{"id":663353,"date":"2026-06-28T21:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/663353\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T21:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:47:09","slug":"huge-fire-engulfs-downpatricks-historic-convent-of-mercy-live-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/663353\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge fire engulfs Downpatrick&#8217;s historic Convent Of Mercy: Live updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">SDLP South Down MLA Colin McGrath said: &#8220;It\u2019s really sad to see the former convent in Downpatrick on fire. Although it\u2019s been lying derelict for some time, it\u2019s still one of those buildings that people in the town know well, and it\u2019s difficult to watch it being lost like this.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Many local people will have memories of the convent and the role it played over the years. Even in recent times it has remained a familiar part of the Downpatrick skyline, so seeing it go up in flames is upsetting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I want to pay tribute to the firefighters and all of the emergency services who have responded so quickly to what is clearly a significant incident. Their professionalism and bravery in dealing with situations like this should never be taken for granted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;My thoughts are also with those living and working nearby who will understandably have been concerned as the fire developed.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SDLP South Down MLA Colin McGrath said: &#8220;It\u2019s really sad to see the former convent in Downpatrick on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[222350,59,57,58,50,5434,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-663353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-downpatrick","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-nifrs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}