Castlewellan, Caisleán Uidhilín, Co. Down

Caisleán Uidhilín · Co. Down

A market town at the foot of the Mournes with a 460-hectare forest park out the back gate.

Castlewellan is a market town at the foot of the Mournes that happens to have one of Northern Ireland's main forest parks out the back gate. That order matters. The town is a real town - two squares, a wide main street, chestnut trees, the second-Monday market still trading after two and a half centuries. The forest park is the reason most people drive in, and most of those people never see the squares. Their loss.

The estate is the old Annesley demesne. The 4th Earl built the castle between 1856 and 1859 to a William Burn design in granite quarried on site. The 5th Earl was the gardener - he laid down the arboretum that is now ranked among the finest in the British Isles. The Forest Service bought the land off the family in 1967 and opened it to the public. The castle itself has been a Christian conference centre since the 1970s and is not open to walk around; the gardens, the lake and the trails are.

Come for a Sunday and you will queue at the gate behind every family in south Down. Come on a Tuesday in October and you will have the arboretum more or less to yourself, with a wind off Slieve Croob and the last of the leaves doing their thing. Either way, walk into town afterwards for a pint at Maginn's and a plate at the Yard. Two hours in the trees, two hours in the squares, and you have actually been to Castlewellan instead of just the car park.

Population

~2,800

Walk score

Town in fifteen minutes; the estate eats an afternoon

Founded

Town laid out by William Annesley in the 1750s

Coords

54.2580° N, 5.9418° W

01 / 09

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The estate

Forest park, lake, arboretum, maze.

Castlewellan Forest Park is 460 hectares of the old Annesley demesne - a 40-hectare lake, twelve kilometres of trail, an arboretum laid down in 1740, and a Scottish-baronial castle that is no longer the point. Pay at the gate, park, walk.

Walks & outings → 02 The two squares

Old town, new town, both lined with chestnuts.

William Annesley planned the town in the 1750s with an Upper Square and a Lower Square joined by an unusually wide main street. The 1764 Market House at the top is now the library. The second-Monday market still happens.

Stories & lore → 03 The maze

Six thousand yew trees, planted by volunteers.

The Peace Maze in the forest park was built between 2000 and 2001 - the world's second-largest permanent hedge maze, three kilometres of path to a bell in the middle and the same back out. It is for the children. Take them.

Stories & lore →

02 / 09

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Maginn's Bar

Family-run, busy

Pub & bistro, since 1919

The hot spot in town and the easy answer for a meal. Maginn family since 1919, third generation now running it. Stained-glass ceiling, snug seating, live music at weekends. Lower end of the main street.

The Yard at Hillyard House

Smart, locally-sourced

Hotel bar & restaurant

The boutique hotel beside the forest park gates. The restaurant uses Flax-fed beef, Comber potatoes and Castlewellan tomatoes and is not shy about saying so. A salt-aged steak chamber. Booking advised on weekends.

03 / 09

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
The Yard Restaurant	Hotel restaurant	€€	In Hillyard House by the park gates. Local producers, smart menu, the Yard Burger has its own fan club. The kind of dinner that justifies the day in the forest.
Maginn's bistro	Pub food	€€	Bistro plates done well in a pub setting. Daily specials, decent gluten-free range, the kind of place where the same kitchen feeds the lunch crowd and the late session.

04 / 09

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Hillyard House Hotel	Boutique hotel	Beside the forest park gates. Small, well-run, the kind of hotel where the restaurant is part of why you stay. Walking distance to both squares and the lake.
Drumee Lodge	B&B in a historic building	Boutique B&B in an older town building. A quiet, properly-run alternative to the hotel - small enough that breakfast is a conversation.
Kings Inn	Inn & rooms	In the old market town with the Mournes, Newcastle and the forest park all on the doorstep. Honest pricing, central, no nonsense.
A cottage out toward Bryansford	Self-catering	Drive five minutes out toward Tollymore and the prices ease and you wake up with the mountain in the window. Trust us.

05 / 09

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Two squares, by design

The town the Annesleys built

Castlewellan is not an accidental town. William Annesley laid it out in the 1750s with two formal squares - Upper for the old town, Lower for the new - joined by a main street wide enough to drive a herd through, all of it lined with chestnut trees. The Market House at the top of the Upper Square was put up in 1764 and is now the library. The second-Monday market and the May Day and November horse fairs are still on the same dates after two hundred and seventy years. Few small Irish towns can say that.

How Castlewellan grew an arboretum

The 5th Earl and his trees

The 4th Earl Annesley built the castle in 1856-59 to a William Burn design in local granite. His son, the 5th Earl, was the one who really mattered to anyone with a spade. He turned the demesne into one of the great gardens of the British Isles - a walled garden of twelve and a half acres at the heart, an arboretum running out to a hundred and twenty, plants pulled in from China, the Andes, the Pacific Northwest. The collection is still ranked in the top three in these islands for size, age and condition. The Forest Service took the land on in 1967; the trees are still doing their work.

A cypress born in a glasshouse here

Castlewellan Gold

In 1962 Mr McKeown, the head gardener at the Castlewellan estate, sowed cones from a golden Monterey cypress that had grown up next to a golden Nootka cypress. One of the seedlings was unusual. Planted out in 1965, it became Castlewellan Gold - a cultivar of Leyland cypress that has since been propagated around the world and stands today in suburban hedges from Surrey to Sydney. The original tree is still here, in the arboretum that bred it.

Six thousand yews and a bell

The Peace Maze

Between 2000 and 2001 volunteers from across Northern Ireland planted six thousand yew trees into a hedge maze in the forest park, marking the peace process and the new century at the same time. It opened in 2001 as the world's largest permanent hedge maze - Longleat eventually took the record back, so it is now the world's second-largest, with about three kilometres of path winding to a Peace Bell in the middle. Bring children. Or do not, and listen for the bell from the lake path; you can hear it when it is rung.

06 / 09

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Castlewellan Lake loop The headline walk. Right around the 40-hectare lake on a proper surfaced path, past the arboretum, the castle, the Moorish Tower and back. Easy underfoot, good for buggies, the social hub of the forest park.

6 km loopdistance

90 mintime

Slievenaslat from the lake The 272-metre hill that sits behind the lake. A short, sharp climb out of the forest onto a heather top with the whole Mourne range laid out south of you. Wet boots in winter; it earns its name.

5 km returndistance

2 hourstime

Annesley Garden & Arboretum The walled garden and the surrounding planting. Not a walk so much as a slow read. Spring for the magnolias, autumn for the maples, any week for the conifers. Bring time.

2 km wanderdistance

1 hourtime

Boundary Trail The full perimeter of the forest park, climbing higher than the lake circuit and giving you the Mournes from every angle. Quieter than the lake. Pack a sandwich.

8.5 km loopdistance

3 hourstime

Slieve Croob Scenic Drive Drive the Dromara Road out of town up onto the older, lower massif north of the Mournes. Panoramic from the top, source of the River Lagan, a different geology and a different view of the same skyline.

15 km loopdistance

Half daytime

07 / 09

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The arboretum comes alive in April and May - magnolias, rhododendrons, fresh leaf on the chestnuts in the squares. May Day Bank Holiday Monday is the big horse fair and the town fills up.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

The forest park gets queues at the gate on Saturday and Sunday from late morning. Go on a weekday or arrive before nine. The lake path can feel like a city park on a sunny weekend.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The locals' season and the arboretum's best. Maples, beeches, larches all going at once; weekday mornings nearly empty; the squares quiet again after the summer.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Cold, often clear, and the conifer collection earns its keep when everything else is bare. The forest park stays open year-round; pack proper boots and a thermos.

◉ Go

08 / 09

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Driving in on a sunny Sunday

The car park queues back onto the road from late morning. Go on a weekday or arrive before nine. The forest is the same forest on a Tuesday.

Trying to tour the castle itself

Castlewellan Castle has been a private Christian conference centre since 1974 and is not open to the public. The gardens, lake and trails are; the building is not. Look from the outside and walk on.

The Peace Maze without small humans

If you do not have children with you, the maze is six thousand yew trees in a square. The arboretum two minutes' walk away is the better hour of your life.

Skipping the town for the park

Plenty of people drive in the back gate, do the lake loop, drive out and never see Castlewellan itself. The two squares, the chestnut trees and a pint at Maginn's are half the reason to come.

Getting there.

By car

Belfast to Castlewellan is 50 minutes on the A24 via Ballynahinch. Newcastle is 6 km south on the A50. Newry is 35 minutes west.

By bus

Translink Ulsterbus 17 runs Belfast-Newcastle via Castlewellan, hourly most of the day. The 217 from Downpatrick stops here too.

By train

No train. Nearest station is Newry (Enterprise line, 30 minutes by car) or Belfast Lanyon Place (1 hour by car).

By air

Belfast International (BFS) is 1h 10m. Belfast City (BHD) is 50 minutes. Dublin Airport is 1h 45m via the A1.

Next on the tour

Co. Down

Newcastle

Six kilometres south on the A50. The seaside resort where the Mournes meet the sea. Tollymore Forest Park is on the way; do the two parks in one day if you must.

Co. Down

Ballynahinch

Twenty minutes north on the A24. Market town with a 1798 battle on its CV and Montalto Estate on the doorstep. The road back to Belfast.

Co. Down

Downpatrick

Half an hour east. St Patrick's reputed burial place, a cathedral on a hill, and the county town. The other side of the same county, and a different day out.

Co. Down

Bryansford

Two kilometres north-west, the crossroads at the gates of Tollymore - the country's first forest park.

Co. Down

Kilcoo

South-west a few minutes to a small parish that fields Ulster's hardest team.