We made good time and took the ferry over to Strangford, and then went on to Down County Museum for a soup and sandwich lunch in their Cathedral View restaurant. Gathered in the museum courtyard we listened as staff member Linda McKenna introduced her very comprehensive history of the Rebellion. Lots of rebels were executed after the rising, some here on the chilling and intimidating gallows, and one hoisted aloft from a windmill at Ballynahinch. Others were transported to America or given the chance to emigrate, never to return.
Travelling a meandering route that the rebels marched on their way to the Battle of Ballynahinch, and that taxed the driving skills of our bus driver, we passed the Creevy Rocks campground before visiting graveyards at Killinchy, Saintfield and Ballynahinch where Linda told us about various members of the United Irishmen and their exploits in early June 1789.
In the Saintfield churchyard, a commemorative stone has been placed and information boards erected to tell the story of the Rebellion, and a little garden set aside with two gravestones to represent the many casualties of the Battle of Saintfield.
Back to the Down County Museum for afternoon tea, and then home to Bangor for 5.30pm. A very enjoyable and informative day, thanks to Ian, Ronnie and Adrianne for organising it all.