Jennings of Newry, County Down

 The Jennings family of Newry, County Down, appear to have come originally from Ironpool, Kilconly, Tuam, County Galway. The Jennings/Jonine family of East Galway and Mayo was extensive and the records are fragmented. Variable spellings of the name are found in the earlier part of this period, Jenings, Jennings, Jonine, Johnin, Jonnins and others.  

          Ironpool

 In the Grant of Arms, by Neville Wilkinson, Ulster King of Arms, in 1910, to Ulick Jenings of Ironpool, Tuam, County Galway there is found a crest of a cat’s head.  The arms are derived from those of de Burgo, or Burke, from whom the Jennings of East Galway and Mayo are descended. The motto is that of the Clanricarde Burkes.

Or, a cross + gules, in the first and fourth quarters a dexter hand couped, in the second and third a lion rampant sable, for crest on a wreath of the colours, a cats head affronté erased sable, charged on the neck with a cross crosslet or,

 and for motto

Ung roy, ung foy, ung loy.

         This cat crest is identical with that of the Newry family. The name Andrew is found in the pedigree of Ulick Jenings, descending from Andrew Browne.  Andrew is a name not usually found in the Jennings families of East Galway, and Mayo, but which is consistently used in Newry. As both families in East Galway and in Newry followed naming patterns strictly, this was another indication that there might be a connection.
 

Newry

The opening of the redeveloped Newry Ship Canal in 1767 resulted in considerable commercial expansion.  Davys and Jennings of Fishamble Street in Dublin, presumably attracted by the opening up of new markets, proposed expansion to Newry. They chose Dirty Lane, also known as North Street.

Isaac Walker, son of Abraham Walker of Rich-Hill, who lately transferred Business for Messrs. Davys and Jennings of Dublin; Begs leave to acquaint his Friends and the Publick, that he has opened a Grocers Warehouse in Dirty Lane, Newry, near the Market-house..... 

Within ten years Newry would have become a thriving port, importing timber, coal, grain and other goods, and supporting many local industries such as tanneries, foundries and mills.

          It was possibly Andrew Jennings of Ironpool, Edward’s brother, who moved to Newry from Fishamble Street. Andrew Jennings of Upper North Street, who had an established iron foundry and imported Swedish iron from Stockholm, and who died in 1818, may have been his grandson. 
         Andrew Jennings, and his sons, Andrew and Charles, were active Catholics. Andrew, and his son Andrew, were both involved in the 1811 Down Catholic Meeting and in consultations with the General Catholic Committee.

Down has selected the following Gentlemen to consult and confer with the General Catholic Committee, namely:

….

Andrew Jennings, Sen.

Andrew Jennings, Jun.

After Andrew’s death in 1818, his son, Andrew, continued to live in the house at Upper North Street. He married Mary Anne Clarke by special dispensation on October 10^th 1825, in Newry. She was the second daughter of Edward Clarke of Newry. 

Andrew Jennings  had a spade factory at Finnard.

A paper mill was in existence on this site from at least 1776 until about 1830 and is described on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey as ‘ruins of a paper mill.’…The Premises are marked ‘The Paper Mill’ on the 1858 Ordnance map but were actually used as flax mills and as a shovel factory.

According to E.R.R. Green in 1860 a ‘shovel Manufactory’ was shown on the Ordnance map, described a few years later as a ‘Spade Factory’ occupied by Andrew Jennings.