The Battle of Saintfield. On 9 June 1798, along this road and in the adjoining fields, was fought the Battle of Saintfield. The United Irishmen, represented by a strong body of country people, defeated a military force under Colonel Granville Stapylton of the York Fencibles. The insurgents, including Rev Thomas Leslie Birch, Presbyterian Minister of Saintfield, were left in possession of the town and surrounding area before moving on to Ballynahinch, and the defeat of the rebels in Down on 13 June 1798