On the highest part of Cathedral Hill, set into the grass, there is a slab of Mourne granite carved with a single word: PATRIC. It marks the reputed grave of Saint Patrick, and it was put there in 1900 for a practical reason — pilgrims kept taking soil away, and a large stone is harder to pocket than a handful of earth. Tradition holds that Patrick isn't alone under it. A couplet has him sharing the ground with two other saints: "In Down, three saints one grave do fill, Patrick, Brigid and Columcille."
The slab sits outside Down Cathedral, which stands over the town on the site of a 12th-century Benedictine abbey. The building was ruined after the 1541 dissolution and rebuilt between 1790 and 1818 in Gothic Revival style. Inside there is an 11th-century granite font, dug up in 1927 and installed four years later, and preserved stone crosses from the 9th, 10th and 12th centuries.
Down the hill, in the centre of town on English Street, is Denvir's Hotel, which traces itself back to 1642 and calls itself "the oldest surviving Coaching Inn in Ireland." It was built by John and Ann MacGreevy — John a soldier for Charles I, given the land in lieu of pay. The Denvir name attached later; one Robert Denvir who lived here reputedly reached a hundred. The restaurant has a 17th-century open fireplace, there's a snug bar with a wood-burning stove, and meals come with a wide range of beers on tap and, less expectedly, a large cocktail list. Reviews settle on the same words: cosy, hearty, friendly.
For music, Mullan's Bar, just as you come in from the Belfast Road, runs traditional sessions every Sunday. They start between five and six and usually wind up around ten.
Eating in the daytime, the Garden Cafe on the first floor of the Saint Patrick Centre does homemade seafood chowder, Irish stew, quiche and pies, and has what it claims is Downpatrick's only rooftop terrace. The Busy Bee Bistro handles all-day breakfasts, lunches and Sunday roasts.
The walking follows the water. Quoile Pondage Nature Reserve is under a mile out, flat looped riverside paths good for birdwatching and smooth enough for a pushchair or wheelchair. For something longer, Saint Patrick's Way runs 27 kilometres to Saul, tracing the River Quoile past the ruins of Inch Abbey and up Saul Hill; most people take it in halves.
Inch Abbey itself, a mile and a half north, is a Cistercian ruin on the Quoile and, if it looks familiar, it stood in for Robb Stark's camp in Game of Thrones — the spot where he's declared King in the North.
The town has an Iron Age fort at its edge, the Mound of Down, named after a hero of the Ulster Cycle. It has a racecourse dating to 1685, the oldest in Ireland. And it has a heritage railway, Ireland's only full-size one, run by volunteers, with the largest collection of Victorian carriages in the country.
Tim Wheeler, who fronts the band Ash, grew up here. So did the broadcaster Miles Kington. The place is Dún Pádraig — Patrick's fort — and it does not let you forget whose fort it is.