page_title: Newry
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Newry / History
caption_attribution_description: This lovely Eason image of Newry to start the week on a happy note. In what appears to be a pleasant Spring/Summer day, there are lots of people out and about on the street with many prepared to stand and pose for the camera! I was in Newry last week and it looks very different now... As usual there was lots of input on the shops visible (and their owners and occupiers). One of the most telling contributions today was from [/photos/gnmcauley/ Niall McAuley], whose hunt through census and street directories has helped refine the ~40 year range, to ~4 year range around 1910. For us, while we always love the discussion on the names and businesses captured, the delight in the (nameless) kids is what really makes this image for us&#160;:) Photographer: Unknown Collection: Eason Photographic Collection Date: Catalogue range c.1900-1939. Though likely c.1907-1911 NLI Ref: EAS_1441 You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
context_page_description: Newry is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, 34 miles from Belfast and 67 miles from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011.
  Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, although there are references to earlier settlements in the area, and is one of Ireland's oldest towns. The city is an entry to the "Gap of the North", 5 miles from the border with the Republic of Ireland. It grew as a market town and a garrison and became a port in 1742 when it was linked to Lough Neagh by the first summit-level canal built in Ireland or Great Britain. A cathedral city, it is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dromore. In 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee celebrations, Newry was granted city status along with Lisburn.
context_section_description: There is strong evidence of continual human habitation in the area from early times, where it is seen during the Bronze Age that Newry had a factory-type community who were producing in abundance very detailed jewellery for garments. Three of these Newry Clasps can be found in the Ulster Museum, and a massive arm clasp from the same period was also found in Newry. In recent times the survey for the new bypass revealed a number of standing stones on a central area down the Omeath Road. These, like many other finds, such as that of an ancient cave at the top of the Dublin Road area, have seemingly been noted and forgotten about. It is estimated that as many as 130 ancient sites were discovered at the top of the Camlough Road. Among them three Neolithic homesteads were discovered. At the time, all were noted and left to be destroyed by the new road. Standing stones were also seen on at least one of these sites, but they stand no more.  In AD 820, the Danes made one of their "earliest irruptions at Newry abbey, from whence they proceeded to Armagh, taking it by storm, and plundering and desolating the country around".
  In AD 835 the Danes again made a sudden incursion into Newry, with a large body of Danes landing at Inbher-Chin-Tra-gha, or Newry, and raided the area before attacking Armagh, where they set fire to the churches and university, plundering gold and other items from them and killing an estimated one thousand people in the city and surrounding area. The Victorian era historian James Henthorn Todd goes into further detail in his 1867 Volume, (Chronicles and memories of England and Ireland in the Middle Ages) recording that the abbey was attacked in AD 824.  A small medieval town was on the site to the north and south of the abbey, which was rebuilt in 1142 (Keating G) by King O Carroll of the Oriel at the request of Saint Malachi (Ibid). The landing stage of the abbey was situated close to the western bank of the Newry River in what is now Kilmorey Street. From these early times, it was the main pier and port of the town; it remained as such until the construction of the new canal took place. The abbey was later converted to a collegiate church in 1543, before being surrendered to the Crown in 1548. The abbey is seen to be giving its earnings to the Crown almost 200 years before this date. It is described as being one of the richest and largest in Ireland. The Vikings attacked the Abbey many times, slaughtering its occupants. The town was granted its first charter between 1157 by High King of Ireland Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn.
  In 1162 the monastery was attacked and raided by Irish clans. De Courcy's lordship ensured a safe spell for the abbey after he had built several castles in and around Newry. These were typical Norman affairs, of motte-and-bailey construction.
  In 1539 an English mercenary, Nicholas Bagenal, fled to Ireland after murdering a man in Leek, Staffordshire, apparently with the aid of his two brothers. After some time in the employment of the O Neill he reached a high status, was granted a pardon in 1543, and became Marshal of the army. During his early years in the Louth area he lived at Carlingford where his son Henry was born.  Lord Bingham is seen sending Oriel labourers to Newry in 1546 at which time Bagenal is seen restoring the castle of Newry, which belonged to Hugh O Neill, being first built by John De Courcy in 1186 (De Arcy McGee See also Lewis 1815). Not long after this the Marshal, in 1552, secured a 21-year lease on the Newry property, which was confiscated from the Cistercians. The castle was then razed to the ground by Shane O Neill, who banished Bagenal from Newry in 1566.
  The nearby convent was also part of the Abbey, and is mentioned in the Bagenal patent. A small medieval church can be found in its grounds. The abbey site is mentioned in the rent rolls of 1575, and said to consist of a church, a steeple, a cemetery, a chapterhouse, dormitory and hall, two orchards and one garden, containing one acre, within the precincts of a monastic college.
  During the 1689 Raid on Newry, Willi
caption: Hill Street in the early 1900s
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