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extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair.
COUNTY ARMAGHThe area around Markethill was also Acheson territory. Nineteen Scottish families were settled there during the reign of James I and markets and fairs were held throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, increasing to twelve in the nineteenth and twentieth. An old farmer reminisces:Fair day was always the third Friday. The’ driv’ the cattle down out of the country lanes down into Markethill an’ sold them in the streets. The cattle used to stan’ wi’ their heads up agin’ the wall. An’ the horses an’ carts were there wi’ pigs an’ sheep. They run the horses to let people see what sort o’ shape they were in. There weren’t many horses – just one or two. I remember gettin’ a calf give to me, a white bull calf. I put it in a two hundredweight bag an’ set it in the back of the trap an’ brought it home an’ reared it. I was thirteen years of age. That was about 1934. There used to be stalls an’ strongmen. There was a man had a big board of nails an’ he lay down on it and got somebody to stan’ on his bare chest. The markets for fowl, eggs and grain were held on Monday; butter and eggs on Friday. Friday was also the day that manufacturers’ agents brought linen yarn to the town for the weavers. Dean Swift is believed to have visited Markethill in 1729 as the guest of Sir Arthur Acheson. The territory around Tandragee (variously called Tanrygee and Tanderagee) formerly belonged to the O’Hanlons but was taken from them for their part in the Rebellion of 1594-1603. The highwayman Redmond O’Hanlon was perhaps the most notorious member of the family. Redmond was a rapparee [bandit] and was known as the ‘terror of the Fews’ for the way he plundered and terrorised the people of the countryside. But his discretion eventually outran his valour and he was murdered by a member of his own gang. He is reputed to lie buried in the old graveyard at Relicarn near Scarva. The O’Hanlon lands were confiscated by James I and granted to Sir Oliver St John who rebuilt the castle and settled the town. Sir Oliver was also granted rights to fairs and markets. However, the O’Hanlons returned in 1641, destroyed the church and castle and killed Sir Oliver. The town prospered in spite of these disasters, with fairs and markets continuing throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1835 there were twelve fairs and excellent weekly markets which were abundantly supplied with linen and the usual animals and farm produce. In addition thirty-five cart loads of pork were sold and the sale of flax averaged £6,000 per week during their respective seasons. By the end of the nineteenth century the markets had gone except for a few people who sold butter. Later lords of the castle included Colonel and Lady Olivia Sparrow, Lord Viscount and Lady Mandeville, and the Duke of Manchester. Contrary to reports at the time, most landlords treated their tenants well as stated by the Ordnance Surveyor of 1838: Lord Mandeville as a landlord deserves the highest praise. He gives his tenants lime to whitewash their houses. He lends money to farmers of small capital to labour and crop their land and takes their labour in return for payment. He keeps a surgeon to visit them, supplies them with medicines and a dispensary and maintains numerous schools in this and the adjoining parishes in which his estates lie for the education of their children.Yet another landlord is praised in the following verse: Mountnorris has its monthly fair,Mountnorris owes its existence to the erection of a fortress during the rebellion mentioned above, in which both the O’Hanlons and the O’Neills took part. It was named in honour of a commander called General Norris. It too acquired fairs at an early date but they did not survive beyond the nineteenth century. At one point it was better known for the disturbances which took place there than for the business done. Poyntzpass got its name from Sir Charles Poyntz, who commanded the Elizabethan army which defended the pass between Down and Armagh. The surrounding area was inhospitable bog and forest, which in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was constantly under attack from the O’Neills. From the eighteenth century onwards it benefited from the proximity of the nearby Newry Canal which was used for the export of farm produce – especially grain. The arrival of the railway the next century was a further boost. Monthly fairs were held in Poyntzpass until the twentieth century. Although the mart at Poyntzpass has since closed local man Cecil Allen remembers: Fairs were held in the street ’til the 1950s. I remember farmers comin’ with cattle. There’s an iron rail was put up to keep them away from the windows. It’s still there. Sheep were in pens. When it was over they used to brush the street and wash the footpath. Nowadays [2003] sheep are auctioned here at the mart on a Thursday night and pigs on a Saturday – fat sows, fat pigs, pork pigs – no cattle now. Extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. Previous extracts regarding County Armagh: Part 1 Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Forthcoming extracts regarding County Antrim: Part 7 | Part 8 |
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