Blog (History) - NMD Museums

Step through the doors of our latest exhibition and transport yourself to a decade of big hair and bold colours. The 1980s in Down was a period where global pop culture collided with the complex local realities of the Troubles. This new exhibition celebrates how a community embraced a rapidly evolving world, finding joy in music, fashion, and sport against a backdrop of political tension.

In this week's article we take a look the history of floriography, the language of flowers

In this week’s article, we explore a unique cornerstone of Irish design and culture.

In this week's article we continue with the history of Newry News Room

This week, to tie in with the opening of our new temporary exhibition ‘Categorically Celtic – Traditional Design in Irish Art, Politics and Popular Culture,’ we look at the Gaelic Revival of the 19 and 20 centuries.  

Down County Museum holds a remarkable collection of medical objects that reveal the changing nature of healthcare, surgery, and everyday hospital life from the 19th century to the late 20th century..

This week, Newry and Mourne Museum is revisiting one of the town’s most storied enterprises: the Matt D’Arcy and Co. distillery, a business that helped shape Newry’s industrial identity for more than a century.

Our exhibition Making Waves: Newry’s rise as a global trade centre continues until September 2026 and in this week's article we look emigration, in particular Andrew Marshall who left Donaghmore for New York.

This week's article looks at the important role played by women's charties in Newry and Mourne.

The first edition of the Downpatrick Recorder was published on Saturday, 31st December 1836. Its name was later changed to The Down Recorder in 1878 by Joseph Clarke in response to growin..

This week's article looks at the history of the Newry News Room.

This week's article is just in time for St. Valentine's Day