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arts · Wednesday 22 July 2026 · 10:00am 
F.E. McWilliam: A County Down Legacy
At Down County Museum · English Street, Downpatrick, Co. Down
At Down County Museum · English Street, Downpatrick, Co. Down
F.E. McWilliam: A County Down Legacy brings work by the sculptor Frederick E. McWilliam to Down County Museum in Downpatrick, running from 2 July to 29 August 2026. McWilliam was born in Banbridge in 1909 and went on to become one of the most significant Irish sculptors of the twentieth century, and this show draws on the collection of the F.E. McWilliam Gallery, his dedicated gallery in his home town, to bring a selection of that work to Downpatrick.
The exhibition presents McWilliam’s sculpture within Down County Museum’s temporary gallery space, giving visitors outside Banbridge a chance to see work normally held at the artist’s own gallery. McWilliam trained in London, exhibited internationally through a long career, and is known for figurative and abstract bronze and stone pieces that move between formal experimentation and more directly emotional subject matter. Seeing his work placed inside a county museum rather than a dedicated art gallery gives it a different context, tying it back to County Down as the place he came from rather than purely to his international career. It is a compact show rather than a full retrospective, suited to a stop of half an hour or so alongside the rest of the museum.
Down County Museum is on English Street in Downpatrick town centre, close to Down Cathedral and the Saint Patrick Centre. Translink bus services run to Downpatrick from Belfast and surrounding towns, and there is public parking within walking distance of the museum.
Downpatrick’s museum quarter sits close together around the cathedral, so this exhibition is an easy add-on to a wider visit taking in Down Cathedral and the Saint Patrick Centre on the same trip. There is more to see in Downpatrick and across Co. Down.
Heading to Down County Museum in Downpatrick? Down has plenty more to see. Read the Downpatrick area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.