NEWRYABBEY

Most links found on this web site connect to first edition historical manuscripts & publication's showing precise statement's as written & or proof photo's of the place or point that is reefered to in regard to the real historically recorded annals' of Newryabbey in Co Down N. Ireland. All of these book's, map's, leaflets, guides, history book's, religious writing, & almost 200 year's of Newry & Mourne's memoirs & town guides along with associated English edited Newry town guides, leaflets & booklets & abbey supplements are the author's (Oliver Curran's) own Library. Important references from medieval Cistercian's records along with period English State papers are included in order to show nothing but the truth in all eventualities. The author was born within the immediate Newryabbey enclosure & spent part his youth attending the abbey school & know's at first hand the in's and outs of the whole Abbey area like the back of his hand. In short he climed the walls of the abbey & went places where he wasnt supposed to & discovered some boy hood scary revealing truth's. He see's the recent errecting of an alleged lost English Castle as the preverbial Cukoo. He sees the English Lottery funding for this unrecorded entity as an ongoing attemt to maintain an English heritage for the planter culture that has prevailed here for 450 years, of which he admits his members of his ancient family were part of . In short he see's this distortion of Newryabbey's historically recorded history, as an affront to his ancient Irish culture, & to those other culture's that were nursed with in this foundation of St Patrick.

It is historical fact (according to Newry & Mourne ) that Nicholas Bagenal the first, submitted building plans to England.
This a so called unique map & the also supposedly a unique copy of the !! what really are " cistercian" & or idealy adopted and manipulated would be supposed Castle floor plans,for an assumed date & of which were coincedently found in English archives by Newry & Mourne.   Newry & Mourne missed out on the fact when boasting about the same that the top floor plan of the two which they hand picked to represent this never built castle, was too big for the bottom one, talk about shoot your self in the foot before you begin, eat your heart out faulty towers.?   Newry & Mourne claimed the unique plan was first ever located located in 1996, yet the Abbey school boys of 1945 mention the same fake plan in the first edition of the new Abbey schools Oriel news paper ?

This plan that Bagenal sent to England had crossed out names & several scribbles and was not in scale according to the experts of 1820 in Dublin. The building you see on this Plan of Bagenals was indeed a virtual copy of the St Colemans Hall of Newry which was the front of the church of Newry according to Harris the historian who in 1735 was looking at this holy house in person. Yet here was this man Bagenal 50 years before saying that he was about to build this same building from scratch. But the queen knew Bagenal's reputation for forgeing, the bagenals were renownalso for bribes.

The map or plan call it what you will has Arthur Bagenal's name on it, immediately below his name is a scribbled out one that of "Creily". Creily was a former Abbot of Newryabbey who was hung drawn and quartered for his services to the Bagenals .   However at or around these Newry and Mourne experts guessed dates of 1560,1590 or some 100 years either side of them, believe it or not Arthur Bagenal was about 8 years old when sigining this plan ? .

Nicholas ? also applied to wall Newry town at the same time, asking for a loan naturally !! so that he could proceed with these task's. Refused

There is not one historical document that states Bagenal ever built one Castle In Newry ever.

Documents survive for 1540-1, a survey of crown lands in Ireland, being an inquisition into the lands held by the College of Newry were taken after its surrender in 1549.

This particular 1549 inquisition document, provides us with the valuable information on the settlement in existence at Newry at this time. At the time of the inquisition the buildings of the original Cistercian abbey were still standing with out any doubts, the common name of the grouping was " the College". This consisted of a 'Church, its steeple, a cemetery, a chapter- house, a dormitory and hall, two orchards and one garden, containing one acre,all within the precincts of the "college'. Adjoining the claustral buildings were seventy-two messuages and cottages."

Sir Nicholas' had a patent of 1552, this provides the extent of the lands acquired by himself in this same year. This patent not only granted him the lands of the Abbey of Newry and priory at Carlingford, but also granted him the royal manors of Carlingford and Greencastle along with the Lordship of Moume. These latter estates were were obviously taken into his hands just after he was granted the Abbey 1549-50. Also included were lands centred on the townland of Grange in north Armagh which had also belonged to the Abbey of Newry in the medieval period. All of the estates he recieved were to be held by knight's service, meaning that he was no more than a military tenant of the king, (he had his own plans however to change all this!!)

At this period the dwelling place of the Abbot was a tower-house,this one still standing in Newry today, its where abouts My secret.

Just as a point of recorded history, Mc Cann's Bakery where it sits today was first opened in 1896 !!! and here I speak of the new Museum and supposed castle, the first bakery was opened in St Colemans hall in 1835,so in reality Newry & Mourne and Heritage dug for evidence of a Castle in the completly wrong place, they should have been looking here and not there . Not that they would ever have found one anywhere in the abbey grounds.

This is not new news to the town, many small council guides and many local books have related this fact for over 100 years, and they all quite proudly anounce that the buildings are Abbey remains .

Many history books refer to the same ruins, however they are best refered to & explained in the Harris, "Ancient and Present State Of Down" 1734.

This Harris snipit of information is by the way discounted by those that currently carry on calling this place a castle , Harris was not a historian ? one said !! yet reality has it that many historians knew Harris to be the best of his time.

The Basset directory and short history book however was a commercial alilgmation of snippits and gathered cuttings from other books or booklets on the area & naturally a good money maker for the Bassets in Newry for years & it was seen by the hordes to be almost a bible on the local yarns and buissness, most of which were English.

It has been suggested that the remains of the supposed Bagenal Castle or tower (amongst other things) had thick walls !! these being found at the 2nd bakery, the reality is that the walls they speak of were refered to as being those of the ABBEY, & not a Castle.

On reading the memorials used to build up most of Newry and Mournes back up on this project, one will find that the word Abbey has been omitted many times and the word Castle put in its place.

I should be able to rest my case here.

Ireland is an old country, built on the earliest bones of time, the whole country is a vast archaeological site with millions of recorded & unrecorded features that could be anything from an interesting stone discovered on a hill, to a forgotten ringfort on a hill opposite.. Resonant with local attachment and deep continuities, it has the worlds most ancient historic landscapes that gives our uniqueIrish identity. Newry played a very important role in the ancient times and is recorded by the bards as doing so through out the ages. Newry is a very special place but during the past 50 years,an intensive wrecking and bulldozing of our ancient towns embankments & medieval building that are irreplaceable & the land marks used by our ancestors are all but extinct & while you may be under the illusion that Newry began only 850 years ago you are in for a big supprise. The Newryabbey was once called the college of Newry, the last time this term was used was in 1456 when Infact the Abbey went under a serious rebuilding scheme & like many others In Ireland at this period was refurbished, many of the building survived after the reformation and indeed some still survive today. Newry & Mourne say's theres none?? The worst period of destruction for the Abbey was apparently during the Corrys dynasty, when it is believed that this once very famous Abbey was brought to the edge of extinction, you cant believe all you hear or read come to that.