Newry Cathedral

The Cathedral of Saint Patrick and Saint Colman stands on Newry’s Main Street, a Grade A listed building made of local granite. It serves as the seat of the Bishop of Dromore and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dromore. Before the pandemic, over 200,000 visitors came each year to see this first Catholic cathedral in Ireland opened after Catholic Emancipation. The cathedral replaced St Mary’s Church, which had acted as a parish church and quasi-cathedral for forty years. Work began in 1825 under the city’s greatest native architect, Thomas Duff, and the basic structure was completed by 1829. The cathedral’s history reflects the struggles and triumphs of the Catholic community in the region. The See of Dromore was founded in the sixth century by Colman of Dromore, though its old cathedral was destroyed in 1641. The seat moved to Newry in 1750, and Bishop Thomas O’Kelly began plans for a new cathedral in 1821. The foundation stone was laid in 1825, and the dedication ceremony in 1829 drew the largest attendance of bishops and clergy in three centuries. The event included a Solemn High Mass and a collection that raised £141, 2s. 8d. Inside, visitors find a grand interior adorned with mosaics, marble, and stained glass. The nave was extended in 1904 under Bishop Henry O’Neill, who also added a marble sanctuary and rood screens. The cathedral contains the largest quantity of gold-leafed mosaic in Ireland, installed by Oppenheimer of Manchester. A new organ by Telford and Telford and a heating system were added during this time. The grounds to the south, once a mill destroyed by fire, were purchased two years after the work’s completion. The tower and transepts, added in 1888, and the sacristy completed in 1909, further enhance the cathedral’s dignity.