Landscape

Down County Museum, situated in the former Down County Gaol, is a B1 listed building in a Conservation Area. It is close to the Hill of Down, the site of an Early Christian monastery, traditionally linked with St Patrick and his burial site, and believed to have occupied the site of Holy Trinity Cathedral.

The architect of the Old Gaol, Charles Lilly, also worked on the Cathedral for the Marquis of Downshire, and was responsible for raising the Mall to its present level in about 1790.

When the Old Gaol was converted for use as a military barrack, John Lynn, a local builder, constructed two fine houses which, although private residences, were used for many years by visiting judges and are still known as the Judges' Lodgings.

Opposite the Museum stand the Southwell Schools which, when completed in 1733, signalled the development of English Street as a smart new centre for the gentry in their county town. The first Edward Southwell, who became landlord of Downpatrick in 1703, made many improvements to the town, and planted the woodland known as the Grove below the Cathedral.

The Courthouse, built in 1735, is located to the east of the Old Gaol, with the County Rooms adjacent to it on English Street. This became the professional and legal quarter of the town in the eighteenth century, and a number of fine townhouses dating to this period still survive on English Street.

Behind the Courthouse stands the gatehouse of the New Gaol, which, with the lowered perimeter wall, survived the demolition of the gaol buildings between 1927 and 1929.

The view of the Quoile Estuary from the window at the rear of the Museum is a reminder that, until quite recently, the Hill of Down was virtually surrounded by water, making it an attractive defensible site, and giving it the name 'dun', meaning 'stronghold'. The view encompasses the once fortified Mound of Down, and Inch Abbey, both Early Medieval sites taken over in the late twelfth century by the Norman invaders under John de Courcy.

John de Courcy was also responsible for building the Romanesque Cathedral, of which remains have been located in excavations beneath the present Cathedral. In keeping with this connection, a coin of John de Courcy, bearing the name Patricius and a crozier, has been adopted as the symbol of Down County Museum.

Plants and gardens
The Old Gaol is one of the few sites in Ulster where the Irish Alpine (Erinus Alpinus), or the Fairy Foxglove, is recorded as flourishng. The pink flowers of the plant are a prominent feature of the walls of both the Old Gaol and the New Gaol in late Spring to early Summer, and are a distinctive feature of these buildings. The plant is recorded at only a handful of other locations in Ulster. The spread of the plant is monitored and safeguarded on the Gaol site, and an interpretative plaque is scheduled to be installed in the courtyard to draw it to the attention of the visiting public.

The Millennium garden, adjacent to the Millennium Wall, in the rear courtyard of the Gaol, has been planted by the Horticulture Section of the District Council. Special effort has been made to include plants, such as the South African dierama, introduced and bred by the former Donard Nurseries of Newcastle, adding local significance to the garden for visitors.

The Museum garden, located at the rear of the Gaol, may have once functioned as the gaol garden where gaol staff grew vegetables and kept some livestock. It is now the location of a 'wild garden', which is managed by the Horticulture Section of the District Council.

Architecture
The Old Gaol is the most complete surviving Irish gaol of its type and period. The design and construction of the complex, between 1789 and 1796, under the supervision of the architect, Charles Lilly, was in line with current thinking among prison reformers of the time, particularly John Howard. The Georgian buildings have been restored as near as possible to their former appearance, by means of the removal of more recent structures and accretions, greatly enhancing their value for the interpretation of a late eighteenth century gaol and the conditions which prevailed at that time.

The complex has survived its successor, the New Gaol, now the site of Down High School, and its buildings can still be contrasted with the surviving gatehouse of the New Gaol, showing the striking development of gaol architecture within Downpatrick within a period of 40 years. The Old Gaol is certainly of national significance, and is also of importance in the European context of prison architecture at the time of the widespread prison reform movement.