I ntroduction to Books and Manus cripts in Armagh Library
Educational and Historical background
Armagh Charters , Fairs and other Miscellanea
Armachiana Volume 5
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Armachiana Vol1 (Armagh County Museum ARMCM.28.2014.57)
The cont ents of thes e volumes l a belled Armachiana are simply notes for t a lks to local and visitin g societies in search of material relating to it s histor ic a l b a ck ground and an cient monuments . They a re not of any great i mportance but may p rovide a gui de to studen ts seek ing d a t a on the county g enerally or on their own distri ct s i n particular . TGF Paterson
NOTES FOR DISCUSSION AT OLD CATHEDRAL.
AND YI SIT TO THE TOWER AS A VIEW POINT
THE OLD CATHEDRAL
1. The hill in pre-Christian days.
The three Mach as.
Stone circle on S.W. slope, possibly a Bronze Age monument, survived until a.bout a century ago.
2. St. Patrick's arrival in 444.
Came in by south crossing the Callan by an old ford by which roads or tracks went south, west and north.
Hill top then occupied by Daire's entrenched abode, the enclosing ramparts of which are still traceable. Site refused but grotmd given outside the ra.th where the saint built his first church, known as Templenafertagh. Afterwards the burial-place of his sister, St. Lupita, and the reputed resting-place of himself. Later Daire and Patrick became more friendly and as a result the saint was granted the hill-top site that be set bis heart upon originally. Soon a second church arose and a school was fotmded, the settlement eventually becoming a notable scholastic centre. Of the early town we know little other than we learn from the annals. Tribal raids of those days made life very trying for small communities such as Armagh.
J. Buildings within the rath.
The first churches were probably wooden structures. Three churches were sited within the central ring of the rath and although there is no evidence of sequence as to date of erection it is assumed that the edifice known as the Sabhall was the earliest of the three, as it is said to have been founded by St. Patrick personally on the spot where he came upon the fawn. when inspecting the hill following Daire•s decision to let him have that particular site.
(1) The Sabhall mentioned in the Annals as early 839. Seems to have been practically destroyed by fire in 1020.
(2) The Duleek Toga or Stone Church of the Elections. Suffered also in 1020. Was in being at least as early as 916.
(3) The Duleek Mor or Great Stone Church. So known as early as the year 839, the first church indeed to be so described in Irish Annals, in which there are many references to it. Seems to have served as the principal church until Archbishop o•scanlon's restoration of 1268.
These three churches were probably primitive types. Carved stones from them still survive.
4. The arrival of the Vikin g s.
The settlement was first raided by the Vikings in 832 .
Round towers mentioned in the plural in 995, at which time most of the city was destroyed by a fire due to lightning. One seems to have been repaired but it was later damaged in 1020, in which year the library was the only building within the rath that escaped destruction.
Other buildings in the city at that time included:
(1) The Abbot's House first mentioned in 822 when destroyed by fire.
( 2) The Culdee Priory mentioned in 919 when Arm ag h was plundered by the Danes.
(3 ) The Churches of St. Columba and St. Brigid, both very ancient foundations though seldom noticed before the 9th century.
(4) The Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul. A monastic house of very early origin for which there is much information. Rebuilt in 1126 by Ivar 0 1 Hagan, the preceptor and teacher of St. Malachy.
(5) The Abbey of Mullynure, commonly known as Bishop's Court.
(6) Templemurry.
(7) Templenafertagh.
(8) The Hospice of the Guests. Mentioned in the 11th and 12th centuries.
(9) The Round Tower mentioned in the plural in 995 at which time there may have been two. One damaged in 1002.
(10) The Library mentioned in 1020.
(11) The Abbot's house recorded in 822 as being destroyed by fire.
(12) The Hospice or fort of the guests appears in Annals of 11th and 12th centuries, probably outside the rath.
(13) Franciscan Friary built 1264.
5. The Coming of the Anglo-Normans.
At a Synod of the Clergy held at Armagh in 1170 it was concluded that this invasion was due to the Irish custom of purchasing F.nglishmen from pirates as slaves and decreed that all such bondsmen should be freed. Armagh a bone of contention. Did not come fully under English rule until the Plantation of Ulster.
Town raided many times.
In 1180 pillaged by William Fitz Aldelm who destroyed most of the city and robbed the Cathedral of the Bachall Isa also known as St. Patrick's Staff which he carried off to Dublin and presented to Christ Church Cathedral. Staff remained in Dublin until 1538 in which year it was publicly burned.
In the next century in 1227 the Ca$tle of Armagh was built. Archbishop O'Scanlon erected a Franciscan Friary in 1264 and in 1268 built the Cathedral, the shell of which remains. · 6. The O'Scanlon rebuilding of 1268.
Cruciform-shaped churches were then coming into being and as a result of careful planning the three old sites were incorporated in the new structure.
Church has had many alterations since then but the shell of his building survives.
Notice staircase in wall of south transept and slant in chancel.
The crypt also dates to this period, its necessity being due to the slope of the ground at the east end. Used for storage purposes by
the citizens in medieval times and at the present moment utilized as a store by contractors working on the roof. Contains carved figure discussed in the Society's Journal by Professor Kingsley Porter, who also published a detailed account of the sculptured cross now preserved in the north aisle of the Cathedral.
7. In 1315 the See of Armagh was wasted by Edward Bruce who reduced the Archbishop to a state of poverty. Archbishop Jorse present at his defeat on the Armagh-Louth border in 1318. Cathedral burned in 1404 but repaired. Garrison by Lord Deputy Sussex in 1561. Burned by Shane O'Neill in 1566.
Restored by Archbishop Hampton in 1614. Burned by Sir Phelim O'Neill in 1642 but again restored.
Peal of bells presented by Primate Lindsay in 1721. Picture of the church as it was about date in Ware's Ireland.
8. Armagh as a scholastic centre • .Amongst the earliest of the Irish Schools but not outstanding in 6th or 7th century. Educational growth very gradual.
Gildas Albanius, the historian of Britain, a master here. Died 512.
Prince Aldfrid a pupil here circa 684.
Schools suffered greatly in 9th and 10th centuries through raids by the Vikings. This a set back to expansion causing foreign students to desert the city.
Mound on the Callan a relic of this period, Cenotaph to King Niall who was dro\oliled in the river in 846 after having defeated a Norse army in Armagh.
The most important surviving manuscript of those days is the Book of Armagh. Copy compiled in the city in 807 of an older Book now lost.
Enshrined by Flann, King of Ireland 937. Kings of Ireland and of the Provinces helped the schools and churches - for instance -
(1) The King of Munster in 907.
(2) Brian Boru in 1004.
(3) In 1162 it was decreed at a Synod that no person might lecture on theology who had not studied at Armagh - by which university status was conferred on the city.
(4) Roderick O'Connor, King of Ireland, in 1169,
(5) Niall O'Neill, King of Ulster, in 1387,
A poet writing in 1372 describes the then community 11Head of Erin is great Ardmach
The men of the world have their knowledge there 11 • Schools suffered in quarrels between rival native chieftains and later through conflict between Irish and English opinion, Did not suffer actual extinction until Dissolution of monasteries. Armagh probably suffered less quickly owing to being less directly under F.llglish influence. Efforts in 1558 by Archbishop Dowdall) to revive ) 1583 by Queen Elizabeth ) university ) 1559 by Earl of Tyrone ) status Archbishop Robinson's attempt in 1794, Failure to secure a Queen's College in 1845.
9, Cottingham's restoration of 1834-37,
Exterior walls encased in red sandstone and interior walling covered with plaster.
Old walls had many carved stones inset, said to have been relics from early churches on the hills. These were removed by Cottingham and distributed amongst subscribers to the restoration fund. Statuary. Military Banners.
The Market Cross. Four other crosses known as
the Cross of St. Bridget, the Cross of Columbkille, the Cross of St. Owen, and Cross of Sechnall, figure in the Annals. Fragment of the shaft of a cross now opposite the west door of the cathedral but formerly set up on the north side is said to have formed part of a memorial to Brian Boru. 10. Brian Boru's Grave.
Visited Armagh in 1004.
Killed at Battle of Clontarf in 1014 and body brought here for burial. St. Patrick and the fa'Wll.
On being given this site St. Patrick accompanied by his many converts came up the slope from Templenafertagh to this point to consecrate the hill, whereupon a deer and its fawn burst forth from the willows that then grew in profusion upon the ramparts of the rath. Some of the party 'Wished to slay the animals but the saint refused to allow them to be slain and later carried the fawn down the northern slope and ascending an eminence on the north west laid the fawn there in safety. That hill is now occupied by the new cathedral and thus in Armagh the old and the new both have their links with St. Patrick.
Point out Observatory from that point and mention the fact that the first notice of a comet in Irish Annals appears in 41+3 just before St. Patrick's arrival here.
PLACES YI SIBLE FROM TOWER OF THE OLD CATHEDRAL
The ascent to the tower is made by an interesting old 13th century stairway incorporated in the west wall of the south transept of the Cathedral. This leads direct to the bell-loft, from which level the tower has been rebuilt and its original circular corner staircase replaced by a more modern but less convenient method of ascent -a series of ladders.
On the second floor of the bell-loft, the bells may be seen and examined. Some of the bells have been in constant use for over two hundred years. In that time they have pealed forth in rejoicing over famous victories and at peace following wa:r, at Royal coronations and jubilees and have tolled in sorrow for the passing of kings and archbishops. Each bell bears an inscription and a few have had to be recast. The oldest are dated 1721. There is one of 1841 and tw of 1885.
The bells of Armagh figure in Irish Annals as early as the year 994. They suffered frequent destruction in the many raidings and burnings of the City from that period down to the year 1641, when certain old bells with one recast by Archbishop Hampton in 1613 were lost in the destruction of the church.
Of all the bells associated with Armagh, that know
as St. Patrick's Bell was, and is, the most important. It was, however, a small hand-bell and belonged to the great saint himself so its history can be traced back to about the year 444. Fortunately it survives and with it a beautiful shrine made to encase it between the years 1091 and 1105 by command of Donnel O'Lochlain king of Ireland and during the Primacy of Donnel McAuley, Archbishop of Armagh.
In past times there was a society of bell-ringers connected with the Cathedral. The bells, however, have now been arranged so that they can be rung by one person. Up to the outbreak of War in 1939 curfew was rung each evening at nine o'clock. custom has been discontinued. Now alas the old
From the parapet of the tower there is an astonishingly wide view. No place of ancient importance in Ireland, excepting possibly "Tara of the Kings 11 , commands so fine a prospect. One thing is very certain, no other site in Ireland has greater historical relics around it. Let us examine the town and countryside and see what we can find in the immediate neighbourhood. For brevity's sake let us work by numbers -
1. Site of stone circle now occupied by Armagh Gas Works.
2. Navan Rath, the assembly place of the kings of Ulster from 350 B.C. to 332 A.D.
3. Niall's Mound. Cenotaph erected to mark the spot on the river Callan where King Niall was drowned in 846.
4. Tullyard Mound. Associated with Deirdre and the Sons of Usna and with a later 7th century St. Cretan.
5. The Druid's Circle. Remains of a pre-historic burial place of about 1500 B.C.
6. Vicar's Cairn. A prehistoric burial-place of about 2000 B.c.
7. Sites of various early religious foundations in the City proper - The churches of St. Brigid and St. Columba, Templemurry, the Culdee Priory, the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, Templenafertagh, the site of St. Patrick's first church in the town and Mullynure Abbey destroyed by fire circa 1371, commonly called Bishop's Court because the Archbishops sometimes resided there.
8. The Franciscan Friary erected in 1264.
9. Site of the Castle of Armagh, a building erected in 1227.
10. Site of the 17th century Sessions House, and Gallows Hill.
11. The Royal School. Founded by James I in 1608. Moved from original site in Abbey Street to present position in 1774.
12. The Observatory. Founded by Archbishop Robinson in 1789.
13. County Infirmary. Built 1774.
14. The Deanery. Built about 1770.
15. The Prison. Built on present site in 1780 to replace an older 17th century gaol.
16. Mound site on Mall opposite Prison.
17. Old Presbyterian Church. Built 1722. Site of still earlier Presbyterian Church in Lower English Street.
18. Military Barracks. Moved to present site in 1773,
19. St. Mark's Church, 1811,
20 . St. Malachy•s Chapel. Old 1750.
21. The Protestant Hal l . .An important Inn in the 17th century. Gave shelter to James II in 1689 and slightly later to King Willialll 1 S famous old General, the Duke of Schomberg.
22. House in Market Street where King James stayed on his way to and fr om Derry .
23. The Court House built in 1809,
24. The Roman Catho l ic Cathedral 1 840.
25. The Methodist Church. Built 1786 and since enlarged.
26. The Market House . Rebuilt in 1815 by Archbishop Stuart on the site of a 17th century Market House.
27. The Public Library. Founded by Archbishop Robinson in 1771.
28 . The Churches of Lisnadill (1772)~ Grang e (1776), Killylea (1832), Kildarton (1840), etc.
29. Palace Demesne Obelisk, 1782- 1783 ,
30 . The Castledi l lon Obelisk, 1782 .
31. The historic town of Dungannon .
32 . The site of the Old Sessions House .
33. Slieve Gullion and the Der r y - Ty r on e Mountains.
34 . Armaghbrague an d Carri ckatuke.
35 . Benbur b.
36, Sessiagb alias Sessiaghmacarr ol .
37. Slemish. Place of Patrick's Bondage .
38. Armaghbrague . Site of St . Pat rick' s reput e d attempt to build a c hurch.
L O C A L D A T A
RECORDS
Irish Annals give much information regarding events in the history of the town from the date of its foundation by St. Patrick in the year 444 A.D. and are supplemented by State Papers and the medieval registers of the Archbishops of Armagh.
The city is, however, somewhat unlucky as regards its Corporate records. Those for the 17th century are missing. Those previous to 1642 were probably lost in the destruction of the town in the Civil War of that year.
Whether the Corporation functioned fully again before 1657 is doubtful. It was, however, working in 1688 when James the Second excluded the then Sovereign and Burgesses, replacing them with men of his own choosing, who were in turn dissolved by William, Prince of Orange, following the battle of the Boyne.
Strangely enough, despite the peace that followed the Williamite war, there are no Borough Records available for the period 1697-1732, and surviving records do not begin until 1733.
The oldest Corporation relics now surviving are two beautiful silver Maces, made in 1657 to replace those lost in 1642. They are preserved in the Armagh Public
Library. Other survivals, including a City Watchman's Pike and Crake, Corporation Seal and Journal of the Corporation Pipe Water Commissioners, may be seen in the County Museum, and a Scold's Bridle from the old Market Street Sessions House is on display in the Belfast Museum.
THE ARMAGH MARKErS
Armagh is an ancient market town but, unfortunately, the date of its first charter is unknown. It was, however, a market town of some standing in the year 1467 when King Edward the Fourth granted a new Charter t o the then Archbishop. Whether that was a Tuesday market as at present or otherwise is not clear.
In those days the affairs of the city were under the control of a Seneschal, an officer appointed by the Archbishop and to whom there are many references in the medieval registers of the Archbishopric.
In 1587 a Tuesday market was granted to the citizens on the petition of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. According to an Inquisition taken in the city in 1609 it was found that a weekly market had been held in the town time out of mind.
Following the Plantation of Ulster with English and Scotch settlers, King James the First granted the city a new charter. By that particular patent Armagh was created a Borough and the government of the city placed in the hands of a Sovereign and Burgesses who were assisted by an assembly of free citizens by virtue of which arrangement two parliamentary representatives were elected to serve in Parliament, a form of representation that continued to the Union of Great Britain and
Ireland in 1 800 , following 'Which the city was represented in the Imperial Parliament by one member down until the year 1885.
THE ARMAGH FAIRS
A Tuesday market was confirmed to Archbishop Hampton and his successors in 1614 with two fairs to be held on the 17th March and 1st August and the day after each. A further patent was issued regarding the fairs and markets in 1620.
In 1634 a Saturday Market was granted to Archbishop Usher with an additional fair on St. Pater's Day, and the day following.
In 1753 the Corporation obtained leave to hold extra fairs on 20th May and 20th November - this brought the total of fairs up to what was then considered a good average. Later still, the fairs became monthly events and so continue.
The dates of the Annagh fairs are of interest and suggest a descent from older assemblies. St. Patrick's Day is a festival that heralds the end of winter and the approach of warmer weather - in fact we still speak of the warm side of the stone turning up on that day. The Lammas fair held on the 1st August was of equal importance as a festival. It marked the beginning of autumn and was a great holiday whose roots are lost in the mists of antiquity. The annual Bilberry pilgrimage to Carrickatuke is a direct link with that festival;
now, of course, it is merely a pilgrimage to the hilltop to gather the berries and gossip, but there was a time when it embraced all the amenities of the ancient fairs and was in fact a kind of parliament for the area.
The St. Pater's Day fair raises similar thoughts. Its nearness to the mid-summer festivities makes one wonder whether it was not an inheritance from Pagan days, especially as both festivals were celebrated by t he lighting of bonfires, the driving of cattle through the ashes and other ceremonial celebrations.
The oldest local fair seems, however, to have been the great annual gathering at :&Jain Macha outside the city, founded about the year 350 B.c., to commemorate Macha, the Second, the most famous of the three Machas connected with Armagh.
LIME-BURNING
Th e burnin g of limestone for the making of mortar and for the whitewashing of houses and buildings is one of t h e oldest occupations in the county. The earliest local reference to the industry occurs in 1145, in which year a huge kiln with sides 60 feet each way was built by t h e then Archbishop to provide lime for the repair of the Cathedral and other buildings in the city. Present day lime-kilns, however, are quite small in comparison wit h that erected by Archbishop Gelasius and probably far more akin to really early types.
Churches were lime-washed in early days - some still are so treated - and there is an old poem extant relatin g to Armagh, written by an Ulster poet, who flourished in the period 1220-1250, which states that -
11 Well bath its polished walls been warmed With lime as white as the plumes of swans 11 • Lime is in general use throughout the county for p ainti ng or lime-washing country houses. It is also in u s e for agricultural purposes. There are a number o f lime-kilns quite close to the city to which visits can be arranged.
Pole-lathe Wood-turnip~
Wood-turning by the primitive pole-lathe cannot very well be definitely dated. Some people are inclined to assign an almost equal age to that given to the potters wheel, basing their argument on the fact that once the lathe was known, it was sure to have been used for wood also.
There are references to pole-lathe wood-turning in the 13th century records and present equipment seems to have changed but slightly since then.
The pole-lathe in Armagh is probably the only example of its type now in actual use in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately it is not being worked continuously. The tools employed are somewhat primitive and were chiefly made by earlier generations of the family. A few, however, have been added in recent years by the present owner of the 11 plant 11 •
Such wood-turning outfits have all been replaced by motor-driven lathes, of which there are several examples in Armagh.
Spoons, egg-cups, platters, bowls, butter-prints, rolling-pins, tool-handles, etc. were manufactured here, with churn-heads and dairy utensils. Traditional shapes were observed and really fine work produced. It is
doubtful, however, whether this turnery will ever be fully worked again,
Wood-lathe and fittings are now in the Ulster Folk Museum. Presented by the Hughes family. Photographs in the County Museum.
Turf Cutting
The 11 Senchus Mor", a compilation of old Irish records based on earlier traditional sources, mentions the cutting of turf from a bank and the bringing of it home for fuel when dry. The Annals also mention the subject and tell of a certain king of Connaught, who flourished in the middle of the 7th century, ha.ving fallen by the hands of some men who were cutting turf in a bog. He had exasperated them in some way so they fell upon him with their spades and when they had finished with him he was a dead man.
The cutting of the turf begins each year in May and for a couple of months the peat-bogs are scenes of great activity. The various operations have each their particular name. The brick-shaped peat cut by a turfspade is lmown as a turf and many of the areas specialize in particular types of spades - the spades in themselves are an interesting study and were up until quite recent times manufactured in local spade-mills.
The great peat district of Armagh is known as the Montiaghs and natives of that district are jokingly termed ''Moss Cheepers 11 whilst those who come to the tows to sell the finished fuel are spoken of as "Turf-bummers".
A small heap of turf is commonly called a "rickle". Larger quantities built into long stacks are known as "Clampsu. The sequence of turf-cutting operations may
be roughly described as under:-
I. Cutting.
II. Spreading on bank.
III. Footing.
IV. Turn-footing.
V. Clamping.
VI. Carrying to 11 rampars" and building into stacks.
VII, Removal home.
LACE-MAKING IN COUNTY ARMAGH
The earliest centre of the still existing 19th century Irish laces was near Carrickmacross, where the making of applique was introduced about 1820 by Mrs. Grey Porter, the wife of the rector of Donaghmoyne.
Technically Carrickmacross is not a true lace, since the pattern is cut from a cambric foundation but it is then applied to the machine net with needlepoint stitches and further ornamented with various fillings, etc., also in point stitches. It is supposed by some to have originated either in Italy or the East. In any case something similar was produced in Italy in the 17th and 1 8th centuries and presumably it was an Italian specimen which Mrs. Grey Porter taught her servant to copy. Soon the art spread so successfully amongst the peasant women of the· district that Miss Reid of Rahans had many of the young girls from Culloville coming to her to learn to make lace on the same model. But the industry was dependent on private orders and was threatened with extinction from over-production and lack of a market. However, a revival took place after the famine of 1846, when Mr. Tristram Kennedy, manager of the Bath Estate and Captain Morant, agent of the Shirley Estate, turned a vacant home into a school - later the
Bath and Shirley Lace School which did so much to keep the Carrickmacross industry alive. Samples of Brussels and guipure lace were obtained and soon the better workers were able to make as well some of the finest guipure produced in Ireland. The guipure is fairly distinct from the applique - on a cambric foundation a design is traced by a thread and connected with point stitches. The superfluous parts are cut away and the pattern is then joined by needlepoint brides and sometimes enriched with loops and picots.
For some twenty-five years the whole indust~y was very suc cessful and then stagnation gradually set inthe patterns degenerated and no effort was made to get good designs. Consequently the standard of the work went down and the market declined so rapidly that towards the end of the century the industry again threatened to die out.
At present the lace is being produced extensively in the Lace School attached to the St. Louis Convent in Carrickmacross and in County Armagh in the Crossmaglen and Culloville areas.
Tynan was another lace centre in County Armagh but producing Needlepoint Lace, the manufacture of which began in 1849 through the interest of Mrs. MacLean, wife of the then rector. Selected workers had by 1851
progressed sufficiently to acquire attraction. For instance, a lace flounce purchased by Lord John George Beresford, the then Archbishop of Armagh and loaned by him to the London Exhibition of that year brought many orders to Tynan. Unfortunately its prosperity was short-lived for after the rector's death in 1865 his family left the district and the craft died out. It was, however, revived at Innismacsaint, Co. Fermanagh, by Miss L. MacLean, and is still being made to some extent.
When the Ordnance Survey was made in 1834 each townland had to be defined by name and area. In the lapse of ages the townlands in and around Armagh were lost and undefined a nd all so were clubbed in one called "Corporatio n, 11 the outer boundaries of which were known. I got the location of them all from original documents which came before me in preparing the maps at time of "Church Act 11 of the Estate of Lady Helena Robinson, Earl of Dartrey, The Library, Thomas Ogle, Dean Avvill, Mr. Forde, etc. , which conveyed all of them.
Abbey P a rk
Clonhugh
De sa rt
Drummad
Drumsallich
Fabbahahinchin
Farnamniileehan
Gillis
Knockamel
Knockboy
Knockadrane
Lisanally
Ramogher
Tullydegnan
Tubbernamuck
Tighmore
Tullyassany
Tighgort
8 a cres only of hill above Moy road.
The Mall to St. Mark's.
Altavallen and out to Tullyelmer.
Barrack Hill and Clump Hill.
Cathedral and Market St., down to Mall river.
Side of Seminary Farm next to Moy Road.
Bal a nce of Semina ry Farm out to Desart Lane,
R.C. College grounds and Railway station out to Longs tone,
The Pavilion back to Archery Field.
Observatory Hill and College Farm.
R.C. Cathedral Hill and down to old Desart Lane.
From Banbrook Hill to Pavilion Grounds.
Dawson St., and part of Callan St.
The Deanery, Alms House ground and out to Mullynure.
Ogle St., Thomas St., Irish St. & Navan St.
ill between Abbey St., and Market Street.
Convent Farm.
Windmill Hill and Gas Works Field.
The traditional significance of Armagh as the seat of the Ulster kings of the p eriod 350 B.C.-33 2 A.D . , and as the location from which sprang the celebrated saga of Ulster Folic Tales , no doubt influenced St. Patrick in his choice of it as the place of sup reme importance in his miss i on to Ireland. According t o our Irish Annals he reached Armagh in the year 445 A.D. Having secured sites for churches he i!llmediately began preparations for the instructi o n of the young p eople of the area, and so about the year 450 the first school of the new regi me was o pene d. Cultural growth was gradual in the sixth and seventh centuries but by the end of the latter century the schools of Ar:nagh we re widely recognized . Lat e r still, in 807, the famous Book of Armagh was compiled in one of the monastic houses of our citythe e arliest of our actually dateable manuscri p ts, but in reality only a copy of an earlier Book of Armagh, pre su:nably lost in the Viking raids that began on our city in the year 832 .
The story of the ecclesiastical capital of our c oun try can easily and conveniently be studied in the Annals of Ireland in which it appears in diary form and sequence. In the days of St . Patri ck and for long afterwards its population was largely scholastic and so
re:nained for a c onside ra ble space of time . In such a co:nmunity the re was little sco p e for or ga nized industry and b arter o r exc ha n ge was the met hod by which the ne c essaries of life were ob tained .
I n the Middle Ages , however, a new cl ass of town socie t y began to arise, and charters were i s sued by which the inhabitants were incorporated . Under those patents me rc hant s pros per ed exceedingly i n the g re at tradin g centres, but such p r ospe rity could not ha ve ever been of any c ons equence in Ar !llagh . We lmow p ractically nothing of the business life of the city in those da ys excep ti ng that its p r oceedings were often interrupted by strife and tragedy , and that such happenings were of frequent occur ren ce.
Apart from spoilation of citizens ' p r op erty , town charters were also lost so that now we po ssess no local mat e rial othe r than the Archiepiscopal Registe rs - beg innin g about 1350 - wherein to seek fo r knowledge on such sub je cts. They, unfo rtunate ly , are al!ll ost entirely devoted t o e cclesi astica l affairs but it is in one of t h em that we find the gran t o f a charter from Edward the Fourth to Archbish op Bole on 9 th February, 1467 , a documen t presuppo sing an earlie r p atent, being in fa ct but a confi rmation of t h e Archbishop ' s le gal rights . By it Al'!lla gh was granted a weekly market and the Archbishop
t h e manorial a ppurtenances of the p eriod . The Charter was attested and ins p ected again on 1st June, 1558 .
Hhether t h at market was held on a Tuesd ay as at p rese nt, we ma y never discover. In those d ays the affairs of t h e city were in the hand s of a Seneschal, an officer a ppo inted by the Archbishop and to whom there are :nany ref e rences in the Registers . He was always a person of some social standing and on occas i ons represented the Archbishop in P arliament .
The ear l i e st allusion to a market in Armagh occurs in 1031, in which year g reat bargains were available in the city, but the first actual reference to the market day being on Tuesday a ppears in 1587 when Hugh 0 1 Neill , Earl of Tyrone , petitioned the Cr own and obtained a g r ant for a :narket on that day . Later, in 1 609, an Inquisition was taken in the city at which it was found that a weekly market had been held in Ar:nagh "time out of mind" .
Following the Plantation of Ulster with English and Scotch settlers in the opening years of that century, King Ja:nes the First conferred a further charte r by which it beca:ne a Borough in 1613. The new patent pla ced the government of the city in the hands of a Sovereign and twelve Burgesses, assisted by an assembly or jury of fr ee citizens. By virtue of that arrangement two parliamentary re p resentatives were elected from time to time to ser ve in
Parliament, a form of representa ti on that last ed to the Union of Great Britain with Ireland in 1800, after which one :nembe r only was allowed , t he latter privilege continuing dovm to the year 1886.
The Tuesday market was confirmed to Archbishop Hampton and his successor in 1614, with two fairs to be h el d on 17th March and 1st Augus t and the day after each . A further patent was bestowed for fairs and ma r ke ts in 1620 .
In 1634 a Saturday marke t wa s assigned t o Archbi shop Usshe r wi t h an addit ional fair on St . Pater ' s Day and da y following . In 1753 the Corporation obtained leave to hold extra fairs on 20th May and 20th November respectively . That b r ought the total up to what was then c ons i dered a good working average .
In the early 19th century individual markets like the Flax, Shamble and Linen Hall were built, some of which later were used for other purposes. The Linen Marke t, for instance, became the Egg and Butte r Market, but no longer continues owin g to the fact tha t e gg s, and such butter as is now farm p r oduced, are c ollected direct from t he farms a nd brought to town by motor trans por t . Linen was then an important local industry and Armagh one of the g re a t linen centres of the north . The town had , of course, othe r industries l i ke brewing, distilling, flourmillin g , rope - making, tanni ng, i r on - founding, etc . , and
many minor businesses such as clock- making , cabinet - making, gun - smithing, book- binding , spinning, wheel - making , etc ., but with the coming of railways such works tended to g ravitate towards the larger to,ms. Fortunate ly that procedure is in reverse order now and Armagh is coming into its own again, a happ y state of affairs due to the efforts of the City Council to provide housing and industries. Educationally the city is well supplied with schools - prima ry an d secondary. It also possesses a well - equipped observatory and an excellent museum, and from the point of view of amenities and attrac t iveness is one of the most interesting to\-ms in I reland .
The Development of the Commons 1nto a "Mall",
An effort was made in the late 18th century to have the "Old Commons 11 or "Race Course" designated Rokeby Green, as a compliment to Archbishop Robinson through whose influence that pa rticular ground was made a vailable to the citizens as "Public Walks". The Archbishop was created Baron Rokeby of Armagh in 1777 and died in 1794, so we may assume the name to have arisen between those two dates. At anyrate in the beginning of the 19th century the various buildings then growing up on the Commons are shown as situate on Rokeby Green. Fo r instance all the houses in what we now know as Beresford Row were once so dis tinguished, but by the time the Terrace had been completed in 1836 they bore their p resent appellation.
The second terrace, Ch a rlemont Place, has not, however, been known by any other name - but the Mall School (built in 1818 by Archbishop Stuart and now the Orange Hall) with as 'lill.Ch of St. Mark ' s Place as was finished by 1 8 3~ and certain stores and s ma ll houses on the west sid e of the Commons all appea r on maps under the general and earlier term of Rok eby Green. The Ordnance Survey Maps of the following year show Charlemont Place extending from what 1s
now Beresford Row to the Mall School. From thence to the Prison end was free of houses and "unchristened"• Such changes make research into local to pog raphy difficult.
Anothe r pu zzle in connection with the locality is the fact th a t Ro cque's Map of 1760 for the same area traces a tr a ck or pathway across the 11 Commons 11 roughly where the 11Whi te Walk" is whereas the map of 1835 delineates a > crossing at the southern end only and omits all trace of a like ame nity at Charlemont Place. \'by the two maps should disagree is one of those unsolved mys teries that beset the path of local historians. It is p robable, however, that there would have been little reason for the so-called "White Walk11 to have been in being before the south end of Beresford Row and Ch a rlemont Place were built as it would have served no useful purpose previous to the opening of Russell Street. At the t ime of the making ot the Ordnance Survey the 11 Commons 11 had become "the Mall" but Gosford Place was still unbuilt and /of course \ the Third Presbyterian Church was not erected until 1837.
Building on the Commons was at first somewhat haphazard. The first house in that quarter was that now known as No.l Beresford Row. It was raised in 1809 in the same year as the Court House and was probably planned
by Francis Johnston, the a rchit e ct res p onsible for that very dign ifi ed coun ty institution, Tr aditi on st a tes that No.l was l ar gely the result of ma t e r ial l ef t on the contractor ' s hands at the c oncl usion of wo rk on the Court House - the s tory is pro bably true for its f irst occupant wa s Arthur Irwin Kelly, Sovereign of the city and Secreta ry of the County Grand Jury. In those days spec i a l l amp s were allotted to the Sove r eign's residence and were se t up on st anda rds o r affi xed above the door. I n this instance a l amp - standard was incorporated in the railing fronting the house and still remains in position. The house was then, of course, No ,l Rokeby Green a nd so con tinued for another e i ghteen years at le a st. A second lamp-st anda rd was added when Kelly ' s kinsman and succe ssor, Thomas Kelly Evans, l a t e r followed him in the office of Sovereign and occupied t h e same house .
A ma nuscri p t valuation of the city made in 1 833-34 a nd now p reserved in the County Mu s eum indicates that Arthur Irwi n Kel ly was the ground landlord of Be resford Row and t ha t by 31 s t of July of the l a tt e r year his house wi th s e ven others had been embodied in o t e rrace, a nd named Beresford Row in honour of Lord John George Beresford who from his translation to the Archbishopric of Armagh in 1 822 had taken a deep interest 1n the city. During the
tenure of his Primacy much building took place locally and to that pe riod date most of the houses in Beresford Row, Charlemont Place, and St . Mark's Place, the three mos t attractive groups of houses in the city as well as the opening-up of a new thoroughfare called Russell Street, and the erection of Melbourne Terrace and Gosford Place. Prior to the making of Russell Street Jenny's Row provided the only access to the Mall or Commons from that part of English Street.
, We are in some doubt as to the year in which the second and third houses were constructed. under the name of Rokeby Green was the home of Michael Mage e in 1819, Three years earlier the Corporation began the making of a footpath from that point to the Prison end so we may assume that the develo pment of that por tion was then under consideration. Mr. Magee lived in the house in which Mr. Billy Mann now dwells and was Coroner, Solicitor, etc.
Mr. Magee ' s house was rated higher than its neighbour and was in fact a larger house, having two lock-up yards, offices, barn, coach-house, storehouse and enclosed garden. No.3 was then (1834) tenanted by Joseph Marshall but had only one lock-up yard. No.4 was in possession of John McKinistry and was rated at the same amGunt as No .2
with equal yard facilities. It is now the property of Dr. H.H.G. Dorman and is a house that can be dated w1 th certainty. It bears two date-stones, one on the front in t h e arch of the gateway, and the ot he r above the arch at r a re of entrance. The former bears the initials "R.B. 1827 11 , and the latter "M. Magee MDCCCXXVII. John Quinn feci t 11 • This brings another loc al architect into th e picture who in 1820 designed the two fine but sadly a lt e red dwelling-houses in English Street now the establishments of the Ulster Banking Company and of John M . Wilson & Co. - both of which had ver y handsome doorcases with elegant side p anels and fanli gh ts of a type r a ther similar to t he house in Be resford Row in which tfi-_;.:,z the late John Pee l lived, and is now occupied by Mrs. Mann.
But to r e t u rn to No.2. At some date before 31 July, 1840, it wa s re modelled and became two houses, its gateway becoming the hall of a second but much smaller dwelling. By that addi tion to Beresford Row the house now lived in by Miss Trimble became No .4.
The first t enant of No .4 th a t we have any record of was Joseph Marshall who seems t o have been replaced in 1 834 by a Miss Heaney who in the next year migrated to Charlemont Place where she remained for many years in the
house until recently the Manse of the First Presbyterian Church and there ran a select Boarding and Day School.
No.4 (now of course No.5) was then leased by John McKinstry and stayed in the hands of that family until purchased by Dr. Dorman. the same as that of No.2. Its valuation in 1833-34 was
At that time Beresford Row had not been entirely built. Nos. 5 and 6 were then inhabited by Mrs. Colthurst and Mrs. Carpendale respectively - they are at present owned by Mrs. Barcroft and Mr. Mills. There was then a vacant plot between the Mills' house and that occupied by Mrs. Moore - the then occupant of the latter house being George Cochran. Mrs. Moore's house was of course then No,7 and Mr. Cochran had as next door neighbour in No.8 the well-known Dr. Cuming whose house is now held by Dr. Woods.
According to the valuation of 1833-34 that site was the property of Robert Baxter who by 1836 (as may be verified by a keystone over the gateway bearing bis initials and the date) had erected the two houses recently utilized by the Girls' High School and the Ministry of Labour. That changed the numbering once more and resulted in Nos. 7 and 8 becoming Noa. 9 and 10 - the numbers by
which we know them to-day. The Ordnance Survey of 1835 portrays the ground without houses. A date stone, however, shows that the Baxter houses were begun in the following year.
A printed valuation and assessment of rates for the period ending the 31st July, 1834, records Charlemont Place residents as under -
1. Sir Thomas Molyneux, Bart.
2. Dr. Kidd.
3. Col. Bainbridge.
4. Col. Napier.
No.l became empty in August of the same year, probably because of Sir Thomas Molyneux having succeeded his brother, Sir Capel (5th baronet) who died 3 December, 1832. Evidently Sir Thomas did not move to Castledillon at once. He died 1841 and was followed in the baronetcy by his son, Sir George, the builder of the present mansion, a house that dates to 1845.
Valuation lists of 1835 show that rates were paid on No.l from 1 August, 1834, by William Lodge Kidd, a former Surgeon of the Armagh Militia, and member of an old Armagh family now represented in the city by the County Librarian. Evidence of his occupation is illustrated by an extension
of the back premises wherein a stone inscribed 111 . K. 1835" still survives. The same list suggests that rates were payable on the fifth house (bYJ~~~~gu-~t 1835} who had p reviously paid on a frontage and ga r den only. Four other houses intended to comp lete the terrace were for s ome reason never begun and so the group consists of five instead of t he nine houses originally planned - the archite ct is believed t o have been J oh n s to n 's nephew, William Murray.
Wh at i s now St. Mark ' s Pl a ce seems to have begun its career as a continua t ion of Ch a rlemont Place and is so po rtrayed on the Ordnance Survey Maps of 1835, but the Valua t ion lists of the precedi ng year show it as Rokeby Green. There were then no houses south o f the school f ounded by Archbishop Stuart. From 0 1Hagan's Map of the city engraved in 1852 we learn that St. Mark's Place was still par t of Ch a rlemont Place and that the line between the Stua rt School and the Prison end entirely free of houses. Two years l a t er in 1854 the Grand National Ca ttle Sh ow was held on the Mall, an event comparable in importance with the p r e sent fixture at Balmoral - and in 1858 a Russian Oun was p resented by Lord Panmure to the city, the cannon now in po sition on the 'White Walk. By that date cricket had been p layed on the Mall for a t least ten years - but of that later.
In 1879 a new church was built on the west side of the Mall for the First Presbyterian Congregation of Armagh, an edifice with one of the most graceful spires in Ireland and about 1879 a terrace of houses arose on the east side, south of the old school, and named Hartford Place in honour of Miss Hartford, better remembered by Armaohians of my generation as the wife of Surgeon J.M. Palmer of the County Infirmary,
In 1884 the Masonic Hall, one of the oddities of local architecture, was completed, (to the design of J.H. Fullerton) by which time the Mall was much as we lmow it to-day excepti ng of course that certain older structures are now devoted t o other purposes - for instance the old Grain Stores after serving as temporary quarters for the Armagh Militia (and
ci ore recently as ) a Slipper Factory, and on the other side of th e Mall the Mall School has been transformed into an Ora nee Hall.
During the war years the Mall was an . assembly place f u r a mlmber of important military insp ections and for the first time in its history had on one of those occasions a British Royal Prince take the salute at the march past of a famous Irish Reg iment. Then there was that truly magnificent final American review just before our Allies left this
country - numerically the greatest that ever took place on t he Ma ll and historically of importance and interest. The Mall has indeed been the scene of many such gatherings. In 1778 local compani es of the Irish Volunteers exercised thereon and later there were county assemblies. The County Militia in its infancy also drilled on its green sward in 179 3, and three years later the Yeomanry Corps of the city and districtx commenced ins pe ctions on the same ground.
The most interesting, however, of all such ceremonies was the presentation on 18 July, 1856, of a colour to the 75th or Armagh Light Infantry, a banner made by the ladies of the city and handed over to the regiment on their behalf by the then Countess of Gosford. At no very distant date the Ma1:fha d its fountain -a cooling sight in summer weather. Many people./ of my vintage,/ yet remember its band-stand and the musical evenings of those days. As a matter of passing interest I may be forgiven for mentioning games on the Mall. Cricket was being played thereon in July 18~5. The lands were then leased to Mr. Wi ltshire the owner of the Beresford Arms Hotel, a celebrated local Sportsman. The Armagh Cricket Club was not, however, founded until 1859. It is difficult to find
a definite date for its formation. I have, however, a reference t o it playing Monaghan in Caledon Demesne on September 2nd of that year. It p robably was then sharing gr ound s with the Royal School in the Palace Demesne. It seems to have fo und a h om e on the Mall in 1 861. At anyrate in February of that year it was stated that the club had bee n greatly inconvenienced in the previous year through inability to obtain suit able g round . At the s ame time it was suggested tha t the Mall Trustees should be approached with a view to accommodation. We know t h at the Club was actually in occupation early in May. This information derives from a l aw suit r egarding trespassers on the pitch - interesting but too lengthy to deal with here. It should, however, be a ma tter of p ride to the Club that it was founded in 1859 and th a t it has now completed a century's play on its p resent ground. The Mall has, however, a long historical connection with the field of sport. The first local race-course tha t we have any record of wa s sited there and th er e is good reason to suppose it was in use for that purpose in the last half of the 17th century. The earliest documentary reference to it occurs in the Corporation Minutes of 1731 in which ye a r the Sovereign and Burgesses
of t h e city subscribed to wards a prize, and fixed prices for st ands or booths on the course. Eleven years later the Corporation de ci ded to enclose that pa rt lying within the boundary of the c ourse leaving sufficient room outside the enclosure for the accommodation of the sport. Pa rticulars a s to ditches, gates, etc., a p pear in the Borough Minut e s under date June 15, 1742. The result or t h e t hen pl anning is shown on Rocques Map of the city engraved in 1760, which portrays in detail "the Commons" the old name f or the area that we now know as the Mall, and shows it as the "Horse Course". The "Starting Post" and " Winning Post" are carefully marked. The a rea was then devoid of houses and simply known as " the Course" or Commons.
Shortly after that date Dr. Richard Robinson was translated from the See of Kilda r e to the Archbishopric of Arma gh. Whether he found the bull-baiting, free fri ghts, gambling, cock-fighting and drinking, that f ollo wed the races for some days, offensive, is a mat t er on which we have little information. It is believed that he con sidered the consequent riots, the gipsy and tinker enc ampments and other disagreeable nuisanc e s undignified ad juncts to a cathedral town. At any r a te in 1773 he
leased the Commons to the Sovereign a nd Burgesses for the purpose of uti li zing the ground as a "public walk" for the inhabitants of the city. Thus ended the Commons use as a racecourse and soon its ol d name was dropped fo r the presen t desi gna tion which by then had come to mean a publi c wal k though original.ly deriving from a ball game p l ayed with a mall. By the Act whi ch brought about this change in its status the publi c had only the right t o use the path s or wa lks - a necessary provi s ion but much resented by cer t ain p eo ple, who f ound to t hei r cost that the Act of P a rliament by which the land was conveyed, confi ned p edestrians to the walks and thus depr ived them of the liberty to trespass or commit damage within the enclosed po rtions.
In concl usion it may be of interest to recall that when the Armagh Cricket Club was lease d their p resent pitch in 1861 they had to ag ree to the public being debarred from .I: the pi tch and .promise t o keep it in a ti dy condition, a p recaution that might again with advantage be enforced.
At our October :aeeting hr . Ldenna spolrn on ·'The c:1~nging Ar..,agh", a topic that aroused great interest and -provo'.;:ed a :nost fruitful discussion , both as regards the junior '.';le.~bers and irresponsibles of :ny o\-m particular ,vintage . In the debate tl1at followed 1-ir . Lci(enna ' s pape r , tne question of the origin of Tontines arose, so I have c~osen the Ar~agh Tontine as a subject for to - night , '.IlY reason ueinF the fact that there see:ned to be a disposition t0 assert tnat Tontine, and To\om rlall, were actually inte rc:1angeable ter.ns of description for tne sa:ne type of iristi tutio'1 - which, of course, is not so . Tt1ose of you uho were presetlt Hill re.ue:nber t ha t I thoug~t that the Irish Tontines were chiefly establ i shmen t s rounded by subscriptions, to provid e a:;ienities for t he co~:n~nities concerned, and that I believ ed the subscribers received annuities in return . I also ~entioned that I understood the idea originated in iran c e but in th a t part::. ct.ilar I was not quite corr ~ ct . The S}stem was firs t introdkceci in ?'ranee as a '.Ileans of raising Gove r n:nen t loa ns, l:.y Lorenzo i'ont i who ca:ne f r om Naples to P a r i s ab out th e year 1653 . So'.Ile autho r itie s s ay that i t was i n us e in It~ly ~~rLler, and that :nay well be s o . It wa s, howe v e r, 1 ro .•'ranee that it spread to .t,;tJgl a nd and ev entually t o
Ireland, wnere it seems to have been in existence in the 13th century. At anyrate one must assu:ne tha t such places uere i!ell - mo,·m here by the ~1i ddle of that century as Sherida n in one of his p lays , published in 1777, ma:.{es one of his ch aracters say 1-.1.t,1 referen c e to a rather rat1:ish f rie n d " 1 hear that he p ays as :nany annuities as an I rish To,1 tine" . In case that quotation shoul d be a cause of e:nbarrass ~ e n t to _elater I hasten to say , tha t I am only usi ng it as evi0 ence of uating I ri sh rontines, so don ' t ask ...,e ,!hat he __ cant, just think it out for yoursel v es . I n t :1e last quarter of tne lott1 centu r y Ar ....agh had i ts l itt le season each 1,i.nter - i t s r ound of dances , ca r d pa r ti es and p l ays , e t c . There was t:1en a building kno1m as t h e Ass e :nbl y aooms . I t was in use fro:n at leas t 1782 until repl ace d i n 1794 by t,1e Ton tine Roo::us . Lo d r awing s o f it e xist no r indeed have \1e any Jict11res or pho to g ra ph s of the To n ti ne it s e lf though it wa s no t c e:nolish ed un til 1908 . Apart, howe v er , f r om t he As s e ~.bl y Roo,ns t h e Narket
House wa s als o use d fo r simi l ar pu r pos e s . For i ns t an ce, in 1780 assemb lies we re being held the r e in i n aid of the n ewly f ounded Coun t y I nfi r :r, a r y , t h e f unctio n s to b e so arranged as t o 11 ta k e p lace on th e Th urs d a y i n e a ch month , near e st t he f ull :no on 11 , an d fr o:n a n a d v er t is e:ne nt relatin g to t h ese g atheri ng s we Kno w that t h e y we r e in bein g e a r l ier .
According t o dict ionaries a Ton t ine was origin ally a
loan on whic·1 annuities were paid instead of interest, each annuity increasing as the number of subscribers aiminished by deat~ until the surviving subscriber received as c1uc.1 as all of the'.Il. Those of you who have studied S.. ... ' A h( l) · ' · n uaar" s r.iag \-llll recall that it is stated ,:;,,erei
t:1at Arcl1oishop Robinson, ti:le founder of the Public Library, 0bservator;y, etc. was the survivor in a Fre nch Tontine iro~ ~1ich he derived a considerable fortune . Curiously enough the plan for the establishing of a Tontine in Ar.1agh ca~.ie into being so:"e six :nonths previous to the Archbishop ' s deat'1, but t,1ere are no i'acts connecting him with our local Tontine .
The first ,mowledge we have as to its !'or:nation occurs in the files of the Belfast News -Letter<~)under date of l·iarch 9, 1794 . We are told that ' ' the Co.i.J.1li ttee appointed to superintend the building of the new Tontine Asse:ubly ~et on the site chosen, when the foundation stone was laid oy the Sovereign, Ti1omas l•iacan, Esq. The oui.L<i.ing we are informed was to co 11sist of Tea, Card and Coffee Roo'.lls of elegant aesign, and that £1,500 had been subscribed but t.1at an additional £<'.,074 was needed. " The rreasurer was Rebert Livingstone, Esq. ( 3 ) the then agent of the Charle'.llont (1) 1,e:noirs of Ar::iagh p . 546 .
(~J harch 16 , 1794
(j; vied 18~1. l:m ried Tassagh . He was a great friend of Joh 1 >'lesley .
0state, ,-,ho lived i11 a house at tne bot t o:i1 of AbDey Street, since rebuilt for u.se uy t:1e Provincial .oan.,;:ing Co ...pany , '.1ere a stone bearing his initials "H..L. 11 and tl1e date "1774'' is still preserved . ~k have no i~formation as to w:10 t:1e a rc 1itect 1,as uut it is alsost certain that it Has ."ra ncis Johnsto.,, a native of A.r ...agh a1.d urJe of the :.1ost distingu~s~ed Je~ber s of his ~rofession .
In the Alexander .!aui~to Diar/li)there are several references to the Ar~a cb foatine. H~ recorcs, for exa~ple , t:1a: 1e uas at an asseJbly in it on oe:,te. "ucr 10, 1795, that .1e '' dined \·r.i.ti1 ti1e Grand Jury on A~,ri.L .LO, 1'797 " and ' ' a-'terwards ·,·,ent to a Card Asse.abl y at the •. ew Roo:.,s, whi c l1 asse-L-lies •.-·ere held every ho nday evening, t.1at tner e uas Tea, ca,rns, dan c ing and cards, subscriptions 5/ 5 Je r qua rt e r " . Seven cays later he attended another , and on Augu st 1:2 , 180,::, :-1e lc:arn tha t he visited the Primate< 5) and "found him very pleasing and co nversable " at wliicll he ,;as greatly surprised naving hear d that he was formal and reserved . Later ne ( 6) ·'cined at the Dea nery wnere tnere was a large party i n cludthe Gosfo rd/ 7 ) after which they went to a very pleasant ball (li) !LS. in Armagh Public Library
(5) The Honble . William Stuart, D. D., brother of the then Earl of Bute .
(6) Tnen occupied by Lord Lifford, Dean of Arma gh 1796 - 1830, and father of the 3rd Viscount Lifford. (7) Arthur, 2nd Viscount Gosford, and his wife and daughters.
in t.1e Tontine Roo:ns 11 • I suppose contemporary newspapers '.:light fill the gap between chat date and Stuart ' s reference( S) in ldl9, but that -,muld involve too JJuch researcn so I uave ::::ot atte::.pted it .
Stuart describes t 11e Tontine as "a spacious and nandso:ne bui.Ld::. ,g situate in English Stre..;t" and states that it was private rropert~ but occasionally rendered applicable for public purposes. It contained an extensive ball-room with a convenient ar.d well-planned suite of aparta.ent s. In one o.r t,:e::'.! on t,1e ground floor tl1e inhabitants vf ti1e city had established a News Roo:n which was well supported by a great m.u:.uer of very respectable subscribers. rte 1entions also ti1at t:iere was then no tneatre in Ar:nagh but that 1,1layers visited the to\-m and performed in such houses as they could procure, and that they were given every encourage~ent and support. Taat state:i!ent can indee d be co1fir.ned for we have proof that strolling players were visiting the city fro= tlie :niddle of the 18th century onwards, and that they played in available pre-ises for the period necessary to exhaust their stocic of plays . The earliest note I have found regarding the:n records the baptis:n of George, son of Sa:n.:.el Genia, a player , and Annabella his wife January .::8 , 1151 . Tne entry :nay be seen in the Parish Registers . I t ( J) 1. c::oirs of Ar:uagh p . _5..!.i-lf:' '>fl9
·rould s~e~, ho,rever, t~at despite Stuart's assertion ::.·cs,,ecting the want of a Theatre in Ar.Jagh in 1019 t 11at t'.1cre w1s a bu.Llding so called in 17$3, for v1e bavc the iollowing notice in the Belfast 1-.ews-Letter of June 11, of t'.1at ! ea:r' 'l·"arried at tbe Cathedral Church of Ar:Jag,1, 1-,r. L eslie, to the a~reeable hiss Peterse u, botn beLonging to t:1e t.,l;latre of Ar:nagh". I nstances of that kind could, of CJUrse, be :nultiplied but I :nust return to the Tontine.
T,,e :.inute Book of the Tontine for the period 1790 to 18e:: 8 is :nissing so we are deprived of '.J.uch data relating to its history in those years. ';le do mou, however, t.,a t the original Lease of ti1e pre:nises was granted about 1/90 by Tho.nas ~lhale/ 9 ) (who held under t:rn Archbishop of Ar:nagh) (10) , to the .Rev . Hugh Ha.,ilton, Dean of <1.I".na gh, i3 ev .• ichard ( 9) Tho:nas ,{'1ale:,, better ,mown as Buck or Jerusale:n irnaley, son of Richard Cha ppel Whaley of Ar:aagi1 and W,,alley Abbey, Co . Wicklow. Held about 17 to,-mlands under the See of Ar nagh besides certain proper ty in the city itself, all of wi1ich are set out in a volu:ue of :aaps in t1:1e Public Library, Ar:nagh, prepared by Jacob 1.eville in 1769. ,I1aley was then a :ninor aged about three years. He died Nove'.Ilber ~, 1800 . Whaley ' s Buildings in Castle Street bearing a stone dated 1773 and
sur:iounted by a ""raceful urn were erected by his trustees curing his minority. Had an inco~e of £10,000 per year. Was a ga'.Ilbler and lost £14 , 000 on one occasion at an evening session of cards. Also re'.ne:nbered as " Burn Chapel " because of the many chapels burned by his orders ir. 1798. ,
(10) Dean .tla:nil ton ca:ne to Ar:;1agh in 1768, built the Deanery .iouse now Dean ' s tlill imu1ediately afterwards, and in 11')5 was consecrated Bishop of Clonfert. Became Bishop of 9ssorr in 1799,, and ,died 1805 . Newto,mh.:milton derives its na~e ro~ tnat nar ticular rlamilton 1,
(1 5) f 1aylor a.1d John ha can , at til:l :·e..irly rent o ....:5 . 13 s. 9d . (l6 )
It is a pity that no complete list of the original subscribers to toe To~tine re~ains. By its absence we a~e left in doubt as to its financial stability. We do '.mow t:1at so::ie of ti·1e:n were alive in 1821, 1.:hen it Has decided at a genera l ~eating in that year, that they should assign t1e building to new trustees so that it could still serve the citizens of Ar:navh. At that ti:ne the edifice is said to have been in a state of dilapidation so He '.:lay suppose it had fallen on evil days. Rodgers< 17 )gives the
(11) Rev. Richard Allott was t1en Precentor of Ar:nagh but in 1795 resigned the P recentorship ior tie De~nery of Tuam . Died 1822 .
(1:::) John Burges of Ar:nagh . Father of John denry Burges of ,food P ark and ancestor of the Burges fa'.ilily of P arkanaur , Co . Tyrone . Died Sept . 1790. See B . L.L. Sept. 14, 1790 .
(13) Thomas hacan. .t<'ree.i.an of Ar.na gh 1746 . Burgess 1755 . 1.any ti11es Soverei gn of the city bet.-reen 1749-1794. Lieutenan t of a local troop of Dragoons 1'?56 . Captain of' same ir. 1760, in vl11ich year he rode Hi th 100 citizens to the relief of Belfast wnen that city was threatened vrlth invasion by t,1e t'rench. Ca~ tain of ti1e ~nd Conpany Ar·.iagh Grenaaiers in 1780 . Died 1795.
(14) Tno~as Taylor .
(15) John Hacan. Son of Thomas hacan above . Died July ;,: ~ 1801, a~ed 72 years . ~,
(16) See Rodrers Ancient City, p . 30 .
(l 7J Ibid, pp . 30-31,
f A ·n (18) _, . •'i . new trustees as A. I . helly, Sovereign o r~ag, (,:::1) Lodge(l9 ), 1eo iard Dobbin, Senior, (.::O) ./illia.n uc'dilliaws
u L. Prentice(~.::), d John Uaugh(~ 3 ). rle also infor~s us t.1at £500 \1as spe.1t in rn;;:8 in putting in a new staircase and in necessary i:nprove:11ents and that about 1 8 41 l'u.rther alterations uere c1ade so thc.t the Ar.:1 a;i;h Lusical Society ~ight be ~ore adequately acco~'.llodated as rc-ards concerts. To assist in the latter scheme, the Pri:uate renewed the len se without fines and the Toll Co'.ll.ai ttee ave a su:.1 of £700 . In the twe~ty years followl.nf; the: c..onated at least another £1,000 towards its upkeep .
A kinute Book covering the second terD of the Tontine 1 s history is available from 1820 to 1907. Fro:., .:. t ,.,e learn t'.1at the architect called in to re-plan t:1e buildi,1g was 1,r .
(18) 1-1.rtnur Irwin 1Celly, Sovereign of the Cl. ty lo0:;, - lo06, lo.::1 - 1833, and 1833-1837 Died harch 7, 1841 .
( 19) R. R. Lodge . Richard Robinson Lodse, son of the Rev . .lillia·.. Lodc;e, LL . D., first .-:eeper or' ti1e Public Library of A~:n~g~. Bo~n February 20, 1776, Captain in tl-ie T;;rone lnlitia . Died SepteJJber 16, 1840 .
(~Oi Leonard Dobbin, Sen Leonard Dobbin, D . L Born Sept. ~9, 1762. h . P . for the Borough of Ar:1agh 1033- 1838 . Died Yebruary 20, lo4~ .
(21) ( .::3) Willia:n hcWillia:ns. Adjutant First Co:.ipany of A h Volunteers 1780 . Lieutenant Ar~agn v 1 t r~a~ 6 8 o eer Yeo:nanry 1'19 . Captain 1 0'/. Died Aurust c.7, l8l16 . Portrai·t County Lusem . ' ,
H. L. Prentice. Henry Leslie Prentice D L Son of Ja.nes Prentice of Tanderagee . ' 1 ..., • . ' Cal~don . an officer in the 95th Foot . Agent to'f~ diorc a time or aledon . John Waugh.
I ..L"arrell and accordint_; to a hinute of February 11, 1826, he gave his services free . Unfortunately I cannot in the ti~e at my disposaL discuss the minutes in any detail . It ':;as pleasant, ~1owever, to find the nGw trustees .cesolving t.1at all the c:1im1ey-pieces si1ould be of Ar.nagh .Jarble, and ( .::4) interesti~s to find that ~Y lb43 tney had i~stalled gas.
I n 1874(<'. 5 )ti-Je trustees acquired a perpetm.. ty lease and tl10 old Hews Roo.a \·ras leased to the ·row11 Co.n~Jissioners as an office at £10 reran. Their successor the Urba, Council in 1901C.:: 6 )refused to pay a proposed increase of rent, uut in ti1e followinr- yearC 2 7)put out feGlers fo r the acquisition of t.1e pre:nises for use as a site for a To\-m Hall. T!1ere was also a proposition for its conversion into a Te c hnical Scaool(.:: 8 ) but that was not looked upon favourably by the Trus t ees who did not object, nowever, ,rovided it was incorl)orated in the proposed Tovm rlall wheri built . I n 1907U9)L essrs . Lonr oe and Anderson were instructed to take opinion of Couns el with
January 17, 1843. " The lustre in the large front room to b e replaced by a gas pendant" .
June 9, 1874 .
December 30, 1901.
July 18, 1902 .
August 14, 1902 . May 15, 1907 . \
regard to t~e best :net~od of enabling the trustees to ,,;_•ea; . t.1c trust · rr a ~atter eventually arranged by transreing t.:i Lie Urban Council wno thus beca Je the new trustees of t:1e property, and in t:1e following year cle~,olition i'!Or,c began arid t:ms e11ded 1r.Jagh I s Tor ti .e, after .1av::.ng served tile t01m for \-;ell over a century as a c,,0 tre for social ~-d c~ltural activities. Tlle Ar mao-h 8avin &s Banlc began its career w:..t'.1in its wa.Lls. It was for long the :1O•,ie of t:1e Ar Ja"(h ..usical Societ) and a place of rcfu[;e .,_'or the A! •• .,g:1 !,utural _Iistory and Philosophical Society in the cays tei'ore it :1ad a i10:.1e of its own . I' .e Co..mt y Grand Jury, the h.r.nag:1 A"ri cultural Societ. c1nd t 10 ,·\·icndly brothers of ~t. Patrick held festivals benea t~ its hospitable roof. Coicerts, dances, private parties, theatricals (in ,.--·:ich ..iany a notable f:i.e;ure appeared inclt1d.ing the cele~rated Talbot(JO)) and lectures on astrono~y, ~usic, .istory and dozens of other subjects uere 6 i ven in its roo:ns . The fa:nous Sa:nuel Lover, poet, novelist and dra:..1atist, aatl1or of' Handy Andy and :{cry O ;,,ore, had such a good rec e ption in 1841 that he returned again in lu49 . T~e renowned General To:n Thu:nb strutted on its stage in 1848 and again ten years later . Other well - kno,·m entertainers of past days iigure also in its story, such as Gallaeher, (JOJ 11r . Talbot to ap.iear at Ar~agh Theatre. Telegraph h a r ch 14 , 1823
t:ie .;r eat v dntriloquist, Bartley ti1e ~Ii zard of tne ,;est, 1',rs. Loc:nmod the harpist, A11dersun the 1.orthern Wizard
J. ci. .2;:iny anot'.11:r, a:non-;st t'1e:.. that :;iost c.eli3htful of all, t'.1e versatile Percy lrench whose haunting songs arc with us still .
I never saw the Tontine Roo~s and all ~y clforts to find a drawing or picture of tne building '.1ave been in vain t:iough it ,ms not de:nolished until 1908, less than half a certury ago . City !'!.all i1ad already been built - our youn.,.er ..,e:nbers, I suppose , now look upon it as an ancient Jonu::ient !
Lr. Chair.nan I afraid I have exceeded ti1e ti'ne li:::i t so I .,mst nou conclude ,ii t11 apolo,;ies .i:or having ,,asted so ::.cich of your evening on this rather gc:irbled account of the ArJJagh Ton tine.
,\nthony C,1aunel
Ob. 11 Hove:iber :!.69.:'.. '
= Hester, only cau~ of .1."rancis Arc,1Gr 0.1. Lo ndon· Ob . 1690.
R.:.ci1ard c:1a~::i,el , Deputy Auditor
G"' rnr a.L of Ireland . ( Ar ·..,agi1 a~ntals 1620 - 1661) = C1arit y Chappell (dentals of the See of A. JJag:1) .
I Richard CjaJpel of AI'~agh. Justice of the Peace Ar~a Ph 16b6. ;a11 31 January 1705 . ( Ar nagh Re nta ls 1676 . ) - Bolton =
·.ri10· 1as C iaupel of ::1ushto•,m Co.-,.Ola "'han . (Ar'lla 6h i{enta ls 1676) uau. 1·:-lfe of R:,.cbard 1f.1aley. . dau. ·.,iJ.'e oi Ca;;t. ~dHard Dixie· dau . wife of .)ol ton .
Mary Bolton= CT1appel of Dolton= Dorothy Bolton ' s dau . ~d. - Lord and had a son Edward Lord of Dublin ~1ho left Ar.nagh . John Bolton. a son, John Lord.
Arch b ish op ' s Ren t als show: ,hchard Ci1appel appears as a tenan t on the See Lands of Ar:nagh in 16<:0 . :re 1:Jad ti1en buil t a fai r stone house that cost hi:n £100 . T:1e rental o f 1 6<:4 shows that by then he had accmmlated JOO acres in Ar:;.agh beside s acquiring a parcel of land in Ty r on e in 16 31. He see'llS to have been stil~ al~ve in_ 16~1 but by 1 676 i:Jis proper t y had, passed to his widow Cnari ty Chappel , :!'lo •,r.i.th her s on , Ri cnard, held the Ar:uagh property her hu s ban d ' s lands in the hanor of I ?nis~ee~ in Co . ho~aghan (also he l d u nde r the See of Ar:..1agn) passing to 11er son Tho:aa s Ch appel. I n 1713 the Chappel. i?terests uassed t !U c h ard ~lhaley who was su c ceeded by Ricnard Chappell 0 Wh al ey in 17:24 and a Rev. Tho::ias 1'inaley appears in a r ental o f 1725. Richard Chappel ~ust nav e di ed before 1213 . The rent 1 re ad s Hi c h ard Chap pel deceased now Ri c hard Whaley . a
a c.iau . of Ricbarc: Cia 1pel .Je· Llty A>.lditor Ge:iera. of Ir ~J.acd and s.stcr aDd c o -
h.L. d i·iarc:1, 168lf, Ric:1ard ':i:1a1e-: of [ewford, Co . balway. Died in~estate Ad.:01 . 9 ha ~ , 1731 (AJnears in Ar ..;a~n See .le;1tals in 1713) . ,rnir of '.L\10:.1as Chapple of :lusnto,-m , Co. Lonaghan. .
at At .1enxy, C . Galway . = 8'isanna, ... au . of Joh'.1 '::na.,_e.r . Ob. intestate, 9 Lay, 1737 , '.i'ilomas ./haley, l'i1e Aev . of Sy den .
LJ.i za beth , . 1 _ lcy .J {ic1ard Cope of Syde'1.
~ndl y L . L. 8 F eb . 1759, at St . l, ary ' s, Dublin . Richard Cha;;pel :lha ... ey, , .. P . = A:me, d.au . of tne for Co . U.i.c '.{lo·.r, wl10 :narri ed .:ir stly R0v . bernard "J a rd. Catherine Ar:ni tage (lLL. 4 JJay, 17.f.'7), by who:n he had. no issue. (Appe.:::.rs in ArDagh See Rentals l7i4 , and 1 hay, 1737, had a renewal of his lease for 40 years~
I Thomas, b .17 66. d. 2 hov . 1800 . held 17 to,-mlands under the See of Armagh besides some property in the city . Eld est son accordin g to D. ~ . B . M.P. for Newtownards, Co . Down 1785 -1 790, and En niscorthy 1790-1800.
Richard c··1a . -.L. Ob . Ad:i1on . . 31 July, 1790 .
Joh n .:1d. Lady Anne head (L. L . G6 Ap rL, 1788) .
Uillia.ll .
Susan na .
Anne who .ud. John Fitzgibbon, .C:arl of Cl are .
Sophia.
Tho:iias vfualey, son of Richard Chappel W1aley of Whalley Abbey, Co. Wicklow, known as Buck Wnaley, Jerusalem \·lh aley and Burn Chapel Whaley. Very eccentric. Had an inco~e of £10 000 per year . Lost at cards in one evening £14 , ooo. Had' a house i n Stephen's Green, Dublin . Left two HS . v o lU!lles of memoirs that were never published . See D. L . b. Archbishops Rentals show Richard Whaley in 1713 as lessee of land for:nerly held by Richard Chappell deceased .
3.ic:1ard Whaley ' s lands are set out as under i n 1713:
~O acres Plantation called Grants.
'.l'ownsnarve als 'l'yrene cr oss
bruier~arti1 als Tullaghlec~in hcCoddan
S:-iarvagi.1 Boy 1,cCoddan
i'i1e Desert
L aycoyreagh als i<,oy als Cariboy
Farir,:ucsetane y als 7arin:nccautley
Lonag:1quin als Lonagi1icon
Dru~coYJ1.·1ell
ballynagally Etragh
Ballynure
.:.m nislare
i·:unnoughipatriclc
Tonagh
Ballydi~in als Lisadian
Ballysca n a ls Ballyscandle
Cullin trough
;.• oylur ge
Ballybroughan
Ballybroug han
Tireskaghten
~O acres in or about Ar~agh
1'o co!ll!llence 1st !s, ovember, 1707, for c::l yea rs. In the County of Ar-.;iagh and par is h , all exc ept the to 1,m of i. oylurge 1Jnich J. ies in th e parish o f 1-iullatrack .
(Charity c :1 appel and Richard her son tenants in 1676, under a lease :!,ade 1t1 July, 1 634, for 60 ye ars. H_er s9n Tho ..;;jS had lands in ~i ,1is.rnen Parish, Co . ho nagnan . 1 076 ae"tal gives variations in spell i ngs for above lands).
, otcs on c2rtain ,l(;Ll:es occu2:rir..c in hl_~_:J;:.q_nt.iJ& Linute of l8c8 -1901 .
.r<'::'...,:;..·u:..ry .1.l, lu.::b . 11hr. ii'arrell". hr. Isaac Farrell who _;_: 1 ::.J.::4 ·.-:as cal1.ed in by t,1e .ooard of Govcri1ors of th? Cc unty I ~J .2ir:nary in re[;ard to alterations a~1d re.>ovations ::n.Jre, cind wi10 about the sa.ne ti.:ic was erectint:; a neH ea stle at 'i'anC::era: ee for Lord and Lady ,.a:icleville, afterwards ::)uke and :)uc,1ess of l,anci1ester. ,.: . .r<,arrell ·-,a~ u,1cle to J. :1. Farrell, founder of the Porta do,-m r:ews 111 1859.
July 9, 1828 . 1°:ajor General Ti1ornton. Sir William Tho r nton, K.C.B. Lieut. General in the ar:ny. Died 1840. See B L . G. under Todd Tbornton of Westbrook, Co. Donegal.
June 4, 183.::. John Waugh deceased. A John ,laugh was Churc:H,arde" of Ar::.ia sh in 18~2 .
April 23, 1840. Dr . Kidd(l)in place of Capt. Lodge(.::) deceased.
February 11, 1841. Kelly. ( .::)
Rev . James JonesCl)in ·_.)lace of' I ./ ~-.
(lJ kRecto r of ~eady 1823 - 25 and of Derrynoose 18251~40 . 3ector of Kil!llore and Chancellor of Ar~agh Cathedral 1840- 1871. Died 1871 . Burie d Kil!llore.
,~~-·il J'-, ,-.;4, ,lil lia!il Paton(l)in place of Leo'lurd uvb1~ \c 1 Leceased .
(_J L~st Sovereign of tne city of Ar~agh. born 1797· D... 0dl.ay, 1871. Buried St. harlc ' s.
cc;~o_~?! -::~ 1$49 . HiLia:n Bar:~er(l)ii. pac..; of \Iillia:1 •. c .1.:..Llia·-. s~ d deceased.
( 1) Of Abbey tlouse, Ar;nagh, uncle of Sir Willia:u Squire Barker Kaye. He Has a solicitor and died in Lay 1866 . Ar·uagh Guardian Lay 10, 1866 .
(c)
Feoruary c7, 7-~55. Stewart Naxwell ( l) in pla ce of Arthur Kelly Evans ' )resigned.
( 1)
(c) Tho..1as 1Celly Evans, J .P . second son of Ldward Lvans of Gort~erron House .
A,)ril 7i lo57. John G. Winder Cl ) in place of Stewart Laxwe l deceased.
(1) Son of Capt. John ·Jinder. Secretar:,: to the Count~ Grand Jury . Died July ~9, 1889, aged 70 years.
1~e b ruary 1~2. 1867 . Th?:nas Dobbin in place of late \';illiam Barker . Tho:nas Dobbin J . P . of Armagh . Born 1795 . Died .. 87.L . See B . L . G.
-• · -~ "'3, 1870. Archibald l' Kidd(l)vice t •• L. Pt>vntice (c:: ) i....1..:ceased.
C.) ( c::)
~~€c;r.iary ;:o, lD7c::. Andrew Craig(l)vice :tev. Ja ... es Jones c.eceased.
(1) Ca-ot. A21dre,1 Crai-;, T:1e ,'.all, Ar.:.a g:1. Later a La;jor i'' t}:)e Ar..ia sh ,.ilitia. Borr. 18;:5 . Died 1077 . 3uried St. bar:, • s .
~ay 1, 1878 . Lieut . Co l. Dobbin(l)i n roo:n of Lajor Crai g . ( 1)
Lay 8 , 1884 . St . John l:llaclcer Douglas (l)in roo:n of A. I, Kidd, M. D . , resigned .
(1) St. John r ho:nas Blacker - Douglass of .1i:l:n P ar:c born 18~;:. Died See B . L . G.
.CJ.urus~ 14 , 1394 . l·,r . Thomas P r e nti ce oldest trustee _•ssiNns but resignation not a c c e pte d
-~u._:ust 14, 1894 . H. .b Ar.,st r ong Cl)vice J . G. Winder ceceased . ( 1)
Se,1te~.ber 4 , 1894 . R. G. L cCr u:n appo i nted a new trustee . lobert G<-1':llany !.cCrux, D. L . , of Hili'ord . High S'1eriff 1886. Born 18G9 . Died 19 1 5 .
. a:y G5, 1901. .:'lobert Turner(l) i n place of late .icnry Davison . ( 1 )
ha y G5 , 19 01 . J. C. Bo y le(l)i n p l a c e of St . J ohn BlacKe r Doue la s re s igned . ( 1)
!.ay G5, 1901. J ohn Co:np tonCl)i n p l a c e o f Tho·2as A. Pr en tice res i 7 ne d . ( 1)
Allilla..c.tJ; fro:n 11iu~Jaoo:c of 1328- 1907. in A~~p~J;.i.m:.ar.tl
,.::. r:ute 11 Zcbrua ry, 10<:'.8 . Plans d.ra,,m up by , ,r . j?ar r ell app"oved . He char?ed no fee Reso lv ed that al l the cnicrney "'icces be ;f Al'.;1a"l1 ;arble .
,.i::ute 9 July, lo ~8 . ?·iajor General Tnornton one of the proprie tors Hoposes taking dovm the wall between the card and retiring and ~aking a large r sunner roo~ . Ap proved . ··
Li mte 9 Salar; June, £40 . 18c:9 . John .l"agan elec t ed caretaker .
1-:inute 11 October, 1036 . Roo:11s be rented at i~ per nigh t.
I:inute c:3 ~ ~ril , 340 . Dr Kidd elected in place of Ca p t. Lod ge de cea sed.
Hi nut e 11 Feunwry, 1841. .1.ev . J u:aes Jones elected in pl ac e of A. I. Kelly . Edward l!Na'1S, ~ sq ., to act as Secret ary . Toll Co:n:ni ttee propose builci. i ng a husic rlall.
Hinute 20 April, 184<:'.. Toll Co.nnittee given per.a iss ion . Present Lusical Society :::iention ed - it to have fr ee us e .
.Jinute 17 January, 1 8 43. The lustre in larger f ront roo'.11 to be replaced by a gas pendan t .
·linute 30 Ap ril, 1 844 . Willia:n P aton elected in place of Leonard Dobbin deceased.
·.inute 2 October, 1 849 . Willia:n Ba rker appointed in p lace of Willia '.11 1-, cWillia ms deceased Ja~nes Matchett ' s sala ry reduced from £20 to £15 . He r esigns . Kingsbury S:n ith a ppointed in his place .
1inute 27 February, 185 5 . Stewart Maxwell in p lace of Tho'.lla s Kelly ivans resigned . \~ . Paton Treasure r i n p l ace of D?'. hidd .
Linute 7 Apri1, lb57 . Joh n G. ',!inder in place of Stuart l,ci.·we~l deceased .
• 1 i;1ute L:: 1;,ebruciry, 1067 . Ti10:nas Dobbin in place of late .l?! . Dar:ter .
-.inute .::3 April, 1670 . Archibald 1,. Kidd vice .1 . L . Frcntice deceased.
i.inute 9 June, lo74 . Trustees to acquire a l ur,:,etuity lease. '.he Old 1 eus Il.00J1 to be let to To1-m Co:,uissioners as an office £10 ,er year.
;_:_ ,Lite l Lay, lo7b . Lieut. Col. Dotbin in roo.J of Lajor Craig.
Linute 3 Ldy, .tc,84. St. Jolin .Slac'.rnr Dou.:;las in roo:: of A 1(idd, .. D. r(.;sic-ned .
l.L:ute _4 A..1.,,.ust, .Ld94. Lord L·i .ate ..11d others present at 1:;c:ti -; c.; iderine crn::.a!'ge"-"ent . Apolo-:_;y i'ro:., ,. G• •. cCru.... . '·-' . T,10.,as A. Pre:,tice u~c..est tl''J.Stee resigns uat r"'s::.gnation not accepted. :--i . -'• Ar .. strong to be appoL~ted vice J . G. ~Tinder 6.eceased.
l~inute 4 Se_ te •.ber, lo)4 . new TrLlstee. :.:c . R. G. l.cCr1l.il appointed a
l.inute c:5 1.ay, 1901. Robert Turner, J. C. Boyle, John Compton in ,ilace of late Henry Davison. St. John Blacker Do uglas resigned . ThoJ1as A. Pzentice resigned .
Linute 30 Dece~1ber, 1901. LJrban Council refused to pay increase of rent . 1 otice to quit .
•• inute 18 July, 190c:, and 1 ALlsust, 190c:. Council puts fo!'th r'eelers for acquisition of t.1e bu~lding . I'ontine trustee atire-.:able. Council desires to build a To,·m Hall.
Letter 14 Au ust, 190c:. frastees wbile anxious to pro:note eraction of ro,m .t-Iall i·Jhich ;1ight include apurt:nents for Technical Instr u ction do not thinK t:1ey \-lould be justified in per~itting the use of the _Tontine f~r th~ purpose of any Technical School unless in connection w1. th the propo:::ed Toi>m Hall when built .
15 hay, 190/. honroe and Anderson t o be instructed to take opinion of Council as to the best :iet'10d of d enabling trustees to get rid of their trust and procee to carry it out .
Last hinute but unsi1ned . Present: R . G • •• cCru:n in cl1air . J. B . .ooyle .
John Co:aoto!l · ... Sec rlerbert b. F'u1Ler~ 0 ~: • S . rl . !.o roe, .:iolicitor .
.cc ounts begin 11 February, 1828 _
Do. ..,tions received in March - April, 1329 _
l&.::9.
Larc~1 :LO.
Apr.'..l l 13 cl
c4
c6
:.ay 7
June .::4
Dec. c3 1831.
Chas. Brmmlow
0 fon. H. Caulf eild
hon. J. Caulfeild
Lord Charlemont
Tho:nas h. . Ar:Jstrong
Col. !\.elly
A. 1(. Kelly
Tho'.lla s Simpson
John \laugh PrL1ate
Lady Sparrow
Allowance fro:n Grand Jury.
1 year ' s rent of Savings Bank ' s Office to 1:ove::nber 1830.
ditto . Grand Jury
I:e;.;s Roo:n brought in Toll Co!!l <1i ttee
1039.
Certenary hethodist Meeting April 5, 1839. l\OVe:nber 28 . Three days performance.
:C.04O.
January 7. hr . Rube,..,stein 2 weeks bazaar. January 21. .hr • .burns 5 weeks Lecture. auctions, dances, lectures.
l,ay lo . Ar11agh husical Society 1 night Armagh Commissioners appear ,:: weeks bazaars figure.
Nada:ne Castaglionn ' s C t Tom Thumb . once r . lAnti Slavery Meeting Rev Dr ; 1r · Bart~ey the Wizard of th~ Ars ._ LocKwood. Harp Husic . :nerican Serenaders .
harch c.7 . Lr. Sa:nuel Lover. 1851. 1853 . 1855. Aug . 1858. hay 3. .cu59. Oct. 8 .
.
Edgar . '!lest.
Si gnor Lorenzo. Mysterious Lady 1-iagicians .
Teetotal Soirees and £e~perance parties .
S~akesneare readina Ceiling 1:/alker . 0 •
Col. Caulfeil d, and Officers of Ar:nagh Regt. Public Dinner .
To:n Thu~b entertainment . .Friendly Brothers for use of rooms on 20 occasions. 11 11 O
Ditto 1864.
iro::i this date onwards accounts are not so detailed Grd yielded little of interest from my point of view .
APPEi~DIX
,.:' .. Ll.Lia 0 , i·1 c.Jillia:ns an origin.:il trustee d. 13 hay, 1846 . Pr-...scnt lvc::u.¥.:
..:\1e archi t~ct wno drew tn' e plans for tn · e renovations
1.ra s John Caffery . He was pri·n · 1 f A cipa o r.nagh l'echnical sc:1001 at t:1e ti.ne. He was a re'1!arkable .1an, and was ah:ays a sc:1olar see:cinf for knowledge . ::ie uas, as far as I can tell, a Belfast ~an. He served his ti~e in Eelfost to be a plm1ber and attended the Tec'.mical College in Belfast gaining :nany passes in Building Construction a n d Drawing, Building Trade HatheJ1atics and Geometry. iie oeca~e a Building Inspector for Belfast Corporation and tau g ht Building Trade subjects in the evenings as a part - ti.ne teacher, in Lisburn and Dungannon Technical Sc~ools, for a number of years. He became Pri ncipal of Arnagh Techni cal School a bout 1904 or 5, then under the
Ar:.agh Urban Council (and was the se c ond Principal appointed). vfnile in Ar:nagh he was still studying and passed the Assistant County Surveyors exam. and about 12 months later passed the County Surveyors exam. - he was, I think, then over 40 years old .
He also :nade the drawings for renovating the Harket House into the Technical School , extending the building and put ting on a story about 1912. He also made drawings fer three houses in Rai l way Str eet (for a Mr . Johnston) and later he made drawings for houses on Cathedral Road i-!Bh red brick fronts ( for the sa:ne Hr. J ohnston) .
::e later oeca·1e County Su - rveyor for Bout~ Done gal about t,,e su:n':ler 1914 (but not sure) .
•_e was ,1arried and had t'nree or four c'.1ildr en - his d.fe was a Ger:aan .
Ti.1e CJ.erk of 1·Torks p was a at 1·,cAvinchey of Or-le Street. 11 '.!:':1e Builder·' was Robert Cullen of Porta do,-m lJi1o in h is time built tne entrance to the H. C. Cathedral and the Gate Locize, Augi1nacloy a . C. Chur ch and schools , Ar:-:i.agh
Technical Sc11ool, and :nany other good buildings. His grar:dson is at present living in the town of 1-,onaghan a:id is a builder.
l:1e front of the old Ton tine Roo:ns ( as it was called) was built of Ar JJagh :narbl e, und had a very dark and cold a:,>pearance . Tt1e window openings were :1mci1 as they a re ;o - ciay but i n the renova tions the plaster work that now surrounds chese windows was added . The entrance to the yarci. , ti1at now exists, was the original entrance to the To tine ya r d . l'he parapet with concrete banisters and Seal. of City in concrete were added in the renovations . huch of the orig i nal building still exists and no buildini; uas done to the front except a little wi dening of t;ne front door , and the adding of the p a rapet. The roo:ns t~at now constitute the library and the roo:n behind it are part of the original construction, also the front nar t of' the Town Clerk ' s office.
It is of interest that the stairs to the front and t·:e b3ck stairs from t~e hall and galle ry, also the raller:, 1:ere t'.1 e earliest re - inforced concrete ,-mrk in t:,::_s district.
Luc:1 of t:1e old stone of the old building, also the uld ~or tar Cwhen ·ut t:1rough a mortar :nill and fresh li:ne added; uere :re-used in the construction of the new hall •.i.:ich is larger ti1an the old Tontine :iloo:n .
T~e artist w~o nade the die for the replica of the City seal •,1as a Johnny 1-iayes. He also was Belfast ~nan . tle was a s.ncJll. .:!an , about 5 ' 3", of ,;ood appearance, who ,.ore nis 11 :1air long" and he always wore a large soft blaci hat (carvers and artists at t~is period generally wore t:1eir hair long). He did ::mch work in Belfast and ,:as engaged on carvings in stone at the City Hall there and on •.;.any other buildings.
( "i.e cei ved fro!ll hr . Henry HcAvinchey, 17 Feb., 195 5) .
.{,e date o.r its :irst Lar;cet House i· s unknown . T'1e city ·Ta, .. owev,:;r, :lldJ.-.,:et towr.: of so a st:i a.:ng iP the
• 10"' K1· n 0 c- '-" rd tlle iourth granted a new ~;.urt r for Lar·,_ts d'1c. .t1'e1irs to t·Je ~ 1 cn .~rc,:.,.:.siop,
··.· ~·1 se s .:.nde"d to have bJen a co"'f:i.r-i.Jt::. 01 , of an L. 1587 a ..\1csday ,,ar'.<et 1.1as :;ranted to t.:e citize!'ls
en t .e et.:. t.:.0:1 o ...· Eu.;:1 C :. eil::., ....ar_ of .( re e d
ace rdi:~ to an I~q2isition ta~en iu the city .:.r 1GuJ it as fo d 1.. t '1 a ,,,eei{ly ,aur;,._ t ;1acl bee .. ;:;le. i -~ ''" tc~."l t.:..1e ..lt of ..1.:.rd".
Fo __ owi. _; t· " l.:i.:1tation of Ulstur it see:.is t:iat a i-ll:' ,et .:ouse voJ.ld have been a nece.;sity b1..;.t ::.n .?:-iar 0 ,.clan's ''i,ar:::-ative of the Jars of 1641·1 it si .. _ly .s ;u ';.3~ un-er date La~· 2. 1-;4;,: that "Ar.na~.. ~: tne
ea~· _c1:-c1l w::.t'.1 its sto3ep l e(l)and 1!lth its be.1.""s and orgaus, . . cco:::- · ." .,..; to O' Donovan "bteeple" ,car,t the Round. Tower~·.,r .:.r.:::t:mce t 11e a ntrim Round ro.!er is st.:.11 known as ·'- 1e stee le". £he date of t,1e fina::. disappearance f t 1e A.r.!lag:1 "Steeple" is ,.rn cr>oun. Its CJ'1:'..cal cap ,.. 5 ·)lo·.m vff in a great stor- in lLd - see 1 • • m1al s f ';Le i octr I.asters ".
v;I •<u::.' ' ct.:t -•OllSe \/US probabl;r built circa l(6C,. :.. t . c: •,.:.vc s i·v::. v~d ur.til ir,to t·1c followinr; c,__ tJ.r y -:..,.t
sc ,:;.ve een S1:>'·,i1g s.i.c;;ris of d::?ca:): .:.n :; "10th ce;itury as ·,:c.1bisr109 :far:;l1 .3oulter w:10 died Jul· , .cJ, .c7l,~, .. udc
r"·.,.:.si on i'Jr a new Lar :et l:011se, a ,-:urk t:1ac was duly c~rri..:d uut by :1is executorsC<'.\,;ho coJ1pleted tnc bi.....'..lcl.i.n 6
at a co&t of ~:~c .
Seventy - chre(:: y..:iors later in 1315 i.rci1bishop :t.:.llia:J
5L.1crc JCOl" ed -·;:1~ city ·.::.t11.t;1e present llarket :iouse , ;:it
expcndi t-...;_re 0f . (3) That L-uilding still stands ~n ..:.3,uvv.
a1d I noi! ap_ end an account of its transition from i.arket _:ouse "'.;o school ·,rritte '·.y !;r . ::e'."ry .. c:..vi. c:1ey of E;d·.-mrd
S"'.;reJt and ·::.ven to ne as a reco~d o: his .~owledge of t e ~u::.idin~ in fifty y2ars of act.:.ve life ir. a ,eriod ,c?s~ ;:oo...;. operat::.ve ,.:asons Here st.:.11 to the ..'.'ore.
r. G. ? . Paterson.
(,::) See Stuart ' s "ArJ,agl:i" , p . 4.::7.
(2) Ibid, p . 550 .
~· jl;; ,_gTl:at r:0 ~.sQ _ "'ow ';;h, Techni ~.a-, Sc .0 o1 • si tc1ated in ..or:wt St:..0'"t ir. :rc,nt o ..: ~.w uld Cat:~-1C:ral, was erect0d by Bis.,o!, Jtaart in t:~e : ~ar lc315. It ,·.'as a two-storied llu::.ld1. -G , bu::.lt of drEsscd li~c stone iD larze ls~lar bloc~s, cac~ stone :1.::ving a l" c:1i sel draft around ::. t, t·.,." r.><,t 1· s ,. · d -_...,. J..:_~i~:tL1C in v1:rnt .:.s ::!lo,m .:.n t!'le ouild:;.ng trade as s. ar~'O\f p::.c.c-10., foat is, it .:.s finished with a puncn, dressed •:rith a wooc:.e~ nallet .
.:here is so:w fine s-ro,1~ · · tl · '.... · " .. r .c in 1e ooc~oll Sc.Jrey, and ::. t was f::.ni shed wi t:i a ;:;raLJd orna~e.~tal corr.:. ce dressed in local li:nestonc wit'.1 stone balustrades and c:,ping.
It was sur:n0untGd or. the front \-:ith a clock :rnich
·:r-~c bottou.1 story was used for the buyi1;r; and selling ol' corr., :rain and ;iotato"s and '.,as fitted .r.i.t':1 several :CcJrt;0 sc.:;les for ·:,ei6hine t!1ese goods, and had so:ne s"" aca :or s.1ort ti:ne storage .
1'hc upp,n sto ry was use d for publ ic .:1eetings, lectures , '::'Jn,~crts, etc. and it was in co.n:non use as a good dancing ,,Ll: as .:.t hac a good p itch ~in e floor. '.ri1is was :;,..1.p.t';,.,rtcd on several itch :9ine bea:ns, about 18" x 18 " and / / ~ve ·~cat sp rin g to the floor .
It was USGd or. several occ~~i·on.,~ to ... - :10ld political eth . r.'._;s ar.d at election ti·aes as 11 · a po __ ing boo th . At t.1e '...ac·-c were Seve ral s.Jal l bu·.1."ldi·~··s , ,· ,.,., ~'-~i·, s • • --~~ ~v - ' in · eh di~'ferent il"oods were sold on ~a r k et days
I re:ncmber my t;randr.i.o tt1er telling :.1e t hat work.1er. .iseC:. to asse=l:le h, re eac'1 o1or -:ing "before t .. e bells on '", . ., C t_ .::ur~.t begar, to ring", to offer t·ie selves ..'.'or work to u iyo •c \ho "ould requ ire their services. f hey turned u., ,-1itl1 t:1eir ovm tools, a spade, a shovel, or per:1a::-s a ',arrou. If it was the :1arvest ti'Ile, t'.1ey cgr~ied r~tcl1:o r~s, ra~es, sycles or at a latter date seyt~1es. :,any woJJen •.-rould turn up al so, to work at w~ther i n~ potatoes , ~iftin: corn, atllerin~ stones off lanu, ...iJ...dng and u:..it ter maki1g . s~il i nes ,er week. ·1\10 wages of:e:red were a few 1 : .e Larket :iouse wus cont r olled oy a body Known as the :'olls Co ~:ni ttee w'.10 also controlled tne 'i'ontir:>e roo~.i.s and :he flax a.:irket, po r ;( 11ari-cet, fowl :i1arket , butter and eggs ar!~-:, ·,,Licl. were situated in a.:.ffe rent parts o f the town, a. c. 9-:; all of ,-itich they collected tolls . 1~is Co ~ittee continued to exist until the end of the .::ist cen·~ .r~ , vhen shortly after the Local Govern:nent Act :,s :issed for Irel 3 nd, the Ar :nagh Urban District Cou.ncil ~~·-into existen ce and they had a Bill moved in the ,l .• , .i.nster tlo..ise of Co-nmons and supported by the th en Irish
t:1c Larket ,1ouse ~nc., m,,,r·cets . t th "' - • 6 J_vcn o _e
~r.a C inc:l itj the ri~ht to ow1 markets and collect t o_:'..., " .
T 2 --:.r "'"'t H0use continued to te used for tnc IJUrpuses ::Jr ·.-,:1icn it ';o.s built up to 1913, u:1en t 1ie Urban Council
a e:. '.-.tio '1eld a schoo::. in one of the hoc1.ses called 11 T':1c 5,--;e·~ ::ouses'' (later tic Labour .;xchange) i·:s';~·t,cted the Pri~ci.al of the iec~rical SchoJl to draw plans for the So ,. :..· . Jo:1'") C:il'l'er, who a cc,.iple of years b-.fore r~cc,~s~ruct2d t~e Toiti e roo~s into the City ~all, beca-e t ... c.rc·•.:.tect of the new l'ec:rnica_ sc·, v- · ., r. ::lobe rt
C-.u..:i.en of Portadown secured the contract - i1e, also , built .. r. l~rank Donaghy, a .!oson, ·,:as ::ore:ian, and ~i··'-'r'-'- . . c .. ,rinc· cy 1.ms cl<.?r.-: of vor rn.
I t1.: r-cconstr-c1.cted wor.{, ti1e botto.1 of the old 1-iarket sa w:is , 0 t isturbed -:inc. t'.1.i.s po!'tion was left as it had ..:'i.t:: top storey was tairnn dm·m wit:1 tr1e i1eav:· stone
~-r ccs & .d clock ~ouse 7,1e wooc.e,., iloors were taken up ., c. re l e..,c. •..:.t:. re:i.nl'orced concrete fL,ors.
~c. ad c,v'-lr the bac,< wall on to a new reinforced co,...crete
'3 • Jic.;h cn~r.,;_ed -!;na new walls of t:1e neu school. T1is
1_ did jou .
}1c secnnC: i'.1.oor a , t u .. c rcof -~~e als~ o~ r~info=ccd
Cl' crece, ruof on t·1 e new · - ld. U~;,.._ :; •
T" · s·0,.r · _,dt:u
c::. - Cl .1...•'\ -~ , " str· cor
c tJe cloc~ s::.~enced !
£'12 stu c W.Jl' t .Zor ti1e new u Jr'.: uas ,_ c........ J-.J
o:.c. an.G. W1' -::'1 is the r._·,. tJ!"e to ::i.1c s.~"JJ.e colou:r. ,, . ~, , . -a.JO uaS (; l le · 1::.1 ?1c ::,tcne
0.:'.:ssers ,,,e7'e t:1e last of fa ..iilics ,-rho had Ccl:'ricd o"' t.1::.s trade :rJ~ rat~er to son ror ~encrat::.ons. (Stone-dressing is al~o~t a thin~ of tae past) .
Duri'1£ t'1e b·1__;_1ding of t'1e ·,:alls a dispute arose with the Contractor and the Clerk of Works on the construction of the r>ew walls .
Specified in tae contract the walls 11ere to be 14 11 wide, n-::·:_d with brick work . The briclts 1-:ere sand and. li:ne r ade
: i •• J1:ry l.l;i u •• r . .t()cl:oo'1d. '£he
t,. C.r.ss large stJncs dow1~ to s:.-" or 9" ... os '~c uinto..1.r.ca i.1C :i·.J e Cleric u.L ilor!a:s
Vit-- cc. A local Govern e--it Inspector •1:,s "'_1:,;_·;rator .
.-..:'.'t..,.· "' rrolo:1 ;:;ecl. hcari:--g .:.t was evsr.tually s2ttled
~nG~ J-· e C.; ~ractor 1ras not i~t~r_ratit~ ·ae specifications
r.:. :,t. .: result was tnat :1e :1ad to drl.ss 'c'..G st~n<Js to take 'l full b:::ick and insert Bond Stones ,ii.ere required . .,.. e, .'.'i,,.:.s,,ed, toe old Larh.et .:ouse :1ad been con-1erteo. .r..,:.i a t\/::,-storicd Luild:'..ng to a t:1ree-storied one: c . ::.:.,·c:;:i:.bly enlarged, wit,1 ·~any class roo.ns, wood '!Jlock f,_ sO::.'S, ::rnd fulfilled its })U l'_'.:)0S8 at t:1e ti..,;e as tr.e .~r-"ag:-: -'tc:, ..:.cnl Sc:1001 and up to tbe present . _ .c lo:~r iortion continued to be ~sed as a ;rain ar ~et: u. to ;;he time of tlle Second ·:lorld '.far when it was i;"~ - J o·, _r clnd clfter so'lle reconstruction beca·.ne t'1e Local
'.:':1on -4::; 1e /u..;1, v-·:·icc was c:0sed t'.1c Technic.:il At orities tc:rn3d
1ave to change ~ts ~w-C again, as t~ere S8G~s to be a _ unri. or a ·uc'.1 larzer and 'llor0 co 1odious building, ::1orc .:.r. :~e:in:; ·•it:~ ,JOdern r0qi.:.i re:.wnt s :in educatio·1. It is ~t.:..1 a very 3ound and ~ood builuing and has as lc~iid a aJ.1c::.e. t cit:; .,~ a.1. ... :1ops1 that our city fatLcrs '.-Till S(c;C to it, tie ti.:e co:nes, c:1at it ::.s t ....rned to s~.,e use.:'ul .1~_1ry !-,ct\.vin c'.1ey
C, a •.ar"ct Da: t· e ..:arket p2.ace ,.-,as a ver. c0:.vL,rEul ~.!.::ice.
- Second Hand Clothes, a.,d .iad a wonderfi:.l flo,-: of tan. "';fay :'..ie ir ··ed 1rlth a couple of old top coats w,1e!1 you can get a first class blan%et for so little?"
Overcoat. 11 ,ihy go about foundering with the cold wl1en you can get an overcoat '.l1ade by the i.,aste r tailor''.
- Bob Baxter.
B.,,,o''"Je l·'.ake; s
c-,,\.,.ac1\ l. 1,CU ci '1 G
Charoct_r--~
_ Hitchell - long hair and :noustache .
Jinny Banks - one eye and sharp tongue. ~eighed potatoes.
Bell Ringer
r.cAleavey. t-:ccray. . Carried grain to be weighed .
_ Gibson 1 s Pavmshop . . hiss Cochran I s - fixed u:nbrellas and so l d delph . Coffee Shop.
:,;, d oi' tllcse culourful mar;cets - Council wo·Jld rH;".; :;::.vc :·entals .
.::1e r-.ont of the l·,arket House had 4 ::1igh steps ris.i.r.g a:.i, u-: 3 1 4 ·' with a riath around 3 1 wide whic:: made a ready ::,la t:::oru1
Ior o:sators of all descriptions who :nade use of it on ..1an:: occaslor-s and harangued the passer - by on .1any subjects .
THE BERESFORD ARMS HOTEL
ARMAGH DIOCESAN LOCAL STUDY GROUf
I f e a r I shall be talking long er than usual tonight and for t ha t I crave your forgiveness here and now . Last time I was with you I tried in a simple way to interest you in the fact that the streets of our city did, in real ity, envisage past episodes and personages l inked with local history .
Now, owing to Mr. Harry McAvinchey's indisposition, I have been invited to come before you again . On this occasion I propose to deal not with st r eets but with a house in English Street well-known to al l of you. My reason for doing so is due to t he following account of the premises in this month's ''Ulster Commentary" whe rein, i n an art i cle on t h e "Historic Associations of Old Inns", the following passage occu rs : -
"The Beresford Arms, Armagh, is an historical house in a city steeped in history, where the Cathedral dates back to the year 445. On the site of the present hotel stood the residential houses of one of the most famous universities in the ancient world. Here, while a student, stayed Aldfrid, King of the Northumbrian Saxons in 684 and a stone's throw away is the place where st. Malachy of the Golden Collar was born". (l) (1) Denis o•D. Hanna, Ulster Commentary, No.154, November 1958.
The paragraph in question shows vivid powers of imagination but, alas, no grasp of reality! Let us examine the points embodied in that statement - we shall take them in sequence -
(1) Patrick as you are all aware arrived in Armagh in the year 444 A.D. and set his heart upon the hill-top si te, within the enclosing rings of which Daire, the Chieftain of the area, then resided. The saint's plea for space for a church there was refused, but he was given accommodation on lower ground in a small rath and there arose the first Christian temple in our city. We may ascribe it to the year of his arrival, but we have no clear evidence as to the date of the erection of his second church - it must have been at least a decade later before the plot within the inner ring of the great earthwork was made available.
(2) That the Beresford Arms stands upon uthe site of one of the residential houses of one of the most famous universities in' the ancient world" is very doubtful. Armagh has, of course, claims to university status, for in 1162 it was decreed by the bishops and clergy of Ireland that only those who had studied theology in Armagh might teach that subject elsewhere throughout the country. It is well to remember, however, that at that particular period the site of the hotel was without the outer defence
of the city - not within it. "Here", we are told, "whilst a student" stayed King Aldfrid of the Northumbrian Saxons in 684. Prince Aldfrid - to give him his then title - was in exile and during hi·s d wan erings through Ireland certainly visited Armagh. 11 Itinerary 11 states thatA poem known as his
"In Ardmach the splendid He found meekness, wisdom and prudence blended Fasting and obedience to the Son of God And noble prosperous men of learning", a condition of affairs suggestive of an active and scholarly community. You will notice, however, that Aldfrid neglected to mention his stay in the Beresford Arms, a house that we are informed lies within "a stone's throw away 11 from the place where "St. Malachy of the Golden Collar was born".
Admittedly there is not much distance involved between the Beresford and the house that occupies the traditional site of St. Malachy's birthplace, but there is no link between the saint and the "Golden Collar". St, Malachy was born here in the year 1095, was Archbishop from 1134 until 1137, and died in 1148. Malachy of the Golden Collar was, however, an entirely different personage. Commonly known as Malachy the Second, he defeated the Danes near Tara in 978, and in the same year successfully attacked them in Dublin . Not content with those t r iumphs he invaded Munster in 989, at
which time Brian Boru was undisputed King of that Province. Br ian was a soldier of equal calibre and immediately made reprisals, whereupon Malachy ag ain plundered Munster and conque red Brian in battle, after-wards marching to Dublin and re-att acking the Danes, on which occasion he successively encount ered an d vanquished in a hand to hand conflict two Danish champions, taking a collar of gold from one and a sword from the other, an event commemorated by Moore in the lines -
11Let Erin rem ember the days of old Ere her faithless sons betrayed her When Mal achy wore the collar of gold Which he won from her proud invader".
Curiously enough, after Brian Boru's death in 1014, Mal achy became High King and was indeed t he last absolute monarch of Ireland. He died in Armagh in 1022 and was buried with great ceremony - presumably in that part of the cath edral cemetery appropriated to regal interments.
But to return to the Beresford Arms . The hotel is, in fact, the house that I wish to discuss with you tonight. Ther e are, of course, dozens of other buildings in the city of equal merit but they have not yet figured in ''Ulster Commentary".
THE BERESFORD ARl,18,
The Beresford Ar ~ s com~emorates Lord John George Beresford , a princely Archbishop of Armagh, and his family arms bl a zo ned with t h ose of the See of Armagh were for.norly displ ayed on the front of the hotel . Painted in true heraldic colours they covered a large space of wall between t he centre windows of the first floor. Eventually the or iginal board became decayed and was re placed by the present h anging si gn, a reversion to one of the earlier f or:n s of identification. The premises, however, go back f ar beyond the days of Lord John ' s Primacy . In the early eighteenth century the house was occupied by th e Rev. Nathaniel Whaley, M . A., who in 17~~ was collated rect or of A.r.nagh. He had previously been a chaplain to Archbishop Lindsay and was much thought of by the famous Dean Swift in whose corresponden c e he figures. Stuart in his "Me moirs of Armagh" recounts an anecdote of Swift being in t h e city in that year whilst the walls of the ancient Abbey of St . Peter and St. Paul were being used as a qu arry f or stones for the building of the Presbyterian Church in Abbey Street . Wh a ley ' s selection as rector was opposed by the Crown vmo claimed the righ t of present ment, but the Primate took
t '1e !llntter to t h e House of Lords and successfully secured t l1 e ap po i n t ia en t of his own no!llinee. In 1728 a nd 1729
Sw·lft wa s a gain in County Arma gh a nd ma de a long stay a t
Ma r lce t h ill with Sir Archibald Acheson, ancest or of the F.a rls of Go s for d , and we can be sure he freque ntly called upon his friend in Armagh whose cau s e he had ably supported by cor r espondence with Lords Oxfor d , Bolingbroke, etc .
Th a t Swift and he were very intimate is borne out by a letter d ated 5th April, 1717, wh erein we le a rn that Mr. Wh aley ( with other gentlemen) drank Swift I s health dailya custom assuming a close personal friendship and affection . Swift was honoured with the Freedom of Armagh in 1728 and i n t h e s a:n e year was made a Freeman of t b e Borough of Ch a rlemont.
Mr. Whaley died in 1738 and was succeeded in the house, a nd incidentally in the rectorship of Armagh, by t h e Rev. Henry Jenny, D.D., a former Prebe ndary of Mullab r a ck in which p arish he became acquainted with Swift durin g the Dean's visits to the Achesons. Stuart wr1ting in 1819 tells us that Dr. Jenny resided in English Street in t h e house subsequently owned by George Parks - the f irst o\>mer after it was utilized as an hotel, and that t h e syste-~ of bell-pulls used in fashionable houses in Armagh in Sw1ft ' s time were even then to be seen. At
th a t time t h e house and two adjacent mansions were still shi ngled.
Th e Jenny.\ were a notable clerical family. Four mo~bers in succession were rectors of Mullabrack between the yea rs 1666-1733. The Rev. Henry, the last of the family to officiate there, replaced his father in that pa rish in 1708, and remained there lllltil 1733, in which yea r he became Archdeacon of Arma gh, a dignity that he resi gned in 1738 for the benefice of Armagh. Like his predecessor he was also a friend of the Dean of St. Patrick ' s and tradition states that Switt preached for him in Mullabrack Church, and was much appreciated by the parishioners, some of ,mom appear in poems written from Ma r ke thill. Jenny himself is mentioned in several such ef f usions, including the familiar "Grand Question Debated wh eth er Hamilton's Bawn be turned into a Barrack or a Malt-house", wherein we are informed that "Swift waa ao shabby and looked like a ninny, the Captain supposed he was curate to •Jinny".
Later Swift blamed "Jinny" for a rather derogatory reply but the latter was able to prove hie inn ocence and the friendship continued. Like Swift he was a Freeman of Charlemont, but waa the Dean I s senior on the roll by two years.
Local tales state that Swift was sometimes Jenny ' s
bodY s o lately embodied 11 , afterwards dining at t he 11K1ng, s Head '' wher e t he y qua f fed many toasts. Later in 1784, the Volunteer Ea r l of Charlamont, Colonel of the Armagh Regiment of Volunteers, and Commander-in-Chief of the Irish
Vo lun t ee rs ins pected a mar c h past of county companies, from a window in the dining-room, following a review on the Common s. Four ye a rs earlier in March 1780 a duel was fough t in the hotel yard between Cap tain Maxwell of the Se cond Comp any of Armagh Volunteers and a Mr. McClane in wh ich the latter was killed.
In 1792 Mr. Charles McReynolds took over from Parks and under his care the hotel became lmown as the Molyneux Ar:ns, thus complimenting a local family that numbered amongst its members Samuel Molyneux, Chief Engineer of Ireland, who died in 1692, William Molyneux (1658-1698 ), the author of the 11 Case of Ireland Stated11 , the Right Honble. Samuel Molyneux, t he eminent mathematician who died in 1727, and Thomas Molyneux 1661-1773, a former Physicia n-General of Ireland, created a baron e t in 1730, w.1ose statue by Roubilliac is one of the finest memorials in Armag h Cathedral. No doubt McReynolds had those facts in mind but it is probable that he specially wished to honour Sir Cap el Molyneux, Bart., an ardent Irish Volunteer 'Who later a t the formation of Yeomanry Corps in 1796 raised
t he Castledillon Infantry and is still remembered for a duel he fought in the Palace De:nesne in April 1797. He was then aged eighty years and winged his opponent with the first shot. The quarrel is s a id to have begun in tha dining-room of t he hotel and ~ras transferred from the hotel yard to the d8'll e sn e out of consideration for some "ladies of quality" who tried in vain to prevent the fight .
In 1793 Charles McReynolds was admitted a partner in the f ir~ of Leonard and Kennedy• proprietors of the Armagh Stage Coach which conveyance then left the Molyneux Arms for Dublin on three days each weak at the early hour of 4 a.m. In 1795' a faster vehicle known as the Armagh Fly Coach came into com:nission leaving at the same hour, its accommodation limited to six inside and four outside passengers and, as was usual then, equipped with a guard.
In August 1796 McReynolds died and we have an account of the funeral in the 11 A1exander Hamilton Diary 11 , a manus cript in the Public Library . He was buried at Stewal'tstown "attended to the grave by a great body of horsemen in scarfs and hat bands and a great many carriages, among them all the Armagh Hackney chaise and a coach". The same sour c e gives the additional information that trav ellers 'Nho had reached Ar:nagh the evening befo r e were unable to procure transport to other town• and thus had to r811lain in the oi t y for two nights.
The Ar.nagh Fly Coach had then been speeded up by tho provision of six sets of horses, but by October of that year there was an adjustment of the time-table resulting in the journey to Dublin again taking a day and a half, passengers staying overnight in Drogheda on the way south and at Dundalk returning north.
In March 1797 McReynold ' s interest, including furniture, plate, carriages, etc. was sold with two acres of land outside the city. The sale bill described the premises as the 11Head Inn 11 but that seems to have been des criptive of its position as the hotel of most importance locally.
The new owner seems to have been a John Tobin, but three years later, in March 1800, he resold the hotel and the stock, furniture, carriages, horses, etc. then advertised as the Molyneux Arms. It was
The purchaser ' s name is not now recoverable but it is probable that it was the Mr. James Reilly who was host in 1808 when Thomas Ensor, an officer of the Armagh Militia, later its Lieut.-Colonel, and Captain Weld met to fight a duel in the hotel yard. The field of honour, we are told , ,,,as rendered bloodless by the timely arrival of three gentlemen of influence brought in by Reilly to stop the fight. The place by then had become the "King ' s Arms" and
tho Royal arms had displaced the armorial bea rings of the Molyneux family• Such changes wore frequent in the eighteenth an d nineteenth centuries, and were due to various reasons such as wishing to compliment a particular personag e or show interest in a political cause.
The hotel t h en had an assembly-room attached much ' in de~and for Hunt and Race dinners and other social events, and gossip affirms that the bar was furnished with sl at es in frames whereon were chalked up the debts of the young bloods of the town. Each slate is said to have been protected by a panel which was usually kept closed, and drunks were sent home in carriages piloted by postillions - a pleasant form of a ttention soon to pass away .
By 1824 the name of the hotel was again changed, It had become the Royal Hibernian and Mr. William Rogers, the then proprietor, was advertising superior comforts of a type that he felt would meet with the approval of the nobility and gentry, a necessary provision in those days when liata of arrivals and departures were as colourful as a Court Circular. Travellers from the north and south f ound the town a convenient halting-place and the new own er of the Royal Hibernian much to their liking, just as t heir predocessors had found its earlier hosts in the days when the city was sending two repreaentatives to the old
Irish House of Commons, and the hotel was the rendozvous of reno,-med politic al characters on their way to and from Dubli n , amongst them celebrated f igures like Henry Grattan, ~ember for the adjoining Borough of Charlemont from 1775 until 1790 .
In 1825 the hotel was the scene of a robbery by whi ch a guest was dep rived of a sum of one hundred pounds .
Rogers with a friend pursued the thief by coach to Ba111eboro ' , in County Cavan, and from thence on horseback to Kells in County Meath where by the aid of a police inspector the fugitive was arrested having in his possession the amount stolen, less sixty shillings spent on the way . This caused an even greater sensation in the city than the seizure of t h e Ar:nagh Coach in May of the preVious year for smuggling tobacco! At that time coaches were leaving and arriVing daily from the four points of the compass, and by 1 840 a fresh route was added to Dublin by Castleblayney, Carrickmacross, Ardee and Slane.
The new serVice was used by Maria Edgeworth, the distinguished novelist, in September 181+4, and a letter still surVives wherein she describes how 'When staying wit h her stepsister, Mrs. Robinson, at Armagh Observatory, she planned to Visit her cousin at Ardee. It had been decided originally that the journey should be made by chaise
but the day of departure proved so inclement she postponed leaving for some days, discovering in the meantime that she could reach her destination more conveniently by the recently opened route. She joined the coach at five o'clock in the morning at Roger's Inn, and loft in a storm just as violent as that which had caused her to delay her journey two days earlier. Whilst in Arma gh she had been called upon by Archbishop Lord John George Beresford, and his sis ters, and had lunched with Lord Caledon and his mother , and had visited or been visited by the elite of the county.
Roge rs took an active interest in sport and often acted as Clerk of the Course at local race meetings, besides donating a Challenge CUp for which there was keen competit ion annually. During his time the hotel provided 11 0rdinaries 11 in the evening at six o ' clock following ea ch day ' s racing, an amenity much appreciated by the guests, many of whom were bedded out in private houses owing t o lack of room in the hotel. To the sporting fraternity the place was always known as Roger ' s Hotel but the more conservative locals still referred to it as the Molyneux Ar~s, and public opinion late r resulted i n the older name being again revived .
During Roger s • ownershi p the hotel was the assemblypl ace of the Armagh Knot of the Friendly Brothers of st. Patrick , The Society held its inaugural me eting t he r ein on the 19th June , 1824, and its minutes show th a t the hotel was then called the Royal Hibe rni an. Whe ther the Friendly Brothers were responsible for the return to the earlier name is not clear, but we do know t hat t h eir minutes dis close th a t the hotel again beca me t he Holyneux Arms between 1 8 33 and 1 834, but by October 1844 it had become the Ber esfo rd Arms, a title thas has endur ed despite changes in ownersh i p, fo r over a hundred years. The Archbishop of Ar:na gh t hus honoured wa s Lord John George Beresford, se cond son of George de la Po e r Beresford , 1st Marquess of Waterford, and uncl~ of Lor d John Beresfo rd, a forme r rector of Mull abrack (l a ter 4th Marque ss) , father of Ad!lli r al Lord Ch arl es Beresford, V.C.
Lord J ohn George was Archbishop and Primate of All I reland f r om 1822 until 1862, and in that time was a li beral supporte r of every good c ause, besides encouraging t he building of t he t wo most attractive groups of houses in the city, t he terr a ces knot-in as Beresford Row and Ch a rlemont Pla ce. He also erected at his own expense a Fever Hospital (now t h e Macan Asylum for t he Blind), was responsible for t h e restoration of the a ncient Cathedral
of St. Patrick, the enlargement f th o e Observatory and the Royal School wi th other works of public utility. Indeed no Archbishop of Armagh other than Lord Rokeby has l ef t so personal a mark on the city .
I n 1843 Thackeray whilst in Armagh made the hotel his head qua rters. His account of t he town is somewhat flattering and indeed amusing. He departed on a Sunday, and in the mo rning had seen ladies distributing tracts in various streets so was alarmed in case they should descend upon him when leaving as he was conspicuous with bag and baggage and might have incurred their disapproval by tr avelling on the Sabbath. His guilty feelings did not, however, s poil the pleasure of his drive to Portadown wh ere h e joined the train -t he railway having been laid t o th a t po int on its way from Belfast to Armagh.
About t h at da te the Beresford Arms passed to Mr. Jame s Wiltshire who in 1845 obtained a lease of the centre portion of the Mall and with characteristic generosity, ma de it available to the public for cricket, a game then in its infancy in the city, and resulting in the foundation of the Armagh Cricket Club in 1859 and the use of the Mall Field as the Club Pitch from 1861 to date.
The railway reached Armagh in 1848 and on the 7th February of that year a special train with fourteen dire ctors
of the Ulster Railway Company arrived in the city. After lunching at the Beresford they returned to Belfast. At t he ~eeting it was agreed to open the Armagh Section and accordingly its se rVice operated from the first day of the following mon th and from thence until after the coming of t he motor -ca r, tha hotel horse-drawn omnibus met each train daily .
In 1850 Wi ltshire joined forces with Jones of Enniskillen in the running of tvro folll'-horse coaches between Armagh and that town. The coach left the city on the arrival of t h e 9 .15 a . :n . train and was due at Enniskill en at 4 .30 p . m., the second coach le a Ving the latter town dai l y at 9 a , m. and reaching Armagh to mak e connection with t he 4. 5 p . m, tr ai n from here to Belfast. This amenity shortened the journey from Belfast to Enniskillen by two hours. A similar arrangement came into being the previous year wher eby p assengers from Belfast to Dublin used the rail way to Armagh, driving from thence to Castleblayney
fr o~ whi ch poin t they were able to continue by train to Dundalk, Drogheda, and Dublin, making the trip in eight hours. Earlier still there had been a like service to Drogheda wh en the railway was opened to that town on its way from Dublin to Belfast.
Followin g Mr. Wiltshire 's death bis widow carried on the busine ss from 1852 until about 1878. From that period
onwards the su ccession was C.F. Tranter, William Campbe ll, c. H . McCallum, Beresford Arms Limited, Herman. In 1921 t he hotel was purchased by Mr . John Bennett, f ather of the presen t o\mer.
Of the ea rli e r hotels of the city we know practically nothing. None seem to have survived the burning of the t own in the CiVil War of 1642 , but a t least one was rebuilt by 1655 as records show that Edmundson, the Quaker, was held captive t he rein in that year " owing t o the prison having boen damaged in the l a te war". Whether be was con fined in the Spr ead Eagle is not c e rt ai n . If so it wa s accidentally burned in 1683. It was , however, repaired by 1703, in whi ch year the other chief inns were "The Three Nags", "Sign of t he Swan", "King 's Arms", and the old "Head Inn", the hos telry t ha t housed James II on his way to Derry in 1689, and in t h e same year the Duke of Schomberg, one of William of Orange ' s most celebrated generals - but of the hosts of su ch establishments we h ave little informa tion though some we re in dee d deeply regretted by their patrons. For i nstance when Mrs. Peggy Stringer died in 1746 the legal fraternity inserted an obituary reading"Last week died at Armagh, Mrs . Peggy Stringer, mu ch lamented and deeply regretted by the gentlemen of the Bar and Circuit whom she always studied to entertain agreeably".
Th a t wa s a mo st pleasant a ppreciation but as Peggy was 1nclined to t a ke more than "a little wine for her stomach 's sake " , tho notice also carried a proposed epitaph as f'ollows:-
11He r e li e s Peggy Stringer who lo•.red in her soul
A to a st, and a lawyer, a bout and a bowl And be c au se in the grave there's no drink to be had, For a b ellyful living had drunk herself dead".
Three qua rters of a century later in the year 1821, Judy Griffen the famous hostess of the King's Arms died, greatly lamented, especially by the Armagh Society of Bell Rin gers, who had made her place a house of call for 30 years. She was indeed the only innkeeper that I am aware of who had mourning p eals rung night and morning from death to burial. The newspa pers of those days are full of such titbitsa Northern pa p er of somewhat earlier date contained an advortise~ent as under -
11 Tb ese words give notice that next week William Tier will remove his inn on the roadside three miles from Arma gh, to the Oak Tavern in the town of Armagh where his f a ther p reviously kept an inn, and his father before him, his horses and wag gons going forth on their usual days, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He bath also a hearse and all t hings convenient to carry a corp se to any part of Ireland 11 •
A few weeks later the intimation to the public was re placed by another message reading -
11 These words give notice that William Tie r doth not intend to ro~ove his inn on the roadside three miles from Armagh to the Oak Tavern now or a t any other time, there beine good reasons against it . His horses and coaches will ply as usua l and he hath a hearse and all things con venient to carry a corpse t o any part of Ireland, He also gives notice that Mary Whidd en is no lon ger in his erapl oy".
\Je are left, howev er , in ignorance a s to -why William dP.sire d to leave h is h ome on the roads ide three miles from Armagh for the Oak Tavern in the city ,-me r e his f a t he r and grandfather befor e him had kept an inn. Pro ba bly Mary Whidden had somethi ng to do wi th h is decis i on . Was William a bachelor with a l oose leg unwilling to be langled? Did he suddenly remembe r t h e ol d Armagh pr overb - "Honest
men ma rry y oung , wise men not at a ll". Pe r haps Mary had no po rtion and he t hought o f the ol d saying "Th er e ' s
ma t rimony and ceremony but the re ' s damn all like a little reac"iy mon ey ". And Mary, was she sweet seventeen or on e of t hos e "aged girls" for ·which Armagh was once famous, de scribed a s "no chickens for a ll their chee ping". I am afr aid we s ha ll never know why poor William ' s plans went as tray.
I nns and pubs in Armagh were in those days s poken of
by t he old peop le as 11 houses of call11 • The term is an i ntri guing one and sugges ts descent from the ancient houses of hospitality that were a feature of Ir ish social life in t he early ag es. In those days certain pe rsons had the privi lege of brewing by virtue of their duties a s public hospitallers and were bound to have vats of ale ready for a king, bishop , judge, poe t or ot her person s entitled to such refreshment.
Ale was then , of course, the chief beverage. It was the drink of all the No rthern p eoples at that time and for long afterwards. Old tales dealing with the doings of Cuchullain, Conor Ma cllessa and other great figures in Ulste r ' s story tell of eveni ng s s pen t in quaffing ale in that renowned old earthwork on the western side of our city, now referred to as Na van Ra t h .
From an cient Irish literature we gather that the peoo le of that period were just as fond of pala table liquids as the p eop le of today. We are told that wh en t he cups went round t hen the com pany became 11 exhilarated and right morry 11 • There is some thing familiar about that pi cture. Somet ime s t h ey drank too deeply. Such t hings still occur. I n t he Book of Leinster, for instance, there is a most amusing t a le of the Ultonians indulging heavily and whils t madly d runken ma rchin g southwards to raid Muns t er. In our time we have seen disturbances arise exactly in the same way .
\-,hen Christianity came drunlceness was some,ihat frowned upon. That,_ however, did not prevent good beer being appreciated. st • Brigid, that most lovable of our Irish saints, entertnined her guests with ale of her own brewing. St . Patrick, too, had his own brewer, but woe betide the person ,,iho entered the Saint ' s presence i ntoxicated. You all know t h e story of the king who chanced to do so and how Patrick dea lt with him .
There was a table of consumption for those days that allowed a layman six pints a t a sitting, but clerics had to con t ent t hemselves 'Wi th three 11 s 0 t ha t their canonical houro m:lgh t not be sot astray upon them".
It is clear that our ancestors toolc an intelligent interest in that par ticular amenity. They drank wh en they had t birsts so that they might be cured of tha:n and aloo ~1 on thirsty in case such a danger should overtake them. That, of course, was sound common sense. Prevention is always better than tryine to effect cures. Of course, they had more leisure in those days. time for such pleasures .
Work now leaves too little I am mere ly mentioning these things as indicating a reasonable antiqui ty for local thirsts. Ale was the really old drink_ both mead and cider were of later date . Tho first reference in Iri sh Annals as to whiskey occurs in 1405,
\',')1011 tlle dea t h of a chieftain is record ed as having taken place through an overdose o f that pa rticul ar beverage. Similar a c cidents have happoned since .
The study of t h e pa st is rather fasci n atine oven when it dea ls wit h subjects as com ,ionplace as "Houses of Cnll". I "' y 1 b .. ...a per 1ap s e forgiven for confessin g that I alwa ys feel tha t teetot al lers are p eople who suffer from thirst inste ad of enjoying it. The re is '.llll ch to be said fo r wino in moder a tion . It make t h gl ad t he h ea rt of man .
I have never won a p rize for Biblical study but if my r.iemory registers correctly I c a11 only t h ink of on e pe r son th e rein ha vin g asked specifically for \>rat or and he was in a place that none of us would wan t t o find ourselves .
I n co n clus i on I would like to re:ni nd you that in t h e days w,1 en t :1 0 !l otel c ame into being Ar-.:nagh had its "little sea son" each win t e r - a c ons t an t r ound of gai etiesass o~blies, ball s, c onc e rts, p rivate t h ea tricals, et c. I n conne ction wit h the l utter it may interest you to lmow t h at t he first pri v a te t hea tricals in Ireland took place at Lurg an in 1759 a t t h e seat of the Righ t Honble. William Brownlow, f,l . P., t ha t he was on e of t h e early patr ons of t i1 is h otel later Colonel of the Northe rn Regime nt o f the ' Ar-.nagh Volunt ee rs, and one of the gentlemen of the c ounty who a t tended Lord Charlemont in 1784 when be reviewed the Volunteer s from a window in the r oom in whi ch we dined .
INNS
1800
Armagh.
The Molyµeaux Arms, Armagh,
To be let immediately ( with or without a fine) that commodious, roomy, and long establishod Inn, formorly kept by the late Charles M1 Reynolds, and now by John Tobin . The Tenant can be accommodated with from Ten to Twenty- two Acres of most excellent and highly manured Land, very near the Town; there is upwards of an Acre of a Garden walled in and 1n great forwardness, there will bo a Lease given, renewable for ever, if required, and the Tenant may have Horses, Cows, Carriages, and Furniture, &c., at a Valuation . Application to be made to John Tobin.
Armagh, 27th Ma r ch , 1800 ,
( Belfast Newsletter, Friday, April 4, 1800. )
COACHING 1793 Armagh.
Armagh Stae:e QoaclJ
Commen ces on its new establishment on Tuesday 18th May inst. and alters its former days of setting out, viz:
To leave Armagh every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday; and from Dublin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at four o ' clock in the morning, from each place; Fare as usual.
Leonard & Kennedy, who were part proprietors in the late Establishment, beg leave to inform their Friends and the Publick, that they have taken into the Business and Partnership of said Coach, Mr. Charles Mc.Reynolds, Innholder of Armagh; and hope from their care and attention to render this Coach to be the best conducted of its kind in the kingdom. and Horses sufficient for said Chaises.
Also six Chaises
Places taken a t Mr . James Kennedy's, No . 71, Caple-street, and at said Charles Mc.Reynolds' Inn, Molyneux • s Arma, Armagh.
(Belfast Newslatterj from Tuesday, June 4, to Friday, une 7, 1793),
COACHINQ
Armag h Fly Coach with a guard runs in one day fro m Ar magh to Dublin from McReynolds , Molyneux Arms, Armagh .
Far es £1 . 8 . G; ea ch inside passenger allo'l-18d
20 lbs. lug gage . Extra luggag e 2d. pe r lb . outsides and chi ldren on laps t o pay 16/3 . Short passenge rs to pay 5?J- per mile. Limited to six inside a nd four out side. Leaves Armagh a t 4 a . m.
Belfas t Newsle tter . Oct. 5- 9, 1795.
MI SCELLANFA.
Andrew Prentice, successor to Mr . George Parks, Head Inn, English Street, Armagh . Intends to commence business 10 Nov . next.
Nor the rn Star, Sept. 15, 1792.
10 Ap ril 1813. King's Arms Inn, Armagh, taken over by James Rule of Caledon who is fitting it out and hopes to have it ready for the reception of the Public on May 1st.
Newry Telegraph.
MI SQELLANEA ARMAGH
Ro~er~ ' Hotel and Po3t1n~ Establishment.
To Be Sola,
The Proprietor of this prosperous and vory desirable
Concern having been urged by his Medical Attendants, in consequence of sudden and extreme ill health, to retire f'rom Public Business, will dispose of his Interest in the above Establishment, which he has conducted for the last 19 years with great success, and on which he has expended a con siderable sum of money in useful and permanent improve-.ncnts - the whole being subject to the small yearly rent of £9~.6s.2d.
Seldon an opportunity like the present offers for safe invest:uent of Capital, with a certain remunerating return.
To t l1 o s e who ai·e acquainted with the City and surrounding nei ghbourhood of Armagh, it is needless to set forth, in an Adve rtisement, the patronage and respectability connected with t his comfortable and thriving hotel; but to a stranger it may be necessary to say that this Establishment ii in eve ry way calculated to carry on an extensive and prosperous trade, from its long standing and high character, together w"lth the advantages of the Mail and Day Coaches stopping at this hotel, which ia capable of affording 20 beds, I+ sitting
rooms, com:nor ci o l room, bar room, coach office, wai t e rs ' pantrios, servants • apartments, water close ts, " c., &c.
The Posting i s ver y considerable - t he Yard and Offices are exceedingl y spacious an d in go od order, slated and mos t convenien t, being attached, and accessible by two gateways. The re is St ablin g for 50 horse s, with hay and straw lofts, suitable coach-houses, c ar pe nters • and smiths' workshops ; also a pump and pipe wa ter.
The Household Furniture, which is in good preservati on, to be h ad at a Val u a tio n - li kewise, 6 excellent post chaises; l family coach , runs very light; l fashionable drag , l bri t zka, 9 jaunting cars, and 2 gi gs , all in perfe ct orde r, ,vi th a p ro porti ona te quantity of harness - 20 post horses, in pri me wo rkin g c ondition - also , about 100 tons very bes t upland hay, and about 50 tons of straw, or any quan tity required.
The purcha ser c an be accommodated with any quantity of land, up t o 100 acr e s, convenien t, and in prime heart.
I mmedia te Po ssession can be given on, or any time before , t he 1st Nov~~ber next .
For t e r ~s and particulars, apply t o A~~agh, June 10, 1843.
WILLIAM ROGERS, Proprietor
.
,SEVEN HOUSES, ARMAGH CITY
Da t a on their erection
The land on which the Seven Houses stand was in t he year 1600 in the hands of the Archbishop of Armagh, as was most of the land in and around the city. In the year 1616, Capt . Sir Ed. Doddington, of the Manor of Dungiven, Co . Derry, who had superintended the buildings of the Walls of Derry City for the Honourable the Irish Society and who was agent for the Primate, leased lands in Armagh, Tyrone, and Derry fr om Christopher, then Archbishop of Armagh at £65.6s. yearly. The rent roll of the Archbishop of Armagh 1622 contains the entry of letting to Sir Edward Doddington - 11 6 towns in the liberties of Armagh; 8 towns in Ballinderry and Tamlagh in Co. Tyrone. To build one house in Armagh, etc., 11 the yearly rent being set out at £62 . 6s.6d . These lands included that part of English Street on which the Seven Houses now stand . Sir Edward Doddington married Anne, daught er of Tristram Beresford, agent for the Irish Society and on h is death Sir Edward's lands passed to her. From Tristram Beresford are descended all the Irish Beresfords . Lady Doddington later married again , her second husband being Sir Francis Cooke, Coleraine, who had come over as
an officer in Elizabeth's army and had been granted 1,000 a cr e s in Clare, Tandragee, as a servitor.
Amongst the lands held by Dame Anne Cooke were the to,-mlands of Ballymacklemurray, Ballygasson, Drumcairne, Tullyard, Cabra, Lisdownwilly and perhaps Legar Hill, with t h e site of the Seven Houses, which became known as Lady Cooke's Plantation. These were, as already stated, inherited from her first husband.
In 1627 Sir Francis and his wife agreed to live apart and a deed of separation was drawn up by which Sir Francis was to get £150 yearly . It is surmi sed he was somewhat of a spendthrift and preferred gay society t o that of his wife but sh e would not al low him to dissipate her proper ty.
About 1637 Lady Cooke surrendered her leases in Armagh to the Archbishop and was granted a n ew lease for 60 years by which the r ent was increased to £100 annually.
In 1641 a law suit developed be tween Sir Francis on the one side and his wife, her fathe r (who was one of her trustees under t he deed of separation) and her tenants, on the other, over the £150. Sir Francis succeeded in gett in g the amount made a charge of his wife 's estate.
The reply to Sir Francis Cooke's suit, filed in July 1641 shows t hat Francis Graves, John Dawson and John
Armitage, held each a quarter of t h e townland of Drumcairne (Drumcarne it was called then) for which they paid £5 .5s. a year each and Graves held another quarte r at th e same rent by assignment f rom Thos. Bowm an, who held from Beresford, Lady Cooke's father; John Mottram he ld an eighth from Graves at 52 6 s. d. annually. The rent was paid by Graves, Dawson and Armitage to Lady Cooke.
Sir Fran cis soon died, however, but Lady Cooke lived to a ri p e old age and in her will, made on 3rd July 1679, left her leases t o her nephew, Sir Tristram Beresford, second son of her brother, Sir Tristram. Sir Tristram, the legatee, had not any children and was 30 years old when the land came to him; 30 years later, in 1714, the lands appear as let to Nicholas Averell, of Coleraine, who ma rried Isabella Eden. Anyhow the lands, still includin g Lady Cooke's Plantation, passed to Nicholas• s son John, who entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1730 and be came prebendary of Tynan and Dean of Emly in 1765, dying in 1771, when Bishop of Limerick~ It was by him that the Seven Houses were built, They were built as dower for his seven sisters f or the curious reason that the Dean never wished it to be said that his sisters did not have a house of their own. It is certain that the hou ses were not built in 1767 as in that year Robert Livingstone surveyed the City for the then Primate and
made his well -known map, with its accompanying schedule, setting out each house in the City. By this Dean Averell is shown as holdin g a frontage of 220 feet on the east side of English Street, extending back 395 feet, and on this were built two houses and 14 cabins, of which 7 fa ced the road to Castledillon. Ther efore , the Seven Houses must have b een built between this time and 1771 when Bi shop Averell died .
With e a ch house of the seven Dean Averell attached about 7 acres in Mullinure townland and it was only in recent years that the lands and houses were separated .
The first of the seven sisters was Elizabeth, who ma rried a Mr. Andrews and their son became the Right Hon. Francis Andrews, Provost of Trinity Colle g e, Dublin. She married secondly George Tomkins, Esq. , Th e second sister, Margaret, married the Rev. Richard Lloyd , rector of Dunluce and predeceased her husband, who wrote a magnificent eulogy of her. From thei r marriage in direct line is descended Captain Richard Averell Lloyd, Tamnamore House , Moy, the wellknown Irish Rugby international, who is sixth of the line . Dean Averell had a house at Tamnamore himself, which is probably that with thatched roof and 4 chimney stacks on the left of the drive to the present house, built about 1845 by the fourth Richard Lloyd.
The third sister K th ' a erine, married William Lecky, who was Mayor of Derry in 1748, and their son Captain Holland Lecky of the 1st Regim ent of Irish Horse (now 4th Irish Dragoon Guards) was administrator and executor to Bishop Averell.
Captain Holland ma r ried his cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of the fifth sister, Susanna, and the Rev . Thomas Daniel, her husband .
The descendants of Susanna and Rev. T. Daniels now 11 ve in England and still own property at Cohannon, Moy .
Sarah , the fourth sister, married Alex . Kn ox, member of a very well-known Ulster family, while Ann, the sixth sister, married Garret Innis, Esq., and their daughter was married to one of the Thorntons of Armagh, for which she was actually cut off with a single shilling.
Mary, the seventh sister, marrie d Thos . Barlow of London .
Despite the cutting off with a shilling, three of the houses came down to the Thorntons, the remaining four passing to the Le cky branch. These four, together with their grants of land were sold in 1856 through the Landed Estates Court by Mr . Mar cus Lecky.
In 1856 and indeed until after the Great War successive owne rs had no di fficulty in finding tenants, many of whom were of local interest. offices . Later they became
No.l, the most important house in the terrace, was damaged by fire circa 1955 It was th · • en in occupation of the Ministry of Labour and in use as the local Labour Exchange . The fire began on the staircase near the roof and part of the house was gutted. No damage to t h e walls occurred and the inhabitants of the city tried without avail to prevent it being demolished. Presumably the City Council and its Planning Officer · were unable to prevent its destruction, so it was eventually taken down in 1957. It was alas the most important house in the terrace, having been built by Dean Averell for his eldest sister, Mrs. Andrews, mother of the Right Honble. Francis Andrews, a famous Provost of Trinity who besides being responsible for the present west front of the university, provided it with a Provost's House of decided architectural merit.
The present condition of No.l is, of course, an eyesore. For some curious reason the basement storey remains open to the wind and rain, a receptacle for litter, weeds and shrubs!
Since then, the Pavilion, a charming Regency period house built in its own grounds by Capt . Wm. Algeo circa 1805 has been cleared away to provide an extremely poo r site for a Technical and I ntermediate Schoo l - without any space for playing fields and worse still, before completion found to be deficient for the number of
pup il s c on cerned, A like fate has also overtaken the Callan Street School, erected by Archbishop Lord John George Beresford in 1828, a building of considerable architectu ral merit that might well have been retained for an old p eople's club in t hat particular area espe cially as it was in a part of the city in which many house s have recently been erected and further building is about to take place .
CASTLEDILLQH&.
Castledillon derives its name from John Dillon, a native of Staffordshire, who received a grant of 2,000 a cr e s of land in County Armagh on the 13th June, 1610. He came to Ireland very shortly afterwards and settled on his lands, which were then erected into the Manor of Hullabane, but by a further patent issued in 1628 they be came the Manor of Castledillon and by that name the estate is still known.
The Dillons were either unlucky or improvident, possibly both. The property became mortgaged and to add t o the financial troubles there were family lawsuits, w1 th t he result that by 1663 the greater part of the estate had been a cquired by Samuel.Molyneux, the then chief Engineer of Ireland, who later paid off other encumbrances and eventually secured practically all the lands of the original grant .
The Molyneux fami l y were a very different type to the Dillons. They were a family of scientists and scholars . Sa~uel, whom I have mentioned as the first of the name to reside at Castledillon, was a learned antiquary and compiled a valuable collection of manuscripts now preserved in Trinity College Library. He was the son of Daniel Molyneux,
a fa~ous Ulster King of Arms, whose manuscripts are also housed at Trinity, to Wich college his father, Sir Thomas Molyneux, who died in 1596, had contributed a considerable sum at the time of its foundation, Samuel Molyneux of Castledillon died in 1692, leaving with other issue a son, William, (born 1658, died 1698), who wrote the famous historical pamphlet "The Case of Ireland Stated", a work so embarrassing to the authorities of those days that it was ordered to be burnt in public by the common hangman, William had with other children an eldest son, the Right Hon. Samuel Molyneux, an eminent mathematician, a foundation member of the Dublin Philosophical Society, renowned for having founded Kew Observatory and for having helped Bradley, the Astronomer Royal, to design the instruments by 11/hich the theory of aberration of light was discovered. He married Lady Diana Capel, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Essex, but had no issue. It was, however, from that alliance that the Christian name of Capel came into the family. Following his death in 1727, the estate devolved upon his uncle, Thomas Molyneux, 5th son of the first Molyneux ot Castledillon.
Thomas Molyneux was born 1n 1661 , and was PhysicianGeneral to the army in Ireland, being created a baronet of that kingdom in 1730. He was a great scholar, a keen naturalist and an archaeologist of repute. There is an excellent portrait of him in the Armagh County Museum. He died in 1733 and was succeeded by his elder son, Sir Daniel, who died in 1738, whereupon the estate and title devolved upon his younger brother Capel. According to tradition Capel was the first of the family that may be said to have been eccentric. We know that he had a very fiery temper, and that he was an ardent Irish Volunteer. He later raised the Castledillon Yeomanry in October, 1796, and in April of the following year, though then aged 80, fought a duel in the Palace Demesne with an officer who had dared to criticise the bearing of the Castledillon Yeomanry on parade. Following his death in August, 1797, the comnand of the corps passed to his eldest son and heir.
According to the Blacker Manuscripts, Sir Capel drove into Armagh every SUnday in a coach and six with three postillions. Similar state was kept by Lord Rokeby, the then Archbishop, the Right Hon. Willialll Brownlow and other worshippers at the Cathedral, including the famous beauty, Mrs. Richardson, of Ricbhill, better known as Dolly Munro,
who sported six greys, three postillions and two footmen, also mounted on greys, and 8 q\4.1.pped with housings and holsters.
Sir Capel was the first baronet of the family to be buried at Grange, Before passing on to the next generation I pro pose to read you, a few abstracts from the n&iropean Magazine" of 1782 relative to the property of his day. Though i n correct 1n certain details, we may accept the article as a fairly accurate picture of the estate in that year, One of the chief attractions in the eye of the writer was the park,.gate and lodges, said to have cost £2,0 00 and to have been designed by Sir William Chambers. Th e re is also an excellent description of the drive from that entrance and "of the sudden and unexpected view of an extensive lake covered with wild fowl, its waters absolutely darkened by the birds - not a gun having been fired within hearing for forty years." There were then many statues disposed about the park, including a handsome full - length statue of Sir Thomas Molyneux, the first baronet. According to the writer this cost £300 and had been executed by Rhysbrack. That, of course, is an error - the statue is now in Armagh Cathedral and is the work of the equally celebrated Roubilliac.
It now hangs in the entrance hall of the
The grand old coach-house and offices designed by the great Thomas Cooley, under whom Francis Johnston served his apprenticeship , a re also noted, as well as the curious fact t hat Si r Cap el's horses stood one above the other in the stables. Fortunately that delightful building remains, The house or those days was a pleasant building of mideigh teenth century type - there is a painting of it in the Mu s eum - and in it were many portraits, one or which, painted by Astley , portrays Sir Capel and his tour surviving children by his first wife. present house.
Sir Cap el was a Privy Councillor and a Member of Parli ament, but most of his s pare time was spent at Castledillon , where he gave each winter warm coats to thirty or the l a bourers, besides doing many other kindnesses to the poorer tenants.
According t o the Magazine account the grovea sul'l'Ounding the house bad been planted by the Rt. Hon. Samuel Molyneux, who is also given credit tor having named the village of Hockley, despite the fact that it was known by that name at least as early as 161t-1. Mention is also made that Sir Capel wu then erecting an obelilk to commemorate t he Volunteers of 1782, a monument now ·under the care of the County Council,
His son, the next Sir Capel, was decidedly "odd" - it was even rumoured that ,we was more than "odd" 7 "cracked" d H 1 indee • e was immensely proud of the family pedigree and when speaking in public was 4 n~11ned to 4 wander i nto that theme. He was a curious mixture, a warm supporter of Catholic Einan cipation and an ardent Williamite. He gave marvellous pa rties for which invitations were eagerly sought. One to celebrate the centenary of the accession of the House of Hanover in 1814 ran for two days and two nights, commen cing with a ball to 'Which the whole ' county' was invited and on the second night a grand concert, at \tlhich he insisted on act ing as leader of the orchestra, to the great consternation of the other performers. Somebody, however, managed to soap his bow so that when all wa s ready he went through the va rious forms of fiddling with might and main, unaware amidst the noise that he himself had not made a single sound. Many stories are told about him. Shortly after the arrival of Archbishop Stuart as Primate, Sir Capei threw a party for him . The Archbishop was just as self-willed and eccentric as Sir Capel, so 'When the evening arrived he decided to toast his archiepiscopal toes at the Palace fire instead, despite the fact that he had accepted the invitation and that a suitable company had been invited to meet him. As a sort
of apology he had sent his chaplain and with him a huge overgrown turnip th at had been raised on the Palace farm that day. The peace offering uas w quietly acc epted by Sir Cap el but when the guests went in to dinner the turnip was occupying the chair reserved for the Archbishop, and according to report Sir capel paid the turnip all the honours he would have paid the Primate, asking it to drink with him and discussing with it the most delicate cleri c al and political affairs to the great amusement of the guests and the intense embarrassment of the unfortunate chaplain .
Occasionally his parties got into the papers. In the "Belfast Newsletter 11 of August 2, 1825, there is an account of a fate at which 200 persons of rank and fashion were present. One of the attractions was a sloop and three boats on the lake. , i;_,....
At two o'clock a salute of 18 swivel guns was fired from the sloop as the signal for dancing to begin. At
four O , clock another salute summoned the company to feasting, after which they all danced to music supplied by the band of the 63rd Regiment of Foot and boated until eight o ' clo ck .
Sir Capel , s wife was Margaret, eldest daughter of Sir Real O'Donnell, a County Mayo baronet. The marriage was childless, 80 they adopted Elizabeth Margaret Browne, second
daughter of Dockwell Browne of R hi , a ns , Co. Mayo, When she grew up she married the Hon. Henry Caulfeild of Hockley Lodge, brother of the 2nd the t hi rd and last Earl.
Earl of Cbarlemont and father of
To t his lady we are indebted for a mos t interesting account of this Sir Capel's household . Like his father before him he was a bird-lover, and in his time wild duck and other birds came up from the lake to the house to feed, The staff then consisted of a butler, valet, two footmen, pantry-boy, man-cook, kitchen man, coachman, two po stillions, helpers, housekeeper, lady's maid, tw housemaids, dairymaid, kitchen-maid, laundry maid, and scrubwoman - in all nineteen indoor s e rvants besides followers of all kinds.
On Sunday evenings Sir Capel read prayers in the hall and guests and servants were expected to attend. He was easily di sturbed in the reading of the prayers and it was not unusual for him to express his annoyance aloud, Thus supp ose a solemn voice, "If we keep the day we keep it unto the Lord (damn 1t, 'What makes that door creak?) and if we keep it not (I say shut that door), but sleeping or waking we are the Lord, 5 ( damnation, will no one stop that noise?)" . Otherwise the service was conducted with proper decorum .
He attended Gr ange Church on Sund ays , a building
e r e ct ed t o the design of Thoma s Cooley, and for 'Which
t he site was given by his father in 1772 . In those day s it wa s customary for the men of the congregation t o o ccupy one side and the 'WOmen the other. Whether
t hi s arr a ngement was due to his fat her or himself is not qui te clear. He al ways drove the short mile from the house to the church behind four spanking horses, and his wife was expected to travel in similar fashion.
The rental of the Castledil lon estate was in those days about £7,000 per year but, of course, Sir Capel had other prop erty as well. Lady Molyneux had . an allowance of £ 2 ,000 per annum for household expenses. Sle was not, however, responsible for the wine bills , which was fortunate as they were somewhat heavy. Every messenger or servant who called with a carriage was given refreshment and it was not unusual for the postillion and occup ants of carriages to leave Castledillon well "under the weather". It was indoed a common custom for the more nervous guests to send someone to enquire if their coachman was sober before they ventured forth. Often the answer was - "he iS steady enough to drive - you have no sheughs on the road - and the footman is sober 11 • But, of course, sometimes the footman
was in a like condition and t qui e unable to attend to his duties.
In June every y ear Sir Capel and his wife travelled up to Dublin, Lady Molyneux in a coach and four, followed by another carriage containing the necessary servants, silver, linen, etc. A few days later Sir Capel set forth . He always proceeded by roundabout ways and never attempted to reach Dublin until the town house was in order and well aired. With his coachman on the box sat his valet and inside with himself were his books and pistols, with of course his beloved violin. On the way he diverged to towns and villages that he liked, and there stayed t he night playing just as vigorously and as badly as at home. It must have been pretty dreadful for his violin was so often out of tune that people mostly fled from the sound of it.
In politics the second Sir Capel was definitely antiUnionist. He was at one time a United Irishman and continued so until that body unwisely formed itself into a secret society. Following the Union of Ireland w1 t h Great Britain he never again attended parties at Dublin Castle or was present at Vice-Regal functions. To show his disapproval of the dissolution of the old Irish
Parliament, he even went so far as t d h o ress 1s servants in green and \1/hite instead of the family livery. But despite his odd ways he was a man or highest honour and a devoted patriot in a period of unblushing corruption. He died in 1832 and was succeeded in the baronetcy and estate by his brother, Thomas, a Lieutenant-General in the army, who thus became the 5th baronet. Sir Thomas died in 1841 leaving a son, Sir George , who died in 1848, and was succeeded by his son Sir Capel, the 7th and last baronet to live at Castladillon. He died in 1879 and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his cousin, the Rev. Sir John William, who died two months. later, leaving a son, the Rev. Sir John Charles, who died in 1928, l>bereupon the baronetcy passed to his cousin, Sir Ernest, 10th and last baronet, '<lho die~ 26th December, 1940. In conclusion I should perhaps say a few words about the various residences on the estate. The first that we know anything of was the Dillon bawn or castle. This was built by 1611 and is believed to have been destroyed in the troubles of 1641 - the date or rebuilding is u~certain. An old print exists showing the house after the purchase of the estate by the Molyneux falllily. It was then a long low building roughly on the same site as the present mansion.
That p articular residen ce was re placed about the middle of the 18th century by t a ra her chal'llling edifice with wings that remained until the completion in 1845 of the presen t dignified but r a ther austere house, It, by a coinci dence, was planned and built by William strange Murray, t h e ar chitect liho eventually completed the Armagh Di strict Asylum,
The various links between the effort made by Thomas Molyneux in 1699 to found an asylum for the insane and the eventual acquisition of the Molyneux family estate for a similar purpose by the Armagh County Council in 1929 is an intriguing study. The AI'lllagh County Council wa s supe rseded in ownership and administration in 1948 by the Hospitals Authority. Now having outlived its usefulness from the point of view of modern ideas in the treatment of the mentally afflicted Castledillon will in the nea r future become an agricultural college. We hope that when that happens the new owners will strictly observe the bird sanctuary rules that were strongly enforced from at least the early part of the 18th century, (until the p resent though perhaps not so carefully carried out of late despite notice boards reading
"Bird Sanctuary Ministry of Home Affairs".
Jobn Dillon of Castle Dillon made a settlement of the estate July , 1 6, 16 31. Will ~4th March, 1636.
High Sheriff, Co . Armagh 1626 .
M . P. for Borough 16 34-1635 . He died 25th Mar ch, 1637.
• 1st wi fe.
John Dillon the young er. Robert who wi th hi s wi fe wa s mu rde r ed in the Ci vi l Wa r of 1641. Anthony. Nathaniel. Erasmus.
Charles.
a daughter I-1rs. Rowl e y . a daughter Mr s. Wind s or , who afterwards mar rie d Sir Audly Mervyn.
Mr . Dillon ma rried secondl y Alice Thompson by whom he h ad several cnildren, who died in infancy 1 _and one daugh ter wo married - Ra thburn of Dublin. Mrs. Alice Dillon ma rried se condly Ambrose Plunket .
M S. 15 Dec. 1623.
John Dillon the younge r di ed before his father and previous to the settlement of 1631,
- Mabel Sexton, dau, o t Sir George Sexton. She md. 2ndlY. Mich ael Doyn before 1031. Her son Robert Doyne be c ame Chief Just i ce of Ireland. S:le wa s responsible for sav1ng some of the Bri tish tenant s on the e st a te in the Civil War of 1641 . r-------------1------i-1-7, .
Henry who by his grandfather' s settlement of 16t h J u l y , 1631 , became heir in tail, He was born in 1626. He caJDe of age
= Elizabet h Be r ry . ate md . 2ndl Y Mark Middl eton and died 13th Augus t , 1681. in 1647. He seems to hav e be en in financial diffi cu lt ie s and 3ettled in Southamptonshire . He died in p rison where he h ad been placed by hi s chi ef cr editor . A Chancery Bill says h e was dead before 20th June, 1 661.
John MarJ
CASTLE DILLON,
Hotes on remaining portraits in the house:
Composite por t rait by Astley ( a fellow pupil of the celebrated Sir Joshua Reynolds) shows -
1 . T!1e Right Honble. Sir Capel Molyneux, Bart. wno married firs tly, El i zabeth Eas tL, daughter of Sir William East, Bart., of Hall Place, Berks, and the f our children of that marriage
1. Sir Capel.
2. George, M.P. for Granard.
3 . • Ann who mar ried Anthony Brab azon.
4 Harriett who married Sir William Arabin .
Two separate portraits of
1a63
Sir Capel Molyneux, = Mary Emily Frances, daughter Bart. (7th Bart.). He of Sir Peter Fitzgerald, died ~4th J anuary, Bart., Knight of Kerry . 1879.
Juli a = Wil l iam John Talbot of Mount Talbot, Co. Ro scommon.
( 1) A lady long celebrated in Ireland for charities, beauty and accomplishments.
HARVEST HOME
At Castle Molyneux the seat of Li t ~olynan,v B eut enant-General Sir 1'homas ........... , arone • (Communicated).
----------
"The harvest treasures all Ifow gathered in, beyond the rage of stol'lll11.
From the earliest ages at the interesting period when the fruits of the earth were gathe red in, the gratitude of the human heart has been expre ssed by joyous observances
A late eminent writer has observed "Is it not possible to · restore, in some goodly form, a custom so pure so edifying and so becoming?"
Sir Thomas Molyneux has endeavoured to ' shew that it is possible. This excellent landlord, since his a ccession to the Baronetcy has principally resided in his ancestral mansion; and, by extensive improvements in his demesne 7 his house and offices, has afforded constant employment to hundreds. On Tuesday, the 7th inst., he celebrated the ancient festival of harvest home by giving to his laborers a good and substantial dinner. About three o'clock 104 persons sat down in the General's large barn which was mo st tastefully decorated for the joyous occasion. To see so many happy faces was highly gratifying. The healths of the worthy Baronet and the other members of this much-loved family were given with loud and sincere acclamations. Counsellor Greaves, his son-in-law, returned thanks. Sir Thomas, himself, in con sequence of severe indisposition, c ould not attend. Dancing com~enced about half-past four, and the happy assemblage could not finally separate until eight o'clock on Wednesday morning. About 250 were present.
As a native of loyal, of moral, and industrious Ulster
I was much pleased to see so many modest, well-dressed females. Kindness and decorum prevailed, and the presence of Hrs . Greaves and of her lovely children, and other guests of this hospitable family, imparted additional interest to the scene.
High commendation must be willingly accorded by every generous mind to the worthy Baronet. He is the descendant of a family whose members have distinguished themselves by their learning, their patriotism, and their bravery. Should a cynical reader question the justice of the eulogium or the sincerity of the writer, he may refer to "Chalmers' General Biography") 11 Ware' s Annals" "Wood's Athenae oxoniensis 0 , 11 Watt I s Bibliotheae Br1ttannica11 , etc. Sir Thomas Molyneux has proved that he is not insensible to ancestral recolle ctions. May the house of Molyneux long flourish to adorn private life by its domestic virtues, and sustain that high position in the British collllD.unity wnich its deceased members have filled with such distinction.
Ar magh, November 9, 1837.
(Newry Commercial Telegraph, November 11, 1837).
" , e a ;i:e gr n t eful to the aged who, b efor e they quit this world , ~i l l t ake t h e tro uble to tel l ua h o~ it looke d when t h ey opened thei r eyes u p on it it - ap pears t o us t hat t h is is a s ervice whi ch women a re esp ec ia lJy f itte d f o r and c a ll ed on to perfo r m. S oci e ty is eo ~uch the ir provi nce t hat it aeema a s if they we r e the n a tural a nd proner h istori an s ,.. of i ta chang es . Pe r ho-ps few of t h e l ab o urs of t h e h i sto ri an wo u ld be more va lu ab l e to t he c a use of huma n pro g ress; indeed such rese a rc h es l ead to th e h e a rt of the question, \/hat is pro gress?"
The s e re mar k s of :lrs . Austin, in her work on Ger ma ny , have l one dwe l t in ey mind, a nd they a ppear to me eminently applicPb l e to the c h ange s which one gener a tion can note in Ir e l and . In ·my own c ase, opening my eyes up on it j u at af ter
the Un ion, a n d t A.k i ng up my pen more than h a lf A. century af terthat hr l f - cer tu ry including the intro duction of steam on l a nd ur.d sea , of gns, a nd electr i c a g ency, t h e repe a l of pena l l a.w e, and of fis c a l r e strictions , a n d the refor m of po pul a r re p resentati on in Pf rlh: ment, I should be a ble to record chan g es of no mean c'·u rF<cte r i n t h e soci a l st a te in which I h a ve lived, o nd perhaps
Pl ao d iv e rsi fy ry r e collections with amusing accounts of i n~iv i u e l oddity . To render this easy to myself to write , e a sy
t o ·11ho e v e r ray r ead these pages, should they ulti mately escape
h'! f
- 2attempt Pt order of subject or date beyond stringing them togett. er by the thread of my own life .
Ca stle Dillon , near Armagh, was the seat of Si r Cape l 1o l yne ux, whose wife wa s the eldest daughter of Sir Ne al 0 1 Donr.e l 1 , my mother bein h i g s young est. Si r Cape l was ric h and child l e ss, and he requested of my father, from hi e numerous family and Sma11er means, to g ive up a child for hie ado p tion, in the h ope that such a presence and pratt l e might ro u se Lady Jo l yneux from the low s p irits she had fallen into on the death of he r two e ldest a n d favo u rite brothers . Thus was r, the second dauphter of Dodwell Br owne, of Rahins , near Cast leb ar , tr a nsported to Castle Dillon, nea r Armagh .
It ·ras a low, str agg ling house , the centre, n sort of pavili on, containing t h e rece p tion-roo ms a.nd of one storey only . The wings we re of t wo; the eastern had for mer ly contained the stables, in t he fe s h i on of the pe rio d when for protection the various parts of a c ount ry residence were a s much concentrated ~s p ossible . Odd st ai rc 1 see and step s within obviated the differences of level. ? ro :. t·1e ro Jth si de t he re was a descent of t h ree terraced elopes to th ~ 1ake, a p retty pieoe of water of ab ove sixty acres . Thie was covered by wil d -fowl undisturbed by sportsmen, as Sir ~apel did not 'l l]o,N a s h ot to be fired within the deme sne wall . So c~nftdent ~e re t h ey that I have often seen wild duck and other •nter rirds oo r,e up in the evenings close to the house, and they •ere often caught in the tench nets snrend t o d r y on the grass .
The demesne wn e comp leted as a park by Sir ~npel's , father , the re -e re still hedge-row thorns, h ore a rd s, a nd double lin . s of elm marking the eitee of Prev iously existi ng h omes teads . The l ake , now so r e duced by general drainage, had t hen li ttle shallo w mar gin and rose high on t he quickly descendi ng banks . The eastern Bide was adorned by a fine oak and ash pl a ntation from which a greensward stretched irregularly to the water's edge. Jio\, we ll 1 remembe r the beauty of the · l andsc ape of a tranquil eve ning, as the cows , returning fro m their pasture , wound their way through the tre ' s by the l a ke and stood in its mirror-like water , the sett ing sun warmin g the grey tints of evening by its crimson li ght. .s tr ange h ow p lain to ll\Y inind I e eye is still this scene I t o my ear still the sounds of t he water-fo wl; the noise of the ~or e distant corn-crake, even the very hum of the water -gnatand yet 'tie fifty yea rs sincel • • • •
Th e est ablishment at Cas tl e Dillon when I became an inmate there was quite baronial . Le t me r ecord it . Butler, va let, two footmen , pantry-boy, man cook, kitchen man (to bring in fde l and water) , coachman, two poetillions, helper - eleven men; houaekeeper, lady's maid, two h oueemaide, one kitchenmaid, one dairylllaid , one l aund rymaid, and a universal scrub - eight. women - in all nineteen indoor servants r egularly fed, beeidea •followers• of Tario ue kinda . Four carriage borsea, two curricle ditto, t wo for outrldera and a team ot conne mara poniee l Over the atately an4 ugly stable dwelt the steward ~nd hie family - and a leo
twe l ve or ph· n s
f ed • nd ,:iut 0• 1t •ith a sch o o l - ~ i str ees in c h 11 r rz e , \fh o " e r e c lothe d , to oerv i. ce by Lr•dy 0 1 · • yne ux In t h e f" P r d e r. u ns
t e g t rde1 o r 11, a f·mily . On Sun dAV e v enin~ s ~ ir C"pel ren d
'O r r yen; iu t 1rn h r • ) l; 11 n d p t · ' 08 1 ' "l Osin µ- :-ssern1l r> pe it ~7p 8 , ; S
ebove thi rty - fnur o e rv ru ta Pr ~ r e t a iners , add e d to t ~ e ~ mb e r s
01 t he f 3•1 i ly Hid ·v i s i to r s , ·ede r "oo d. l v ,.. c onpre ra t i on . Tli e r e wa s
a s r al l o r prm i r t h e hP ll , a nd 1?ener: ll y :--,.fter p r ,iye r s t i e o r phan
gi rl i- r e :? i red ·1 n, c o n c l urled the e v en i n1< ' s pe r . · or !w nc e wi th "hy,-ns ;:, r,rl sp i r i t u r l s on gs " - i n tru t 11 it was t o fl E" r e Rt ,~xt.e r, t a perfo r lllc nce i r C; PeJ was no t ,·•hr-.t "'e c a.17 no,.~ A r e li p- i o ue •,r, n;
he corsiner e d re li pi on ~ho 1 e so ~e i n s t i t u t io n, e nd e a ~ e ci r> l Jy
r es e cte d the Ch urc h of :;n,.,1 1-m d. Hi s rra n ner, a l •-m.ys s i n u u lr r : nd
s 0 --:e 1 H1t t h p tri c r> J , w·as i:iarti cul n rl y so o n t h es e S m 1<"lP.y e v er i r:g s .
-:he irt0 n r>tl ori of h is voi ce i n r endi rp p r Rye r s •· , ns qu i +,e s ol erin ,
r no I nM sure , "'hen h e st e:,>"l ed fro m the d r aV"inll'. - r oon a n i k n e lt o n
r c·is 1i o r · t t lit t l e t ri b l e befo r e itP d o o r, vri th h i s "la PVY si 1 v-e r
ca r d l ea •ic ~ at ea ch s i rl e of ¾is boo k , h i s Rape c t was r aver ent i a l
n1 ~ t . ere - r f' rot'1 i n17 b ut de voti <Jn P J r e v f·r ence i n his he r r t . Yet
he w: n e· a iJ y d Lo turb e n {n h is r sad i n~ of th e ol d - f a s h i oned n ray e rs , wher, nfter t h e the n comnon hR bi t of s-.vearir g 1, ro k e ou t . Thu s , sup nne a 30 1 8 , ., r voice - "If we k eep t h e day , we k e ep it unt o the T.o r rl - ( .J ,-. r- n i t , '"ha t 100 i,8 8 t ha t d oor cr e ak ? ) - a n d if we k eep i t Mt - ( I 8 ,-.y a hut t lw t rlo or) - b ut t1 l P, •u i n~ or ·.~aki nr. "'8 a re the 10 r rl ' e _ (Je rr ri,.t l oi , \"Tll1 no one a t. o p i h a t n oi s e ?) ." However , t 1 i, 8 e e r e o r i y t h e exo -n ti on a to a r e a .., ectfl.'r ) e a no so1 e nWs e rvice ,
and o t i t s concluslon his bows to ~ is s~ rvitors as he b r> c "" ed into the d r aw i n p-roon i r o J d Court style d •. were '~on erful . Cath olic
s e r v Pnto i n t h ose doys attended pr a yers with out h " s i tation -
per l P " S be c r use p r o selytisin g was not t h e f a sh i on . I do not
r e me~be r a ny ette mp ts or e ven talk of c onvertinF others; t h ere
~a s n o i nqu iry into t h e r e 1 i gion of servants , no differen ce made duri ng t he week, e a c h serva,nt we n t whe re he pleased w l thout
reTar Y o n Sunday Th ie referre d t o up per as well as lowe r
serv f1n ts: f ro m Col i ,my , the fe mn Je cook, r nd r.iy Conm? U/1'ht r.u r se ,
down t o t he scu llio n , there was no d i fferen ce n;ade . Ha p py , ha pp y s y steml
'3 ir Cf p •• l used to s s.y to his wife, 11 i.y dear •: r r gar et , I supped ir- ? rot '} stantiem with ry 1 o ther ' s milk, anrl. it is thi:;t cake s · 3 l er ve th e consciences of oth e r s free as rr y o wn . "
11 : ut , rny dea r S ir Cape l, you never tast "! d your mothe r' s milk , y on h a d 8. 't o l"le n Cfltholi c nurse wh o tor mented me for mon~y for 1 any rl u y .,fte r I ma r ried . "
"P e rh ~p s _ very true ..ta'am , but you a r e :, ] ways too ma.tter - ofb t · i t ' 1'8.B b f:' CP-use I d id fre t fo r ,rn y one of ~ enius, and w1.o know s u no t su p ? r o t a st a nt mil k that I kn ow h ow t o be just to b oth J, r+ ·es . 11
'1' he church wh ic h we attend.ed on Sun day s was Gr ange - the Pro u n d EHl rl. nlrl t o the buildinp of whi c h wa s p iven by S ir Capel ' s f: t} r • t h S n ire or ste epJe , so effecti v~ in He hi mself 'huilt e
Urn J u n l sc r o e at thot
. He also built the gall e r y
t u en e-c i. oting f or hi. a own use; thr ee s q u a r e pews , gent l emen on ore oide , lad ies on the oth~r - the orphans i n their purple i:t.uft's , • hite lin en handker c h i efs and etra·u , b on nets , in t he centre i thoy enrl ., closo of t ( coun ry girls t a u~ht by my gover n ess ) ein~ in~ t h e hymns anrl ps a l ms - bu t n J v e r the ~anticl es . The go i ng to c lurch wa s quite an h e re d it a ry na r ade . S ir c,, peJ ' s fathe·r g ot ov er th e on e mile in th e family co a c h dr1-1wn by four blrc~ horsea , and tradition told t hat the Ledy {ol yneux of h is day once stole to c hu rc h wt th a -pair and t he second Pa ir was se n t f~fte r her . It ras at i11 a per11de i n my c hildhood . The congrf!g P. tion , ,.... inly co ~o osed of' the t enant ry, used to wa i t for S ir CfjpeJ ' s a rri n 1; a nd ·"hen he na s sed through them as they s t oo d e t each side from the pat e to t he c h urch, they foll owed h i m in . After c uurc h they we lted in groups to se e the f emll v d rive off , e n d were noticed i nd ivi d u a ll y as Sir Capel ha np ened to observe them. . "'-' ell, S co tt , h'lW g oes on the f arm ?" or " Have y ou hay for sale now : urray?" - E>nr so on . 'l'h e TJJonthly na r eoe of th e Ye omnn ry t;-,r r wrs then he 1 d i n the churchyard efter service , a strange custo~ , the rr. en he ving Rppeared in church in uni fo rms , or f th d y I rr.i a ht say , such as i.e~imentn la AS w~ e th e phr a se o e a • ~. •rer Proteat.C'nt e At tended, out in tho " e days there we re no Catho lico in Ye o l!lE'n ry Corps , and it became understood in time t, ot ·re o• ·ian Pnd oran 11emen meant the same Nowadays when the rliattrction of r ank s a nd classes le less defined n nd the
reli r ious i dea mor e e p irituPl, th i s chu-ch • par ad e and the mi xture of the s e c u lar wi th the sacred must ap p e ar to have been only p omp and v an ity, a nd rel i ~ion itself only • f' c eremony . 13ut n:h en I thin k of the b e nevol en ce of this barone t -h d • "o rove a short mile to chu rch with fou r h orse s , of the Pe rfec t toJer a ti on of h is rr. i nd or, :c. 11 subjects, of h i s \'! il]i nf"no ee to a llow to others t he srune inde penden ce of o·,inio n '•' 1i ch he took h i mself , I fee l conv i n ce d t ha t ,,hen hie ten ant r y st oo d as i de at t he c hu rc h ~ate , t he f eelin g s of goodw ill ~ere reciptocal; and t hat wh ils t Sir Capel.fe lt he ·~as by posit i or the fri end and p rotector of these n eo p le, thcyl oo ked to hi m as suc h in a spirit of independent dependenc e , if I may uf·e so str r n g e a term. The proof is th a t t he few who rer.~ in to r eme mber hi m do so ~ i th a f fect i on a nd res u ect; a nd h is good n es s , hie fa irness, bis har~lees odnit i ce , have become le g e nda r y tal k up on the estate . In P ]l he ~as well s upp ort ed by hie wife . Fa tura l 1y a woman's bene voJ~nce is mor e pe rsonal cha irt y t h an a man ' s . The o l d women who ev ery Chr istma s r ecei ved he r bounty in clothe s and n dinner and hr J f - ,·- cro•m to c a rry home , ·vere 'but a ty-oe of he r c on s tan t occunrt ion. She was v erily t he l a nd lord ' a wife i n many ways now become obsolete by more co~lete social organization . t he joys and so rrows of every cottage within rea c h . She knew In s ic knes s or dist ress, cell e.r, store -room, medicine - chest , every thin g contributed to their relief and comfort . Dispens a ries and clothingclube a s we ll a s Poor Lo.we were un kn own; so that the demands were t Indeed, it would be d iff icult nowadays to ,., a 11. nt r, no heflvy .
- -Tfexplain ho w the country wo rld go t on wit ho u t the co - operat ing pl <1 ns of mo ,iern t i mes , or no 11 t o realise the way in whi ch then , charity , justice , road - maki n g , e verything depe nd ed on in d ivi dual ex ertion ( j obbing a s i t rr~ y have be en ) . Fro m this statemen t of t h e nuMber of servants and follo - ers at Castle Dillon it mi ~ht be su ~ ,ose d that S ir Capel ' s fort une wa s very l a r ge , but it was not so . ~ven with the v a lue of the demesne it did no t then exceed n?OOO a year Irish1 ; but the habits of life wa s well a s nrices wer e ver y different . " '!'he worl d" wa s l ess i n motion . A fe w months in Dubl in a nd a t long in tervals a visit to Bath or Lon d on elone i n te rrupted the vie au cha teau. Meat in those early days of the century was about 3d . per l b . If groceries were highbla ck tea 8 s . a poun d , a nd white s u gar 18 d . or 20d . - the y were luxuries unkno•vn d owns tairs exce1:> t on hi gh days and ho li days . I know that the ii llo wance Lady M rec ei ved for hous eh old expenses was but r 2OOO a year and what she could make of the demesne, wh ich she ""v-:tn ng ed . ~h e onl y thin g eXc Put ed was wine . The ho use was as h down ; not Only were the r e state d i nne rs to o~p i tvble upstai rs as t h e r.ei. .hbourinp p:entry very often, but fri 0 nd s and connections fro ,'! a d istPnce wer e we lco me and there vrere a l way s repres entat iv es of the class of p o or r ela t io ns in the house . Th is recalls to my been considerably the Ca stle Dillon
~in ~ that S i CF p e l ' s principl e s of tol e r a tion wer e s ev e r e ly t es ted b y h i s cou s il 1a th e .,Ji ss _ ( of long p e di s r e e b ut sh ort Purse) b e c 1~i ng S epara tlst s . 11 e ne v er co uld be r ec on cil e d to
t en et s vh i c h ke p t t hem fro m .joini np: in h is har ml e s s pray ers a n d
uar t de , an d wh en i n c ourse of t1. me Lad r 1 Y o y ne ux wa s infe c te ,i by t he ir o ..., i n ions and d ecline d to app~ar a t t h e Sun day evenin g s ervic 8 , a ma in Pleas ur e a n d p ri de of hie life was gon e ; a nd for the fi r st t i n.e to r e wa s r ea J ised t h e evil of dogmatic reli Fion , wh i ch so ofte n d r op s the s ub st a nce of Christi ~nit y i n
t he f tte ~p t to a r a s p so ~e illu s ory P.oo d or un autho rise d i nf 111e nce .
A s to th e ho use ho ld h a bi t ei fi nd expenses of those days, in t he fi rst n l a ce, ~a~ es were very mu ch lower t h an now: £ 30 to £3 5 a ye [ r the wn ge s of a but ler or va let, foot men £ 12 eo £ 14 , upp e r h o userne i d £ 8, l a dy's mai d £ 12 to £ 14 , kitchenmaid from £ 4 t o £0 . s o enrly as 1813 I was cognizant of h ous eh old ar~ c nv.eri ents , .,... y a unt co n sidering su ch knowle dge a neces sary pa r t of e cu c a ti on . I therefore know what the mode of feeding this J a r F e es t a bJiabment was, and am a l s o aware th&t th e style wa s bette r t ha n i n a ny h ouse in the neighbourhood, excep t the PrJ r c _, f ··,here t he serva nts ann ha.bi ta were naturally English. l . mhe r e ei d enoe of the Arohbi~hophoffA~!f~n~nd Primate of t h e then Established Churo O •
At Un stle Dillon servents ' ha ll.
-~ there "ere but thr ee meals
Breakfast of stirs.bout and daily in the milk a t eight
o'clock, meat dinner a t two, and at ei~ht in the evening bread and beer. I ~.ay remark here that I remember the word meat corn.- on]y used in the sense of food; thus , if one s aid ~ for dinner it wae as distinguished fro m p otato es or v eFetab l e s, which were equally constdered meat or food . The upper servants had tea for breakfast and sup per by a llo wancel lb . to 1 st . sugar per head monthly - fou r allowances fo r every fi ve pe o p le. I have n o recoll ection in rny very earliest y ears of anythi ng but the three mea l s a day·even in the ho usekeeper's room. A custom ureva ile d in many houses of givi n g what was c e lled breakfast money , about 2s . a week, and supplying only dinner . ~very messenge r, every servant who called with a ca rri age , was off ered refreshment. It was necessary always to h~ve cold meat for these c asua l consumers . The market of Ar rmgh wae t 1en very uncerta in, and the ousto ro was to kill fro m the de me one all that was required~ Thu s salted meat was the gene r a l consurrption , and salt beef and cabbag e the daily d inner three days out of four . Indeed, I have always found Irish h Cons id ered tasteless fresh meat . servants prefer it to what t ey
In those days nothinF .was kn own of house - fed cattle . At the end of the grass season at least a c oup le of bullocks we re Ways ' the fattest p ieces with k illed, nnd cured in various ,
, sY of p reo e rving it - he nc e c e lled hunp 1'eef . It is s carcely possibl e to f <n c y a n y f ood more dry or unp a lat a ble . The b eet qua l itY o f the fa t wa s made into moul d c a n d lee, a nd I think the rami l Y had onl y j ust esc ap ed fro m th h e orrors of c a nd l e- d i pp ing . 1 do not r e c o ll e ct b rewing , and r know t h at the stro nger b eers , ere not p i ven i n t h e h ouse, a nd even common beer by a llo wa nce .
AnY fu r the r indulgence wo. s always whiskey, which was g iven on Sundays and h oli days in the hall, and glasses of r aw epiri ta g iven as r efreshment to mesaengurs or ten a nts, a s strong beer wou ld b e no w or i n : nglan d .
As to the living upsta irs, the h ours were very much e a rlier than now . I we ll r eme m1'er dinn e r at about five o'clock . Of co urse t h ere
ra s no lunche o n . '£ ea follo wed i nnne d iately, almost as part of d inne r, and t he n sup"? e r a t ten, which was br ough t in on a tray, or, \7h en the par ty wa s l a r ge e no ugh , on a long, narrow table, easily carried through t he d o o rs by two servants . Thie custom lingered lon g after th e hour of d i nne r b ecame lat e r, and I thin k so ling ered because supp e rs were c onge n ial to the Irish c '1e.r a cter. How p leas a nt t h ey •e re ,.,i th the ir lively jokes and song s . But as t h e warning s of the clock we r e o f ten not attanded to, they were destructive of household re!lUJer i ty : a n d how t h e ' y r e coll e ctions
work downstairs was g ot thr ou gh I do not are of daily confusion and weekly cleanings up order and cleanliness which now p revails in , ancl not hin p: of t h e th There decidedly was not the same '! 8J!1t o cl n ss of hous e .
, cicdlinv , llR<i. in, the hebitude of those tt me s , I will Me ntion tb e journeys as e.'llonn- st t li t e mos remarkable contra sts to the present . Year ly we went to Dublin in Uovemb er and returned in June , directly after t he Yin g ' a nt rthd a y (Geor g e III . ) .Tune 4 • ~he first movement wa s t h e transit of "'1 t li 1/ a e , nen , and other ho•1se :1old ,g:ooas , with the trunks of the w''l ol e family , under the charge of old .Johnston, a te nant who on these occasions a cted a s carri e r . " ,non the move was from Castle .D illon , salted b eef , butter, a nd every transportable thinp: from the farm was added , t o the extert a o met Lme s of four c nrt lo ads , nor did the c a r a v an end here, for the unde r servants t r a velled with it - kitchen'llaid , second housemai d , a.nd a sort of general g irl seated soldierfash i on or- the baggage Nor did this -plan ce as e until Lady l olyneux d i scove re d t h at the halts at c a r men ' s inns wer e not ver y 1-:p rovin.c: to n ' nners or morals , and t ' iat the board and J od g ing until the fourth evening c o at nearly a s much a s the · st ag e - coac h , no,, thnt there were riva ls on t h e ro ad . Si r Capel ' of course ' had his n eculiP r "Od e of tr a ve 1 1ing, he a l ways went by hirieelf , in h is o= v alet on the o ox a n d the in t erio r • u D~rt i cuJa r C ~ riot; his
n · vio lin , nnd a ll s or ts of thing s • PCJrf'd 'Vith books , UiBtOlS , He never ·11 and inns that he •ent, d ir e ct , di verped to towns a nd vi ages d sc r aped away at Hand el ltki,d, vhere l1e Aet vn hi a mua i c - stand a n d Lady ·t. and the fam il y He never joine and a l l domest ic wor k 'lnt l J Weryt it np was u n pac ked a n d -o l nced ' f or in gene r a l gent l emen aealn in pear . A capital p l a , n , I th i n~ ,
are a Mo st t r o u b l e some e le tn) nt in th e mov i ng Pr o ces e of o f ami l y . r.adY {o l yne u x t r a velled i n th.a l a r g e b a ro uc h e d r awn by h •3 r own f ou r horoes {a c o mmo n n r a cti c e i n th ose rlfl ys) . I t was fo )l owe d by .noth" r ct.rriage "I i th the u n....,e r serva. nt s . m, .... "' 111 e t i :ne c o nsumed wa s two days and a ha lf , inv olving two n i ri:hts at in n s , iz e n er a ll y a t Duncl.a l k ·und Dr ofl'heda . Th e s e r v a nt s' c a rr i a(" e st a rted s o mewhat l at er o n the f irst day to g a t he r up the forgets , a nd o n the third yer t i n ad v an ce to hflve matter s i n read iness fo r La dy I , • s a rriva l . The lin e of r o ute hA.d ma ny chang e s i n my ti me . 'J.y earlies t r ecoll e ct ion i s of a P lac e c a ll ed t h e fo unt a in Hou s e , b y whi ch r oad we a vo ided He " TY , p o i np: r ou n d t he mountai n to Du nd a l k , The next change wa s by !:~1vto wn Ha mi l ton . To t h is s u cce e ded Newr y , a nd f i n a ll:, up t o the r a i l ,vay p eriod , Ca s t l eblayne y . Th e s t ag e or sto p'O in gpl ace ne~t to Du b lt n a t my ear ii est "Oe r lod wa s c a l 1 ed t h e l a n of 'liar, a sin g le h ouse , a nd mo st comfort a b l e inn , It s s tr a ng e name , I hea r ci , wns ado nted fro m the figure - head of a shi p , wh i ch had been wr eck,1d o n t h e short a o n:e d i st a nc 3· of f , hav ing been put over t h e gar den i;,a t o . f i a aes a n d eve n of s t ageIn those d a ys t h ~ sto p p ag e o c a rr ..... • c~ach ea , b y hi g hwayme n was b y no means r a re , I c a nnot fo r get our t~ rr or '>n t ha t wi n t e r ,to •1rne y to Dublin , as we ap p r o a ch e d Dunl e e r , t;h "reAbo ut, e the "nil li.f7a t n r a we ro b be r named Col l i er were we ll kn own ; exp loi t s of a r., t wi t h i n ,.,h i c h ~ aseed the itvi ed wall of San r y , we we r e i nstructed rep~rted t o hi dethems e lv ee .
, !l&t t o d o a n d s? y in c a se "f attack . But al a s ! f or the ~resent Int er st of my r e' "i n iscenc e s, ,ve 'Ver a n t e ver so pp ed , a nd "I have no to te ll" . ,:or Y ~he next g reat chrnge i n o ur jour n~ y s wa s g iving 0, t he c Prri "' it e h o roa s a nd h a ving -p ost e rs, wh ich d ivi· de d t he jou rney , il eepiM e t Dun ) ee r or Ca st 1 ebeJlin<>h am. r t h n e ea rlier period the •turns o it" f r om the inn yards wer e b eyo nd me s.s ure lud i c r o us . :usa : d ev·orth ' s d e a c ,•i p tio n in, I thin k , n-·nnui" wa s by no me a ns exaggere ted . I h P v e s een the p ostil1ion s or o o st - c oy s of te n with straw ro ue s r o u n::I. t h eir le g s . But t h e r Ate of tr a vellin g wa s n ot ces:>ic .; ble cons i de rin P' th e we i p,ht of the lo a d ed v eh icl e nnrl. t h e st a te o~ t he ro a n.a; r nd o rov ld ed a l ways t hat we wer e n ot stopped to tie t~e hnness tOP' f" the r with t wine or to 11a ve a ell o e re pl a ced a t a for ge . Y~t c o -pp ri n R the five Irish r.11les an ho ur , witho ut t h ese lccidenta , ·,1 t h tlie whirl now i n three h ours fro m Dub lin to Por t adown , it is ea ay to believe that h a l f a c e ntury of ti me has Pass ed in the i nterva l . It is worthy of note that th e beggo.rs at th l ion Two wa.i te re e inn do or s , esp e cially at Dro gheda , were eg • · - ge fo r ue to the lli!d oft en t o b ully a nd buffet them to make a passa carri ag e. beyond be li ef , prayin g or cu rsing Th ey were vociferous l itty ae i mp e r tinen t . n th0 most extraordina ry phrases, and often a s w t t be for g otten in The g~ r e r n l h e bitune of intoxication mue no n the century, a.nd to this t h e · ..., r e coll ec tlone o f the beginning of •be An • c e of e tronp t n1 I r unn e r s " , n a beer and th e collll'llon the p hr fla8 ~ t' of bonus of a. dram to a ll comers' co ur se t ended . sober servants .
,rere sc tirc ely looked for, a nd if they were but quiet in their cups or did not a ll ve t d runk at once, th e infliction wa e endured . I re ~1ember a cert fl in coachman n amed Bl oomf ield, who "'as condemned and pard one d Bt least once a quarter for seven long years; yet there wos no security f or horse , c a rri age or passenger when he went out; to n!' rt vt i t h him and ge t anothe r -:ms more like 1 y to prove a change of hands than o f ryrac tice, which , as he was n first-rate coachman "hen sober , wo uld have been a direct lose . It nas a co!IIT!lon custom for guests to s end to inquire if their coachman was sober before they started home . This wa s l'(Uite a chance, a s the s81'le hosp itality was soin~ on in the hal 1 as in the -na rlour . I have heard the answer given , " He is steady enoup;h to drive, and you have no dit ch es on yo:ir ro ad , " or, 11 •1e is not very bad, and the foot1 ue.n is sober l " Ro· could this "be oth e r \7ise whe n the custom of drin'kinp, 'Pe a E:S CO"il..on amo n p: st the educ a ted?
It wns the common practice at dinner - ]j)arti es for t he geetlemen to s i t to e~ver. and twelve o 'clock over the i r wine . Vihen six o' c loclr vms the very lat e st dinner - h our this was no triflinv. ti me
Sl.·r Capel could not *1ake ~ ine in for li ba tions as deep a s long . for hie early wish to join the this way, &nd he was lau r,hed at l cdies . f his wine , and when he knew i, owever, he WP S not stingy 0
d to ask so1 ,,e famili a r friend he hr,d thirsty souls to s a tisfy he use t o rct fo 11im and c a lJ for wine, and very commonly he had gone to IJr 1. · f bod before the last of ta app eared in the drawing- room , his gues
I remember the gentlemen gener a lly th"y ,1pp~nr :<1 at a l l . f:.Votd 1n17 t"'le ladies o.l top.ether' ,md go irw f rom the table to their
carrin,es , n servant discreet·1y whispering the feet to the wives . ~otl yet these "len would discharge a serv ant next day l" i thout a ona r a cter if they ".> roved tipsy on the s ame occasion ! At t l-i eae dinrer pcrties p ort and rr.a deira., handed roun~, then sherry , were tne table wine s; champagne r a rely . Th e lighter Rhine ,vines were scr-rrely }(-no· -n; · ·ten r ive11, each flnti e v ery kind w~s c e l led h ock . Punch , i;.s such , wa s scercely known a t such a table as Sir Cape l ' a . I do not r er·ember ,1 ver to have seen it . A liquor cl-iest wt 8 ahvays on the side - table, ~wd occasionp.lJy nut on the tab l, e; a n d the native then m:- de its ap-pea.ranc e with ch e rr y br andy , shrub , and a mixture calle d n in e - app le rlli'l. Claret cras the after - dinner wine, except for the ''old hand s" or hard heads who drank po rt by the bottle . 'J.y uncle Connell O1 :)o nn e ll and z:;any others, I r e'lleMbor , took less t ha n a bottle . The butler's liots of ,, ine consur-,ed the pr ev ious nirrht WF 6 fo r midable . Early a ccusto~.ed to "do clerk" for my aunt , I we ll remember the wine tick e ta; e i r ht ~nd ten bottles of port not an unusual entry after a dinner-party . =ut in referrin~ to these potationa at e ven so qu i et a tab le ae thn t of G&.et 1 e Di 11011 we r.;ust not nass over the wit whl:ch acco"1)r ni en them, and I can remember the f low of anecdote , re p arte e befo re t h e ladies left t '1 e ro om see :?:,,ed to e,n ., Qu ot ntion which even enliven these -parties . 1 say "seen ed,. boce.use I am referring to ..,·_~en I c r.!.Ilie in o.t dessert' o.s well as when th'l 0l'Y" of rrry chi 1d,10od • "- S ir Capel was an excellent cl"assical I crr, 1to sit c..t the tab le . hi on every possibl e occasion; &ch '>11Jr a.nd u p reat Uoratian, quot in g rn
- Y,,.. and, of course , these came often a t h f su e easte . I reme·,1ber , when I wee so a1 ..a ll a. b• i np- th n t S ir Cnpel wo uld "'u sh ,., back his chair and put ,e st:mding on his knee, that he once s a id I s hou l d so ~Lve a toeet to tlie COMpany ( toasts being t'nen n c o-'"on ... wu.. p r actice) , and holrl inp: i n Y li ttle ha nd a bumper glass of claret , he nror,pted me to any , " Lo ve a nd wine on a pretty boy • 8 knee . " \ nnt •nak ea me remember this so accure.teJy ( and I d o re1 ·1ember the ver y frock I wore and t'1e in'ivinuf'ls who ,ve r<? op"looite to me ) was tha.t lPdy Liffo r d , or.e of the <tue stl:' (wife of t h e Dean of A!'ma.gh) , when the lei.dies witl d r e·., , to l d r-e I ha d said such a '.'lic ked thing a nd I ,110. s never to say it P fHl in • I do thlnk I tried to re member it the mo re for this, end that my t..'Ood aun t next do.y lectured her lord in my he a r i np about it , till he ~ ot n ngry anr wen t out of t he ro om , ao usual cl apn i~ the d oo!' as a eign of disp leasure. Ah, there is more wis d o m io the s ay l nq, "~11.asez, Ma i s n'appuyez pas ," than ha lf the wo rl d think1.:1 . :r111 not such a fuss been made about this little inci de rt , &.r ising f ro "! a li tt le Ho r a ti. a.n a fter- d inner excitement on S i r Capal ' a part , I ehou l d rot now r eci:11 i t a t the end of near sixty year e . Soc- i ety seemed to· "lie much merrier then - not coerse me rri ment , fo r Cir <J · pe l wa s or;e of the most refined -of men; but a sort of heart y enj oy , nt that (I hone I do not exce~d the limits of fem i nine Pr on ri e ty in sayinll) may ha v e a conn ec ti on with "the bott le" whi c h h rot ll' iJliri:rly ackno wledged , Physically . and -physiologica lly win e la h etimu l ~ nt; and wit eeems to me a very natural result , and
I hf•Ve often th ourht th~ t n ow this cty1 ,, of AOC i ety h@s so much pasoed r·way ' it mipht not be time 10 r-t, to co l 1 f' Ct the best S"'ecirnens of Dr i nk i ng Son(ls , I 00 be li eve there .i.,•ht be found f':lonrrst the u s entir:ents as~ . fee li ngs as th"t1·c ·r1 · nci-o)..!s r s n'·tr1·ot1 · pc • " c i: a ever sti rr ed th1c hu!:1a n soul . I 110 uld n::it dare to \•-rite this -nut that once, wh en less nruden t, I 5 ;,id this in co z:101i ny, -rnd ·,ias supnorted by a clergymo n , who , with a goJcl 1,emo ry, w as n ble to repeat son1<e with the names of the au thors, an-i ,,.h o , he vin,? ~o· lc d '<'e of th,, t ,vo ge rierat i ons , gave his op ini on ir, fr:.VQUr of the ,,r.-.oter " Uri ty of those who loved wfre fo r the wit ~le~ "suArkled in the Plass . " I do think much thnt is int e resting
m i f!h t te ir1 cl\1 dcd in a survey of t he convi vic1 li ty of those day s when '"en lin ,,.e re c. "over their bottle" . I do no t kno\• ,..-hat has rep l aced it, ~nd I ~o not celieve th~t t~ere could be , as a gener al rule , the sa.tre 1it v ithout the wi ne . Whethe r it - the •1it - coot too d e ar is quite a nother conre iderl'ltion Is the wo rld one vrh i t more virtuo us n~v ? In this and P ll things t he svi:rage i s p ret t y much a li ke .
To return to my recollections . "llen t h ere TTere no guests , Sir CP ~ e1' being fond of c 11J oren, I wae very often loft \,i th, or r ai;l,er sent to hirr to t he dl nin g - room after dinner . I was a very rleJil"r~e chUd and ::: do bel i eve the hoJf-g l a es of wine ho u se d to to tel1) was of infinite ser vic e Rivet~ (•ith due injunctions not
i s due ,..,.,. defence of ··,ine P.nd wi tl to t'• h~v 1 th . Perl,PT>O t-0 this '·~
t ast e A.nd of what \vaa then consid ere lie ,•r·e fl , r,.n of p.r eet )1terary
m e of authors a nd pa intere a nd 'Tort tr~vela , he used t o tel'
•.• . triots o n d the -o rlr of ' in d , 1 ' ' io r ,. the s un ahon ~ i n the Ital y --"erd he had pns:;ed nny drys p '" ,e c erta i nly awoke 1· r· r•e o. ~- api.r i t of tr,q ulrY' and I Hm now s ur e he t .1 l ked to i:ie i n the fulness of h is hear+ , hnvi t1E' no one t o eymp; thise it VI h hir11 i n these sub,jects . Fo r , as he ..,_rte r wr·rds sa i d to Me , ny 0 11r runt i 8 the be at ,vor..an i n the ,orl ~ , .y deer fo.rf"c ry , b u t shP does not c a r e for t he se thi.n zs , and ,as b r oud1t up in Connau,r:i:ht . " Thus i t was that I loverl the aunt i e fo r -i ll that wa s l ov i ng and k i n d, b u t r looke ci up o n Si r Cap l '" s t o
me , it least , the wi t n ess of a n unknown wor l d , where 6 11 was • .us ic snd 11 in t in p: e nd -p oet r y and .l ee.rni np: ; and I lo nged to see i.nd to
hea r cnn to t hi nlr. wl +,h othe r s . I could not in rr,y earJ.ier years eati.1,,ate the extre:"l e ocl,li ty of
Si r CPpc l. Ht1 wi:: s e · i.n ~n t]y 1:1.n eccentr i c charac t er ~ ro his birth •·1rt s0 11 e "eoJ Je called c r 1J.cke d, b11t thl:lre v,a.s nothinp: lns r u e abou t · 1., , ·ie d is tingui.s' ltid hi ~ se1f et schoo l cmd coJli>p.e , r. t t:,e la.ttar he ', s a fre uent nr i '!: e Man . He was sent nfterwa.rds to t !1 e then ce 1<::1 r.: t ..v: 1\c~ cl e''IV of ':' urt n nnd there his nvtura l taste fo r the fi nt::l cr~n r' r Jw ir to :rn appoti t e . I u s e the te r n , not to say "cu1tivate1 ";
fo r nnti 1 i fl wou ln 11: v e mnde h i ra a rol)d nua i cian or r> -pe i nte r . . ..i s e&r «s l , e rfect rmc1 he c ould not d r ::i1.7 e st r t•i.rrht l i n e . 1 ut he ~preclated lnth nrts a n d FOt a croneral know le dge of their bes t effects . He J ia rned to -, l ay th!3 vi oHn , hri.d con s i.der;,ble exe c u ti on , , dP.,tac t t he absen c e of a ccor dan c e goo~ tirreiot , bu t ne v e r c ou d lr l the p re y of a l l the c oncert• f.O ltid; yet h e vtfa S n fanati c , a n c 'b He v a l ued t he n,u s i c more t h a n the ~!'8 und r 0 r '3 ip;n rou etci a ns .
p ,j,r rr:Cl! of it . Flo fr VO'.l" i :H"
trstru . r,tnl , ·n•.I '.nn i l ,.. 0 ,.. , , 0 c,., 1 ; 'l!' e o H It• Ji n. co oaerr fo r llll' T ·I•)11 r , 1 .,,., .e,. ..,_ • .11.J, ou r
goven tine, 'i ni- "l' ifft t '1a , ,., , . y ,. tl ,., ,, e,, ie 'Olm.a pntts or t.he l uttta r , he or: the vi 1 : n O 1 · 4 r 1 n.enir, , ,,,) '"''.lUld g t li.~,c :.. rndel ~te ~l-i~e - de e la r ~ ho cou l d nftt ·11.· v R ., - he:.rd hi her us ic J cone.}, t i 1ns 1t, heuv,m . I :-1c v c 0,1 en hi '• Sl i.Jy ;iti·t o l ,. ic· J p·,~ ~l a , 11 ,1 es" t.'ic : btrnt1 ce '>f t~1e or?' n :)f tur,e '11P s 'h ,l, in "a<Jd • l d tf; it, · 1 :1 " :r ; · t -p:i ... r :.H ' tJ t ~.i·· t o lay the violin f ro ·.i tht! hm<l lnc - 111, ce of .. l urge atdrcbt'l , l.e ou d put , ch-i r on o. 1,11' 1 ,: ,,n,! or. '"c.· t .i~• ·.,::ick , , 1 l 1:..y f''-'"-Y for ti·o hour& et• or.! ·,itl, t : 3 e:r ent,~c· ,\e 1 i pht urd t.tl. r l!r er:ti.l:;,jf!
exoc tio11 , but t},c- vi.r, H 1 r:v F ro llt.tcr1y ·1ut of tui.e tl.:~t '!.l.· v ?r \' i, n rcr .. i f r o• tl1,. sou113 .a10 ::~rnic~ l -noe i o11 C0 6 t hira
cic-~ , frr Lie fctrer , 'l\lbO .~,r. ,. t tm· 'v lr,i:;e11ci1) l o t o tile r t.· , ,r,d re for in, , cro 1l f 1: r" ' r,;i. l terl o r £ sl;e ep fE?.ttcr,crl ':rc ~ ~rov~~ad a t h i o e l d~•t Ho r be i L· J 1 1 :.tl ~r,rr>r,rol" f, "' - L 0, :1 'c' l "'r, ar,d t hor/3 ',7u8 no t .: ny dot"t' +. hi.a fc. t :.;;r ·d ~r om , iL f :> r h i s l ust c n i nn:: o t °'ler e ccart riciti e e · t B1> tll, he offe r ed t? fter . ir t; £pe 1 ' r; :1:, r ri"'ge , •rpe r, a I: tl: i _ t ~nn ~ e ·itz, a f emoue ro 1 ioh nl 1 1.c r oo1 e e.r,-u r ,l\ ,• 1 to be J t)f t t o t he r, udienc e . Lady Tl 1 int, • , fo r £ 1 o , the de e ,e o n
,,1 ch sf r r.itd of tbe effect of ~ 1ie on h ie father t ~4 t 7~ ,c~~tz £50 to decJlne th e c ont est •,1 thout . . · g1vlr.q P r ae on .
The st0riee of Sir G•ne l BDct ½it violin uere 9Ddl ese . +:, at · 1hE>n ()b li u")d to 1 eeve town dur;nfl' o is co11rtet1 i p ,
r.e r-'rt l1 is v 1 0lin to be de".>ol'i.ted iurt n" his " r>bsence in that
•rrllr 1Hum of i r>1 oc -,nce, 1iss O' Donnel l' i:, o·m bod - cho! ,be rl"
EUpe---io rity of c_crDntnr, n r!an r,f thP- h i i:-'1~st honour i·r~ c ~1fri ty, a n:o<>t c--,urtcn•J"' rr~"'tleman (he ,rinp.; "the 11r r-ces" 1 she calle d that dernterl rA tri o+ i n a :,erioct of •mb1ushlng co rru oti.on . : re ·ms ·• fi.ret - r"+e ;,,ttn f'Chol,r •1ith v.rect clcse~ic"J tueto , but he ne v e r , tt,,ired ... o a res..,ectabJo "OGLt io1 ii. "laLlie• nti.cr. . 'lh i u '-'Uf:l th9 ore sci "'r tif ic ttt., im cr tr, ·but to t.i.m dei:;conded th,: ir J ove of luLrninu , ibertv n r~ ~f country . Si r Cr~el v ery evrl y rd6pted tne priisci J es ot r.ivi l P.ntJ. .celir:iou s liberty , r-nc therefore sup· or te d the Urthol i c cl , i.r,~ . He 11 rd "been a st r ong r. nti-Unio n ist, (Ind afte r hi~ r cre osi n ir J7 97 to h io estate . he engaied tn contes te 1 elect icr, to ai ve h is v o te a(ln inst the mee.sure .
But he weo de feated b:, Co l onf! l co~,c , ,..ho v!a.e aup-ported by r, 0 vernment inf lucr!ce; and S ir r. f Qitting i n the House ,n:iaJ h~rl orly +h • t a ntalieinp- satiofaction °
hi h ha d been ~re sente ' ccorrttnv to Irish c u stom until the -peti tion v, c ·
ogd n 6 t th v .1.•etur n waa u i. O'P'i se d of 1
lie wa o a me t.1ber of t he
poll tt c 1.l l,o d y ',uio wn o.c the Un ited I ri shr.:en b ef ore - i t be o lime a disaf fu c t e d body to the " rown d " nn whe n i t includ e d 1.·11 its ~ e mb ers
ouch m..: n ll b tlie . w n. Ge orge 1:nox, ct o. '!'he obj e ct eeeme to have
bee r. to raise Ir e lan d to t he s a r.e 1 1 e v e ? o l itic a l l y a s ~ngla.n d .
c.,r tes , S i r Cap el had no r ebellious in t e n t i on s , a n d I rol!Jem'ter h ie
t Ll l i ng that o.f te r o e ver a l mee ting s of vio l ~nt d is s ension , a wellktio·~n .:1-31.:.:be r c u l 1 e d by t he stro n g e na me of Fap per '. n dy r o s e and decl a re d it ·ya o c h ild' c; -pl &y s p end i ng ni gh t af t e r r. i g ht in t1:1. l k , end t h at the timu wo. o co111t! to t hrow away t he scabbar d ; " On wll icl1 " , ij ni d S ir Ci,o e l , 11 I t ilou r ht the ti n:e wa s come f or me to loo ic f or m;y bat , ;;,.r.d :u1v ln g f oun d it I r e tire d a nd n ever a.gain a tt e nde d a
me etin g " . 18.ny of t h e membe rs b e c ume involved in the rebellion wlich ooor, f o l lowed , and \7hich und oubt e dl y p r e c ip it a ted the Uni o n; un d an associ a ti o n u hlch certainly b egan in patr i otic e fforts for const i tu ti o nal ri i:;ht a was sc a ttere d , a n d its memb ers , h owt3ver loyal i nd ivi ri u e.1 1y , ·o'3 0 EL>'DB o b je ct s of ou e p io i on . Sir t; ap el nevt3 r f o•1ght su:r o f t n oae vho s a zeal ha.d car r ied t h e m too f a r, ao 80 °"Jany di d ; r...ud ,•i,~a tcv 1:1c tho r o.n k of the in di vi d ua l h o g ave them 8 g ener ous ·t at tho ris k of )ereonal i. c 1 ) ; l odg l!: .,m t of fo r oe r 1 rat ern1 Y e ven C ') l !'O la u . Tho h orro * of the r a b o llion were follo wed b y t he d c ir Cap e l was so dlsgust~d 00 r r u tion \fili a l , o e cure d the Union , a n .., 1 9 9 1 the h ·""i ght of the Un ion T~is o Je ction wa s in 17 ' ncounty vArma.gh ca used by ~o n t r ove rey , to fill the 1 v o cantYtt~ e rldom of Ch arlemont . ~ r d Cl ulfeild' e oucces o o n °
d, 1 'h o \'irer era] ~-0" i ·•t v . iTe Cf'"rien thi o so fnr thnt ·,her. the, .Jul-e of ·ur rnnct , h••· r i.rr; of S ir C:nn,. 1 • , : . ' 1 ecc,;ii tr1c ni;!'rncabi 1 i ty , b c:, e
8r Yi0"" to lo I'\' C• ~n j 1vo1 · • l ' ' "v u :r-,., 1 etiquette , inv i t0tl ui• to dir.t•er , , c !'IC 1.t :, ref•i sr 1 d i -ec t to the :) uke . "h iu he wrot~ at. tl,e :1,11-, tc, i tv>i<i Ln d y ' e ent ,. th • r'! P '1eo at he 1 voul ,J no, .rd thus
tote Jl y f<J r r-o t t at. l ,, P.1oul_11 :11, ve ·1rlrlrcsP-ecl the .\ :) C . R• • r o lfl':·1t. 11p ir, a. :1:,i1~~ ,·,> erft Iri sh fee l'in17 'i rudo.inftdd, .1ere jl1tri0 ti sm ~ i i· t h e r·1l i n~ u1-1s~hn , rno. r,o soon pft e r ;:,c Un i.or. thnt E.lJ i.ts r itter11 1rn3 WR!i' sti l l freAh , tt is not to le ;-;ono.e:r. rl t1at I
1rre 1V up l tb a ho rrn r 0f n,:,- 1 i sh r t1 1e F>no. in ,jul'tice, ,nirl t. 10•,v,,t 'p l "0" e r , n'i e r: s~nne rs" ·:ere l,P.trryers o f the ir c ountry . t'l1is was lone- , ..,.t·orP. Ce lt i c flY~">it.hi~ e . S ir C1-oe l , ~he n r.e r soJvad 1ot to
fol lo·v tre c.romi to - n,.l•ncl , a.do'!l t ed fo r his :~otto ·;:,atrioe i nfe li cl
firitll l, , r11,i ,•r 9 !:'r.erl h i. a serv·•nti:i in ,,.,hit e ann g~ec.? n , inatea.lt of his f nily co lour~ nnrl r.tott o . He &l "ll YB suu~ orted Catho li c clai ms ,
atter.ied t :~e ~e r1 i est r-1.,:i:gresrn.te meet inp;s , and coroeid e r ,~1 t unt t he
Cathol i c p- rty \·i3-s 1 ure a into support of t be Uni )D by t 11e in f.:i renfb
Pro ti ie-3 of erurn ci.pr.tior . I .recall rliatlr,ct l y , whe n ,1e used to
att 0 nd EJ.f ·t:tr~ i ·, ta :nePt i.n ,ra f!.nci suer li1re po l itic a l -,n t he rir p-o , h e 'lrr~io r i r . t i n· i.e 'lf O ' Co nn e l l u. a a. youni;, b:. rl'is t~ r "'~10 gave h i g h
Of t 'ie ho\ire nr-d fortune who took me fr om G11ch 'l.'1'!l the 11; eter '
":Y '.l'J!'T e o·J. rr.1 with ,,hol"l ry rlea ti ny \ "OS Jn rl y CF st
- 2:14--
·r11e 1 n tt.er vei rs of •· i > r Cnpe l, 8 1ife ·~e,.~ - spent 2rtirely in 1 . S o· e i ,ier th t ::,uu tr • ;Pst J ~ 'Ji 11 on n 1· rl 11 ~t ,, 1111re • •-, 1.t h -.y
eunt , cn,1 ~ 1 0 ·e offcrc,. t"r-en a t Gen er a l 'o J yne ux, c ornbiner to
ir.c' •1r-e ;_ ~ to F.f! l , th,, fnrni. tur e , r fl' ove the boolq:, Pn<l settle
fi fl1Y i ?: 'll"-1 iri, ·~he re lie r e rten f r orr: Si r ~- '..::.h:w t 1 e 1ouee in
' er i nr. Sq u"r~ "i.cn h;,d be l onred to the T:> rl s of ,.n tri r, .l
'!'o"'r rt11:1 the c l o~E" of h i1:1 life he ap-oeered li tt J e Rbro nd , end aft er LACY :.' s de;,tr, re ~·A lned in h is two roo me-; n ot f rom illness , but fro clio 1 i'\ce to sub, it t_0 the a ss istirnce wh ich age ra ou ire<l in
vrri.1 ,io wr, ye . He (l~ slil<ed muc b f11rnilture, had hio bed in the r.:idrl le of Pie ro<)!lt , r nd nothinP' c oulrl look to othe rr r are wretchedly
unco r.1o rtrbl0 . Te rle1iR"hted in 1lom,rth , hose ur i nts "'ere hunp: rn111: rl , U,e on~· ner-rest to h i r b einr- chonr ed daily . I often t ho ·rht ho v; Hop.r rth ' .., :1err U . ,·•oulrl hrwe sketched the orl 'i ties of t. he ~sn
rPd h lP -o o~P . m~us he cont.inued his various r eadi n v : the Dooks he hnr! 1 een re<Jtli ng tlrn r> veni n{" before the par a lytic seizure wh ich ccr, ierl h i r off,7~ few rl"YG were a folio Virp:il an<l -;rr srnus ' 8 "? r· i11e ~f ~·o 1 1y"; h i s cl r• sslca l tt1ater, fol lo ·11 F: ni.r t o the ver"e ot tie f't' !" V,3 1'ow , nenr the close of .,, ,y own li fe, f i.ve f, nd th irty "',·,ir Cft,-nel, 2 I l ook boc k on him n s the most Ye r i's · 1 T,er ttte dePth of .,., 1 . 0'7 3:71 1rnrl 34 'te rrion Square , :N ort h . 2 ·r C"u l fei1d , tne a.utho r of tnis
Cir v p~J ri ied i n 1 8:52 ; , rs . .. a1ret.ch , i r. 1 878 .
8 ~~.:. ortlir., r y c 1ar , et ,r I evnr 1Jet . :fonour, CQHctPi..y , @;tn.cros tty ,
. ctlc ' ,iee-p c11: l' l '.y , '111 ex:istorl , '·th i ucl. le , n1ir;n- I i l JU~ t·
cor:ai ies·: l, 1 c taste . ' ut all pu·,, to,.et 11)r in 1:0 u tr, 1 g u ;,. dt:, ( 'lr.tl : u i '1 ,tt1 ?111,; to· l)" r i.n e a rly 1 tft.l , ti11 i, i.e · !.lG r..oot
ecc.:ntric , Yl't 1lw.-, y s cee ' ,!cted 11nrl l'tlA')ect; bld . The f, ult of hie
cl,n"ct.,Jr ,rnu , : ;- 1ini-- , ~llr>t he .~1,s vin <l ic'",i. ve , 1..r1l he c1Jrt· in l y cprricd to t.1w 1 t c t t.:,tl ' ,e,..•()ry of tri.f J ,rn th, 1, ha.' off ..:n l·.ld h i ·n in '" ~-..., T ('. 11':t.' "TT" 1 J..J.ti. \..., u. T\-' ,n l .,,J,......, •
lf 11 cl :1nd s o n of JF me s l ,,. · , ,. tl1e Ilonb l e . Henry Cr- u . e ' d .i1e \ tc,n• o, , , ., J of t,:b; rltH0 0 1.t , ar, • ~a,.\ll e i. 1 ' , 4th vi_scount a.~d ir i J·r 3 r d ·,a rl cr,J 5 th , ,,t:1 ,-,_c nf J· ••riri o ,o1yne ux Cnu e '
Vinc riunt .
·~o IIonblo • .Mt.s ,1 c . • • • au 1r ml d,.
Author uant od o f " Th. s..;111.L Far or ' s Gll2.de 11 , e tc . o~cCot tago~ ' s.Fr iond11 , and Sources by .iat ~llm1 r\.twuno.eh : Far ;irc olt~;ea. i'ro,1 Authentic lt- LlO ii + r.:Ju . Hy copy boar s th ' . ·. ·" eh , Dub.Lin , 103 ~ , "A . Charle ont11 , and I hav e boon t~l~a-~~ of roi:ae r 011nor, s& .( ony,_ous . e aut hor l e Ar 1n.r;h . A, H, T.
(Irish Boole Lover , d--ted J uno 1911, Va l.II, no . 11, pp . l 8l-182 ) . " .1ichacl r\.Llv anagh11 ( Vol . II, p . 181) w1s one of th( cnnru.,os of Hon • .irs : Caulfeild of iloc•~lcy : Co . Ar 1a ~11 . Sh~ ,ras a cloven· wo. an anc.,. a koon oo!i ti clm , the duu, ;htorV of Doduoll llro•no, Esq . , and ,n.otho r of J tmcs , last Earl ~;f Charl o,.10nt so tl1o i'or1101• o,mcr of t he book i n quest ion ua s hor daughtcr -lnlau , Annu, Cotmtcss of Charlemont . Another lit lo uork of he r s was II A Hint to S..1all Far..iors , 11 Ar.:iaeh , 18r.:'.9 , undor tho 1H,oudonyu of "Cunnir....• Isaac•! . The l a t e Li t ton Falkincr cO. l!>ilcd fro:., 11er ;.rs . ti-rO ur~lclos which a.p11carcd in "The Monthl y R.,vicw , 11 June unr July , l '.)O3, re51)Gctivc l y , entitled, "Charlc,Jont 1foune !lc..1orics 11 , v1d " An Ul ster Squire in the Beien of Gcorr:c I V. " ( i.c . Sir C )01 l·!Ol ynoux ), uhich I unders t u id ~r <;atly lntrrcstc Lord t.o:::el>cry . " '.i'ho Cottager ' s :F'riend 11 uas orir,:mally ,ubli5hed i, four qun.rtc.rly-purts, ':lric c 9d_. each , 0c tooor , 1831 - J u l y , 1 83~ , pri nted by Fo l ds and publi shed by \-I ~~ ~ " Wakc1mn Hai nly co1)osed of ext ract s f rom wc ll- kno,m m i ter .. , it cont~drw u c h ori<;inal uatto r f ro;,.1 th~ editor ' s pen, and one article by Gcor ec Enso r of Ardr css , in his day, a vol u~inous paiaphlc t o c r . A. C.
Hon . l;rs . Caulfo iL.l ( my c r andLlothe r ) u~ s bor~~n,!~ r!l 14th, 1801 , and cicd on t he 20th ~c t ~~tln lg~!;ty no li tics . very clev er wo,.ian and t o ok a g r eat P d in pr imar y educ a tion , She ua::; nuc h int crcst~ d 1~ f ~rmine ~ d t he \Tolfaro of h er nnc. lndoetl in c v cryt h:i.n s tha. l, nf{0 0 of her t ravels i n S\rit zcrpoor, r ncirrhbourn . t.:hc urot~t11~ 0 !erc oft en both inter esting 1 1....., and uo l lnnd 7 and he r le 0 1 ~h t ,.,be ->ublinhcd anyt hi nr. an.a ur.n.wln • Lut I clo no t ~~''t ~ ything t i:1t d1c 10ft ,·ould 0 :xco t what ou mo\T of 7 • o r a he :mitaL.1.0 .1.·or )ul>lic a t:i.on . Elino r M . Str ongc .
' Co . Dublin .
Tlw IIonble , Mrs . R. cau1r~
f~o tho arti c~es ,,1en~ioned , one cathors that Hrs . co.u.1.fcJ.ld wn.s acqu:nnted w:i.th Tom Uooro Lac1y r-iorgan Plunket ( a,d 1iclicvod. in t'1<? 11 serpent" npcech ot Emoet) o • C6nnell ' and Thos . Dav:i.s . W:i.th Wm . &1ith 0 1 Drien she \Ta; on torc1s of close inti 1acy . Indeed one of the last letters uri tten by l1Ll on the c vo of his mrilc, dated 11 Rich..:iond Prison July , 1849'1 '70.S to hur . It concludes thus:11 I nhall not cease
in a distant l a.nd to rocall ,-,ith pl easure the recollecti ons of a frie ndship ,,ihich has lastod moro yours than either of us c are to rcc1wn . Nor uill you object that I should add the ox1)r o ssion of ,1y conviction that if a ll Iri sh ;1cn ucrc ~inatod by sontiuents as i.1atriotic as those of Mrs . Caulfeild! :i.t \Tould not n ,1 be .uy lot to travernc the Ocean for having faithfully endeavoured to serve Ireland . - Ed .
Introduction to the exhibition of books apa manuscripts ill the Public Library of Armagh.
The traditional significance of Armagh in preChristian days no doubt influenced st. Patrick in his choice of it as the place of supreme importance in his mission. According to the Annals he reached Armagh in the year 444 A.D. He soon secured sites for churches and immediately began preparations for the instruction of the young people of the area and so about the year 450 the first school of the new regime was opened. Cultural growth was gradual in the sixth and seventh centuries but by the end of the latter century the schools of Armagh were widely recognized.
The city and its amenities figure favourably in a poem attributed to Prince Alfrid, later King of the Northum.brian Saxons, who about the year 684 is reputed to h t h l s By the succeedave been a pupil in one of i s sc oo • ing century Armagh had acquired an enviable position but during the ninth and tenth centuries the city, its schoolS, h the raids of the and churches suffered greatly throug ' Norsemen, whose repeated incursions resulted in the
destruction of the scholastic establishments and their books, and so alarmed foreign st d t u en s that they no longer came to study in the same numbers. In those centuries Armagh was plundered in 830 867 890 ' , , 919 and 946. The most important local specimen of penmanship to survive those tragic days is th e so-called Book of Armagh, compiled in one of the monastic houses of the city in the year 807 and one of the most precious of our Irish manuscripts, tbe only one indeed of early origin that can with certainty be dated. It is our source for the story of the contacts between Patrick and Daire, the then Prince of the district, the enclosing rings of whose entrenched abode are still traceable. They provide visible reminders of Patrick's arrival in the mid-fifth century, to which era belongs the celebrated Patrick's Bell, one of two famous personal momentos linked for ever with hmagh. Centuries later the Bell had a shrine made for it by Donnell 0'Locblan, King of Ireland, during the Primacy of Donnell MacAuley, Archbishop of Armagh, by which inscription it can be dated as having been fashioned between the years 1091 and ll05. The second, the venerated Bachal Isa, unfortunately no longer exists. It was the most reno-wned ecclesiastical relic in Ireland and remained in safe keeping in Armagh i t was carried off to Dublin unt111179, in which year
by a force of Anglo-Norman
s, there to be retain the Reformation when it was b . ed untu . pu hcly burned in 1538.
Learning made steady pr . ogress in the city in the eleventh century. Education gained a fr h es impetus in the 12th century when the amendment of the Irish church was inspired by St. Malachy, a famous Armachian ' the site of whose birthplace bears a commemorative tablet. He was born in the city in 1095 and died 1148 , Two other Archbishops of Armagh, St. Celsus and st. Concord, were also of local extraction and educated like St. Malachy in our city schools. In those centuries the schools of Armagh maintained their national importance and were fostered by the kings of other provinces besides Ulster - for instance, by the King of Munster in 907 and Roderick O'Connor, High King of Ireland, in 1169, the latter benefaction being the last grant made by a king of Ireland towards education in the city. It was not, however, the last assistance given by a local prince for in 1387 Nial O'Neill, king of Ulster, built a hostel on the outskirts of the city learned men i,bo found for the accommodation of the many in Armagh a spiritual home.
1 siastical Synod In 1162 it was decreed at an ecc e Permi tted to teach or publicly that no per son should be not studied at Armagh, thus lecture on theology who had
conferring on the scho ols of Ar magh p re-eminence over all the oth er schools of Ireland and confirming the citY in its claim to university status, That was but a few years before the Anglo-Normans conquest, by which the Irish monastic schools were at first little disturbed. Their usefulness, however, diminished t hrough conflict between English and rr· h i is op nion on matters of education. Such schools did not suffer actual extinction until the dissolution o f monasteries in 1537. By that decree Ireland was left for a time without any educational facilities vlhatever.
In 1558 Dr. George Dowdall, Archbishop of Armagh , pe titioned Queen Mary as to the necessity for a university and schools and in 1583 in the rei gn of Elizabeth I a proposal was made to establish universities at Armagh and Limerick but Dublin eventually acquired the coveted prize.
The F.arl of Tyrone made a further attempt in 1599 but that was likewise unsuccessful. During Elizabeth's sovereignty endeavours were made to set up schools in the shire towns but nothing seems to have been Armagh until t he Plantation of Ulster. accomp lished in In 1608 lands were granted by King James and set apart i th various northern for the upkeep of free schools n 8 counties by ..mich the Royal School of Armagh, an
important edu c ational establishment came into being and still flourishes.
The closing years of th e eighteenth century b rought tbe question of a university at A h nnag again to public not i ce. Lord Rokeby, the then Archbi h sop, bequeathed a legacy towards its foundation having during hi s li f etime endowed a library and observatory as adjuncts . The scheme had, however, to be dropped because of opposition from various sources. An effort was made in 1 81+5 to obtain a Queen I s College for the city but though the general opinion towards the prop o sal was partial to a college at Arma gh it was erected in Belfast whe re it has s inc e become t h e university of t h e province. Schools and events such as I have mentioned presume the necessi ty of libraries. Th e first mention of such an insti tution at Armagh occurs in the Annals in the year 1020, when the town was devastated by a fire '«hich consumed the great stone church, the tower and its bells, the stone church of the Elections, the stone church of Saval, the chariot of the Abbots and the books in th e houses of the students, with much gold and silver and the Only exception in the general other p recious thingscatastroph e being the library.
Just \ihat that library contain ed we shall never know. There is, however, ample evidence that long previous there had existed at
Armagh a series of scribes whose chi f 171t e monastic service seems to have been the multiplication of b k 00 s. Entries relating to them begin in 720 and i nc1ude great figures such as th e compiler of the Book of Armagh, in itself merely a copy of an older original th t a was probably lost in one of the Norse raids.
The death of a celebrated librarian of Armagh is not ed in 1136 and an Armagh manuscript written in the follo wing year is still preserved. That century, however, saw the coming of the Anglo-Normans and the renewal of raids on the city almost as disastrous as those suffered in the days of the Vikings. Of the state of the ancient library from that period down to the Reformation we have practically no knowledge. There are in the present collections a unique set of archiepiscopal registers beginning in 1335 but they form part of the archiepiscopal records rather than library archives and cannot therefore be considered survivals f rom t h e earlier library.
We are aware, of course, that the city was beginning to decline before the Reformation and that afterward s th e and the o•Neills made the town wars between the English a barracks rather than a seat of study· C entury but we are utterly howver, a library in the 17th
From Friar o•Mellan' s
There was still, in the dark as to its contents.
account of its destruction on ,7r;, e WouJ.d assume that it consisted chiefly of English th eo1 ogical works - the actual entry dated 6 May 1642 d , ' rea s as follows:"Armagh was burnt; the cathedral With its steeple and with its bells, or gan s and glass •. d .....n ows, and the whole city, with the fine library, .~th ,..,_ all the learned books of the English on Divinity, logic and philosophy".
We cannot even guess as to what perished then and not until over 120 years later was there any revi val of literary amenities in the city.
The library of to-day owes its f oundation to Archbishop Robinson who was translated from Kildare to Armagh in 1765. Six years later, in 1771, he built and endowed it naming it the Public Library of Armagh and so that the scheme might have permanency obtained by Act of Parliament a charter of incorporation under whi ch it is still governed.
The original edifice was designed by Thomas Cooley, an architect not unlmown in Dublin. It was enlarged in 1848 but the alterations harmonize so well with the older work as to be scarcely noticeable.
The book collection is contains specimens of early an important one and printing besides some rather rare works, most of which were the gift of its i ti of Gulliver's founder, amongst them a first ed on
Travels with annotations in the author's ow hand'l(l'iting. The manuscript collection is, however, the greatest treasure of the library. It consists of much medieval material and many interesting items of the 17th and 1 8th centuries, some of which you will have an opportunity of inspecting later by permission of tbe Keeper, the Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh.
~DUCATIONAL..._
The traditional signif · icance of Armagh in PreChri stian days no doubt infl uenced St . Patrick in his choi ce o f it as the place of . suprem e importance in his
mission . Acc o rding to the .Ann 1 · a s he reached Ar magh in the year l.t-44 A . D. He soon secured sites for Churches and i mm ediately began preparations for th · t ems ruction of the young p eople of the area, and so about the year l.t-50 the first schoo l of the new regime was opened.
Cultural g r owth was gradual in t he sixth and seventh centuries but by the e nd of the latter century the schools of Ar magh were widely recognized .
Th e City and its amenities figure favourably in a po em written in 68!.t- by Pr ince Aldfrid, later King of t he
No rthumbrian Saxons, who is re puted to have been for a p eriod a pup il in one of its schools . By the succeeding century Armagh had acquired an enviable posit ion.
During the ninth and tenth centuries the city and its schools and churches suffered greatly through th e raids repeated l.·ncursions resulted in the of the Norsemen whose des t ru ct ion of the scholastic establishments and their books and so alarmed foreign students that they no '
longer came t o study in the same numb ers . centuries Armag h was p lundered in 83 0 867 ' ' I n t hos e 890 , 919 and The only local manuscript to survive those trag ic day s is the so -c alle d Book of Armagh, compiled in one of the monasti c hou ses of the cit y in the year 807, and one of the most pre ciou s o f our Irish manuscripts, th e only one indeed of early o rigin t hat can with abs olute c er tainty be dat ed. It is our source for the story of t h e contacts b etween P atrick and Daire , the then Pr ince of the di strict, the enclosing rings of whose entrenched abode are still traceable, a visible reminde r of Patrick ' s arrival in the mid - fifth centur y , to which period belongs the celebrated P atrick ' s Bell, one of two famous personal reli cs of the saint linked for ever with Armagh .
Centuries later the Be ll had a shrine made for it by Donn ell o, L o chlan , King of Ir eland , during the Primacy of Donnell MacAuley, Archbishop of Armagh, by which inscription it can be da ted as having been fashioned between th e years 1091 and 1105. The second relic, the t 1 n longer exists . venerated Ba chal Isa, unfortuna e Y 0 1 1· in Ireland It was the most reno\-med ecclesiastica re ic . in Armagh until 1179 in and rewaine d in safe keeping . doff to Dublin by a force of whi c h y ear it was carrie
Anglo-Normans, there to be retained unt1·1 th e Reformation when it was publicly burned in 1538 •
Learning mad e steady progress in the tenth century. In 1020 the Library of illrm l · ag1 is mentioned in the Annals ' the first reference to such an· t ins itution in any city in Irel and . Education gained a fresh impetus in the 12th century when the amendment of the I rish church was ins p ired by St . Malachy, a famous Armachian, the traditional site of whose bi rthplace bears a commemorative tablet . He wa s bo r n in 1095 and died 1148 . Two other Archbishops of Armagh, St . Celsus and St . Concord, were also of local ext r action and educated like St . Malachy in our city schools . In those centuries the schools of Armagh ~aintained their national importance and were fostered by the kings of other provinces besides Ulster - for instan ce by the King of Munster in 907 and Roderick
K f Ireland l·n 1169, the latter bene0 1Connor, High ing o last grant made by a king of I reland faction bei ng the towards education in the city . It was not , however ' the b a lo cal pr ince for in 1387 Nial last a ssistan ce given Y built a hostel on the outskirts 0 1 Heill, king of Ulster , th any learned of the city for the accommodation of em men wh o found in Armagh a s piritua l home .
I n 1162 it was decreed t a an ecclesiastical Synod t hat no p ers on should be permitted t o teach or publicly l ec tu re on th eology who had not studied at • "'r magh, thus confe rri ng o n the schools of Armagh . pre - eminence over all t h e oth e r schools of Ire land and confirming the city i n its c la im t o University status . Th at was but a few
:' ea rs b ef o re the Anglo - Norman conquest, by which the I ri sh mon a stic schools were at first little disturbed.
Th e i r useful n ess, however, became gradually i mp aired throug h c onflict between English and Irish opinion on
natte rs o f e ducation . Such schools did not suffer actual extinction until the dissolution of monasteries in 1537 . By tha t decree Ire land was left for a time without any edu c a tional facilities whatever .
In 1558 Dr. George Dowdall, Archbishop of Armagh, pe tit ion ed Queen Mary as to the necess ity for a university and s c h ools and in 1583 a proposal was made to est ablish uni v e rsities at Armagh and Limerick, but Dublin eventually se cu re d t h e coveted prize . T de a further effort in 1599 Ta e Earl of yrone ma but th at was likewise unsuccessful. During queen to establish schools Elizab eth I s reign efforts were made nothJ.·ng seems to have been i n th e s h ire tor.-ms but
a cc ompl ished i n Armagh. until the Pl antation of Ulst 6 8 er . In 1 0 lands we re granted by King J am es and set apart for the up - keep of frees h 1 coos in the various northern counti es by which the Royal School of A h . rmag, an important educational establishment, came into bei·ng and still flouris h es .
The closing years of the eighteenth century brought t he question of a university at Ar magh again to public notice . Lord Rokeby , the then Archbishop, later bequeathed a leg ac y towards its foundation having during hi s lifetime founded a li b rar y and observatory as adjuncts . Tne p ro po sal h ad, howeve r , to be dropped because of opposi ti on fro m various sources chiefly Oxford and Camb ridg e . An attempt was made in 1 845 to secure a Queen I s Colle g e for the city but despite the general favou rable opinion towards the proposal it was eventually ere c ted in Be lfast
From th e Anna ls events in the city ' s history may be fa shion but the entries are so c ompi led in diary f ew can be noticed. f reque n t that only a . f I reland, was buried In 760 Flaghertach, King 0 t 1 hill and in 830 the in tne old g ravey ard on th e cen ra
cit Y wa s first plundered b Y the Norsemen. ling t iall p erished in ad I n 8lt6 rowni ng a ccident in the River Call an, aft er having driven th v· k. e i i ngs from the city , He too was laid to rest in the regal ce metery. Tl1ree y ear s later an importa n t royal conferenc e was held in the city . In 880 Domnall O' Neill, King of Ireland was laid to rest and exactly a cent ury later Domnald ' ling of Ireland, was buried in the same cemetery .
In 1001+ Brian Boru, the most famous of the Irish ' kings , d eposited an offering of gold on the altar of the g r eat c hu rch of Armagh and t en years later following t he battl e of Clont arf his body was brought ba ck there to rest wi th the great company of saints, king s, philosophers and p oets already interred in the sa cred g round round st . P atri c k ' s church . In 1022 Malachy MacDomnald , King of I relan d, was buried in the same place but Dervolg, wife of Ti r d elvach, who died in 1151 was buried in the 13th century Franciscan Friary . Five years later Turlough the Great who founded a profess o r ship of Divinity in Armagh died . T'.oe re were and its churches b · s of the ci t y further raids and urning
1 . 1020 1072 and 1112. and schoo sin ,
I n 1126 th e anc i ent Ab bey of St , Peter was r ebuilt . and St. Paul Chu rches and scho ol s . - again suffered in In 1166 Murr-ogh o i Loghlin K. , ing of 1150 and 116 4.
Tyrone , wa s slain in battle south f th . 0 e city and his body br ough t in for interment. Four years later
Gel a siu s, the th en Archbisho p h eld his celebrated Armagh Syno d at , m ich it was decreed that the Irish should no longe r purchase Eng lishmen f rom pirates and sell t hem as s l a ves and at which it was ordered that all such bondsmen should be set free. In 1179 Anglo- Norman f orces raided the c it y and a g ain in 118 5 . In 1188 Donald, the son of Hugh O1 Logh lin, King of Tyrone, was k i ll ed in an affray a t Cavanacaw nearby and buried in Arma gh . In the following y ear John de Courcy pillaged the city and in 1206 he was foll owed by Hugh de Lacy.
In 1261 P atrick 0 ' Scanlon was appointed Archbishop .
Ti t h began the erection of the Franciscan nre e y e a rs la er e i In 1268 he Friary of which substantial ruins rema n. rebuilt t h e Great Church of Armagh incor porating within bul'ld1·ng the site of three primitive h is cruciform - shaped cnurches.
T'n e walls of the present cathedral are the s hel l of that building .
In 1315 Edward Bruce, brother
to h.ing Ro b ert Bruce, invaded Ul t s er and wasted the See of Arillagh . In 1348 th f e amous Richard Fitzralph co:n 1only called St . Richa rd of Du d ' n alk , be came Archbishop . In the opening y ears of -I-he n xt u e century the cathedral was burned by accidental fire by which there seeJ1 s to :1ave been a furthe r des truction in 1449 .
Ar:u agh is a ma r ~rnt to,-m of some ant i quity but the date of its first charter canno t now b e ascertained . Edward IV grante d a charter to Arc hbishop Bole 9th February , 1467 , a document pre - supposing an earlier charter being , in fact, but a confirmation of the Archbishop ' s l egal ri ght s with regard to a weekly market . That char ter vas attested and inspected again 1st June, 1558 . In 1511 t:1e town was again dest royed and in 1586 Sir John Perrott, th e then Lord De puty divided Ulster into Armagh gave name to the county . shires by which the city 0.1. a g rant was passed on the pet ition In •;he fo llowing yea r
Providing the city with a Tuesday of the Earl o f Ty rone ar~et . Eleven yea rs later the famous Battle of the
~ellow Fo rd was fought in the immed· t .. 1.a e v1.c1.ni ty .
Ar~agh s uff ered re p eatedly in the wars b etween Eli z a beth and the O I Neills . In 1609, following the f l i gat o f t h e Earls, an Inquis1.·t· - - 1.on was taken in the ci t y iJhe re by i t Has found that '' a weekly market had be e n h eld time out of mind 11 • Four years later King
J am e s I g r a nted the city a new charter by which the u1 ana g e ment of the tm-m was entrusted to a Sovereign and Bur ges ses a nd by virtue of that arrangement Arma gh sent t wo re p re s entatives to serve in the I rish Parliament up to th e Union with Great Britain in 1800 and one to the I mp erial P a rliament until 1872 .
The Tues d ay market was confirmed to Archbishop Hamp t on and his successors in 1611+ with two f airs . A fu rt he r ")atent was issued fo r fairs and markets in 1620 . In 1634 Archbishop Usher was granted an addi tional market on Satu r d ays with another fair , War Of 161.2 the old Round Tower' the In the Civil -t and the fine old Li brary c a t ~ edral, its bells and organs tl.·me the Market House At the same went up in fl a mes . -·f·ce be came necessary in ' ,-1as damar ed so that a new eai 1. . 42 and completely rebuilt 1 6 64. This was replaced in 17
i n 13 35 . It is now the Technical S h - C 001 , Th e o riginal Co r uoration lfac • • es were lost in the t r oub l e s o f 161+2 and uith them the T R oi;-m ecords, but in 1557 during the Comhlonwealth Per~od n ... ew maces were p r o cured .
3 ec o r d s . They survive with some volumes of Cor poration ~ing James II dissolved the Corporation in 1688 and a ppoint ed a n ew Sovereign and Burgesses but following th e c o.1 clu sion of h is War with the Prince of Orange :n e:nbers o f t h e deposed Corporation were reinstated . Du ri ng t i1e p eriod of the Williamite Wars the City was h el d i n turn by the adherents of both parties . It was th e b e g i nn ing of the 18th century before the city began to rec o ver from the events of 1641 - 42 and of 1688 - 1690, but fro~ tnen onwards progress may be more easily t r aced .
