Newry

Newry is a city in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the border with County Armagh. It is about halfway between Belfast and Dublin. It has a population of about 30,000 and was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery. It grew as a market town and a garrison and became a port in 1742 when it was linked to Lough Neagh by the first canal in Ireland. In March 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee celebrations, Newry was granted city status alongside Lisburn BBC report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1872287.stm).

Notable buildings in the city include Newry Catholic Cathedral and Newry Town Hall. The town hall is notable as it is built over the river that is the boundary between the counties of County Down and Armagh. The city also boasts a museum and an arts centre.

The district of Newry and Mourne has a majority nationalist population leading to a council dominated by the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin, but there are some Ulster Unionist and DUP councillors.

The name of the city comes from the original Irish "An Iu(bh)ir C(h)inn Tra(ha)" which translates as the Yew at the head of the Strand, which relates to an apocryphal story that Saint Patrick planted a yew tree there in the fifth century. When speaking in Irish the full name of the town is rarely used; instead it is abbreviated to An tIúr which when spoken sounds like "Nur", leading to the modern English name.

See also: List of towns in Northern Ireland