page_title: Holywood
section_title: Places of interest
hierarchical_section_title: Holywood / Places of interest
caption_attribution_description: English: The Maypole in the centre of Holywood and Ned's Bar.
context_page_description: Holywood is a town in the metropolitan area of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a civil parish and townland of 755 acres lying on the shore of Belfast Lough, between Belfast and Bangor. Holywood Exchange and Belfast City Airport are nearby. The town hosts an annual jazz and blues festival.
context_section_description: Holywood is famous for its maypole at the crossroads in the centre of town. Its origin is uncertain, but, according to local folklore, it dates from 1700, when a Dutch ship is said to have run aground on the shore nearby, and the crew erected the broken mast to show their appreciation of the assistance offered to them by the townsfolk. The maypole is still used for dancing at the annual May Day fair.
  Nearly as famous, is the adjacent Maypole Bar, locally known as Ned's or Carty's. It was first licensed in 1857, and, from then until 2018, it has had only 3 proprietors. County Donegal native, Ned Carty, bought it from Mick O'Kane in the late 1960s. It had been owned by O'Kane since 1908. It is now run by Ned's son, Brian Carty.
  There is a Norman motte in the town which may have been constructed on an earlier burial mound.
  The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum illustrating the way of life and traditions of the people of Ulster is nearby, at Cultra.
caption: The Maypole and Ned's Bar
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