Permanent Exhibitions

The Museum has a wide variety of objects on display in both permanent and temporary exhibitions

The permanent exhibition, 'At Present Confined': Life in the Old Gaol of Down tells the story of some of the prisoners who were incarcerated here, including the Gaol's most famous prisoner, Thomas Russell.

The Down Through Time exhibition tells the story of people in County Down from the Middle Stone Age to the present day and is located in the Governor's Residence.

The Harvests from Land and Sea exhibition includes ploughs, harrows, drills, rollers and grubbers, potato diggers, hay rakes and turners, grinders, churns, incubators, carts, traps, slipes and even farm gates.

This Raising the Cross in Down exhibition tells the story of the Downpatrick High Cross and its place in the early Christian tradition of County Down. 

An exhibition on the history of the gaol is located in the cell block.