Marian Chapel, St. Clare’s Convent, High Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1HB

The Marian Chapel is a small chapel building situated prominently overlooking St. Clare’s Convent in Newry, County Down. It is part of a larger complex including a convent, chapel (HB16/28/054A), burial vault (HB16/28/054B), school (HB16/28/054D), laundry (HB16/28/054E), and wells (HB16/28/054F). The chapel is positioned on a steep west-facing slope at the eastern edge of the grounds and is reached from the convent via a narrow, stepped path through the garden and graveyard.

The building has a pitched natural slate roof, aligned north-south, with a skylight at the northwest to illuminate the canopy above the altar. The exterior walls are unpainted and rendered with lined cement. Small pitched natural slate gables rise from the middle of each sidewall, each topped with a metal cross finial. Modern eaves boards are present, but the gutters have been removed. All window and door openings have painted and broadly chamfered architraves made of Roman cement, with splayed cills also in Roman cement.

A set of four steps lead to a painted timber double-leaf entrance door located in the middle of the south gable. Above the door is a Gothic-style head, surmounted by a small circular opening with a quatrefoil window. Above that is a stucco cross, and a narrow lancet window is set in the gable apex. Flanking the door are lancet windows with cast-iron stained-glass quarries. The west gable features three conjoined lancet openings, with the central window being the tallest and sharing a common cill; the stained-glass quarries are protected by transparent plastic sheeting, and a circular opening with a quatrefoil window is located in the gable apex. The north gable abuts the interior face of the curtain wall surrounding the grounds, while the east gable is identical to the west.

The chapel initially appeared on the 1863 Ordnance Survey town map, indicating a mid-19th century date of construction, although it is likely between 1840 and 1859. The current appearance suggests a significant external refurbishment in the 20th century.