Newcastle Lifeboat Station is situated at South Promenade, Newcastle, a seaside town in County Down, located the foot of Slieve Donard, the highest of the Mourne Mountains, overlooking the Irish Sea, in the south east corner of Northern Ireland.

A lifeboat was first stationed at Newcastle in 1830 by the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS). A station was re-established by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1854.

The station currently operates the All-weather Mersey-class lifeboat, 12-20 Leonard Kent (ON 1177), on station since 2022, and the smaller D-class (IB1) Inshore lifeboat Eliza (D-775), on station since 2014.

In 1825, the newly formed County Down branch of the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS) established Rossglass Lifeboat Station, when an 18-foot lifeboat was placed at Rossglass, Co. Down.

Thomas Foy, Coxswain of the Rossglass Lifeboat, was awarded the RNIPLS Silver Medal, one of the earliest awarded, for putting out at 02:00 in a fishing boat with five men on 2 December 1825, and saving seven of the nine crew off the vessel Usk, on passage from Liverpool to Spain, when she was wrecked in a violent weather. Between 1825 and 1852, no less than 15 gallantry medals were awarded by the RNIPLS in the area.

A 24-foot lifeboat built by William Plenty of Newbury, Berkshire, costing £130, was placed at Arklow on 30 November 1826. Only 3½ years later, having never been launched on service, and at the recommendation of Capt. Samuel Sparshott, Deputy Inspector General of Coastguard, Newcastle Lifeboat Station was established in April 1930, when the boat was relocated there. No records have been found of any service, and in 1833, the station closed, and the boat was relocated again, this time to Skerries.

The Rossglass lifeboat station was closed in 1835, the lifeboat being relocated to St John's Point Lifeboat Station, just 2 miles (3.2 km) further down the headland, next to H.M. Coastguard station at St Johns Point, remaining there until 1843.

In 1843, the lifeboat was condemned and sold. No replacement was provided. The 1840s was a period of decline for the RNIPLS, with little income, and especially later, following the death in 1847 of the founder, Sir William Hillary, Bt.. However, under the direction of The Duke of Northumberland, appointed as president in 1851, the RNIPLS was resurrected, becoming the RNLI in 1854.

Newcastle Lifeboat Station was re-established in 1854 by the RNLI. A boathouse was provided by The Earl of Annesley MP. It would seem that there was some confusion over the ordering of a lifeboat, as a 27-foot unnamed Self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with oars and sails, arrived in 1854, only to be followed by a 26-foot unnamed boat, arriving the following year in 1855. A 30-foot unnamed lifeboat was placed on station in 1858, this one serving until 1881, and being named Reigate in 1868.

Reigate was launched to the aid of the schooner Rose on 26 February 1874, when she was wrecked in Dundrum Bay. One of the five crew was lost, but four were rescued. Coxswain James Hill, and Capt. Charles Grey-Jones, second assistant inspector of lifeboats, were each awarded the RNLI Silver Medal.

Reigate was replaced in 1881, by a new 34-foot lifeboat, Farnley (ON 283). A new boathouse was required, and was constructed at a cost of £425. The building, used until the 1930s, still stands on Downs Road, and is currently used by the Newcastle Elim Pentecostal Church.

On 15 March 1905, 20 lives were saved from the French barque Cannebiere, in a joint effort by the Newcastle lifeboat Farnley, and the tug Flying Irishman, in a service lasting over 14 hours. The vessel, on passage from Glasgow to New Caledonia, was sheltering from a storm in Dundrum Bay, but ran aground after dragging her anchor. John McCausland, Master of the tug, and Coxswain Superintendent James Foland of Newcastle lifeboat, were awarded a 'Gold Medal and Diploma' by the French Government, presented in 1906 by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Sir Daniel Dixon, 1st Baronet.

A new station with slipway was constructed in 1936. This was followed by the arrival of a 35-foot Self-righting (motor) lifeboat, L. P. and St Helen (ON 703), built in 1927, and having previously served at Eastbourne and Boulmer.

In a remarkable period of service during World War II, Newcastle, and lifeboat L. P. and St Helen, would see three medal rescues carried out in a one-year period. Coxswain Patrick Murphy would receive the RNLI Bronze Medal for a service on 19 January 1941, to the vessel Hoperidge. Murphy would receive a Second-Service clasp just 9 days later, when 14 men were rescued off the vessel Sandhill, damaged by a Naval Mine. Mechanic Robert Agnew would also receive the RNLI bronze medal.

Just one year later, in an exceptionally daring and skilfull rescue, 39 people were rescued from the convoy steamship Browning, which had run aground on 21 January 1942, in a south-east gale near Ballyquintin. After several attempts to get close, the Coxswain manoeuvered the lifeboat through the rocks, and managed to get the 39 people aboard. Now dangerously overloaded, he took the boat out over a reef, judging the waves perfectly. With weather too poor to return home, the lifeboat made for Portavogie. Seven medals for gallantry were awarded, with Murphy being awarded the RNLI Gold Medal. He would also be awarded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service (BEM).

In 1992, the RNLI would receive an extraordinary bequest, a sum of £4 million from the estate of Mrs Eugenie Boucher, specifically to be used for the construction of new boathouses. A native of Penza in Russia, eight so named 'Penza' boathouses would be constructed, including one for Newcastle. Built on the site of the tractor house and coastguard hut, the building was completed in August 1993. Then followed the arrival on 11 August 1993, of a new Mersey-class lifeboat, 12-29 Eleanor and Bryant Girling (ON 1188), funded from the bequest of Eleanor Bertha Girling.

On 24 January 1994, a D-class (EA16) Inshore lifeboat was placed on service for the season, for evaluation. A permanent D-class lifeboat was placed at the station on 19 May 1995. Initiated by Wing Cdr Mark Codgebrook, £11,000 had been raised by the personnel at the local RAF Station, and at a ceremony on 10 June 1995, Group Captain R. E. Wedge named the boat Aldergrove.

On 3 December 2014, Aldergrove II (D-637). a second boat funded by the personnel at RAF Aldergrove, was retired. Newcastle would receive the D-class (IB1) Inshore lifeboat Eliza (D-775), funded from the bequest of Mary Olga Illingworth, in memory of her mother.

Mersey-class lifeboat 12-29 Eleanor and Bryant Girling (ON 1188) was withdrawn to the relief fleet in 2022, and replaced with a slightly older Mersey-class lifeboat, 12-20 Leonard Kent (ON 1177), previously stationed at Margate. Soon after, in 2023, Newcastle would receive T121, the newest of the 31 Talus MB-H Crawler launch tractors, at just 19 years old.

From 28 October 2024, following the departure of 12-34 Freddie Cooper (ON 1193) from Aldeburgh, Newcastle, along with Douglas in the Isle of Man, will be just one of two RNLI stations still operating the Mersey-class lifeboat, and the last one using a carriage.

The following are awards made at Newcastle, Co. Down.

• RNLI Gold Medal

Capt. J R Morris RN, H.M. Coastguard - 1826

Capt. Philip R Browne, H.M. Coastguard - 1838

Lt. Henry Frederick Sewell RN, H.M. Coastguard - 1840

Patrick Murphy, Coxswain - 1942

• Gold Medal and Diploma, awarded by the French Government

James Foland, Coxswain Superintendent - 1906

John McCausland, Master of the tug Flying Irishman

• RNLI Silver Medal

Thomas Foy - 1826

Alexander Douglas, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard - 1826

John Phillips - 1830

Michael Casey - 1830

John Strains, Chief Officer, H.M. Coastguard - 1837

William Hogg, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard - 1837

William Adair, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard - 1837

Captain Philip R. M. Browne, H.M. Coastguard - 1837

John Adam, Chief Officer, H.M. Coastguard - 1837

George MacDonald, Boatman, H.M. Coastguard -1840

James Taylor, Commissioned Boatman, H.M. Coastguard - 1845

James McCarthy, Chief Boatman, H.M. Coastguard - 1852

Henry Boyd, Coastguardsman, H.M. Coastguard - 1860

Capt. George Agar Ellis Ridge, RN, Inspecting Commander, H.M. Coastguard - 1860

Capt. Charles Grey-Jones, Second Assistant Inspector of Lifeboats - 1874

James Hill, Coxswain - 1874

Cmdr. Orford Summerville Cameron, RN, H.M. Coastguard - 1877

William Murphy, Second Coxswain - 1942

Robert Agnew, Mechanic - 1942

• RNLI Bronze Medal

Patrick Murphy, Coxswain - 1941

Patrick Murphy, Coxswain - 1941 (Second-Service clasp)

Robert Agnew, Mechanic - 1941

William Leneghan, crew member - 1942

Thomas McClelland, crew member - 1942

Patrick McClelland, crew member - 1942

Patrick Rooney, crew member - 1942

• The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum

Patrick McClelland, Coxswain - 1955

John Lowry, Helm - 1998

• A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution

Mark Poland, crew member - 1998

Brendan Rooney, crew member - 1998

Mr Ian Williamson - 1998

Newcastle Lifeboat Station - 2005

• Royal Human Society Bravery Award

Gerald Murphy, Motor Mechanic - 1966

• Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service (BEM)

Patrick Murphy, Coxswain - 1942

• Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Hugh Patrick Paul, Boathouse Manager - 2006NYH

John Francis Morgan, Coxswain - 2010NYH

ON	Op. No.	Name	In service	Class	Comments
Pre-123	–	Unnamed	1830–1833	24-foot Norfolk and Suffolk
Pre-279	–	Unnamed	1854–1855	27-foot Self-righting (P&S)
Pre-296	–	Unnamed	1855–1859	26-foot Self-righting (P&S)
Pre-331	–	Unnamed, Reigate	1858–1868 1868–1881	30-foot Self-righting (P&S)	Named Reigate in 1868
283	–	Farnley	1881–1906	34-foot Self-righting (P&S)
556	–	Marianne	1906–1917	35-foot Self-righting (P&S)
660	–	John Cleland	1917–1932	35-foot Self-righting Rubie (P&S)
553	–	John	1933–1937	35-foot Liverpool (P&S)
703	–	L. P. and St Helen	1937–1949	35-foot Self-righting (motor)
870	–	William and Laura	1949–1980	Liverpool
974	37-07	Jane Hay	1980–1992	Oakley
942	37-01	J. G. Graves of Sheffield	1992–1993	Oakley
1188	12-29	Eleanor and Bryant Girling	1993–2022	Mersey
1177	12-20	Leonard Kent	2022–	Mersey

Pre ON numbers are unofficial numbers used by the Lifeboat Enthusiast Society to reference early lifeboats not included on the official RNLI list.

Op.No.	Name	In service	Class	Comments
D-333	Unnamed	1994	D-class (EA16)
D-478	Aldergrove	1995–2005	D-class (EA16)
D-637	Aldergrove II	2005–2014	D-class (IB1)
D-775	Eliza	2014–	D-class (IB1)

Op. No.	Reg. No.	Type	In service	Comments
T7	AF 4215	Clayton	1924–1932
T44	KGJ 57	Case LA	1949–1958
T45	KGJ 58	Case LA	1958–1963
T53	KXT 421	Case LA	1963–1967
T44	KGJ 57	Case LA	1967–1969
T50	KLA 84	Case LA	1969–1977
T59	OJJ 866	Fowler Challenger III	1977–1985
T61	PLA 561	Fowler Challenger III	1985–1988
T104	E269 YUJ	Talus MB-H Crawler	1988–1999
T119	N470 XAW	Talus MB-H Crawler	1999–2006
T118	M224 SNT	Talus MB-H Crawler	2006–2022
T120	P514 HAW	Talus MB-H Crawler	2022–2023
T121	DX04 YZG	Talus MB-H Crawler	2023–

• List of RNLI stations
• List of former RNLI stations
• Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats

• Newcastle RNLI Lifeboat Station