34^ [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



DOWN PATRICK. 



A party of forty members and their friends assembled at the 

 County Down terminus shortly after nine o'clock on June 13th, 

 and were soon speeding towards Downpatrick in one of the 

 splendid new composite carriages which the enterprising railway 

 company have lately added to their rolling stock, and which was 

 obligingly reserved by Mr. Smith, the courteous station-master 

 at Belfast. Arrived at Downpatrick, the party immediately 

 mounted the cars which were in waiting, and drove off towards 

 Struell, which was reached before midday. Here the well-known 

 wells of St. Patrick engaged their attention, long resorted to by 

 pious pilgrims for the cure of the ills that flesh is heir to. The 

 word Struell, or Sruthair, signifies a stream. A rivulet flowing 

 down a pretty valley with rocky hillocks on either hand is 

 diverted, and passes through a number of wells, which are pro- 

 tected by being enclosed in cells, well built and roofed with stone 

 from the neighbourhood. Passing from the well called Tobar- 

 Patric, the water flows through four other wells, called respect- 

 ively the Body Well, the Limb Well, the Eye Well, and the 

 Well of Life. The Body Well, or Well of Sins, is sufficiently 

 large to admit of bathing, and spacious dressing-rooms are added. 

 These wells were long patronised by the rural population, 

 but the buildings are of no great age — only a few hundred 

 years — and the adjoining ruined chapel is quite modern ; the 

 place has now an air of decay and disuse. 



Remounting the vehicles, the party drove on to Ballyalton, 

 and while a larger section elected to ascend the hill of Slieve- 

 na-griddle, the others contented themselves with an inspection 

 of the stone circle close at hand, and there awaited their more 

 energetic companions. Those who ascended the hill were well 

 repaid for their labour. Although little over 400 feet in height, 

 the summit conveys the impression of a much greater elevation, 

 on account of its isolated position and the low level of the sur- 

 rounding country. The view obtained by the party from the 

 ruined cromleac on the highest point of the hill was most 



