More about Newry

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 Euro.

The Cathedral of SS.Patrick and 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 was the architect for 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 purpose built 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.

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.

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.

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

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