Blog (March 2022) - NMD Museums

The A.E. Douglas Collection at Newry and Mourne Museum contains two fascinating watercolour sketchbooks dating from 1886 – 1887.

Lill Fanny Saether, who lives in Norway, recently gave an online presentation for Newry and Mourne Museum to mark World Holocaust Day, describing the experiences of her mother and her family during the Second World War and the German occupation in Norway.

In part 1 Lill Fanny Saether outlined how her family was one of a number of Jewish families which settled in Newry at the turn of the 20th century. Her family later went to live in Norway and this week Lill continues her story of her mother, and family members owed their survival in the Holocaust to the fact that having lived in Newry, they had British citizenship. An uncle and aunt of hers who hadn't lived in Newry and didn't have British passports were deported to Auschwitz and murdered. 

Between the Devil and the Deep Sea, a new installation by artist Alison Lowry has recently opened at the museum. Co-funded by the Friends of Down County Museum, Alison was commissioned to create a piece of work that would convey the stories and experiences of prisoners in the gaol.  

The building of a tidal dock in 1767 initiated the development of the town of Warrenpoint. The dock was funded by the Irish Parliament after the merchants of Newry petitioned them for a grant to build the dock. They submitted a plan and an estimate of the work was appraised at almost £3,000 with two years for building. The merchants were given a grant of £1,500. Roger Hall, Robert Ross, Robert Scott and Edward Corry were appointed as commissioners and the dock became property of the Hall family who were the landlords in the area.  

Derrymore House in Bessbrook, two miles from Newry, is a significant component of the National Trust’s portfolio and features in key moments in both Irish and British history. 

In 1839 a Poor Law Bill was passed to address the growing levels of poverty throughout Ireland.  The law divided Ireland into 130 Unions, each with its own workhouse and Board of Guardians.  Kilkeel Poor Law Union was established on 29th July 1839 and paved the way for the development of Kilkeel Workhouse. 

William Johnson was a prominent local solicitor who lived in Warrenpoint with his legal practice, Johnson & Rutherford, at 6 Marcus Square in Newry. During the First World War, Johnston was particularly associated with recruitment and was Chairman of the Newry Recruiting Committee; Alex Fisher, another prominent local solicitor was its Hon. Secretary.