coord, 54.327061, N, 5.722547, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Anglican cathedrals in Northern Ireland Diocese of Down and Dromore Downpatrick Churches in County Down Grade A listed buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in Northern Ireland Pre-Reformation Roman Catholic cathedrals