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extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair.
COUNTY ANTRIMThe formation of Farming Societies in the 1830s (two such were the Templecorran and the Kilroot Farming Societies) did much to promote improvements in both farming methods and the quality of farm implements. All three blacksmiths in Ballycarry began making iron ploughs and an ‘excellent description’ of farm cart was introduced. There were numerous horse-operated threshing machines and at least one driven by water. The water was conveyed about a quarter of a mile in a pipe under the ground and thirty-three yards by a wooden trough supported by five stone pillars. It could work all seasons of the year in spite of sharing the stream with a corn mill and a flax mill. A lean-to for storing straw was attached to the main building.The Six Mile Water and its tributaries once provided the power for a score or more mills, not to mention its fertile valley and a number of towns and villages once associated with fairs and farming. These included Antrim, Ballyclare, Templepatrick, Roughfort, Parkgate, Oldstone, Ballynure and Straid (once known as Thomas Town). The original patent for fairs in the parish of Ballynure, which included Straid, was granted by James I on 8 July 1608, when John Dalway was given liberty ‘to hold a Friday’s market and a fair in each year at Thomas Town, within the cynament of Ballynure.’ These transferred to Ballynure village around 1790 when they were held on the Fair Hill which was on the site of the old castle built by Dalway in 1609. There was a second piece of common ground just off the main street in Ballynure where locals were in the habit of grazing their goats and geese. It was known as the Shilling Hill. The name had nothing whatever to do with money but rather indicated a draughty place where farmers could separate the shellings (or husks) from grain. The farmer or housewife shook the oats in a riddle and the wind took away the waste. Ballynure was in those days notorious for its horse dealers but famous for the quality and quantity of its butter which was generally marketed in Belfast. The fairs at Parkgate – which was situated on the ancient road from Antrim to Carrickfergus – date back to 1787 when William Ferguson of ‘Thrushfield’ near the village was granted the patent for holding monthly markets and quarterly fairs. Markets were never held there but the fairs flourished. Two fairs started in Roughfort around the same time and continued throughout that century and the next. Livestock and farm produce were sold in both places: hiring also took place. The February fair, in Parkgate in particular, brought in hundreds of horses, mostly of the kind used for farmwork. There could have been any number up to 700 animals. The May fair had fewer horses, but a greater number of cattle as the grazing season got underway. The August fair was mainly for the sale of beef cattle and sheep, though there was always a certain number of every kind of animal at all the fairs. The November fair was said to be poor compared with the other three, though a few cattle would have been sold to pay land rents or make up servants’ wages. Pedlar’s goods, old clothes, fruit and huckstery were sold at all of them. Here cantin’ varlets, thrawn [awkward] an’ cross,On one occasion a prankster put up posters advertising that a representative of the Persian Government was coming to Parkgate to buy cats. Another version of the story states that the purchaser was coming from Peru. In any case his country of origin is irrelevant as no one turned up at all. Numerous people, however, arrived at the fair with cats for sale. When it became evident that it was all a hoax they released hundreds of cats on the unsuspecting villagers of Parkgate. A copy of Old Moore’s Almanac records horse fairs at Oldstone until the outbreak of World War II but local people cannot recall any being held in the 1930s. They took place at what was known as O’Neill’s Bullock House at the junction of the Ballyarnott Road and the Oldstone Hill. Today there is no evidence at all of the former twice yearly event. Centuries ago, the nearby town of Antrim was said to consist solely of wooden houses; the floors, walls and doors being made of oak and the roofs of shingles. The town was destroyed in the rebellions of 1641 and 1798 but its position on the main route from places like Carrickfergus and Downpatrick, to Londonderry and the North West, ensured that it recovered quickly in the years that followed. Around the latter date, stage coaches (The Champion, Commerce, Reformer and Lark) passed through regularly. It also had a phaeton and gig and a good supply of four-wheeled caravans and jaunting cars. All these were said to be well horsed and appointed, and travelled on average at the rate of five Irish miles per hour. In those days Antrim had just one street with three lanes branching off it, namely Bow Lane, Paty’s Lane and Mill Row. The town had three fairs held on New Year’s Day and the twelfth days of May and November. The first was held basically for the sale of cows, pigs and farm horses. The others were for the hiring of farm labourers. Those for hire could be found standing on the Massereene Bridge or near the hotel on the High Street. The O.S. Memoir of 1833 comments on male servants in Antrim carrying a rod to indicate that they were available for hire. The usual assortment of pedlar’s goods, old clothes, cakes, apples, shoes, tinware, ironmongery and crockery was displayed for sale along the street. Cows and pigs were sold on the hiring days but never horses. The town’s two inns did a good trade, particularly in summer when parties called on their way to the Giant’s Causeway and Shane’s Castle. The downside was the influx of undesirables along with the visitors. This quote taken from O. S. Memoirs, Parishes of County Antrim Vol.29, P.24 states, ‘From the circumstances of Antrim being such a thoroughfare and pass, their intercourse with strangers, though it may in some respects have tended towards their civilisation, still it also had its injurious effects in bringing many strolling and improper characters.’ Not much had changed a century later when Alexander Irvine wrote: The annual fair day in Antrim was a great occasion for the poor. The main street was lined with stalls which were crowded with gingerbread and candy.There was always a good supply of meat at these fairs, though vegetables and fruit were often in short supply. Flax and grain were sold when in season. Lough Neagh trout, pollan and salmon were plentiful, as were Myroe oysters, Strangford cockles and Carrickfergus cod-fish. Poultry of all descriptions was usually available. Although close to Antrim, Shane’s Castle and Milltown once had their own fairs. Both died out during the eighteenth century. Templepatrick had two which were often used by the McKinneys of Sentry Hill for the sale of their farm produce and livestock. They also used other local fairs and of course, the bustling fairs and markets of Belfast. Fairs increased in many places during the nineteenth century and Antrim was no exception. They increased from two to fourteen at that time and to seventeen early in the twentieth century. In 1938 for instance they were held monthly, with an extra one in January, April, May, June and November. This included the two hiring days. Hiring also took place in Ballyclare, though never at any time over the centuries were there more than four fairs in the year, two of which included hiring. The preferred site for hiring was the Market Square which in the early days was the old Fair Green. A wooden market house was built on it sometime during the eighteenth century. This was replaced by a stone one in 1866 and improved and enlarged several times afterwards. A monument was erected nearby in memory of a Doctor James Cunningham and from then on this was the focus for both selling produce and hiring labourers. When the monument was removed in the interests of traffic flow in 1951 the focus moved back to the market house, by now a fine building known and used as the Town Hall. By tradition the fair was never held earlier than the third Thursday in the month, making it one of the latest fairs in the district. Ballyclare’s fairs date back to 1756. George II saw fit to grant Arthur, Earl of Donegall ‘two fairs yearly, also a weekly market to be held at the town aforesaid on every Wednesday forever; also a Piepowder Court to be held in the said town during the said fairs and markets.’ However it is certain that these go back further, for Watson’s Almanac records four fairs in Ballyclare in 1745. Ballyclare has always been famed for its livestock markets – especially horses. It was regarded as an excellent fair in which to purchase horses for cavalry regiments or draught horses for gun carriages or other military vehicles during World War I. During 1818 a farming society was formed in the nearby village of Doagh under the patronage of the Marquis of Donegall. The society held a ploughing match in spring and a cattle show in the autumn. Prizes were awarded to the best ploughman, the best brood mare, foal, bull, cow, butter, etc. The marquis’s patronage was short-lived however, as within a few years he became so embarrassed financially that he was obliged to grant leases to farmers in perpetuity in return for immediate cash, after which farmers held large farms at almost nominal rent. Extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. Previous extracts regarding County Antrim: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Forthcoming extracts regarding County Antrim: Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 |
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