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Among the many unique documents on display in Newry and Mourne Museum’s temporary exhibition, The Legacy: Newry 1920 – 1930, is a schedule of excursions to Warrenpoint in the summer of 1924. Compiled by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (GNRI), the document provides details of excursion traffic from April 27 until September 28 of that year and includes the date of each excursion, name of party, the station from which they travelled and the number in each party. A total of 39,145 persons travelled to Warrenpoint on the GNRI line in organized excursions during this period.
The document was presented to the Boundary Commission in 1925 to support the argument that the seaside resort should remain in Northern Ireland as it showed that the majority of passengers had travelled to Warrenpoint from Northern Ireland. It was sent by the Superintendent of the Line to William Johnson, the Newry solicitor who was acting for the pro-Partition argument in the Newry and Mourne area.
As well as demonstrating the evident popularity of Warrenpoint as an excursion destination for annual outings or trips, this document enables us to make a number of observations about excursion traffic to Warrenpoint in the mid-1920s. The bulk of excursion traffic travelling to Warrenpoint came from railway stations in counties Armagh and Down. As well as Belfast, groups made the trip from south county Antrim and county Tyrone and from as far afield as Derry and Dublin.
‘Excursion Sundays’ were always popular during the days of the railway in Warrenpoint and this was no less true in 1924. Excursions to Warrenpoint were particularly popular with Sunday Schools. On Sunday 27 June 1,952 children from Lurgan with Shankill Parish Church Sunday School. Older people in Lurgan recall how the children would parade through the town led by a band on their way to the railway station. Other large Sunday School groups included St Mark’s, Portadown (1.796), Thomas Street Presbyterian Sunday School (1,605), also in Portadown, Poyntzpass, Scarva and groups from churches in Dungannon. It was common for larger parish churches to invite smaller Sunday School groups from other churches to join them.
Lots of other organizations and groups took part in the excursions. On Sunday, June 22, 1,400 members of AOH Division 45 made the trip from Belfast. On the following Sunday groups from St. Vincent de Paul (Armagh and Lisburn), St. Matthew’s Confraternities (Belfast) visited the town with a combined total of 2,213. The St. Vincent de Paul in Armagh made further trips in July, August and September.
Many employees from businesses and factories traveled by train to Warrenpoint in the summer months for their annual day out. These included Newforth Weaving Company, York Street Flax Spinning Company and the Royal Hippodrome Theatre, all from Belfast and Irish Life and General Insurance Company from Dublin.
Historically, the most important day in the season was the annual 15th August celebration in Warrenpoint. In 1924 the largest group to travel that day was 2,424, which departed from the Dublin Bridge station in Newry.
The almost 40,000 travellers noted on the document were probably only a small percentage of those who visited the resort, illustrating huge popularity of Warrenpoint as a destination for a day out, especially on a Sunday. This has not diminished over the years.
Documents from the Reside Collection relating to the work of the Boundary Commission in the Newry and Mourne area are on display in the Newry and Mourne Museum’s temporary exhibition, The Legacy: Newry 1920 – 1930, which explores the impact of Partition on the Newry and Mourne area.
The Museum is currently offering free tours of the exhibition galleries on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2.00 pm. These must be booked in advance by calling our Education Officer at 0330 137 4422.
Newry and Mourne Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00 am – 4.30 pm. Please call 0330 137 4422 or email museum@nmandd.org for further information.
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