Qualla: County Down https://qualla.com/county-down en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: County Down https://qualla.com/county-down County Down: Introduction https://qualla.com/county-down/ Percy French wrote it on a station platform in 1896, watching the granite peaks of the Mourne Mountains drop down to the Irish Sea: where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. He could have been describing the entire shape of County Down. The land here folds and rises in drumlins - those low whaleback hills left by retreating ice - then climbs into the granite Mournes, then falls again to a coastline that fragments into peninsulas, loughs, and an inland sea pocked with seventy named islands. Folk tradition counts 365 of them in Strangford Lough, one for every day of the year. Folk tradition is not always right, but it is rarely as wrong as it looks.

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/v/county-down-wp/gcev-county-down-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full County Down: Where Patrick Came Ashore https://qualla.com/county-down/ Down Cathedral in Downpatrick is said to hold the grave of Saint Patrick, with Saints Brigid and Columcille traditionally buried beside him - three patrons of Ireland sharing one hilltop. Nearby Saul, whose name comes from the Irish Sabhall meaning barn, is where Patrick is reput...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/v/county-down-wp/gcev-county-down-where-patrick-came-ashore.mp3 0:06 2 full County Down: The Granite Spine https://qualla.com/county-down/ The Mournes are not large mountains by world standards - Slieve Donard reaches only 850 metres - but they look bigger than they are because they rise so suddenly from the coast. C. S. Lewis grew up looking at them from Belfast and later said they inspired the landscape of Narnia....

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/v/county-down-wp/gcev-county-down-the-granite-spine.mp3 0:06 3 full County Down: Strangford and the Ards https://qualla.com/county-down/ Between the Ards Peninsula and the mainland, Strangford Lough opens like an inland sea. Vikings named the place Strangfjorthr - violent fjord - for the brutal tidal race at its narrow mouth, where 350 million tonnes of water surge through twice a day. At least seventy named islan...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/v/county-down-wp/gcev-county-down-strangford-and-the-ards.mp3 0:06 4 full County Down: Linen and Holywood and Holyrood https://qualla.com/county-down/ Down has produced more than its share of notable people for a county of half a million. Patrick Brontë, father of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, was born here near Rathfriland - his family name was originally Brunty. Hans Sloane, born at Killyleagh in 1660, eventually amassed the co...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/v/county-down-wp/gcev-county-down-linen-and-holywood-and-holyrood.mp3 0:06 5 full County Down: Where the Counties End https://qualla.com/county-down/ Down contains the easternmost point of Ireland at Burr Point on the Ards, and the southernmost point of Northern Ireland at Cranfield Point on Carlingford Lough. The county borders the Irish Sea to the east, Antrim to the north along the River Lagan, Armagh to the west, and Louth...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/v/county-down-wp/gcev-county-down-where-the-counties-end.mp3 0:06 6 full