Holywood – maypole town on the lough | Down

Overview

Holywood has the only surviving maypole in Ireland, and the town still dances around it every May Day. That, plus a ruined priory in the town centre and the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum a couple of miles down the road at Cultra, is the reason to come. The town sits on the eastern shore of Belfast Lough, a 20-minute train ride from Belfast, and its compact centre is easy to walk. If you only have an hour, the maypole and the priory are two minutes apart on foot; the Cultra museums are a half-day on their own, so don’t try to fold them into the same short visit.

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The maypole

The white-painted pole stands where Shore Street meets High Street. Local lore has it beginning as the mast of a Dutch ship wrecked in the bay in 1700, but a maypole is marked on this spot on maps as early as the 1620s, so the real story is older and less tidy than the folk one. The pole you see now is a replacement: high winds snapped the previous one in February 2021, and the new one stands 16.74 metres. It’s used every May Day for folk dancing, live music and a street market, and it’s worth timing a visit for if you can.

Holywood Priory

A two-minute walk from the maypole, the priory ruins are the oldest thing in the town centre. Anglo-Norman settlers raised an Augustinian house here, and the stump of a stone tower added in 1800 still stands over the roofless walls. The graveyard is the quieter reason to linger: it holds the botanist Robert Lloyd Praeger and his sister, the sculptor Rosamond Praeger, along with the educational reformer Robert Sullivan, after whom the town’s Sullivan Upper School is named. The site is free and open in daylight.

Behind the town, the Holywood Motte is an Anglo-Norman castle mound – a raised earthwork, probably once ringed by a ditch and a timber palisade. There’s little to see beyond the mound itself, and the ground is uneven, but it’s a short detour if you’re already walking.

Ulster Folk & Transport Museum at Cultra

A short drive or bus ride south brings you to the Cultra estate, home to two of Northern Ireland’s most-visited heritage sites. The Ulster Folk Museum, based around Cultra Manor (built 1902–04), recreates rural life through relocated period cottages, working farms and costumed demonstrators. Next door, the Transport Museum runs from horse carts to a DeLorean DMC-12 – the stainless-steel car built just up the road at Dunmurry – along with Harry Ferguson’s pioneering tractor and the racing motorbikes of Ulster road-racing legends. Both sit in parkland above the lough, and between them they fill an easy half-day. More on the Cultra site for current exhibitions and events.

Two children look out of a vintage train carriage window at the Ulster Transport Museum. — Ulster Transport Museum, Holywood, Co. Down Courtesy of Ulster Transport Museum, @UlsterTransportMuseum

Four children reach up to pet a large black horse over a green fence at the Ulster Folk Museum. — Ulster Folk Museum, Holywood, Co. Down Courtesy of National Museums Northern Ireland

The coast and the golf

Holywood’s seafront is anchored by Seapark, with sports pitches, a playground and direct access to the shore. From here the North Down Coastal Path runs for 16 miles (about 25.7 km) along the edge of the lough, past the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club and Grey Point Fort towards Bangor. It’s well surfaced and level, with benches and clear signage, and on calm days the water is good for seals and wintering birds.

The town has a strong golfing pedigree. Holywood Golf Club, on the hill above the town, is Rory McIlroy’s home club. A little further along the coast at Craigavad, the Royal Belfast Golf Club (founded 1881) claims to be the oldest golf club in Ireland.

A person in a red jacket walks a dog along a paved path beside a stone sea wall at Cultra. — Cultra Walk, Holywood, Co. Down Tourism Ireland by Bernie Brown

Getting there and parking

By train: Holywood station is on the Belfast–Bangor line, about 20 minutes from Belfast Grand Central. It’s an unmanned halt with step-free access and ticket machines.
By bus: Translink routes link Holywood with Belfast, Cultra and Bangor through the week, with a lighter Sunday service.
By car: The A2 runs straight past the town. The town-centre car parks – on Hibernia Street North, Seapark Avenue and High Street – are handy for the maypole and priory, but several are pay-and-display, so bring change. The Cultra museum has its own car park.

Public toilets are at the museums and around Seapark, and dogs on leads are welcome in the parks and along the coastal path. If you’re planning the museums, check the National Museums NI website first: some special exhibitions need to be booked ahead, and opening hours shift with the season.