Newry News and Irish Fun
The government posted notices from 1674 onwards for the capture, dead or alive, of Redmond O’Hanlon. He waylaid a simple lad who was on his way to town to bring home a large sum of money for his master. The lad knew that Redmond was awaiting his return on the road.
Best-known local outlaw of the 18th century was Seamus MacMurphy of Creggan Parish in South Armagh. His ancestors were the earliest chieftains of The Fews on record.
The art of linen cloth production was brought to the north of Ireland by settlers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Prior to that the main thread spun and used in garment-making was wool.
Before the final defeat of the Gaelic chieftains [Kinsale 1601: Flight of the Earls 1607: Plantation of Ulster 1609 on] the O’Hanlons were the primary clan in Orior …
The town of Newry, we are told, was established in 1144 when Cistercian monks set up a monastery here. Not so.
Some thirteen years later their position, wealth, power and influence were enhanced when the high king of Ireland, Murtagh McLoughlin, granted a Charter and bestowed lands on them, asking other temporal rulers to do likewise. It was not as simple as that.
The context needs to be examined.
Benedict Arnold is infamous in American history as that country’s most renowned traitor. Unfortunately Newry is better remembered for our home-grown traitors than for our several heroes. This article focuses on two of the more influential traitors. It is the present author’s opinion that their betrayal is comparable with that of Arnold’s.