About Newry

Newry (from the Irish Iúr Cinn Trá meaning "The Yew Tree at the Head of the Strand", short form An tIúr, "The Yew") is the fourth largest city in Northern Ireland and eighth on the island of Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, forms the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. Newry was included entirely in the latter by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. It is 34 miles (60 km) from Belfast and 67 miles (108 km) from Dublin. It had a population of 33,433 people in the 2001 Census. It was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery and is one of Northern Ireland's oldest towns.

It sits at the entry to the Gap of the North close to 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 in the British Isles. In March 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, Newry was granted city status alongside Lisburn. However, despite being the fourth largest city in Northern Ireland, it is not the fourth largest settlement. Newry was an important centre of trade in early Ireland because of its position between Belfast and Dublin. Newry has a reputation as one of the best provincial shopping-towns in Northern Ireland and also has two of the oldest churches on the island of Ireland.

Newry recently topped the league of house prices increases across the whole United Kingdom over the last decade. Prices in the city have increased by 371% since 1996.

The city has long pioneered cross-border and dual currency trading and 30% of all cash passing through its checkouts is in Euros.

The Cathedral of St. Patrick and St. Colman on Hill street was built in 1829 at a cost of £8,000. The structure, which consists of local granite, was designed and built by Thomas Duff, arguably Newry's greatest architect to date. Incidentally, Thomas Duff also designed the cathedral in Dundalk, a town just over the southern border in County Louth and it is said that he mixed up the plans for both cathedrals and sent Dundalk cathedral to the builders in Newry, and Newry cathedral to the builders in Dundalk.

The town hall is notable for being built over the River Clanrye which is the boundary between the counties of Down and Armagh. The building of a city hall is also planned as part of the celebrations of the granting of city status.

The city also boasts a museum an arts centre and in recent years has seen a number of art galleries being opened.

St Patrick's (Church of Ireland, 1578), overlooking the city centre from Church street, on the east side of the city, is considered to be Ireland's first Protestant church. The impressive Craigmore Viaduct lies just north of the city on the Northern Ireland Railways mainline. The bridge was designed by Sir John O’Neill with construction beginning in 1849. The bridge was formally opened in 1852. The viaduct consists of eighteen arches the highest being 126 feet, the highest viaduct in Ireland. It is around a quarter of a mile long and was constructed from local granite. The Enterprise Train link from Belfast to Dublin crosses the bridge.

Administration

The headquarters of Newry and Mourne District Council are in Newry.

History

The English version of the name of the city comes from the original Irish  Iúr Chinn Trá (in older spelling, Iubhar Chinn Trábha), which translates as "the yew at the head of the strand", which relates to an apocryphal story that Saint Patrick planted a yew tree there in the 5th century. In modern Irish the full name of the town is rarely used; instead it is abbreviated to An tIúr.

The town was established in 1144 with the building of a monastery, although there is strong evidence of continual human habitation in the area for several millennia. The monastery only lasted until 1162, when it was burned to the ground, and later replaced by a cistercian monastery. This monastery itself was later converted to a collegiate church in 1543, before being surrendered to the crown in 1548.

Sir Nicholas Bagenal, Marshal of the Army in Ireland, took over the site around 1550, later building a castle there. The remains of the original Cistercian Monastery were still standing when Bagenal acquired the land and it may well have been the Abbot's House that Bagenal proclaimed as his Castle. The site was said to consist of a 'church, steeple, and cemetery, chapter- house, dormitory and hall, two orchards and one garden, containing one acre, within the precincts of the college'. The remains of Bagenal's Castle can be found today on Castle Street, near to the LIDL store, on what was once the site of McCann's Bakery.

A rental roll dated 1575, provides a unique insight into life in the town at the time. It listed the names of the tenants in 'The High Street', 'Tenements within the Fort' and The Irish Street without the Fort'. These three distinct areas also appear in a map of the same time, along with a drawing of the castle.

During the Williamite War the forces of King James II set fire to the town in 1689, while retreating from William It is said that only six houses and the castle survived the inferno.

The town was rebuilt shortly afterwards, and its fortunes changed dramatically. Within decades it had the busiest port in Ulster and in 1742, had the first summit level canal in the British Isles. This led to a further period of economic prosperity, evidence of which can be seen in the many fine buildings and public places that can still be seen today.

In October 1924 Éamon de Valera was arrested at Newry Town Hall for "illegally entering Northern Ireland" and held in solitary confinement for a month in Crumlin Road Gaol Belfast

People

• John Mitchel, a 19th century Irish patriot who inspired the Young Ireland Movement, is buried in the Old Meeting House cemetery in the town.
• Pat Jennings, a former goalkeeper and most capped player for Northern Ireland, was born in the town.
• Actor John and his actress sister Susan Lynch, were both born in Newry.
• Gaelic footballer, Seán O'Neill, regarded as one of the outstanding forwards in the game, was born in Newry.
• John Dunlop, prominent Presbyterian churchman, was born in Newry in 1939.
• Actor Gerard Murphy was born in Newry, and was a prominent member of the Newpoint Players theatre group.
• Peter McParland, a former soccer player, who scored for Northern Ireland in 1958 FIFA World Cup, was born in Newry.
• Mountaineer Terence 'Banjo' Bannon is from the town. In 2006 Bannon narrowly survived an attempt to climb K2 in which four team members were killed
• Danny McAlinden won the bronze medal for boxing (Heavyweight) at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. Later he became British and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion. He was born in Newry in 1947.
• Matthew Russell, SJ. Irish Jesuit, poet and editor. Russell was born in Newry in 1834. He entered the Jesuit Order and was ordained to the priesthood at age 33. Father Russell established the 'Irish Monthly' in 1873 and served as editor for nearly forty years. He also wrote many volumes of verse, and corresponded with the English Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.
• Seán Hillen, artist, was born and grew up in Newry, and made a large body of photomontage artworks related to the 'troubles', many of which are based on his own photographs taken in and around Newry. They include a series satirically titled "LondoNewry, a Mythical Town.."
• Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen, (1832–1900), Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, was born in Newry on 10 November 1832.
• Susan McCann, world-famous Irish Country singer is from Newry
• BML Hillen Keene, a published author of the book Land in Mist, born in Newry on August 20, 1986.
• Sir William Hill Irvine the 21st Premier of Victoria was born in Newry.
• Thomas Duff, (1792 was born in Newry. Duff is renowned for having designed the Cathedral of St. Patrick and St. Colman in the town.
• Michael Legge Actor, known for roles in Shameless the channel 4 series and the film Angela's Asheswas born in Newry and attended  St Colman's Abbey Primary School and St Colman's College
• Ronan Rafferty (13 January 1964), golfer, was born in Newry.
• John Martin (8 September 1812 – 29 March 1875) was born in Newry.
• Willie Maley (25 April 1868–April 2, 1958), the first manager of Celtic was born in Newry.
• Kieran Cunningham - Actor who has appeared in many shows on TV such as "Shameless" on Channel Four, "Fair City" on RTE Television and "Shoot To Kill" film on BBC Television.
• Peadar Cowan - Singer from Newry who have graced the stage all over the world including supporting Tina Turner in Las Vegas.
• Peter Cunningham - Singer from Newry who has graced Newry Town Hall stage and many others throughout the world. Most famous for his very accurate Neil Diamond impersonations. Local gigs in clubs throughout the City.

Geography

Newry lies in the most south-eastern part of both Ulster and Northern Ireland Approximately half of the city lies in County Down and the other half in County Armagh

The city sits in a valley, nestled between the Mourne Mountains to the east, and the Ring of Gullion to the south-west, both of which are designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Clanrye River runs through the centre of town, parallel to the canal, forming part of the border between County Down and County Armagh. The city also lies at the extreme northernmost end of Carlingford Lough, where the canal enters the sea.

Sport

Newry is home to many varied sporting clubs

• Newry City F.C., who play in the Irish Premier League at their Showgrounds stadium.
• Newry Olympic Hockey Club
• Newry Rugby Club
• Newry Rowing Club
• Down Gaelic games county side play their home games at Páirc Esler.
• Newry Bosco GFC
• Newry Shamrocks GAC
• Newry Mitchel's GFC

Transport

• The Newry Canal opened in 1742, and was the first major commercial canal in the British Isles. It ran for 18 miles to Lough Neagh In 1777 Newry was ranked the fourth largest port in Ireland. Some surviving 18th and 19th century warehouses still line the canal, and now many houses, shops and restaurants.
• MacNeill's Egyptian Arch is a railway bridge located near Newry. It was ed for the design of the £1 coin to represent Northern Ireland for 2006.
• Newry is served by an Ulsterbus bus station, located in the city centre, that offers local, regional and cross-border services.
• A Northern Ireland Railways station just off the Camlough road, offers cross border services on the Dublin-Belfast line Planning permission for the construction of a new station, to the east of the current station, was granted in May 2006.
• Newry is on the main M1/A1 route from Dublin to Belfast. The road is of high-grade dual carriageway/motorway standard on the Southern side, and single carriageway/dual carriageway/motorway on the Northern side. The remainder of the A1 on the Northern side is expected to be upgraded to dual carriageway standard in 2012.

2001 Census

Although officially a city, Newry is classified as a Large Town by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 18,000 and 75,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 27,433 people living in Newry. Of these:

• 26.2% were aged under 16 years and 16.0% were aged 60 and over
• 48.5% of the population were male and 51.6% were female;  
• 5.5% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.
• 96% of people are White European