Blue plaque honours "Armagh's finest antiquarian"
A 19th century man known as “Armagh’s finest antiquarian” was today honoured with a blue plaque registering his life and works.
A dedicated collector who established a private museum in the city’s Market Street, John Corry’s passion for the ancient history of his local area helped him identify precious artefacts which have since found their way into national collections.
One of the most significant Late Bronze Age items he collected was a stunning gold ornament shaped like a purse, known as a bulla.
More dedicated to history than to the family retail business he ran, he was eventually forced to sell his precious collection after the firm began to fail.
Highly respected in his day, John Corry is buried in the ancient churchyard of Armagh’s old cathedral in a grave that does not bear his name.
Born in 1805, he worked in the family’s wool warehouse on Market Street and took over the business when his father George died in 1837.
Prominent among Armagh’s emerging middle class, he served on a committee that established its Catholic cathedral and was one of the commissioners responsible for the city’s water supply.
He was only 28 when the newspapers reported him presenting the Belfast Museum with an “ancient brazen seal belonging to the See of Armagh”. It had been dug up at the site of the medieval church of St Bridget near St Malachy’s in Chapel Lane where Corry was baptised.
This afternoon a blue plaque was unveiled on the Market Street site of his museum. Said Chris Spurr, chair of the Ulster History Circle: “John Corry had a passion both for his native city and for Irish history.”