A brief summary with a virtual tour of a Cisterian Abbey

The remains of Bagenal’s Castle are now a museum in Newry and are the city’s oldest surviving building. The history of the site dates back as far as the twelfth century when it was home to the Cistercian monks who founded an abbey there. “…the founders were often the great families and royalty of Europe, for whom it had become something of a fashion to promote monastic communities.” (Dawkes, 2009, p.125).  During Henry VIII reformation and his break from the Church of Rome all the Abbey's in Ireland were dissolved, with the confiscated lands granted to English nobility. 

During Nicholas Bagenals time in Newry he oversaw the formation of divisions in the town, there were, "two almost totally distinct parts: an English settlement on the left bank, and an Irish hamlet, Ballybot, on the right bank of the river..." (Bagenal, 1915,  p.9) Ballybot aptly means in Irish, 'poor town'.

These divisions are illustrated in the map above which dates from this period.