Existing Public Art Work and Items of Interest

‘Johnny the Jig’

Johnny the Jig is a beautiful bronze sculpture of a young boy playing the concertina, atop a granite plinth situated at the entrance to the High Street children’s play area.  He was the creation of the famous Holywood-born professional illustrator and sculptor Rosamond Praeger.  Born in 1867 she attended the Slade School of Art in London before moving to Paris, then considered the hub of artistic development and where sculpture in particular was experiencing a dynamic revival.  Praeger returned to Holywood in 1914 and established an art studio in Hibernia Street where she worked until her death in 1954.  Other art works by Rosamond Praeger are on permanent display in Holywood Library, Sullivan Upper School, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum, Ulster Hospital, Ulster Museum and many more in private collections around the world. 

War Memorial

The First World War Memorial, Redburn Square, Holywood, was first unveiled in January 1922.  The sculptor, well known at the time, was L S Merrifield.  Originally there were two cannons situated at the base of the memorial but they were removed in 1940 as scrap for the war effort.

 

Old Priory Church

The Old Priory Church is situated on the earliest documented religious site in Holywood.  Established as a monastery in the 7th century it was redesigned as an Augustinian Abbey in 1177 AD on the orders of Sir John de Courcy.  By the 15th century it had become a Franciscan Priory and was formally dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII.  It was rebuilt as a parish church during the Plantation of Ulster but was finally abandoned as a place of worship in 1844.  The surrounding graveyard is still in use and some of the older headstones still bear the details of their Norman origin.

Holywood Maypole

For many people the Holywood Maypole is the most distinguishing feature of the town.  The maypole can be seen in a 1625 estate map and is the only surviving maypole in Ireland.  Folklore has it that on May eve in the year 1700, a Dutch ship went aground off Shore Road. The sailors landed, set up their mast at the point where Shore Road and High Street meet and spent the night dancing around it.  Some years later the inhabitants of Holywood erected a permanent pole where the mast had stood and every May eve the children dance round the pole.  In the early years of the last century and between the World Wars, it was customary to lower the flag on the maypole for a funeral of any Holywood "residenter". As the cortege passed the maypole, the flag was lowered right onto the coffin. 

The maypole was originally sited at the centre of the High Street-Church Street intersection.  However, prior to the 1944 D-Day landings, an American tank accidentally knocked it down.  After the Second World War the maypole was repositioned to one side of the intersection.   Since 1983 the time-honoured tradition of dancing round the maypole on May Day has been revived and is an important date in the civic calendar. 

Holywood Motte

Holywood Motte is an earthen mound, 15 feet high and 37 feet across the top, located off Brook Street in the centre of Holywood.  It was built in the 12th century during the Anglo-Norman conquest and was one of a series of Mottes (French for mound) built to protect key routes across their newly acquired territories in Down and Antrim.  Originally the Motte would have had a wooden defensive fortification at its top and there would have been a bank and ditch around the base of the mound.  In the 12th century the waters of Belfast Lough would have been much closer to the Motte and it is recorded that King John, after capturing Carrickfergus Castle, spent the night of 29 July 1210 ‘apud Sanctum Boscum’*  In the 19th century the Motte was converted into an ornamental garden feature in the grounds of Riverston House.  Steps and pathways were carved into the mound and Sycamore trees planted.  The Motte is now in the care of the Environment and Heritage Service and is accessible to the public from Brook Street, off Victoria Road.

*Holywood - translated from the Norman-French.  Holywood is named in its English form for the first time in the 1306 taxation roll of the Diocese of Down, Connor and Dromore, which values the church and its townland at Haliwode at 6 Marks, the equivalent of £4.