extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. COUNTY ANTRIM Many pubs in the area had accommodation in the back yard where horses and milk cows could be kept on the night before or after the sale. The best known was Alfie Lavery’s on the corner of Verner Street. There was another in Eliza Street. Johnny McKeown, a blacksmith, also lived in Eliza Street. Johnny shod the horses which pulled the breadcarts used in delivering bread for the nearby Inglis’s Bakery. Fodder for the horses was supplied by Ballycarry farmer Edward Sturdy who had a contract with Inglis’s for the supply of hay to 100 of their horses. This kept seven of Sturdy’s own horses and carts busy three days every week. Another dealer came from Aghalee. It was a common sight between the wars to see him with two loaded carts, one immediately behind the other, trundling down the Lisburn Road towards the hay market, the second horse’s nose almost buried in the load in front. Some dealers fitted a frame to the cart to enable them to carry a larger load.       During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and into the twentieth a large quantity of butter (sold in 56lb weights called firkins) and buttermilk (sold in small barrels called runlets) was carted into Belfast and delivered directly to shops and bakeries. Much of it came from the Carnmoney area which at that time was very rural even to the point of having its own fairs for which a patent was granted in 1772. There were just two in the year and they were used mainly for the sale of black cattle and pigs. They were also used by the farming community for the purchase of earthenware, pedlar’s goods, huckstery; and hiring the occasional servant man or woman. Potatoes were either taken directly to shops or sold in the market. The roads in the Belfast area were excellent by the standards of the day and farmers thought nothing of setting off for the city in the early hours of the morning in the knowledge that they would get a good price for their crop when they got there. They converged on the town from all directions – Newtownards, Dromore, Antrim, Larne, and Islandmagee. Those coming from the northern shores of Belfast Lough approached by the Shore Road. Those from the Lisburn direction made their way down the Lisburn Road (completed in 1821) into Bedford Street, turning right at the back of the City Hall (formerly the White Linen Hall) when they reached the city centre. This led through May Street to Oxford Street where the markets were held until the Balmoral Market opened in 1975. At the height of the season growers queued along Oxford Street as the gateman struggled to cope with collecting the market dues. Sometimes the queue turned the corner into Laganbank Road, at that time known to farmers as the Sand Quay as that was where lighters coming from the interior unloaded their cargo of sand. This queue often formed in the autumn when farmers were in the market every day with potatoes.       Farmers seldom returned home with an empty cart. Some brought back coal but more often it was a load of horse manure – or onion boxes. Onions in those days came in wooden cases divided into three compartments. Turned on their side they made good nesting boxes for hens. Manure could be readily procured all over the city. A notice in the Belfast Commercial Chronicle dated 26 January 1818 advertised ‘Several Parcels of Excellent Street Manure to be sold by auction at one o’clock precisely commencing at the rear of the fountain in Queen Street and proceeding by Great George’s Street. Ready bank notes only accepted in payment.’ This trade in manure continued well into the twentieth century.       South Antrim farmers usually returned home via Cromac Square and Donegall Pass. Tiredness and lack of sleep often caught up with them on the journey home. One farmer woke one morning to find he had fallen asleep in his cart. He had nodded off about Finaghy Crossroads and his mare had brought him safely to his own farmyard near the Halfpenny Gate – about six miles beyond Lisburn. The mare had probably stopped at several drinking troughs along the way without disturbing the sleeping occupant of the cart.       Taking the hay to market was the job of the hired man and one that he looked forward to immensely, though it held some risks. A ton or more of hay was loaded onto the cart the evening before. The man set off at two in the morning (in the case of Islandmagee) for the six-hour journey to the hay market. He sometimes sat on top of his load and sometimes walked with the horse. When he reached the outskirts of the city he allowed the cart wheels to slip from the cobble stones into the tram lines and it was full steam ahead then, providing he wasn’t caught, for the practice was illegal. During the Troubles of 1921 he had to bury himself in the hay or risk being hit in the crossfire of opposing factions. The farmer set off a few hours later travelling by train for he liked to do the actual selling himself. When the deal was completed the hired man was given the address to which the hay had to be delivered, and more often than not he had to fork it onto a loft when he arrived. The horse was treated to some hay and the hired man had a bap and a mug of tea before the pair set off for home.       The homeward journey also held risks. There was always the possibility that thieves would be lying in wait to relieve farmer or servant of the day’s takings. The thieves worked in pairs, one grabbing the horse by the reins to stop him in his tracks and the other jumping into the cart to attack the driver. The farmer’s line of defence was to lift a side board off the cart and hit his attacker with it. Archie Brown of Islandmagee was just a small boy when these things were taking place but he often heard his father speak of them in later years.       A horseman, a stockman and a servant girl were hired full time on the Brown farm with extra hands being brought in for the harvest. These were either hired in Larne or engaged locally. On a couple of occasions Archie’s father negotiated privately for a lad from the Nazareth Home in Belfast but often these were unsuitable as they had neither the background nor interest in farming. Three horses were kept at Brown’s, two for working the land and one for odd jobs like pulling the trap. In addition to this, blood [throughbred] horses were specially bred and broken in for selling as officers’ horses during the 1914-18 war.       One of the jobs that fell to the young Archie was taking the horses to be shod. The best-known blacksmiths in Islandmagee were the Mitchell brothers who could shoe a horse, mend machinery parts or hang a scythe to perfection. The scythe parts (the snead [handle] and the blade) were bought in Larne and taken to the blacksmith who twisted the metal part at the neck of the blade and hung it so that the blade lay at the correct angle according to the customer’s height and the length of his arm. Archie looked forward to going to the smithy as, apart from meeting and talking with neighbouring farmers, he enjoyed listening to the fine voices of the Mitchells who often sang as they worked.       By the outbreak of the Second World War Archie was farming 600 acres, keeping cows, pigs and poultry – but never sheep. Later he was to hire someone from whom he would learn the rudiments of sheep farming. At the time the man (Nat Sloan) was hired with a well-known hill farmer outside Larne. Nat knew he was well off where he was but he was restless for a change. Archie heard about this and asked him if he was interested in coming to Islandmagee. He was; and within a short time Archie found himself buying sheep to accommodate the interests and skills of his hired man. It was the beginning of a partnership that was to last several decades.       Extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. Previous extracts regarding County Antrim: Part 1 | Part 2 | Forthcoming extracts regarding County Antrim: Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13

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