Castlewellan

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes the Drumena Cashel - a small stone-built farmstead enclosure (or cashel) from the Early Christian period. It is 2 mi south west of Castlewellan off the A25 road to Rathfriland. Within the cashel walls is an Iron Age underground souterrain. Also nearby is Legannany Dolmen, approximately 3 mi to the north near the village of Leitrim, on the slopes of Slieve Croob. Goward Dolmen is a megalithic monument 2 mi from Hilltown on the road to Castlewellan. The huge granite capstone of this structure has slipped from its original horizontal position. 12 July 1849 saw the Dolly's Brae conflict. Up to 1400 armed Orangemen marched from Rathfriland to…

A number of incidents occurred in Castlewellan during the Troubles. For example, in January 1980, three members of the Ulster Defence Regiment were killed in a Provisional Irish Republican Army land mine attack on their mobile patrol near Castlewellan. Those killed included James Cochrane (21, a Catholic), Robert Smyth (18, a Protestant), and Richard Wilson (21, a Protestant). Castlewellan has historically been an Irish Republican town. In 2016, a large Republican commemoration of the 1916 Rising was held in the town. A march, commemorating the 1981 hunger strikes, was also held there in 2018. Throughout the course of the Troubles, the area had a significant paramilitary presence, mostly…