DOWN, a maritime co. in the s.e. of Ulster province, Ireland. It is 51 m. long, and 38 broad, with an area of 967 sq.m., pits being arable, and in wood. It has a coast-line of 67 in., or 125 by the inlets, mostly low and rocky, and with many isles off it. The chief inlets are Belfast lough, 3 m. broad, and 15 deep, Strangford lough, to 3 m. by 10; Dundrum and Carlingford bays. The Mourne mountains cover 90 sq.m. in the s., and rise 2,796 ft. in Slieve Donard. The other parts of D. are mostly undulating and hilly, with plains and fine meadows along the rivers. The chief rocks are lower Situ rian—covering most of the county—and granite, composing the Mourne and Croob moun tains. The chief rivers are the Upper Bann and the Logan, The Newry canal admits vessels of 50 tons, and with the Ulster canal opens communication through almost all Ulster. Thick marl beds occur in the alluvial tracts. The soils are chiefly stony and clayey learns. In 1876, 316,336 acres, out of the total 612,495, were in crop. The chief crops are oats, potatoes, turnips, wheat, flax, and barley. Many pigs are reared. The chief manufacture is linen, especially the finer fabrics, as muslin, woven in the houses of the small farmers. Flax and cotton mills have become common. Hosiery, leather,
salt, thread, and woolens are also made. These. with corn, butter, pork, and hides, are the chief exports. D. is among the best cultivated of the Irish counties, and has more resident gentry (almost all Protestants, of English and Scotch descent) than any other Ulster county. It contains 10 baronies, 5 poor-law unions, and 70 parishes. The chief towns are Downpatrick, Newry, Newtownards, Bannbridge, and Donaghadee. D. sends four members to parliament, two for the county, one for Downpatrick, and one for Newry. Pop. '71, 277,294, of whom 116,017 are Presbyterians, 88,003 Roman Catholics, 60,868 Episcopalians, and the rest of other denominations. Presbyterianism prevails in the towns and low country, and Roman Catholicism among the mountains, and in the barony of Lecale. D. has many ancient remains, as raths, round towers, castles, and abbeys. On the top of Slieve Croob (1755 ft. high) are 23 stone cairns, one being 54 ft. high.