Halyday’s Castle, Chapel Street, Newry, Co Down

Halyday’s Castle is a ruinous shell of rubble granite located on Chapel Street, Newry, County Down, situated on a terrace near the top of a hill sloping steeply down to Chapel Street. The building dates from approximately 1820 to 1839 and was likely a fairly modest structure, distinguished primarily by its unusual situation and name.

The ruin encompasses at least three rooms, all positioned on different levels. One room contains a partly collapsed semicircular vaulted basement. The structure appears to be multi-phase, with some walls constructed of rubble granite, others of brick, all externally rendered with cement. No roofs or internal wooden floors survive. All windows feature semicircular brick heads. A random rubble curtain wall, approximately 2.5 meters high, surrounds the complex on three sides, extending down the hillside.

The site was not shown on the 1835 Ordnance Survey map, but is marked as “Halyday’s Castle” on the 1859 edition. In 1863, it was described in valuation records as a ‘castle’, occupied by George Wilkinson and valued at £3. Occupancy continued until at least 1930, with Robert Gass listed as the occupant between 1866 and 1873. Notably, James Halyday, a cabinetmaker, and Robert Gass, a wine and spirit merchant, were signatories to an 1848 Orangemen’s ‘loyal declaration.’ James Halyday also subscribed to the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church in 1848. Local sources, including Mrs. Matt McAteer of Newry, refer to the building as "Fool's Folly," with a local reputation that it was erected by a bookmaker. The building is currently recorded as derelict.