2000:0202 - BAGENAL’S CASTLE, Newry, Down

In 1996 the sale of the McCann’s Bakery complex in Newry provided an opportunity for the Environment and Heritages Services to examine the standing structures. In the 1570s Sir Nicholas Bagenal sent a copy of the ground-plan of a castle to London, in lieu of payment for its construction. The plans survived in the Crown Records Office in Kew, but the castle itself was thought to have been demolished sometime during the 19th or 20th century, and its exact location was unknown. The castle contained two unequal-sized rooms at ground floor level, with an extramural stair tower centrally placed on the west wall and an angle tower at the north-eastern corner.

A preliminary evaluation of the standing remains suggested that most of the structure of the castle survived within the bakery complex. Previous investigations in the vicinity were carried out by Dermot Moore and Liam McQuillan (Excavations 1999, 48).

Four trenches (Trenches 2–5) were opened within the interior of the castle and one outside its western wall (Trench 1).

Trench 1 was opened across the assumed position of the extramural stair tower indicated on the extant ground-plan and known to have been destroyed by gunpowder in 1777. The foundations of a wall were identified in the northern baulk of the trench, which was built of granite and set in a foundation backfilled with the same silty clay as found against the internal wall in Trench 2. No return was found on the wall, which extended for at least 6m from the west wall of the castle.

Trench 2 was opened across the inside of the original doorway and the internal partition wall. A set of stone-built steps was found, which must have provided access to a basement whose vault is indicated on the 1570s ground-plans. The steps turned to the right and extended beyond the trench. These were sealed by the demolition rubble from 1777. The internal partition wall was around 1m thick and of mortared granite blocks, with a splayed door-jamb exposed at one end of the trench. The original floor level in the southern room was sealed by a layer of clay containing local post-medieval wares and collapsed sections of mortar.

Trench 3 was opened across the north-east corner of the northern room of the castle and exposed the top of the vaulting over the basement.

Trench 4 was opened across the internal partition wall and a wall depicted on a late 17th-century map, indicating that the castle had been subdivided prior to that date.

Trench 5 was opened at the corner of the fireplace in the southern area and revealed the original floor level intact at some 0.25m below the current ground level.

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