extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. COUNTY TYRONE Hiring certainly took place at Trillick with the usual entertainments and sideshows. A report in the Tyrone Constitution of 1883 states that the attendance of public and supply of stock was very large in Trillick in May of that year. The report further states that a large number of male and female servants attended and that numerous contracts were entered into at wages satisfactory to the employed. At one of the last fairs in Trillick a party of tinkers (both men and women) livened up the proceedings by having a family fight in the open street.       By the nineteenth century tolls had been abolished in Killeter Fair, which encouraged sellers, and premiums to the value of £2 were awarded to the highest purchasers of cattle, yarn and pigs, which encouraged buyers. Henry Smith Esq., landlord, contributed £10 a year towards this and the rest was made up by the inhabitants of the town. Killeter Fair is immortalised in the song of the same name.       Drumquin is described by the Ordnance Surveyor of 1834 as a ‘poor-looking place, the houses mean and out of repair.’ However it had a weekly market on Thursdays and quarterly cattle fairs which were attended by English dealers.       The countryside in which these towns were situated was renowned in those days for the excellent whiskey made in the stills hidden away in the hills and mountains. In 1820 there were upwards of sixty private stills in the Killeter area alone. Ten years later the number was said to be ‘greatly diminished’ owing to the exertions of Lieutenant Hunt, a sergeant, and eleven privates of the Revenue Police. Three-quarters of the inhabitants were said to be Catholics, the remainder Episcopalians and there were a few Presbyterians. The former were said to be ‘civil and obliging’, the latter ‘uncouth’. The former were however also said to be often ‘dishonest and insincere’ and the latter mostly ‘upright men’. (O.S. Memoirs Vol.5      The South Tyrone area included the three Clogher Valley towns – Augher, Clogher and Fivemiletown, together with Caledon, Aughnacloy and Ballygawley. All had at least one fair by 1700. Aughnacloy had five. All (with the exception of Augher) had a small linen or yarn market. By the end of the nineteenth century all (again with the exception of Augher) were market towns and had monthly fairs. Most had hiring fairs.       By then too the Clogher valley tram had arrived and could be seen crawling by the roadside, cutting across fields or clearing a way through village streets as it made its way from Maguiresbridge to Tynan. In 1894 four cattle wagons were added to its existing stock of thirteen carriages. On Fair Days the cattle wagons were crammed with livestock of all descriptions. (Hundreds of cattle in those days made their way to sidings all over the country to catch the shipping train on the GNR (Great Northern Railway) for Belfast Quay and the cross-channel steamers). Tommy Caruth looked after the tram for many years, perhaps too many, and old age and tiredness often caught up with him especially in the heat of summer. Tommy (known as Tam or Tammy) is remembered in the poem, ‘The Clogher Valley Railway’. It’s Clogher Fair and we’re running late And Tammy the Guard’s in a terrible state, ‘For it’s bad enough,’ he’s heard to say ‘To miss the mail on an ordinary day.’ ‘For people,’ says he, ‘if they’re left behin’ Can look after themselves – barrin’ they’re blin’! ‘But bastes,’ says he as he peers ahead, ‘If they’re left behin’, they’ve got to be fed. And the Manager’ll curse to bate the band At fattenin’ bastes for a dalin’ man!’ The carriages dance in the summer heat And Tammy sits down in the corner seat; His ticket punch slides to the floor And Tammy the Guard begins to snore. For ’tis hard enough at the best of times To manage a train at seventy-nine. The carriages on the tram were cleaned out, whitewashed and pressed into service on the day of the Clogher Valley Show – also on the Twelfth of July to transport local Orangemen to their big day on the Caledon estate. With the extra load the train used to stick going up Tullyvar hill. Legend has it that when this happened the second-class passengers were asked to get out and walk and the third-class to get out and push. The tram made its final journey on the last day of December 1941.       Extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. Previous extract regarding County Tyrone: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 Forthcoming extracts regarding County Tyrone: Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

[ Back to Top ]

All Material © 1999-2009 Irelandseye.com and contributors