Newry A City Of Firsts

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Newry Canal and warehouses on Canal Quay, 1967. Newry & Mourne Museum Collection (Photographer, Cecil Newman)

As we enter a new year, Newry and Mourne Museum has decided to look back at some of the milestones Newry had achieved in its history.

Newry is credited with having the first purpose-built protestant church in Ireland, St. Patrick’s Church. Located on Church Street, the earliest part of the building was built by Sir Nicholas Bagenal in 1578. The church was almost destroyed in 1641 and was not fully restored until 1866. Dean Jonathan Swift is said to have preached in the church during visits to Newry and may have led to his comment on Newry, ‘High Church, Low Steeple; Dirty Streets, Proud People’.

St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland, Newry. Newry & Mourne Museum Collection (Photographer, William McAlpine)

Another Newry first is the Newry Canal which is famous for being the first summit-level canal in the British Isles. Built primarily to transport coal from Tyrone, work began on the canal in 1731 under the direction of Sir Edward Lovett Pearce and then his deputy, Richard Cassels. The canal was completed under a third engineer, Thomas Steers, in 1742. It traversed eighteen miles of a lowland corridor between the uplands of Down and Armagh to a height of seventy-eight feet above sea level, necessitating the building of fifteen locks to accommodate these changes in height. The canal allowed Newry to flourish economically in the 18th and 19th centuries as commercial premises and warehouses were built along Merchants’ Quay, Canal Quay and Sugar Island. The success of the canal also encouraged the local production of luxury goods such as furniture, ceramics and glass and a printing and publishing industry.

P.J. Murray pictured erecting one of the new fluorescent streetlights in Monaghan Street, Newry, in 1952. Newry & Mourne Museum Collection

The Cathedral of St. Patrick and St. Colman on Hill Street is one of Newry’s most impressive buildings and was designed by the well-known Newry architect, Thomas Duff, who designed Narrow Water Castle and the catholic cathedrals in Dundalk and Armagh. The building was completed by 1829, using local granite at a cost of £8,000 and was the first catholic cathedral in Ireland to open after the granting of catholic emancipation in the same year. The tower and transept were added in 1888 while, in 1904, the nave was extended. The cathedral is renowned for its beautiful interior marble work and mosaics which took five years to complete with craftsmen coming from Italy to undertake the work.

Marble model of Newry Cathedral, made by the Toman family who lived in Francis Street, Newry. It depicts the cathedral as it appeared toward the end of the 19th century, before the transepts, bell tower and sanctuary were added. Newry & Mourne Museum Collection

In 1952 Newry became one of the first towns in Ireland to be fully lit with electric fluorescent light in their streetlights. The Second World War led to increased gas prices and Newry Urban District Council decided that electric fluorescent light was to be used for all street lighting. The installation was carried out by P.J. Murray, who set up an electrical contracting business in the 1930s.

The Museum is currently offering free tours of the main exhibition galleries on Wednesdays 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 museums@nmandd.org for further information.

Visit their website at www.visitmournemountains.co.uk