Hiring Fairs and Market Places - County Armagh [part 8 of 8]

Search the site:

extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair.

COUNTY ARMAGH

But pride of place in manufacturing goes to Lurgan. The original proprietors of the town were ousted by John Brownlow (a Nottinghamshire gentleman) who brought with him forty English settlers and their families in 1610. The town and castle were burnt by rebels in 1641 and lay in ruins until the reign of Charles II when rebuilding began. By 1725 Lurgan had a sizeable community and ‘a fine parish church with a shingled spire’. By 1800 it had around four hundred houses, two of which were shingled with bog oak and the rest slated or thatched.
Two patent fairs were granted to John Brownlow by King William after the Battle of the Boyne, one to be held in August and the other in November, each lasting two days. There was also a good weekly market held around the market house in the main thoroughfare which was broad enough to accommodate both business and traffic. Market tolls were abolished in Lurgan around 1850. The market for grain, grass seed, pork, potatoes, vegetables, fowl, butter and eggs was held on Thursdays. In 1846 the general market changed from Friday to Thursday to avoid clashing with that of Belfast. By then the town had added monthly fairs to the two old fairs already mentioned making fourteen in all.
With the exception of Belfast no town in Ireland increased as rapidly in population and wealth as Lurgan. This was due mainly to the development of the linen industry. The manufacture of linen was introduced to the area by William Waring in the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) and from then on the town went from strength to strength. Waringstown (the home of the Waring family) was also celebrated for its linens and cambrics.
The sale of webs of linen soon became a feature of Lurgan’s weekly market. In the early days business was done in the open street, the buyers paying for and receiving the goods afterwards in hotels. Before long the need for a linen hall was felt and one was built near the church. It was replaced in the early 1800s by a larger building which was said to be thronged every Friday with weavers who exposed their webs on long tables provided for the purpose. At that time there were at least 18,000 hand loom weavers employed in enterprises wholly or partly directed from Lurgan. They lived mainly in Armagh, Down, Antrim and Tyrone. With the introduction of power loom weaving in 1855 the linen markets declined and in 1865 Lurgan’s linen hall was demolished.
The north of the county (more specifically Annaghmore, Tartaraghan and the Montiaghs) was almost exclusively bogland from which turf was extracted and used extensively for fuel. During the nineteenth century the road from Annaghmore to Armagh was said to ‘suffer at all seasons of the year from the constant traffic of turf carts.’ At the same time lighter [flat-bottomed barges used for canal and river transport] loads of turf were being sent from the Montiaghs via the River Bann to Portadown and via the Newry Canal to Madden Bridge, Scarva and Poyntzpass for distribution to a wider area.
This was by no means exclusively for domestic use. Vast quantities were needed by the linen bleachers for boiling their cloth and by farmers for burning their lime and bricks or drying their agricultural produce. Magheralin and Moira also drew their fuel from the Montiaghs and in return sold limestone which could be mixed with bog or stable manure and used as fertilizer. This could be purchased already mixed in the Loughgall area at ten pence a barrel. Some people gathered rushes to make mats, rushlights and seats for rush-bottomed chairs. These were sold in local markets. The mats were used on stairs and as covering for earthen floors. A system of farming popular in Armagh long ago was that of heating the boglands so that they would yield good crops. Peat fires were lit around the ground about to be planted. The remaining surface was sprinkled with hot ashes and the crop sown in the warm earth. The heated land forced vegetation and growth, ensuring a good crop of oats or potatoes.
There are many versions of this popular song. Bawn (or Bawnboy) is in Cavan though the song was by no means confined to that area. It is entitled ‘The Rocks of Bawn’.

Come all ye loyal heroes and listen unto me,
Don’t hire with any farmer till you know what your work will be,
For he will rise you early from clear daylight till dawn
And you never will be able for to plough the rocks of Bawn.
Oh, rise up, gallant Sweeney and give your horse some hay,
And give to him a feed of oats before you start the day;
Don’t feed him on soft turnips, take him down to yon green lawn,
Or he never will be able for to plough the rocks of Bawn.
Oh, my clothes they are all torn, and my shoes they do let in,
My heart is always trembling now for fear they might give in,
My heart is nearly broken now from clear daylight till dawn,
And I never will be able for to plough the rocks of Bawn.
My curse upon you Sweeney boy, you have me nearly robbed;
You’re sitting by the fireside now, your feet upon the hob.
You’re sitting by the fireside now, from clear daylight till dawn,
And you never will be able for to plough the rocks of Bawn.
I wish the Queen of England would send for me in time,
And place me in some regiment all in my youthful prime;
I would fight for England’s glory from clear daylight till dawn,
And I never would return again to plough the rocks of Bawn.

[ Back to Top ]

[ Home | Features | Culture | History | Travel ]