Newry Journal

The streets behind the Cathedral were in former times known as The Back of the Dam.  What is now the Cathedral gardens was once the site of a huge flour mill.  Water from the Clanrye River was diverted north of the town into a mill race and the energy of the falling water used to […]

Gerry Monaghan’s Memories 10 Mindful of its gloomy history, I have always regarded the quarry with thoughtful apprehension. Despite this, as an older boy I would go fishing for spricks (sticklebacks) in its clouded, enigmatic waters. The spricks were much bigger here and so more desirable. Later as teenagers, filled with the wild daring of […]

6. Fun of the Fair How bright the light is near the sea! We look down upon the fishing boats lying askew on the shining mud. Above these, the drunken tangle of wayward masts, around which graceful gulls glide, tirelessly wheeling, their hungry eyes questing, forever complaining as if they felt perpetually victimized.

3. Radio Days We lived, my parents, Edmund and I and baby Donal lived in a large rundown house on Bridge Street, owned by the McCartneys, who lived on the ground floor. We occupied the first floor, in what now would be called a flat.

My first memories are of my mother – of her softness and warmth, her expressive face always beautiful to me, of her endearing, coaxing voice whose slightest irritated inflection would cause me dismay. She would exhort Edmund my elder brother by a mere two years, to ‘look after that child! Don’t let him get his […]