The name Warrenpoint was taken from the name of a family that lived here around the latter half of the 18th century. Father Bernard Trainor (who had an interest in place names of the area) mentioned that a family called “Waring” lived here and had a house called “Warings Point”
A Mr. C.J. Robb, in correspondence on this subject to the Belfast News Letter in May 1938, refers to a letter apparently written in 1708 by a William Waring who gave his place of writing as "Waring's Point, near Newry." Walter Harris, in his Ancient and Present State of County Down, includes a map of 1743 which shows the area with the title "Waring's Point." Walter Harris also mentioned in 1744 that “Warrings Point” is about a mile or so North West of Rose Trevor.
By 1786 William Wilson, in his Post Chaise Companion, calls it "Warren's Point." And the following year Gordon's Newry Chronicle gives the name as "Warren Point." According to Bishop Crawford and the ordnance Survey maps of 1835, the name "Warrenpoint" is now being used.
Warrenpoint developed quite rapidly in the early years of the nineteenth century. Samuel Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837), claimed that in 1780 it had merely two homes "with a few huts for the occasional residence of the fishermen during the oyster season." He continues to describe how: "In the succeeding fifty years its scenic beauty and coastal location seem to have instigated its rapid development."
Pigot's Directory of 1824 tells us that "This place and its immediate neighbourhood contain a large number of
comfortable lodging houses for the accommodation of visitors, hot and cold baths and an excellent inn. Its vicinity also abounds with the most delightful scenery. On passing through the town towards the shore, the prospect becomes extremely beautiful and grand; the bay of Carlingford expanding to the view and forming a noble basin where a thousand ships may ride in perfect safety is bounded on the right and left by lofty mountains.
The quay is very convenient and capable of receiving vessels of large burden. In the vicinity of the town there is a neat row of houses, called Seaview, extremely well adapted for the accommodation of bathers, the prospect from which is very fine. There are five annual fairs: 17th of January, 4th of May, 24th of June, 2nd of September and 29th of November.
The town’s attraction as a seaside resort and its growth as a shipping port helped its progress. In the beginning the Hall family of Narrow Water took a major interest in planning the layout of Warrenpoint as it grew and in encouraging improvements in its appearance and investment within it. Roger Hall, for example, gave notice in the Newry Telegraph of 3rd. April 1813 of his intention to grant leases in perpetuity to anyone "inclined to build permanent stone and lime and slated houses." Take up was initially slow but soon the town started to grow.
Warrenpoint is one of the main towns in the Newry and Mourne area located on the northern shore of Carlingford Lough and the Mourne Mountains and bordered by the Cooley Peninsula. It continues to extend a warm welcome to all and offers day-trippers and holiday makers alike an excellent range of tourist activities including golf, an established water sports centre, angling, Gaa sports, soccer, tennis, bowls, an annual pantomime, festivals, hotels, bars and restaurant's.
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