The Museum gathers, preserves, and exhibits artefacts relevant to County Down’s history from the beginning to the present. Their mission is to increase understanding of the county’s history, culture, and the environment by organising exhibitions, activities, and events that are educational, accessible, and relevant to the local community and visitors.
The Museum is housed in the ancient buildings of the County Gaol of Down, which dates from the eighteenth century. The Gaol was founded in 1796 and housed thousands of inmates until its closing in 1830.
In addition to imprisoning many people for petty offences, the Gaol housed insurgents caught following the battles of Saintfield and Ballynahinch in 1798, as well as Thomas Russell, a United Irishman who was killed for his role in the failed revolt of 1803.
The Gaol was also a penal gaol, and hundreds of convicts were imprisoned here before being sent to New South Wales’ convict colonies. You can look up information about these people in our online convict’s database. This material can be found here.
Since 1981, the Museum has been restoring the Gaol buildings, and visitors can now see the conditions in which the prisoners were held, visit restored cells with displays on individual prisoners, and stroll through the Gaol courtyards, which are likely to be the site of lively events and re-enactments!
Down Through Time, a permanent exhibition at the Museum highlights 9000 years of human history in County Down.
A rotating series of temporary exhibitions cover everything from the Victorians to contemporary artists.
The Down County Museum logo is based on a coin struck at Downpatrick by John de Courcy around 1190. On one side, it has the name Patrick with a crozier, while on the other, it has the name de Courcy. It was a symbolic link between the area’s religious and political associations, and it was a proclamation of independence by de Courcy because it did not bear the head of Prince John, Lord of Ireland.
