Overview
Killowen (Irish: Cill Eoghain, ‘Eoghan’s church’, also written Cill Eoin or Cill Abhainn) is a small townland on the northern shore of Carlingford Lough in County Down, at the foot of the Mourne Mountains. It had 225 residents at the 2021 census. There is a primary school, a Catholic church and a scatter of houses; there is no village centre to speak of. People come for two things: the whiskey distillery on the hill above it, and the history that runs oddly deep for so small a place.
If you can only do one, book the distillery. Everything else here is a short detour you can add on.
Killowen Distillery
Killowen is Northern Ireland’s smallest distillery, and it wears the fact well. Architect-turned-distiller Brendan Carty founded it in 2017 and still runs it with a team of four. It sits on the slopes of Knock Shee, on a path smugglers used to bring French brandy inland during the Napoleonic Wars, and which local poitín makers used long after that. The building is made from upcycled materials and leans hard on renewable energy.
The Meet the Makers tour is small and hands-on: you taste spirit straight off the still, pick botanicals from the garden for your own gin garnish, and get the history of the place from a resident piper and storyteller. Bookings are essential and tour dates are limited, so fix a date with the distillery before you travel rather than turning up. The whiskey, gin and poitín all come from here.
One caveat worth naming: the website has been returning a 403 error, so if it won’t load, contact the distillery by phone instead.
The history for so small a place
Patrick Murphy (1834–1862), the ‘Irish Giant’, was born in Killowen on 15 June 1834 and stood 7 ft 3.4 in. He resisted being put on show at first, then toured with the curiosity shows of the day and made enough from it to buy a farm near Rostrevor. The listed building he lived in is still here.
Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen (1832–1900), was born in Newry and raised in modest circumstances in Killowen before becoming the first Catholic Lord Chief Justice of England in centuries. He chose his title to name the place he came from.
In 1948 the Norwegian-born hand weaver Gerd Hay-Edie set up Mourne Textiles at Killowen, and the workshop kept traditional weaving alive in the townland.
The Giant’s Grave
At Ballinran there is a Neolithic court tomb, locally the ‘Giant’s Grave’, excavated in 1976 ahead of road widening. The dig traced a long north–south gallery over 12 metres in length with a circular forecourt; no cairn or kerb stones had survived. Cremated human bone and three flint flakes came out of it. It is a short walk from the road and a quiet stop rather than a spectacle. The current state of the site – whether there are interpretive panels or clear access – is worth checking locally before you set out.
Just outside Killowen, Ballyedmond Castle is a Victorian Tudor-Baronial mansion built around 1855, possibly by Sir Charles Lanyon, on the site of an 18th-century house that Maria Edgeworth once visited. The 347-acre estate was used by the US Air Force in the Second World War, later ran as a luxury hotel, was damaged in a 1979 attack and restored in the late 1980s by Dr Edward Haughey. It is private, so it is a name to know rather than a place to enter.
Coastal and mountain walks
The Carlingford Lough shoreline gives flat, traffic-free walking. For height, the trails into Rostrevor Forest are waymarked and open out over the lough and the Mournes. Families usually pair a visit with Kilbroney Park, where the river walks make an easy half-day. South along the coast, Greencastle Royal Castle guards the mouth of the lough.
Getting there and practical tips
Killowen is on the A2 coastal road, roughly an hour and three-quarters from Belfast. Public transport is thin, so a car is the practical way in. The page has previously mentioned a small free car park beside the distillery; we could not confirm it, so ask when you book.
The distillery’s main visitor area is level and partly accessible, though the garden paths are uneven. Dogs are fine on leads around the townland and on most coastal trails but should be left out of the tour. For a longer stay, Rostrevor has B&Bs and guesthouses within a five-minute drive.
Distillery address: 29 Kilfeaghan Road, Rostrevor, County Down, BT34 3AW Phone: +44 (0) 7727 747 949
Book the tour first, then build the day around your slot: the court tomb before, the lough shore after.