Bagenal's Castle Project

Sacred Site

The Cistercian Abbey at Newry was founded in 1157 by Murtagh McLoughlin, king of the Cenel Eoghainn. The estates included in the grant were extensive and included land in the Cooley Penninsula in county Louth. Although the abbey at Newry was outside the English Pale and the king's jurisdiction, Edward III seized the abbey estates in Cooley as part of his attempt to weaken the Irish-controlled section of the church. The reason given was that Newry Abbey was 'mere Irish, conversing only with such, and spending their rents and profits in abetting the said Irish'.

In 1543 Arthur Magennis successfully petitioned Henry VIII to allow Newry Abbey to be converted for secular use as a collegiate church. This avoided confiscation of the Abbey estate in which Magennis had a vested interest. For a while the ploy succeeded, but in 1548 the warden, John Prowle, surrendered all to the Crown in return for a pension for himself and the Vicar's Choral.

Little evidence of the Abbey remains, although medieval human remains, clothing, foodstuffs and pottery have been found during building work and excavations in the area. A twelfth century slab of granite bearing a Celtic cross in relief remains set into the wall at the very centre of McCann's bakery.

Twelfth century cross carved in relief on granite slab. The cross dates from the time of the Cistercian monastery, and this photograph was taken shortly before McCann’s Bakery ceased production.