This exhibition 'Making Waves: Newry's Rise As a GlobalTrade Centr' explores how the influx of goods from around the world transformed the lives of people in and around the Port of Newry, forever changing the region. It also shows how the maritime trade provided employment for generations of local people, from merchants and sailors to dockers and customs officers.
Making Waves: Newry’s Rise As a Global Trade Centre
Visitors to the exhibition will discover Newry's transformation into a bustling global marketplace, a story told through the Museum’s collection of artefacts and information boards. Panels highlight a bustling trade of imported goods like minerals and sugar, which filled the warehouses of Sugar Island and Merchants Quay. In turn, products exported included Newry granite, whiskey and fine linen.
Among the items on display are everyday relics from this era, such as postcards, paper bags for loose tea, receipts for tobacco and flax seed, and 18th century consignment notices for linen bound for America.
Accompanying the exhibition is a complimentary booklet of essays, offering more information and providing greater detail on subjects such as businesses in the 19th century, women’s work and the port, emigration as well as the historical development of the port itself.
The free exhibition is now open to the public until September 2026
