ON New Year’s Eve, 1836, the first issue of the Downpatrick Recorder was printed by hand and delivered to its readers. In the 1880s, steam power was introduced to make the production process faster and more effective. Today, over 170 years later, the Down Recorder is created using the most up-to-date computer and digital technology. Production methods may have changed but the same care and craftsmanship that went into that first issue are still evident today. And that’s what makes us Down District’s best-selling newspaper.The paper was first published, as The Downpatrick Recorder and was the first newspaper published in Downpatrick and was owned by Conway Pilson. It cost 4d per issue. Pilson was an astute businessman who found out that the English daily papers were delivered to Newry port on their way to Belfast and arranged for copies to be delivered to his Downpatrick printworks early where he copied the imperial news, thus getting the up-to-date news on the streets hours before the other papers were delivered to the town. In those days there was no such thing as copyright and papers shamelessly stole each other's copy. This strategy enabled the paper to grow from its initial print run of 875 impressions to over 5000 copies within a few months. Conway Pilson relinquished control of the paper in 1876 to Joseph S. Clarke, and died in 1883, aged 73. Clarke died in 1890. His widow married W.Y. Crichton in 1894 and their family continues to produce the paper to this day. From 6 December 2000 an online version of the paper became available.The Down Recorder is one of Northern Ireland’s oldest newspapers with a history dating back to 1836.With its circulation, independently certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Down Recorder circulates from Comber in the north of County Down to Newcastle in the south, and from Lisburn in the west to the Ards Peninsula in the east.It is the best-selling weekly newspaper in the towns and villages of Downpatrick, Ballynahinch, Saintfield, Ballygowan, Crossgar, Killyleagh, Strangford, Ardglass, and Killough, and is the second best-selling weekly newspaper in Newcastle, Castlewellan, Dundrum, Clough, Killinchy, Comber, and Carryduff.The Down Recorder has the strongest penetration of the Down District marketplace of any of the weekly papers circulating locally. An average weekly readership of 68,000 means that the Down Recorder goes into 93 percent of all local homes.