Catholic church was built in 1787 as the Chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A new Roman Catholic Church (Mary Mother of the Church) was built to a Romanesque design and opened in December 1965 off the A7 road. It can seat up to 600 people and was the highpoint of the pastorate of Fr. Hugh O'Neill PP. A Second Presbyterian Church was built in 1796 on the Ballynahinch Road. The architectural and historic significance of the town centre is reflected in its designation as a Conservation Area in 1997. 1798 in Saintfield In 1792 the Presbyterian minister Thomas Ledlie Birch convened a Saintfield branch of the Society of United Irishmen, founded the year before by liberal Protestant in Belfast, and moved their first resolutions. These called for "a more equal representation of the people" in the Parliament in Dublin and the recognition of "our brethren Roman Catholics as men deprived of their just rights". Faced with growing repression, the United Irishmen launched a rebellion in 1798, which began with a largely Catholic uprising in Leinster but quickly spread to the Presbyterian Ulster. On 9 June 1798, a British force was ambushed in a wood near Saintfield. About 100 men were killed altogether, and the United Irishmen emerged victorious. The headstones of men who were killed in this battle can be seen near the river at the bottom of the First Presbyterian Church graveyard. Following a patriotic sermon delivered by Birch, the insurgents marched south to the main rebel encampment at Ballynahinch, where on 13 June they were routed by government forces. In the aftermath of the battle, Saintfield was sacked and only a few pre-1798 buildings remain. The village was subsequently rebuilt. In 1802 the Price family residence in Main Street was converted to an inn. In 1803 the Market House was built. The White Horse Inn was also built and almshouses in 1813. However, the village declined from the mid-19th century, with population reducing from 923 in 1851 to 533 just before the First World War. Places of interest Rowallane Garden is situated immediately south of the village on the A7 road and is a National Trust property. Many of the buildings on the main street have old stables and courtyards behind them. From Lewis Topographical Dictionary (1837): The proprietor and lord of the manor, N. Price, Esq., improved the town in 1802, when he erected a