Newry Civil parish(pt. 1), Co. Armagh

NEWRY, a sea port, borough, market and post-town, and a parish, partly in the barony of O’NEILLAND WEST, and partly in that of UPPER ORIOR, county of ARMAGH, but chiefly constituting the lordship of NEWRY, in the county of DOWN, and in the province of ULSTER, 30 miles (S. W.) from Belfast city, and 50 (N.) from Dublin city, on the road to Armagh city, and on the great northern road to Belfast city ; containing 24,557 inhabitants, of which number, 13,134 are in the town.

It was a place of some importance from a very, remote period. The Annals of the Four Masters notice a monastery in it, in which was a yew tree planted by St. Patrick. The next intimation of its existence is the foundation of a Cistercian abbey, in 1157, by Maurice Mac Loughlin, King of Ireland, the charter of which is extant, and has been published by Dr. O'Conor in his work on the Irish writers. In this charter the place is named Jubhar-cin-tracta, "the pass at the head of the strand," or Jubhar-cinn-tracta, "the flourishing head of a yew tree," the former being traced from the position of the town, the latter from the circumstance respecting St. Patrick ; by the Latin writers of that day it is called Monasterium Nevoracense, and in after times Monasterium de Viridi Ligno; it was also named Na-Yur, and at a still later period, 'The Newrys'. The charter of Mac Loughlin was renewed and enlarged by Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, in 1237, by which the head of the house was made a mitred abbot with episcopal jurisdiction within the precincts of the lordship. When Sir John de Courcy took possession of this district, he secured the pass, justly considered as very important, being the only road through the mountains between Ulster and Leinster, by a castle, which was destroyed by Bruce, on the retreat of the Scotch after their defeat at Dundalk in 1318. After several changes of masters, during which the place was frequently in the possession of the O'Nials, chieftains of Ulster, a second castle was built in 1480, which was demolished by Shane O'Nial, who then held a strong castle at Feedom, now Fathom. Marshal Bagnal restored the castle, rebuilt the town and peopled it with Protestant settlers ; for which Jas. I in 1613, granted the entire lordship, together with the manors of Mourne, Greencastle, and Carlingford, in fee to him and his heirs for ever At the breaking out of the civil war in 1641, Sir Con Magennis took the town and castle, destroyed the church and slew many of the inhabitants. It was shortly after recovered by Lord Conway, who did not hold it long, as O'Nial surprised it by night, and regained possession of it. In 1642, Munroe invested the town and took it by storm. After the Restoration, the town recovered from the sufferings inflicted on it and continued to flourish till l689, when it was burned by the Duke of Berwick in his retreat from Duke Schomberg : the castle and six houses only remained.

The town is advantageously situated on the Newry water river. The western part, called Ballybot and sometimes Southwark, in Armagh county, is connected with the eastern in the county of Down, by four stone bridges and a swivel bridge. The general appearance of the place, as seen from without, is cheerful. and prepossessing : the old town, on the eastern side, situated on the side of a hill, with its church and spire rising above the houses, leads to an expectation of a correspondence of character in the interior; but the reverse is the case. Like other old towns, the streets are narrow, precipitous and inconvenient ; but the modern part of the town, generally called “the Low Ground," is very elegant ; the houses lofty and built of granite ; the streets wide, well formed, and paved, with flagged footways. Marcus-square, with several lines of new buildings, presents very elegant specimens of domestic architecture. A great number of excellent springs issuing from the rocks east-ward of the town, and more than 200 wells, have been formed in various parts, but no artificial means have yet been adopted to provide a supply of water on a scale commensurate with the domestic and manufacturing demands of the population. The streets and public buildings are lighted with gas supplied by works established by a company in 1822. Much has been done within the last few years to improve the general appearance of the town and neighbourhood ; a new line of road has been opened, and an excellent approach formed from Warren point, where the river expands into the bay; the north road has been widened and improved, and several very handsome terraces and. detached villas have been built : among the bridges, already noticed, is one of a single arch of elegant proportions, called Needham bridge ; and an iron swivel bridge is about to be thrown across the canal, which, when completed, will open a communication from the Monaghan road to the very centre of the town. The assembly, news, and coffee rooms were built by subscription in 1794; the assembly-rooms are spacious and elegant ; the news-room is well furnished with newspapers and periodical publications, and is open on the most liberal terms to strangers : the offices of the Commissioners of Police and of the Savings Bank are in this building. Two news- papers are published here, each twice in the week. & barrack affords accommodation for 44 officers and 670 non-commissioned officers and privates of infantry, and 10 horses, with an hospital for 30 or 40 patients.

Newry is much more a commercial than a manufacturing town. There are two iron-foundries, each on an extensive scale, for light castings. The manufacture of flint glass is also carried on largely ; a distillery in Monaghan-street consumes annually 25,000 barrels of grain, the produce of which is consumed in the counties of Down, Armagh, Louth, and Monaghan : there are also large manufactories of cordage and of spades, shovels, and other kinds of ironmongery. One of the most complete and extensive bleach-greens in the country is at Carnmeen ; and at Bessbrook is a mill for spinning linen yarn. The Newry flour-mills, worked by water, consume 900 tons of wheat annually, and there are several others in the immediate neighbourhood, the produce of which is mostly shipped to Liverpool. An oatmeal-mill grinds 17,000 barrels of grain annually, which is wholly purchased. for the Liverpool and Manchester markets ; and in the neighbourhood there ate several others equally extensive.

The trade of Newry, now of much importance, has gradually risen to its present height firm the protection afforded to the merchants by Wm. III. Prior to that time the river was not navigated above Warren point ; Newry being then considered as a creek to Carlingford, which was the port for all this part of the coast. But during the reigns of that monarch and his successors, several grants were made for clearing and embanking the river and improving the harbour. At length, in consequence of the many obstructions arising from the nature of the river, and the advantageous situation of the town as a central mart for the introduction of foreign commodities into the interior of Ulster, it was determined to form a line of inland navigation from Newry to Lough Neagh. The communication is carried on from the Newry water by an artificial cut by Acton, Scarva, Tanderagee, and Gilford to Portadown, where it is connected with the river Bann, whence it proceeds in the bed of that river to the lake. It was commenced in 1730, and connected with Lough Neagh in 1741, but in consequence of the inconveniences arising from the accumulation of mud and sand in the mouth of the river, near Newry, it was deemed adviseable to prolong the navigation towards the bay to Fathom : this portion of the work, which is two miles in extent, was completed in 1761 ; the entire length of the navigation, including that of Lough Neagh, is 36 miles and the total expense was £896,000. In 1726, the customhouse was removed from Carlingford to Newry : the amount of the first year's customs paid here was only £1069. 12s., and there were then but four trading barks belonging to the port ; the gross amount of customs duties for 1836 was £58,806. 2s. 6d. About 1758, a very considerable trade was carried on with the West India islands, and although at that time the vessels trading with foreign countries were prohibited from sailing direct to the Irish ports, being compelled to land their cargoes in some place in Great Britain, the Newry merchants succeeded in establishing a very lucrative traffic with the most celebrated commercial marts in other countries. This branch, however, was afterwards nearly lost by the competition of the superior capital of Great Britain, until it again revived after the restrictions were taken off the commerce of Ireland, in 1783. The port is very favourably situated for trade at the inner extremity of Carlingford bay, an arm of the sea extending nine miles south-east, and two miles in breadth at it's mouth between Cooley point, in the county of Louth, and Cranfield point, in that of Down. Vessels of the greatest draught can come up to Warren point, within five miles of the town, where they can ride in from 6 to 8 fathoms of water in all states of the tide in perfect security. Proceedings are also in progress by D. Logan, Esq., in pursuance of a plan recommended by Sir John Rennie for deepening and securing the channel from Narrow water, and scouring it by a steam dredge and other means calculated to facilitate the admission of vessels of a larger class than those which at present come up to the quays : the total expense of these improvements has been estimated at £90,000. The despatch of business is also facilitated by the construction of a line of quays on the eastern bank of the canal, bordered by stores and warehouses, at which vessels can unload : farther north are basins or boating docks, where boats navigating the canal can take in and discharge their cargoes. The custom-house, a neat and commodious building, is situated on the quay, in a position well adapted for business, and has extensive yards and stores for bonding goods adjoining it.

The most important branch of the commerce is the cross-channel trade, which has increased to a great magnitude since the introduction of steam navigation. The principal exports in this department are linen cloth, grain, live stock, butter, and eggs. In 1834 there were exported to Liverpool, of linen cloth, 4965 boxes; butter, 92,000 firkins ; wheat, 4166 tons ; barley, 6698 tons ; oats, 38,000 tons ; flour, 9163 tons ; oatmeal, 18,654 tons ; flax, 868 tons ; eggs, 4688 crates ; oysters, 482 hogsheads ; horned cattle, 7115; pigs, 65,498 ; and horses, 498 ; besides which, large consignments of most of these articles were made to the Clyde. The principal imports in the same trade are tea, sugar, iron, salt, British hardware and soft goods, and general merchandise. Three steamers are employed in the Liverpool trade, and two in that with Glasgow ; a steamer also trades regularly to Dublin. The average time of the passage to Liverpool is 16 hours ; to Glasgow, 14 ; and to Dublin 12.

The chief branch of foreign trade is with the United States and British North America. The chief exports are linen cloth, blue, starch and whiskey; the imports, timber, staves, tobacco, ashes, flax, and clover seed. The Baltic trade consists of the importation of timber, tallow, ashes, flax, and hemp : hides and tallow are imported from Odessa ; mats, tar, pitch, flax and flax seed from Archangel ; and wine, fruit, oil, lime juice, brimstone and barilla from the Mediterranean.

The number of vessels belonging to the port is inadequate to the extent of its commerce, a great portion of which is carried on in vessels of other countries : the Baltic trade is carried on exclusively in foreign bottoms; the United States trade in American vessels. the trade to British America and Russia in British ships, and the coal trade chiefly in Whitehaven vessels.

The market day, under the patent, is Thursday., but a market is held on Tuesday for grain, and on Saturday for meat. The principal market-house is near the site of Bagnal's castle ; there are also separate markets for butchers' meat, meat, potatoes, grain and hides, and two for linen yarn. Fairs are held on April 3rd and Oct. 29th.