McCann’s Bakery, Castle Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 2BY

McCann's Bakery is an extensive bakery complex comprising six conjoining blocks of 19th and 20th century construction that wraps around a mid 16th century castle on the east side of Castle Street in Newry.

Block 1 is a large single-storey building set at right angles to the road at the north end of the site, opened in 1969 as the 'new' bakery. Its gable faces directly onto the road. The front section has a pitched corrugated asbestos-cement roof and harled cement walls; the rear section has a corrugated metal roof and smooth cement rendered walls. The north gable contains a large metal vehicular door in its canted left corner and a small window at ground floor right. The north elevation has a number of modern windows and doors. At the road end of the driveway to the rear of the site is a pair of metal gates inset with the interlocking letters 'A McC'. The east gable is abutted by a small relatively modern building and Nissan hut behind. The south elevation is abutted by blocks 2 and 5. This block is without architectural interest.

Block 2 is a three-storey single-bay block set at right angles to the road alongside the south side of block 1. This is a 19th century store taken over by the McCann Brothers in 1894 as a bakery, making it the oldest block in the complex aside from the castle. It has a hipped slate roof and painted smooth cement rendered walls with raised stepped quoins and metal rainwater goods. It is three openings wide to the front. The ground floor has an entrance at centre with a large modern window either side. The fascia above is painted with "Arthur McCann Limited" in capital letters. The upper two floors each have three windows; all are 1/1 sliding sashes except at top left, which is a 2/1 sash. The north elevation's ground and first floors are abutted by block 1, while the top floor is lit by small 3/3 top opening windows. There is a loading door at middle with a gable over. The east gable is abutted to first floor by block 5 (the top floor is blank), and its south wall by blocks 3, 4 and 5.

Block 3 is a modern block dating to the 1960s, two storeys high at its north end where it abuts block 2 and one storey high to the south. It has a flat concrete roof and painted smooth cement rendered walls. The two-storey section has two modern windows to ground and first floors, and similar windows to its right cheek at first floor. The one-storey section has an entrance door at left and four modern windows at right. Along the façade above the ground floor windows is written: "Baking in Newry since 1837". The south end is abutted by block 6, and its east elevation by block 4.

Block 4 is the original mid 16th century castle, three storeys high and aligned north-south. Except for its top floor, it is enveloped on all sides by later buildings (block 3 at west and south, and block 5 at east). It has a hipped natural slate roof with skylights to the rear pitch and metal rainwater goods. All exposed walls are cement rendered. An unrendered section now enveloped by block 2 is of random rubble construction; all walls are undoubtedly constructed similarly. The castle is now devoid of external openings except at the north end of the west façade, where a modern casement window leads onto the roof of the two-storey section of block 3. The splaying of the walls internally suggests this may be set within an original opening. There is a circular opening for a ventilation fan directly above it. On the external wall of this elevation, just right of the window as viewed from the street, is a large moulded masonry corbel.

Block 5 is a 1960s two-storey building aligned north-south across the east elevation of blocks 2 and 4. It has a flat concrete roof and cement rendered walls with modern windows and doors to ground and first floor. Monopitched open-sided lean-tos abut its east façade.

Block 6 is a large modern one-storey block aligned at right angles to the road, forming the south side of the complex. It has a pitched corrugated asbestos roof and painted smooth cement rendered walls. The west and south elevations are blank. Doors and windows are set in the east gable, which is abutted by a modern open-sided lean-to.