Blog

Brian M. Walker, Professor Emeritus of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, explores the significance of a photograph taken of James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and the members of Newry Urban District Council at Newry Town Hall in 1927

The latest blog in Down County Museum's series about the Old Gaol looks at the treatment of women who were imprisoned here.

Newry Drama Festival celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year and Joanne Cummins, Collections Officer at Newry and Mourne Museum, briefly charts the Festival’s development over the decades.

In the latest blog in our series about the Gaol, Down County Museum looks at the New Gaol, and describes how it was meant to improve on conditions experienced in the Old Gaol.

Continuing Down County Museum's blog series on our past as the county gaol, Museum Assistant Pat Fox reveals some of the stories of the prisoners who were transported to Australia, many of whom never returned to Ireland.

Newry and Mourne Museum will host an informal talk about Canal Street in Newry to complement its temporary exhibition, ‘Newry Artists Past and Present’, which is currently running until April 2024.

This month’s blog comes from a special contributor, Shirley Lennon, who worked on a Down County Museum project which brought together the stories of Jewish refugees who came to Millisle farm.

As the UK marks Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27^th 2024, please read the blog to discover how an otherwise ordinary item donated to Down County Museum becomes so significant because of its links to survivors of the Holocaust.

An important collection of artefacts reflecting the work of the Kilkeel Knitting Mills has gone on display at Newry and Mourne Museum. The collection includes a knitting machine and examples of knitwear produced by the factory in the later decades of the 20^th century.

Over the coming months we will be profiling some of the contemporary artists featured in Newry and Mourne Museum’s temporary exhibition, ‘Newry Artists Past and Present’.  The series begins with the work of Anna Marie Savage.

This month's post in our blog series about the County Down Gaol focuses on the children who were held here.

Newry and Mourne Museum has been honoured with a donation of a portrait miniature of James Harshaw, a leading local affairs figure from Donaghmore, near Newry in the mid-19^th century.

During the 18^th Century, the death penalty was used to punish a wide variety of crimes. These included major crimes such as murder, piracy, rape, and manslaughter. However, many crimes that we would consider minor also carried this sentence such as forgery, embezzlement, insurance fraud and theft.