Bagenal's Castle Project

Nicholas Bagenal

Nicholas Bagenal appears to have come to Ireland after being implicated in a murder. After serving for a period of time as a mercenary soldier for the O'Neills, he received a general pardon in 1543. This pardon has led some historians to believe that Bagenal may have been acting as a double agent on behalf of the Crown. In 1547 he was appointed Marshall of Elizabeth's army in Ireland and in 1550 was given a lease 'of the college or house of Newry'.

Nicholas Bagenal managed to maintain control of his lands in spite of incursions by Shane O'Neill. He was succeeded in 1590 by his son Henry who was later killed when fighting Hugh O'Neill at the Battle of Yellowford in 1598. Ironically Henry's sister, Mabel, had eloped with and married Hugh O'Neill in 1591. This is the subject of Brian Friel's play 'Making History'.

Bagenal was described as living in the Abbot's House, but appears to have demolished it and built his own fortified house on the site. Bagenal's 'New Castel' is prominent in the earliest known map of Newry, which depicts the layout of the late sixteenth-century town.

The Bagenal family line came to an end in 1712, and the estate was divided between distant relatives Edward Bayley, who received land in Co. Louth, and Robert Needham, who received the lands on counties Down and Armagh, including Newry. In the eighteenth century, the Needhams leased the Bagenal's Castle to a merchant and they established their principal residence at Mourne Park, near Kilkeel.

The map of circa 1570, shows the town divided into three parts, two of which were fortified, probably with an earthen bank and ditch. In the area marked as ‘The Towne of The Newrye’Bagenal’s Castle is identified as ‘The New Castell’