Newry and Mourne Museum Welcomes New Exhibition on Local History

Newry and Mourne Museum has unveiled its latest temporary exhibition highlighting the local history of the area. The exhibition, which opened on Tuesday 24 September, is a collection of documents from the Reside family which played a prominent role in Newry.

The collection reflects the interests and hobbies of Samuel Wilson Reside, Major Gerald Reside, architects and engineers in Newry, and Margaret Reside, a local solicitor. 

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Deputy Chairperson, Councillor Terry Andrews who opened the temporary exhibition said, “I am very pleased to be able to open this exciting and extensive exhibition.

“Very few local museums have such a rich local history archive, and I would like to thank Fergus Hanna Bell, nephew of Gerald and Margaret Reside, for his generosity in donating the Collection to the museum. I am also gratified that he has contributed his memories of the Reside family to the booklet, providing an invaluable insight to this collection.”

Totalling over 12,000 documents, and dating from 1708 until the 1990s, the material in the Collection is wide ranging and sheds light on many aspects of local history. There is a significant number of maps and architectural plans which relate to a broad range of architectural, engineering and surveying projects undertaken by Samuel and Major Gerald Reside. The Collection includes a large number of conveyance maps prepared by for local solicitors as well as various estate records relating the Kilmorey and Hall estates and other smaller landlords, in addition to legal papers and miscellaneous local history material.

Noreen Cunningham, Newry and Mourne Museum curator said, “Since the Museum moved to Bagenal’s Castle in 2007, items from the Reside Collection have been used in nearly every temporary exhibition and are also a prominent feature of is our main galleries. This is the first time we have done an exhibition on the Collection itself and the material on display has been carefully chosen to give a glimpse of the treasures and highlights of this unique archive.”

The new exhibition, entitled ‘The Reside Collection: Exploring Aspects of Local History’ is now open to the public. For further information, please telephone 028 3031 3182 or 028 3031 3177.