Down County Museum - Downpatrick - Co. Down Northern Ireland
If you are trying to discover Northern Ireland, you will come to the point where county Down is on the list and that is when you will need to check the touristic places that one could visit there. Down County Museum is located in Downpatrick, between Down Cathedral and Downpatrick Courthouse and it calls out for people to come and check this historical treasure found in the place.
Down County Museum brings to the visitors the history of county Down from the earliest times until the present day through the artifacts that are displayed there. This museum is located in the historic buildings of the eighteenth century County Gaol of Down, the Gaol was opened back in 1796 and it was then closed in 1830 - throughout all those years, it housed thousands of prisoners in it.
The Gaol used to incarcerate many people for very minor offences and it also held rebels captured after the battle of Saintfield and Ballynahinch in 1798, and the United Irishman, Thomas Russell, was executed for his role in the abortive rebellion in 1803. The Gaol was also a convict Gaol and hundreds of transportees were imprisoned in it prior to their journey to the convict colonies of New South Wales.
The main purpose and aim behind Down County Museum is to appreciate the history, culture and environment of the county through the organisation of exhibitions, the activities and events which are there to inform the visitor of the information that he/she might have came to the place searching for.
After the Gaol was closed, there were some restorations done to the place in 1981 and now visitors could check the conditions in which the prisoners were kept in the Gaol by visiting the restored cells which are complete with displays on individual prisoners.
Going through the programme of the museum, you will come to see that there are two different types of exhibitions held there, the permanent exhibitions and the temporary exhibitions. From the permanent exhibitions held there, there is the "Down Through Time" exhibition which brings 9000 years of human history in county Down, the temporary exhibitions on the other hand usually deal with everything from the Victorians to local artists.
The old Gaol building passed through lots of stations before reaching the final destination which is Down County Museum. When the prisoners were transferred to the new Gaol, there were some restorations done to the place and it was used for several reasons across the years, it was even used in the First World War by the Royal Irish Rifles, but it finally came to the point were history was being shared from the place when the museum started.
There are lots of important features from the old Gaol that still survive until this day, such as the original cells, doors and fittings, which are preserved on the ground floor of the three-storey cell block. The original roofing slates from the cell block also survived until today and they are displayed inside the entrance to the building.
There are lots of interesting things to be seen inside this museum and even though there are some original things still found inside until this day, there are those which were removed, such as the original window bars which could be seen from the chiselled grooves that still survive to prove that the windows were removed.
Inside Down County Museum, you will also see the image painted by Nigel Hughes back in 1992 about the old Gaol as it might have appeared when it was a prison. This enlarged image is displayed at the Museum's entrance vestibule in the west gatehouse.
This is not the only place to stop at while being in county Down, but there are other important destinations that should shape your trip and provide you with more historical information about the place. Dundrum Castle is one of the old historical castles that you could visit in county Down ( • Dundrum Castle Co. Down - Norman Cast... ), there is also Mount Stewart, the 19th century house and gardens which attract visitors to it ( • Mount Stewart County Down - 19th Cent... ), The Moat in Donaghadee with the views that it could offer those who visit it ( • 360 Degree Video from The Moat - Dona... ), Scrabo Tower is also one of the historical attractions that are found in county Down ( • Scrabo Tower - Newtownards, County Do... ) and there is also the Greyabbey or the Grey Abbey as some people prefer to say it which is also found in county Down ( • Grey Abbey in Newtownards, County Dow... ).
There are lots of other historical destinations that could be checked in county Down, Northern Ireland, and Down County Museum in Downpatrick is one of the most famous; have you ever been to this museum before? What do you think about the things displayed through the video?
If you have been there already, share your experience with us and let us know what did you like the most about the place.
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