'Hiring Fairs and Market Places' by May Blair, published by Appletree Press

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

COUNTY FERMANAGH

Garrison is known to have held fairs at Niamdh Hill in the townland of Carrigalough before the Plantation but these are not listed in any almanac, perhaps because they were regarded as religious rather than commercial festivals. The last one was held there on 2 August 1820. We do know that by then both towns had a weekly market, a fair green, monthly fairs and probably a market house as well. Tolls were charged in Garrison, for the 1862 Valuation states that they were collected by a William Blair who had a house, land and corn mill in the townland of Carran West on the eastern shore of Lough Melvin.
There are several theories as to how Garrison got its name. As stated earlier, the most likely explanation is that it was named by Captain John Dunbar when he founded the town in the seventeenth century. At the same time he set up an ironworks and built a barrack there ‘to protect the people of Belleek from surprise attacks from ‘the fighting men of Connaught.’ Another suggests that King William halted his army there and erected a barrack after the battle of Aughrim. Either way there is still a Barrack Street in the village and Edward Blair’s farm on the banks of the Kilcoo River was known as Barrack Park when he sold it, together with his house and corn mill, in December 1895. At that time Edward (son of William who collected the tolls) had in his employment James Kerins and Lizzie Clarke. James did farmwork and helped in the mill during the four months in the year that it was in operation, and Lizzie acted as housekeeper to his wife Elizabeth and nursemaid to their two baby daughters. In those days if a farmer sold his farm and moved to another, it was usual to take his hired help with him and James and Lizzie flitted with the family. Lizzie had been hired no further away than Belleek so the move from the furthermost corner of Fermanagh to County Down must have been quite an adventure.
The farm and all that remains of the old mill in Garrison are now owned by local farmer Tommy Kerr. Tommy’s father bought the mill from an Englishman who had in turn bought it from Edward Blair in 1895. Tommy remembers the mill in operation – but only just. He was taken along there by his grandfather when he was a small boy. He also recalls the fairs:

I do remember the corn mill. I do surely. My grandfather took corn till it. I remember the fairs too. There would have been cattle sold; not many sheep. This is not sheep country. Goats and horses and pigs – suckin’ pigs. It used to be carts at that time with pigs you know. People bought them for fattening. Then the fat pigs mostly all went to Ballyshannon. Ballyshannon was the market town in them old days in all this country. The farmer roun’ here that was buyin’ suckin’ pigs; they sold the fat pig in Ballyshannon. I remember second-hand clothes being bought on the street; an’ ropes an’ shafts an’ delph an’ all that stuff. No eggs or butter. Johnstons used to buy the eggs. They collected them from the shops in this country an’ they went to Manorhamilton for market day – ten mile up the road there.
There was horses sold in Garrison but the main horse fair in this country was in Enniskillen. That was the big horse fair. There’d be odd times there’d be horses sold here (in Garrison) but the big horse fair was in Enniskillen – always. I worked with horses all my life. I was mowin’ with horses when I was seven. We ploughed an’ worked with several horses. We never kept them too long. They’d be in the plough this week an’ next week they’d be gone. There’d be some fella’ lookin’ for one and we’d sell him. We bought and sold.

Possibly the oldest fair in the county was held at Holywell. It was what was known as a pattern, i.e. a festival associated with the patron saint. These usually lasted two days – one for gathering and one for scattering. Tents and booths were erected for the occasion and they were popularly known as holy fairs. As the name suggests it was once famous for the curative powers of its waters. The last Sunday in July (Lughnasa) was ‘station’ day when the blind were said to receive their sight and the lame to throw away their crutches. It was also Blaeberry (or Bilberry) Sunday, when large numbers of people climbed the hills to socialise and partake of this delicious fruit. It was generally a joyful occasion with music, singing and dancing. It was also by tradition a day for matchmaking. Holywell is one of the few places to have retained its old market cross. It may still be seen in its original position, though not in its original setting. It lay behind a ditch for a spell when the Belcoo to Garrison road was being constructed in 1847 and marked a grave in the area on more than one occasion. Long ago it was probably at the centre of the market area, marking the focal point in the village.
A market cross was of great significance in days gone by as a swearing object for finalising bargains between traders and even for sealing matchmaking agreements. This was done by the laying of hands upon the cross and swearing that the trade (or agreement) was true. Holywell later held monthly fairs at which livestock of all kinds were bought and sold. Oddly enough I could find no record of these until the nineteenth century (O.S. Memoirs) whereas Belcoo is recorded as having five in Watson’s Almanack of 1745 and had a market house and fair green by the 1850s. The coming of the railway in 1879 marked the decline of Holywell and the growth of Belcoo. From then on a special train was laid on for marketeers. The markets for pork, butter and other dairy produce improved immediately.
Black cattle, pigs and a few mountain ponies were sold at the remaining fairs in the area – Callowhill (near Derrylin), Stragowna, which was about three miles from Kinawley, and Wheathill, also sometimes known by the Parish name, Killesher. Some cloth and yarn were also sold. These were usually bought by dealers who resold it in such places as Enniskillen and Ballyconnell. Today you might have difficulty in finding some of these places, but if you do find them and stop, local people will show you the old fair green and tell you about the people who used to arrive on fair day and set up stalls for selling their wares, or erect tents in which to sell their whiskey. Callowhill and Stragowna had fairs in the eighteenth century and probably long before. Those at Stragowna died out before 1900 but those at Callowhill (by then moved to Derrylin) were revived and held monthly until the middle of the next century. Hiring took place at Wheathill twice a year until its fairs ceased altogether early in the twentieth century. Often a hiring agreement included a promise on the part of hired workers to devote their free time to spinning.

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