St. Mary’s Chapel (RC), Upper Chapel Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 2EL

St. Mary's Chapel is a Roman Catholic chapel of T-plan form, erected in 1789 by Dr Matthew Lennon, Bishop of Dromore, and dedicated in 1790. It replaced a smaller Mass House dating from around 1730 that formerly stood within the cemetery. The chapel is situated within a large hillside cemetery accessed from Upper Chapel Street through an archway in the rendered and coped perimeter wall, to the left of which is a grotto containing statues of St Mary and St Bernadette.

The building is constructed of rendered walls painted wet dash, with a raised and painted smooth-rendered plinth. The T-plan is oriented with its base facing east towards Chapel Street. It has pitched natural slate roofs with red clay ridges, with gables to each arm of the T, the verges of which are coped and surmounted by masonry crosses. Details include stepped quoins, hood mouldings, window dressings, and a platband running around the entire building at gallery window cill level. Half-round metal rainwater gutters and circular downpipes serve the roof.

All three gables share the same design, featuring a central hood-moulded rose window at first floor level, above which is a small trefoil ventilation opening. A granite datestone inscribed 'AD 1790' is set above the window in the east gable at the base of the T. The left cheek of the east gable contains at first-floor level a semicircular hood-moulded window with tripartite tracery.

The chapel's most unusual architectural feature is the provision of three independent galleries at first-floor level, one in each arm of the T, each accessible only from its own entrance. This distinctive arrangement is one of the building's principal reasons for listing.

The west-facing elevation (the top of the T) is symmetrically arranged about a statue of the Virgin Mary, which is surrounded by an elliptical band decorated with raised star designs at the cardinal points. The statue is flanked on each side by a hood-moulded semicircular-headed stained glass window. Outside each of these are taller hood-moulded semicircular-headed windows with tripartite tracery and diamond-pane lattice glazing. The three middle panels of these outer windows correspond with gallery floor level and contain modern mosaic work: the central panel displays a large gold cross on a red and blue background, while the panels at either side feature small gold crosses on a green background with gold borders.

Filling the angle made by the base and right arm of the T is a two-storey north extension of L-plan form containing toilets with small pointed-arch windows with coloured glass at first-floor level. On the left cheek of the east gable, a one-storey extension houses the vestry and robing rooms, with a flat roof punctuated by two roof lights and accessed from a small modern porch on its south side containing a modern framed and sheeted external door.

Steps rise over the roof of the left extension to a modern porch in the middle of the east wall of the left arm of the T. This porch has a pitched natural slate roof with a raised gable and contains a modern framed and sheeted door giving access to the gallery in the south arm of the chapel.

Access to the chapel is provided via a sloping path leading from the archway to a ground-floor entrance, with steps rising to the right extension. A separate long flight of steps descends from Chapel Street at the north side, accessed through a pair of metal gates hung from rendered posts of square cross-section. The Chapel Street frontage is bounded by metal railings with circular heads incorporating various Christian symbols including alpha and omega.

Although much altered, the chapel merits listing because of its age and unusual layout. The three rose windows were installed in 1927. A new roof was constructed in 1931, and new pews and an organ were installed in the 1950s. Further alterations were carried out in 1990. Despite these extensive alterations, most have been carried out in an appropriate manner so that the building's historic character is preserved.

The associated cemetery contains the earliest legible headstone dating from 1735. Remains from the former abbey were also reburied here, along with various Newry bishops. The chapel is also known as the 'Old Chapel'.