Bagenal's Castle

Bagenal's Castle is a fortified house in Newry, County Down, where granite walls rise across three stories and form a rectangular plan. The building retains support corbels, window components, and ventilation loops placed throughout the height of the structure.

Nicholas Bagenal built the house in 1568 on land granted by King Edward VI, which also covered part of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey site. The building remained in use for centuries before it was later incorporated into McCann's Bakery.

The first floor served as a hall where public gatherings and meals took place, and the social purpose of the space remains clear from its layout. On the second floor, the Great Chamber housed the bed as the main piece of furniture, which also displayed the owner's status.

The ground floor includes a kitchen with the original bread oven and a storage chamber secured by a door with a draw-bar mechanism. Visitors can see the preserved features and understand the arrangement of the defensive elements.

The walls remained completely hidden inside McCann's Bakery until 1996, when historians rediscovered them during the building's demolition. For centuries, no one knew that a 16th-century fortified house stood behind the bakery's brick walls.