County Down in the context of Slieve Croob

Northern Ireland is divided into six counties, namely Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone. Six largely rural administrative counties based on these were among the eight primary local government areas of Northern Ireland from its 1921 creation until 1973. The other two local government areas were the urban county boroughs of Derry (geographically part of the County of Londonderry) and Belfast (geographically split between the counties of Antrim and Down).

The six counties date from the Kingdom of Ireland; five were created between 1570 and 1591 in the Tudor conquest of Ireland, while county Londonderry dates from 1613 and the Plantation of Ulster. The total number of counties in the island of Ireland is 32, with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland often respectively called "the Six Counties" and "the Twenty-Six Counties", especially by Irish nationalists opposed to the partition of Ireland. The 1898–1973 administrative counties were subdivided into county districts. The two-tier county/district system was replaced with a single-tier of "districts", numbering 26 in 1973 and rationalised into 11 in 2015. The areas corresponding to the six counties and two county boroughs remain in use for some administrative purposes, and the six historic counties retain a popular identity.

The Plantation of Ulster (Irish: Plandáil Uladh; Ulster Scots: Plantin o Ulstèr) was the organised colonisation (plantation) of Ulster – a province of Ireland – by people from Great Britain during the reign of King James VI and I.

Small privately funded plantations by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while the official plantation began in 1609. Most of the land had been confiscated from the native Gaelic chiefs, several of whom had fled Ireland for mainland Europe in 1607 following the Nine Years' War against English rule. The official plantation comprised an estimated half a million acres (2,000 km) of arable land in counties Armagh, Cavan, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Donegal, and Londonderry. Land in counties Antrim, Down, and Monaghan was privately colonised with the king's support.

Newry (/ˈnjʊəri/; from Irish An Iúraigh) is a city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Clanrye river in counties Down and Armagh. It is near the border with the Republic of Ireland, on the main route between Belfast (34 miles/55 km away) and Dublin (67 miles/108 km away). The population was 27,913 in 2021.

Newry was founded in 1144 as a settlement around a Cistercian abbey. In the 16th century the English dissolved the abbey and built Bagenal's Castle on the site. Newry grew as a market town and a garrison, and became a port in 1742 when the Newry Canal was opened, the first summit-level canal in Ireland. A cathedral city, it is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dromore. In 2002, as part of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, Newry was granted city status along with Lisburn.

Killyleagh (/kɪliˈleɪ/; from Irish Cill Ó Laoch, meaning 'church of the descendants of Laoch') is a village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the A22 road between Belfast and Downpatrick, on the western side of Strangford Lough. It had a population of 2,787 people in the 2021 Census. It is best known for its twelfth-century Killyleagh Castle. Killyleagh lies within the Newry, Mourne and Down district.

County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, from Irish Aontroim, meaning 'lone ridge') is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,086 square kilometres (1,192 sq mi) and has a population of 651,321, as of the 2021 census. County Antrim has a population density of 211 people per square kilometre or 546 people per square mile. It is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland.

The Glens of Antrim offer isolated rugged landscapes, the Giant's Causeway is a unique landscape and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bushmills produces whiskey, and Portrush is a popular seaside resort and nightlife area. The majority of Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland, is in County Antrim, with the remainder being in County Down.

Carlingford Lough (Irish: Loch Cairlinn, Ulster Scots: Carlinford Loch) is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of the border between Northern Ireland to the north and the Republic of Ireland to the south. On its northern shore is County Down, the Mourne Mountains, and the town of Warrenpoint; on its southern shore is County Louth, the Cooley Mountains and the village of Carlingford. The Newry River flows into the loch from the northwest.

County Armagh (Irish: Contae Ard Mhacha [ˌaːɾˠd̪ˠ ˈwaxə]) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders the Northern Irish counties of Tyrone to the west and Down to the east. The county borders Louth and Monaghan to the south and southwest, which are in the Republic of Ireland. It is named after its county town, Armagh, which derives from the Irish Ard Mhacha, meaning "Macha's height". Macha was a sovereignty goddess in Irish mythology and is said to have been buried on a wooded hill around which the town of Armagh grew. County Armagh is colloquially known as the "Orchard County" because of its many apple orchards.

The county covers an area of 1,327 km (512 sq mi), making it the smallest of Northern Ireland's six counties by size and the sixth-smallest county on the island of Ireland. With a population of 194,394 as of the 2021 census, it is the fourth-most populous county in both Northern Ireland and Ulster. It is the 10th most populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties, as well as the fifth-most densely populated. In addition to the city of Armagh and the western portion of the city of Newry, notable towns in the county include Lurgan, Portadown and Craigavon.

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (Irish: Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots: The Turn Out, The Hurries) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen. First formed in Belfast by Presbyterians opposed to the landed Anglican establishment, the Society, despairing of reform, sought to secure a republic through a revolutionary union with the country's Catholic majority. The grievances of a rack-rented tenantry drove recruitment.

While assistance was being sought from the French Republic and from democratic militants in Britain, martial-law seizures and arrests forced the conspirators into the open. Beginning in late May 1798, there were a series of uncoordinated risings: in the counties of Carlow and Wexford in the southeast where the rebels met with some success; in the north around Belfast in counties Antrim and Down; and closer to the capital, Dublin, in counties Meath and Kildare.

The Mourne Mountains (/mɔːrn/ MORN; Irish: Beanna Boirche), also called the Mournes or the Mountains of Mourne, are a predominantly granite mountain range in County Down in the south-east of Northern Ireland. They include the highest mountain in all of Ulster, Slieve Donard at 850 m (2,790 ft). The Mournes are designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it has been proposed to make the area Northern Ireland's first national park. The area is partly owned by the National Trust and sees over 50,000 visitors every year. The Mourne Wall crosses fifteen of the summits and was built to enclose the catchment basin of the Silent Valley and Ben Crom reservoirs. The wall, and the area inside it, are owned by Northern Ireland Water.

Lisburn (/ˈlɪzbɜːrn, ˈlɪsbɜːrn/ LIZ-burn, LISS-burn; Irish: Lios na gCearrbhach [ˌl̠ʲɪsˠ n̪ˠə ˈɟaːɾˠ(ə)wəx] ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is 8 mi (13 km) southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with the arrival of French Huguenots in the 18th century, the town developed as a global centre of the linen industry.

In 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee celebrations, the predominantly unionist borough was granted city status alongside the largely nationalist town of Newry. With a population of 45,370 in the 2011 Census, Lisburn was the third-largest city in Northern Ireland. In the 2016 reform of local government in Northern Ireland Lisburn was joined with the greater part of Castlereagh to form the Lisburn City and Castlereagh District.

The River Lagan (from Irish Abhainn an Lagáin 'river of the low-lying district'; Ulster Scots: Lagan Wattèr) is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs 53.5 mi (86.1 km) from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The Lagan forms much of the border between County Antrim and County Down in the east of Ulster. It rises as a stream near to the summit of Slieve Croob. It runs to Belfast through Dromara, Donaghcloney and Dromore. On the lower slopes of the mountain, it combines with a branch from Legananny Mountain, just opposite Slieve Croob. The river then turns east to Magheralin into a broad plain between the plateaus of Antrim and Down.

The river drains approximately 609 square km of agricultural land and flows to the Stranmillis Weir, from which point on it is estuarine. The catchment consists mainly of enriched agricultural grassland in the upper parts, with the lower section draining urban Belfast and Lisburn. There is one significant tributary, the Ravernet River, and there are several minor tributaries, including the Carryduff River, the River Farset and the Blackstaff River. Work is proceeding to restore a self-sustaining population of Atlantic salmon to the river.

Killyleagh Castle is a castle in the village of Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited castles in the country, with parts dating back to 1180. It follows the architectural style of a Loire Valley château, being redesigned by the architect Sir Charles Lanyon in the mid-19th century. It has been owned by the Hamilton family since the early 17th century.

It is currently the home of Gawn Rowan Hamilton and his young family. The castle hosts occasional concerts; performers have included Van Morrison, Glen Hansard and Bap Kennedy. The gate lodges provide self-catering holiday accommodation. From 2012 to 2014, the castle was used to film CBBC show Dani's Castle.

Downpatrick (from Irish Dún Pádraig, meaning 'Patrick's fort') is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about 21 mi (34 km) south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the burial place of Saint Patrick. Today, it is the county town of Down and the joint headquarters of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.Downpatrick had a population of 11,545 according to the 2021 Census.

Strangford Lough is a large sea lough or inlet in County Down, in the east of Northern Ireland. It is the largest inlet in Ireland and the wider British Isles, covering 150 km (58 sq mi). The lough is almost fully enclosed by the Ards Peninsula and is linked to the Irish Sea by a long narrow channel at its southeastern edge. The main body of the lough has at least seventy islands along with many islets (pladdies), bays, coves, headlands and mudflats. It is part of the Strangford and Lecale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Strangford Lough was designated as Northern Ireland's first Marine Conservation Zone in 2013, and has been designated a Special Area of Conservation for its important wildlife.

Strangford Lough is a popular tourist destination noted for its fishing and scenery. Towns and villages around the lough include Killyleagh, Comber, Newtownards, Portaferry and Strangford. The latter two straddle either shore of the narrow Strangford channel, and are connected by a car ferry.

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland. Due to large-scale plantations of people from Scotland and England during the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as decades of conflict in the 20th, Ulster has a unique culture, quite different from the rest of Ireland. As all of Northern Ireland lies within Ulster and comprises about 90% of its population, the culture of Northern Ireland is very similar to that of the whole of Ulster. In particular, the Ulster Scots, or Scots Irish identity is strong among descendants of the Plantation, notably in counties Antrim, Cavan, Donegal, and Down. There is also a thriving indigenous Gaelic culture, largely attributed to the GAA and Conradh na Gaeilge.

A flipped image is a static or moving image that is generated by a mirror-reversal of an original across a horizontal axis, making the image upside-down. In contrast, a flopped image is mirrored across the vertical axis, as in a conventional mirror image.

Elizabeth de Burgh (English: /dəˈbɜːr/ də-BUR; c. 1289 – 27 October 1327) was the second wife and only queen consort of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. Elizabeth was born sometime around 1289, probably in what is now County Down or County Antrim in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland.She was the daughter of one of the most powerful Norman nobles in the Lordship of Ireland at that time, Richard Óg de Burgh, the 2nd Earl of Ulster, a member of the noble dynasty, the House of Burgh and a close friend and ally to King Edward I of England.

Not much is known about Elizabeth, despite her husband's status as one of the most famous Scottish kings and warriors. As is the case with most medieval women, records of Elizabeth are scarce; however, it is clear that she was caught up in the political turmoil that unfolded between the Scottish and the English during the reign of her husband King Robert, had to move several times to keep safe and was eventually seized as a prisoner.