Boundary Post near 23 The Manse Windmill Road Newry Co Down BT34 2AT

Granite boundary stone, believed to date from 1871–72, marking Newry's former municipal limits. The stone stands approximately 0.4 metres in height with a dressed granite finish and an arched top. It bears incised letters 'MB', standing for 'Municipal Boundary'. The stone is set into rubble walling on the east side of Windmill Road, adjacent to 23 The Manse, about 0.6 kilometres east of Newry town centre. Only its front face is visible, as it sits flush with the wall.

This stone forms part of a series of 14 largely identical markers placed along Newry's boundary following the Newry Improvement and Water Act of 1871. In October 1871, the Town Commissioners appointed Mr. Robert Beard (probably Robert Baird, a stone cutter with a yard in Mary Street recorded in the 1880s) for the supply of eighteen cut granite stones for borough boundary marks, according to specifications. Most of the granite markers visible today likely date from this initial commission of circa 1871–72, though some may be later. The lack of references to boundary stones in local newspapers before mid-1872 suggests they were not installed earlier. Ordnance Survey maps from 1903 onwards record approximately 20 such stones along the boundary, though the consistent design and inscriptions make it difficult to determine whether variations exist.

Following the Lighting of Towns (Ireland) Act of 1828, local government was established in Newry through the Commissioners of Police. A municipal boundary was eventually agreed upon, with the town's area stated to have been fixed by special act of 1865. However, the boundary acquired official status only in 1871, when the Town Commissioners were formally incorporated as a municipal body under the Newry Improvement and Water Act. This same boundary was subsequently readopted by the Newry Urban District Council after local government reform in 1898.

The particular stone near 23 The Manse is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1903 and was likely one of the series installed in 1871–72 to delineate the Town Commissioners' jurisdiction. It is set within a tall wall that originally enclosed the western side of the grounds of a pre-1830s house, later converted to the manse for Riverside Reformed Presbyterian Church. The stone may have been incorporated into the wall rather than the wall built around it.

As a group, the 14 boundary stones in Newry constitute one of the most complete sets of such features in Northern Ireland. They serve as important local artefacts, marking both literally and metaphorically the town's growth and regional importance during the mid to later Victorian period. Despite this particular stone being encased in walling, it retains value as part of the wider collection of boundary markers in the Newry area.