Armachiana Volume 23

MISCELLANEA.

VOL.~~

Armagh Observatory

Armagh Observatory

Dunsink and A.rma&h

City of Armagh Field Club

Traditional Digniticance of Ar~

Data on the Mall, Oopy of the Act for the Armagh PublicLibrary, Abstracts trom corporationRecords

The Old Cathedral. Tower ae a View Point

St. Luke's Hospital

St • .Patrick's Seminary and Mechanics Institute

MassGardens and MassRocke

Data tor Talks tor 1968 Civic Week Excursions

St. Mark's church Plate

the MacanAsylum for the Blind

St. Malachy's Chapel

The cont ents of thes e volumes l a belled Armachiana are simply notes for t a lks to local and visiting 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

Armachiana Volume 23

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Armachiana Vol1 (Armagh County Museum ARMCM.28.2014.52)

AHMMW,Observatory

T. ¾. r::('a.Len_s;o--r'l , The Observatory owes its origin to Richard, Lord Rokeby, archbishop of Ar.uagh. In establishing the Armagh Library and Observatory, that distinguished and generous prelate had in his !Uind the hope that Armagh ll11ght again becOOlea university town. The Archbishop was, no doubt, familiar with the past history ot t~ tow and or the ertorta :nade in the 16th and 17th eexituries to revive it as an educational centre.

'l'he earliest attempt was 1n l5'58 by Archbishop Dowdall but the times were too unsettled. In 1583 a state proposal wa1 made that laid pl.an• ror un1 vu si tie a at Al'm88hand Limerick which, it ei".fected, would have resulted. 1n those two cities taking precedence of Dublin 1n Irilh scholastic affairs. In 1S99~ 1evtan years after Tr1D1.t7 came into being, the subject was ra:tsed. by the Earl of Tyrone and was again convenientl.7 shelved. Two centuria• later, on the 12th Apl'il, 1787, - Thomas Orde, the then Cb1et Secretar1 • illtroduced into the Iriah House ot Common•a aobem•ot education, all the proposals ot whiah paaaed the House v1 th the exception ot the olauN relaUD1 to the founding of a second university tJ. '.i.'he oppo81'1on, I 8lll 10%rJ t;o sq, oame :t1'0lll Trinity lllho po .. 1'bl1 teaff4 that part ot ite 1ar1• estates 1D Armagh

.

and iri certain other Ulster counties might be diverted to that purpose. A change o:f government resulted in Orde's retirement and the matter dropped tor the time being. It is clear that it was intended to renew the proposal , tor Archbishop Robinson in bis will lett a bequest ot £5,ooo towards it and an additiotial. 8U1a o£ £1., 000 for the erection ot a College Chapel. Strong e.-rtion• were made to induce the .British Government to agree bu.t the Duke of Portland, tb• then Prime Minister, refused to commendthe propoai tion the king and cons•qa.ent.l)' the legacy lapsed.

nie matter was raised once more 1n 1836 bu.t there was atill a :feeling that its .foundation lllDUl.dbe anttaatal to Trinity we were not again troubl.ed by edueation problas until 181+; in which year we were de.feat«l by Belfast in the struggle tor a Queen's college an inttitutioD that haa since developed into Queen'• University t,.

i'bou events may seem to you to have little to do vitb the b11tor, or the observatory '.l.'h-rare, however, tbe taotora that 1.Dcmced.Archbishop Robinson to mppl•et ~• Library 1'y an observatory aDd both were founded 1111;11 tbe ob~••t ot maid.DCArma&bagain a centre of educational aotiY2.'7.

The erection ot the Observatory began in 1789 and the Archbishop cbose Francis Johnston as his architect. It 11, as you will see, a pleasant three-atoreyed. house of the period with interesting interior details. It was COllpleted towards the end of 1789 as may be veri.f'ied by the very rare Mossop medal of that 1ear, bearing on one side the bead ot the founder and on the other a representation ot the south front with the ••rJ appropriate motto .. "The Heavens Declare the Glory of God".

In the loUold.ng year James Archibald Hamilton, Dean of Cloyne and Prebendary of Mullabrack in Armagh an "ol.d boyt' of tbe Royal School of Armagh, bec&Jllethe tirst Director. He W&S a skilled astronomer and the author of several scientific papers published in the transactions of the Academy. Dr. Hamilton had a private observatory at Denyloran as early as 1780 and in passing it may interest 7ou to mow that Samuel Molyneux the tounder of the Kew observatory an institution linked with A.mashby the gift ot certain it1strumellts once the proper\y of King George III 1• oredited b7 tradition with having bad a private observatory on the ancestral estate here on tbe outaldrt• ot the oity. It may well be that tb• dome like structure tba11 bouNd about a century ago Roubillac's statue ot Sir ThomasMolyneux B&r,.,waa in t'aet that

blilding. Molyneux was the son of William Molynuex author ot the "Case of Ireland Stated" and a member of a f"amily well kllownin Du.blln in the 16th, 17th and 18-tb centuries. Be was born 1D 1689 and died 17.28.

Dr. Hamilton, the tirst director of the Armagh observatory d1ed 1n 1815'. H11 period at the observatory 11 coYered trom the sod.al bistol')' point ot view b1 an interesting diary kept bf Alexander Hamilton, son ot Hugh Hamilton a former Dean ot Armagh and later Bishop ot Ossory

At that t!IM Dr. Hamilton had an unmarried daughter, .Jane, and ho wards, Catherine and. Juliana Tisdale 11ring '111tb h1a to "10ll M allowed the us•ot the large dolle as a place wberein to a>tertain their f'riend.a. a.at ot tbat tavou:r l1'ff the naming et~ that particular doae •• "heaven; the reHon g1-nn 'being tba1; 1t was a pleasant place wherein th.,- oni, aet thoN 111bomthey loved and willhed to net. A sel.tilb conception ot he&Tm p•~• blit not •o -..uy ditte:rent to llbat we lligbt think ourHlves 1D aillilu cir<11aHtC11C... Lord Caulfield IOD or the tint president ot the Royal Irish Academy va• then ••17constant 1n bi• e1itent1ons to Jane Hamilton • bat lbe had other nn.nc•'° her bow. A ratbff auiDI 1Doi4enl OCJOVI 1n '1le diu)- 1n 1198.

Lord Caulfield and Alexander Hamilton had been up to the observatory to pass the evening with the ladies, and on their way home tound the lodge gates locked witb the re8Ul t that they weN forced to climb them. 1'be diary tell.a us tbat Lord Caulfield troa practiee got oTel' immediately but Hamilton found the first att«npt difficult and in the second tore his breeches. I should like to quote rreely i'rom that particular manuacnpt but Um.e doea not pumit us t-o atuc)J 1t further to...night.

HamUton•s successor in the Directorship was the Rn'. •• Davenport D.D., Sclior Fellow of Trinity lilllO cl1e41n 18-J, and was succeeded b7 t~ Bev. Thomas Romney Robinson ».»,., a f'ormer Fellow ot ~ity and ill aany vaJ• the molt yerntile ot all the Directora.. Under his care the 0bservato1'7 wat enlarged 1n 182'/ by the Al:!J ding ot 10111• utra rooma and a second dom-e,a work 1:1.ad.e po1t1ble through the generosity ot archbishop Lord John

GeorgeBeresford

In l8SJ, Pr. Robinson was president ot the academy Be 4184 J.n 1881 at'ter bavine held tbe I>1.reotol'llb1p of' 1:lbe observatory tor oTa SS 1eers. In b1·• Ul'II office, Maria Edgeworth the authoress vu boa ,1ae to time• sua, - bez• •'~sine waatb• »oc-tor• • HOOnd ¥1.te,. loblnlOD na eucoeed.td 'bf D~. John &., Dreyer a Mntapd m.i astronomer • Ha1pe4 during tbe 1911t-1911

, war. His successor was Dr. Hardcastle, a very br1l.llan t man and the great-grandson of the tamoua Sir W1l11am Herschell. He did good service during the war of 19141918 1n COilllection with the working out of tides at Gallipoli, wi tbout which the disembarkment ot troops there might never have been accompl1abed, ba.t he did not Uve to take up duty at Armagh. i'be next in succession vaa Canon w.E. A. Ellison whose death in 1936 caused deep sorrow looall.y. lie was a we11...kJlownlens maker and tbe author of 0 i'be Amateur Telescope". '.l'he present l)trector, Dr • .a.M. Lindsay ts the nrat native of the county to bold the po•t and under bia care the Observatory 1a progressing in no uncertain manner'!

In concluaion I should like to emphasize the tact that three ot the establishments on our list were bu11t in the l1tet1me ot one archbishop and that it waa hia intention to found a museum also - that waa actually prov1ded tor in the ut Htabliabing the Obse:netol'Jbut ur:itortunat~ that particul.ar obJeot wa• not achieved.

fhe tradi t1onal significance of Armagh 1n p~ Christian days no doubt 1n.tlu.eneed st. Patrick in bis choice of it as the place of supreme importance in hi• mi asion. According to the annals he reached Al.'rna,gh in the year l+1t1tA.D. He soon secured sites tor churches and imlaediatel.J began preparations tor the . instruction ot tbe young people ot the area, and so about the year lt;o the fil'St scbool ot the new regime waa openecl. Cultural growth was gradual in tbe 81.xth and nventb centuriH but b)" the end ot the latter century the school ot Armagh were widel.7recogm.ze4.

i'he cit;J and its ~U•• figure taYOUrably 1n a poem written in 68lt bf Prince Aldfrid later king of the Northumbrians saxons lillo 1.a z,eputed to hue been for a period a pupil in one ot 1.ta schools B.rtbe succeed3ng oentuzi, Anlagb had acquired an env.labl• position. Du:r:l.llg the ninth and tenth centunea the city and :l.t• •ohool• and churchs flf'.fffd greati,througb tbe raid• ot the Jlor.. ea, whoN repeated incunione l'esulted :ln tbe de1truo'1.on of the ecbolaat1c enabUabl-1:• an4 tbeir booka and ao alU'llled roreign •tud.ern• tbat t-, DO longer c•e to atwi, 1n the ._.

nuabera. In those centu:r1ea Armagh was plundered 1n 830, 867, 890, 919 and 946. '.l.'heonly local specimen of penmanship to surrtve those tragic da:,1 is the so-called Book of Armagh, oompUed in one ot the monastic houses ot the c1 t7 1n th• 1ear 807, aiid one of the most precious ot our Il'iab manuscripts the onlJ one indeed ot early origin that can vitb certainty be dated. lt is our source £or the atory ot the contact• betweer.i Patrick and Daire, the then Prino41 of the diatrict, the enclo81ng rings of \lhon entrenched abOU are atill traceable, a v:1.s1ble NJDl1Dder

Patrick'• ar.t:nl 1D the BU4-fifth centurr, to "1ich p41J'1o4'belongs tb• celebl'ated Patrick's Bell one ot two taou penonal IIOlltnto• ot the aaint, both linked tor ffff with Anaagb. Cen'1lriea later the Bell had a shrine uu tor it bJ Donnell O'Lochlan king ot Ireland, during the Pl'iauJ ot Donnell MacAuley Arohbishop Anagn, b., which 1Ucr1ption it can be dated. as haYinCbeen fashioned betvea Ille J••r• 1091 and. 1105 2!he aeoond, the ..... w Bachal Isa uatorhruat.el¥ no lo.ngn mats. 1, wa ttut aon rao11ned eeol.H1as'1oal. relio in Irel.and and r•aha.« 1Jt Ai'• knping in UID8lbuntil. l.119, in lDiab 1.u it va• carl'iad ott to Dublin b)' a toroe or Anglo Normans there to 1:111reb1ned UDUl. the Retcmaation 11be 1, _. publically burned 1D 1538

. Leal'lling made steady progreH in the tenth centu:ry. In 1020 the .Library ot Armagh 11 mentioned in tba Annal.a, tb• first reference to aucb an institution in any city 1D Ireland. Eduoation ga:.1.Deda i're&h 1mpetua in tbe 12th century 'Whentbe amendment ot tbe IrUh church was inspired by s1;.Malachy, a famous Armachian, the trad1 tional site ot whoff birthplace bears a commemorative tablet. Be wasborn 1D 1095 and. died. Ult8. Two other Archbishops ot Al'raagh, st. Celaus and st. Concord, were al80 ot local. extraoticm and educated like st. MalaobJ 1D our city aoboola. In tho1e centuries the 1choola or Armagh IUiiltained their national importance and were toatued by the k:1.na•ot other pro"finces besides Ulster - ro~ instance, b:, the K:1.ngot Munster in 907 a:nd Roderick o•Com>or,lflgb lC1ng of Ireland., :lD U'9t the latter ~aotion being the laft grant llade by a king ot Ireland toW!'da education :lD the 01'7. It wu not, however, the laa aaatnance cl•• bJ a 1ooa1 pr1nce fO'I 1n 1387Bial o•We:UJ., ot Ul.atn, bldl.t a hostel on the outakirta ortile ,u, tO'I tba ~tton ot 1:helllaDJ learned men 1lbo towa4 1n .t.nach a -i,1rttual btae. i. 116.a 1 'Ii •• 4nr•4 at an •oclea:laatioal Synod that ae p4tl'ac,a lbov.1.4 N , .. 1tted to teeth or publioI7 l•etve on tHoloa ,._ bad not l'tudied a,Arfr&aab,thu

lo

oonterring on the schools ot Amaeh pre-eminence over ail the other schools ot Ireland and confirming the c1t1 1n it• claim to university status. 'l'bat was but a rev year•

betOl'e the Anglo-lforman, oonquest, by wich the Irilh monastic school were at firet little disturbed. 'l'bei.1' uaetulnesa, bovever, became gradually impaired through con.f'llct between &lglieb and Ir11h op1n1on on matters ot education. Sllob schools did not surter actual extinction uatil the dissolution ot monasteries in 1537. BJ that decree Ire1and was le.tt for a time without an1 educational tac111t1ea ••tever.

In lj,S Dr. George Dowdall archbishop of Armagtt, petitioned QUeenMary as to the :oeees11t7 :tor a university and schools and 1n l.583 a propoaal. lid maa.. to e1tablilh universities at Armagh and Limerick 'bllt Dnblin eventually a.equired the pn•.

The Earl of Tyrone made a f'ul-ther et.fort iD 1;99 but that ... li'IUrld.N USllCCH stul. Dunn-, Queen Elizabeth relp e.ttort• ver• aade to aet up •obool• 1n the lhire shire towns at DO\billg •--• to haYe bNn aocaapliabed in Ar1l.alh unt11 the Plantation ot Ulster ID 1608 lend• were granted 11JKing James , .... 11114Mt apart tor "1• upuep or free schools 111tlle ftl'lou nortbaa couaUe• by llbiClll -. Royal School ot Aftalb, • illp01"unt eduoational. ••tabll•bment, can• into .........

'.l.'beclosing JeaH of the eighteenth centu:r," brought the question ot a univerlity at Arvtagh agun to publlo notice. Lord Rokeby the then Archbishop, later bequeathed a legacy tovuds its foundation having during bis 11.t'etime !ol.Ulded a library and observatory as adjuncts. i'he scheme bad, however, to be dropped becauae ot opposition fl'OUl variowr sources. An ertort was made in 184; to obtain a Queen's College tor the city, wt despite tbe general. favourable opinion towards the propo•al for a college at Armagh it _. ereotecl in Bel1'aat where it bas s:ll'lce become the university o~ tlw pro'f:lnce.

1'bo••event• say seft to you to baY• little to do with the bi.tol'J or the observatory i'be7 are, ho'1118Wr, the tactora that 1.DduoadArchbishop Robinson to supp1ement the Library bJ"an Observatory and both were founded with the object ot making A.rmagbagain a plaee ot ec!uoational 111aportanoe.

l'lle ereotioa or the observatory bega 1n 1789and in that 1nr a tine bronze medal wa•nruok by William Mossop the peat Ir1ah aedallil't. 'l'be •edal.. a:aaple• are rare and dit.tioult to proeu.re, bear• on one side the bead of the tounde and on tu o1iiln a repreNDtation or the south tront '0~ the lluil.&UJIIw1tb the appropriate aotto • Theheavens declare the glory god ID tbe tol.lov1Dc Jear JamesArchibald Hamilton Dean

ot Cloyneand Preb endary of Mulla br ack in Armagh an "old boy ot the Royal School ot Armagh, bec ame the first Director . He was a skilled astronomer and the author ot several sci entific papers publi shed in the 11Tran s ac ti on s 11 of the Royal Irish Academy. Dr. Hamilton bad a privat e obse r vatory at Derryloran as early as 1780 and in passi ng it m.ay in terest you to know that Samuel Molyneux ia credited by tradition with having had a private observ atory on the anceatral estate here on the outskirts ot the city [Castle Dillon] and it ia believed that the dom:elllte structure that about a cen tlll7 ago bouaed Roubillac'sstatue ot Sir Thomas Molyneux, Dart., vaa in fact that buil.dillg.

Dr. Hamilton, the first director of the Al'!llagb observatory died in l.815. His period at the Observatory is covered from the aocial histo17 point ot view by an interestin g diary apt bJ .Alexander Hamilton ton ot Hugh Hamilton, a former Dean ot Armagh later bishop of Ossory, and one ot tbe tounde.ra ot the Royal Irish Academy His work on ConicSections publlabecl in 17,8, establiahed bia .tame aa a mathematician • later publication• on astronomical mbJect• WH equall7 WU ~oei"Nd.

To return to Dr. Hamiltontbe first Director or this 1n at1 tuUon. At the till.a bi• appo1Dbant to Al.'vlagh be ha4 Un.ng vitb him an unmarried daughter, Jane, and tl«> vu4t 1 Catherine and Juliana Tisdale who tollo'ld.Dg the

ra.1a:tng ot the large dome 1n 1793 were allowed the use or it at times \,herein to entertain their friends. out of that favour grew the naming of that partiaular dome as heaven the reason given being that it was a pleasant place wherein they met only those 'Whomthey loved and wished to meet. A selfish conception of heaven perhaps but not so very di fferent to 'What we might think ourselv es in similar ciroumstanoes.. Lord Caulfeild was then very constant 1n his attentions to Jane Hamilton - but she had other strings to her bow. A rather amusing incident occurs in the diary ot 1798. Lord Caulfeild and Alexand er Hamilton bad been up to the Observatory to pass the evGIUng with the ladies and on their waY home .found the lodge gates locked with the resul.t that they were forced to climb them. The diary tells us that Lord Caulfeild trom practice got over immediately but Hamilton found the f'irst attempt difficult and in the second ton his breeches.

Hamilton's s succe.ssor in the Directorsbip was the Rev. William Davenport, l>.D., Senior Fellow ot Trinity, 1110 died in 1823 and was 1Ucceeded by the Rev. Thomas Romney Robinson D.I>., a rormer Fellow ot 'rl'inity, and in many wa11 the 1101t versatile of all the directors. Under his care the obersvatory was enlarged in 1827 b)' the building ot 110111•extra rooaa• and a second dollle, a wo?'kmade poasible

tbrough the generosity or archbishop Lord John George Beresford

In 18Sl Dr. Robinson was elected Pre•ident of the Royal Irish Academy. He died in 1881 after having hel.d the Direotorahip of' the Observatory tor over 5'8 rears. In his tezm of o:f'tice, Maria Edgeworth, the authoress, was 1'rom Ume to time a guest - ha step-sister was the Doctor• s second 1d.te.

Robinson was succeeded by Dr. John L• .z. Dreyer , a diatinguisbed astronomer, 11boresigned during the 19141918 war. His SllCCeasor was Dr. Hardcastle, a ver7 br1111ant aan and the great.;.grandson ot the famous Sil' William Hershcell. He did good service cmJ"ing the wer ot 19llt-l918 in connection with the world.1:lgout of' t1dea at gallipoli without llh1cb tbe disanbarkment ot troops there lld.gbt neflr bave been accompll lhed, but did not llfl '° '8a up dut7 at Afta«h.

!be n.a 1D auceeasion was Canon w.E.A. Ellison vbose dntb 1n 193' cauM4 d.ffP 8C>r:rowlocall.7. He was a wellknow lens maker and the author o~ "1.'he Amateur telescope tbe preNDI director Dr E M Lindsay 1a a natin of' tbe ooun'7 and a pad:wlte ot Queen's University He hu ba4 pru'1eal apaimoe in American and African observatory -. 11Dde bis 41:notoHb1p tbi• ObaervatorJ

1s progressing in no uncertain mamier. Unfortunately be cannot be with ua this afternoon but ware lucicy 1D having Dr. Op1k and Dr.. Armstrong to take care ot u••

Dunsinkaffinities and contrasts

B•ed at• ot marb

Astronomical Society

The story of Dunsink begins with the death in 177'+ ot Francis Andrews, provost ot Trinity 'llilo bequeathed a sum ot £3,000 to the university ror the erection and furnishing of an observatory with £,2$0 per year to wards the cost of staffing. Like the rounder of Armagh Observatory, the Provost was a wealthy man and sufficiently aware or his poaition in life to reel the necessity of a suitable residence, so one ot his immediate undertakings after assuming o.f'.t'ice was to build the present Provost's House a mansion still ill use tor the pUl'poH tor which it was constructed. 1 11eed not remind you that Archbishop Robinson .felt eJCactlJ the same way about the ol.d uch1ep1acopal domicile ill Armaghcit7 and aa a conaequence erected the pHHDt palace in 1770, the home since then o~ all hi• su.cceasors ill ottice. Both dwllJ.ngs haYe 1 of comH, had ao1ae •llsht al.terat1ona made to thelll but on tbe llbole tb91 r•ain ill almost their original. state. Andrews •• the 10D and hdr or Alexander Andrews Solle authorities a,q he •• born 1n

Derry Educ ated at the Free Grammar School or that city , he entered Trinity 1n 1733, aged 15, became B.A. 17"!'1, M.A. 171+0, Fellow 17lt0, LL.B. 17lt3 , LL.D. 174,, was called to the Irish Bar in 1746 and served as M.P. for Midle ton 1758.

Bis elevation to the [rovostship or Trini ty 1n 1758, whilst still a junior fellow was strongly resented by b1S seni ors 1n the university 'ltho also di•approved ot the tact that he was a layman, 'Which waa contrary to the college statutes, a disab1Uty quickly amended by a King• a Letter UBllpting Mm from tald.l!lg Holy Orders u a •chol.ar he vaa chiefiy noted tor his w1«a classical knowledge.

He sat tor Derry in Parliament bom l.741 until l7'llt, 1n vi1ob 14"11"the repre•entaUon dnol.ved upon James Alexandar, aubaequent~ Earl of Caledon lhoN nephew ' tbe Bff. Nathaniel Alexander wa.apresentor of .l~ fl'Cll 1196 until 1802, wa late ia ncoeald.on B1lbop or Clonfert ot Killaloe Dom, and t.S.nall7 or Meath anee1tor of the Alexanders Forkhill House Oo. Armagb, an4 or William Alexander I J>..D., Archbishop of Armagh 1896-1911.

Bat w rehn to Francis Andrews He vu tlw oni, provost of trinity ,ap to then 'lllb.oha4 maDaged 'to obtain a .. , 11a •• House of Commons8114, 1Dotdaul.qt -.

first holder of the Provostship to be advanced to a Privy councillorship

Tradition credits him with being a :nan of taste and fashion, fond of good oompany, and good living, with a keen appreoiation of the arts as well as the fair sex to one ot whom, the famous beauty Dorothy Monroe, later Mrs. William Richardson of Richhill he willed h:ts fine collection of coloured printsts stating thl',1 were fitter ornaments for her dressing room than his library.

During bis te:rm as Provost the west front of the college and part of Parli ament Square vas built, but his great est monument architecturally 18 the Provost's House commenced about l76o and based on a design by the Earl ot Burlington and Cork, the architect being a Dubl.1n man named Smyth

The ProYostts House can beat be described as dign1:t."ied, a te1'lJ1 that may also be applied to the Palace at Armagh. The 1ntel'1or or the former ia, however, muab S'!lperior. 'l'his ta&Y be partly due to new ceilings haVing been neoesnry when the palace bad an extra storey added about 18;6, during Lord John George Beresford tenure of the Primacy Both houaes, curioualy enough, contain portraits ot Adam Loftus archbishop of Armagh (1562-15'6'7) and primal Provost of Trinity

Despite the dissatisfaction following his appointmeot Andrews was perhaps the most popular Provost that Trinity flVer poasesaed. He was certainly one of its outstanding social. successes and -..hen he died in 1774 there was very real. regret 1n Dublin and throughout the proVinces generally. Untortunately his will was dis puted w.tth the result that the sum total ror the proposed observ a tory was somnhat reduced; but the Board or Trinity College generously augmented the bequest so in reality the scheme was carried to a satisfactory conclusion.

'l'he Yal'ious lawsuits held up the totmdation or the College observatory considerably and not unt11 late 1n 1782 was the contract placed with Mr. Graham Myers, the ultimate bu11.der, 10n ot an English architect 'Whoseems to have come to Ireland about 1782 to carry out 'WOrkat Trinity undu Sir William Chambers diN<ttiona. Autbol'iti•• dirrer as to the year 1n lil1oh the -work was tiniahed, but on the evidence available it seems to have bMD 1785. A.t 8111rate it clear that it was .tunct1on1ng by 1788, as1a.tmal baN<l on observations at Dunsink wa1 d.iatribo.ted 1n that year.

lD Amacb the 11te tor the observatory was decided U:poa it• :rou4er vho wa1 also l'Hpozud.'bl.e tor .tinding 11t1 arGhiteot and appointing a diredor. !h!.a vaa not

possible in Dunsink o'ld.ng to a different set of eirell!llstanc es, consequently the selec tion of a site was left to the Rev. Henry Ussher 'Who chose Dunsink and was its first director. He belo nged to a fami ly that gave a number of rectors to parishes in Al".llagh Diocese in the 17th and 18th centuri es and was a kinsman or Marcus Ussher, first Sovereign of Ar.nagh under the Charter of James I in 1613 and Member or Parliament for the Borough; of' Henry Ussber (Archbishop of Armagh 1596-1613; and of James Ussher (Archbishop ot Armagh 1625-1656), one of the greate st scholars or his age w::i.o,besides other better krlown literary achievements, published in 1648 an erudite dissertation on the Solar Year, to -tlich an Ephem81'1S for the "1ole year was annexed, said to have been the first attempt in these countries to frame a true astronomi cal calendar. 'l'he Usshers had strong links with Dublin and the Archbishop's w1te, Alice Molyneux, daughter or Daniel Molyneux Ulster King of' Arms, eame ot another family in that city also associated with Arl!laghthrough the ptll"chase or Castle Dillon estate by her brother Samuel VlOt dying in 1692, lef't two brilliant sons, William, the author or The Case for Ireland stated" and varioua astronomical papers, and Thomas or 11ilomlater. A friend and correspondent of

Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, he was father of samuel Molyneux the founder or Kew University, who died without issue in 1728, lli'lereupon Castle Dillon passed to his uncle Thomas (created a baronet two years later) 'Whose statue by Roubill1ac is one or the finest scul.ptures in Armagh Cathedral.

So far as we lmow Ussher himself planned Dunsink and it is of interest that the earliest paper print ed in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy (of 'Which institution the Volunteer Earl of Charlemont was than President) should have been a contribution compiled by him in 1787, embellished by drawings of the proposed building - a main block with w.1.ngs- the latter were not, however, built. Ussher was a personal friend of Dr. Hamilton and died in 1790, the year in which Hamilton began duties at Amagh Observatory. Ussher• s services were much appreciated, but he was nev-er Andrews Professor or Astronomy or Astronomer Royal for Ireland. Those tw distinctions were not conferred until 1791 when Lettaa Patent were issued authorizing the 3o1nt title.

Ussher was succeeded by John Brinkley a nominee of Maskelyne, tbe .&lglish Astronomer Beyal. Tbe custom then was to supplcent such posts with church preferment so Brinkley took Holy Orders and thus increased his 1nOOllle.. He was a young man when he came to Dunsink and

.

the Observa tory was very short of equipment so h e conf ined hims elf to mathematical research in which he achieved valuable r esults. Later he became an authority on Ecclesiastical Law and was made Bish op of Cloyne in 1826 , at which time he had been Archdeacon of Clogher from 1808, and a Prebend or Elphin Diocese from 1806 'Which, with other pi ckings, left him comforta bl.y prov id ed for . Clogher inde ed seems to have spe cialized in hel ping lame astronomer over stiles; Robinson , for instance , was Precen t or of Clogher and Rect or ot Enniskillen 1n 1823 'Whenbe became a stron omer at Armagh . Tw years later he resigned the Pr ecento rship and Re ct or ship f or the Vicarage ot Carrickmacross 'Which he held until his death , 'With the addition o£ a canonr y of the United Diocese ot Armagh and Clogher and a corre sp on di ng dignity 1n St. Pa tric k ' s Cathedral, Dublin.

Brinkley was the only Irish Astronomer Roy al to acqui r e a biahopric. Hamilton ot A.l'magbwas made an ar ehbi•bo p but that, ot colll'se, waa onl,J a matter ot pro~ and f or a term ot some month,.

Brinkley•s sueceasor waa the celebrated Willi am RowanHamilton, than aged twenty-one reara, upon whom th e university hastened to bestow a well-merited d~ e a . Hamilton had the whole-hearted assistance ot hia pr edeceaaor

23.

and or Robinson or Armagh. As Professor or Astronomy he was not particularly successful especially in the practical part of his dut ies, pa rtl y due no doubt, to want or previous training in instrumental and techni cal work; but he was one or the fine st mathematician that Ireland has yet produced and it was to that study that he devoted most of his time -i ndeed his absorption in the subject on his honeymoon was such a wrry to his 'Wife that she left him for a peri od.

He did not enter Holy Order s so was oblige d to act as a private tutor to augment bi s income, a method much disapproved or by the Coll ege Board who compromised by raising his sal a ry frOlll £2;0 to £5'80 and banning the pupils. We are told that he di8lik ed observational wrk and so entrusted most of i t to his sisters and Charles Thompsona very compe tent un der s tu dy. Dr. Robinson, you may also remember, was not averse to female aid at Armagh. His first wife was a Miss Eli Elizabeth Rambaut , member of a family that produce d w. H. Rambaut, private at Armagh from. 1810 until 1864 and af t er wards Assistant Astronomer 1864-1868 - or the s ame stock as Arthur Alcock Rambaut, someti me Andr ews Professor of Astron01117and Irish Astronomer Royal, or whom presmtl.7. Dr. Robinson was equally lucey 1n his second vi te, Lucy Jane Edgeworth daught•:r of the renowned

educationalist, Richard Lovell Edgeworth After she settled at Armagh her stepsister, the famous novelist, was from time to time a guest and later still her sister Harriett, widow or Richard Butler, Dean of Trim, took up her abode at the Observatory. Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Butler were both highly educated but the former was less interested in the observatory - she "loved astronomy only as impersonated in the astronomar 11 • On the other hand Mrs. Butler proved an efficient help and many duties devolved upon her lrben Dr. Robinson's sight began to fail.

Both Robinson and Hamilton dabbled in poet ry. It was an early craze with Robinson but in Hamilton's case a more mature development. They were each fond of literary society and Maria Edgeworth amongst other such notabilities was just as warmly appreciated at Dunsink as at Armagh.

Hamilton was the chief actor in an astronomical drama ot 1838. At that time it was determined to discover the exact geographical positions of the establishments of Dunsink and Armagh and no leas than fifteen chronometers were required to measure the difference in time between the tw places. 1'he findings were verified some months later by observing rockets fired from the two observatories and fl'Olll pos1 tions halt-way betwen. He waa, of course, very

un!ortooate in a later incident at Ar:nagh Observatory and personall.y conce r n e d ·1n the a c cidenta l dest r uction of a most delicate mi cr omete r of ext r eme tenuity made from platinum wire sp ec ia lly trea t ed, a pet invention of Dr. Robinson's and possibly the only one of 1 ts kind that was ever put toge t he r.

When Hamilton died in 1865 the apparatus at Dtmsink was some what out of date. He had been in ch arge for al:nost for ty ye ars but in that time no new instruments had been pr ocur ed and li ttle other than repai r s had been made to those ordered by Us sher . In other words Hamilton le.ft the Observatory in much the same condition as he found it . 1'hings worked out differently at Armagh where Robin son had the active S11pport or that lllOSt gene ro u s pr ela t e , Archbiabop Lord John George Beresford, 'Who b e tween 1827 and 1862 expended al.Jllost £2,Soo on the provision or a new wing and necessary astronomical .fittings.

Robinson and Hamilton wre eaob third in sequence ot the directora ot their respecti.Ye observatories and str ang•l.7 enough their immediate predecessors on that roll, that 1s the second directora at Dunsink. and Armagh are reputed to haunt the tw 1n•t1tu.tions as ghosts - but that kind ot phenoaa.aamust be left tor separate study.

Hamilton was auCCNded at Dunsink by Francis Brunnow a german vbo recei-..4 bis training at the Arm Arbor

ObHrvatory 1n Michig an , f rom whence he ev en t ua lly withdrew to his homeland. Ha was, howeve r , persuade d to accept Dunsink and 1n the nineteen years he was in charge he not only installed new instruments bu.t made excellent use or them. He relinquished his post thr ough ill-health in 1874, at whioh time the obse rv atory was definitely well-equipped tor its size.

BrUnow vu followed by Robert Stawell Ball -the second Dublin-born holder of the office - Willi am Rowan Hamilton being the first. Ball belonged to a Devon family and was descended from a Robert Ball who came to Ireland a• an officer in the army ot Charles II and established himselt at Youghal, Co. Cork. He was not, hoWTe:r, related in any way to the Balls of Ballsmill, Co. Armagh, lbo were ot Norfolk extraction and descendants ot Thomas Ball, a ~ptain 1n Fleetwods Horse said to haft reached Ireland with the Cromwellian army, later obtaining landa 1n Armagh, Louth and Kilkenny.

Ball ot Dundalk wa•much in demand as a lecturer and was the author ot many popul.ar works on aatronomy but he lacked the advantage• of professional tra1n1ng. His reputation llWlt, t herefore, rather be baaed on his wrk 81 a mathematician 1n llhiob be ranked aa one ot the two or three gr .. te•t :Bri tilb e:xponenta ot that subject 1n b11 s• erattoa.

After le avi ng Trinity he spent tw years at Parsonstown [Birr} to'Wl'las tutor to Lord Rosse ' s younger sons. Lord Rosse was a friend or Robinson ot Armagh and died in 1867, whereupon his son, Laure n ce , inh e ri ted the title and e states, and 1n 1869 in a deba t e in the House of Lords on a clause in the Irish Church Act was on e or the s upport ers or a motion des i gned t o assist the f'illances of Armagh Observatory, to which bis f a the-r had p resented a dUplicate mirror in 1843 for use in the east dome, and in 1850 induced the Roya l Society to div ert portion of a Government gr ant towards p rinting observations at Arm.agh. Ball. took over as Andrews Professor ot Ast r onomy and Astronome r Royal in 18'7lt and durin g hi • p eriod or res iden ce Duns ink was a pla ce ot much hos pitality. Ria t-wo elder sons, Rober t Steele Ball and Willi am Valentine Ball (l.ater Sir Valen t in e Ball and author ot a biography ot his f ather) were both pupils at the Royal school ot Armagh, where they had aa a schoolteilow, Oliver Murphy son or Is aac James Murphy ot Armagh, 'Whotook up lav, became a barrister and manied theii- coulin Nina Ball, d aughter o~ Sir Bent Ball, Honorary Surgeon to the nnc and Regius professor ot surgery at Trinityt)' t youngest brother of a. s. Ball, the aatronomer. Sir Bent was created a baronet 1n l9U.

There \ias a further Ball alliance w1th County Ar.:nagh in 1903 \.hen Mary Agnetta Ball, the youngest daughter of the astronomer, :narr ied Joseph Bar crof t ( af terwards Sir Joseph), one or the most brilliant men of his day, son ot Henry Barcroft, D.L., or The Glen Co. Armagh. By 1883 Ball ' s eye sight was beginning to trouble him. in 1886 he was knighted in re cognition ot b1s services to science and education . Six years later he moved to Cambridge to take over Pr ofessorship of Astronomy· there, thus causing the pr omot ion ot his assistant Arthur Alco ck Rambaut, a very ta lent ed old boy ot the Royal Schoo l ot Armagh who then be came the 1ixth guard i an of Dunsink . His reign, unfort unatel y, was ot short dur at ion . Arter holding the post tor five years he t ran sf er re d to Radclif fe Observatory at Oxford. Ball died 1n 1913 and Rambaut 1n 1923.

Charles Jasp er Joly a diatinguiabecl Fello w ot Tnnity, took over Dunsink 1n 1897 and died there in 19()6. '1'he nut o ccupan t was Edmund Taylor Whittaker, one o~ the great math ematician-a ot the present oentul'J 1'lo held the post tor six year,. 1111 au.cc.Hor ill 1912 vaa Henry Crozier Plummer a Tft'Y live peraonaUty and auch 11ore of an astronomer than arr, ot bit eight F.S.MHora . He wat 'b• 10n ot tbe 881lior asliatant at Oxt'Ol'dand had been

trained there. Up0n his arrival at Dunsi nk he tried to obtain better equ1p~en t but was very dis appointed by lack of supp ort in his efforts t owards that end. In the nine years that he re tained the of fi ce he was the autb or of many as tronomical pap ers. He resi gn e d in 1921 to take up a :nathetnatical post at Woolwich, \Jlich ha gave up in 1940 and died at Oxford f'our years- later.

At the date of Plummer ' s reti rement conditions were very un se tt l ed in the south and the observ atory' s income much decreased . 'l.'he Directorship l apsed but Charles Martin , the assistant astronomer remained and kept ce rtain servi ces going until his death in 19 36, from v.bich date the obs erv at ory yearly grew more derelict.

In 19lt-7, t wenty-si x years after the r e sign ation of Plummer tbe last Irish Ast ron omer Royal Dunsink was h anded over to the School or Cosmic Phys ics ot the Dublin Institute or Advanced St udies and Dr. H. A. Bruck an elllinent ast ronomert installed.

Once in 1ts history

Dunsinksupplied Armagh w.l.tb a dire ctor, that wa1 in 1882 when John Louis Dreyer ..mo had then been an assistant there tor tolll' years callle north to succeed Dr. Robinson.

E1ght 1ear1 later , in 1890, he published a biography ot Tycho Brahe the pretaee ot wich waa dated from Armagh observatory in Septamber or that 7ear.

Dreyer \/ho was the t hird son of Lieut . Gen er al

J . c . F . Dreyer of th e Danish Army came to Ireland as astronomer to the Earl of Rosse in 1874, and in 1878

r ea che d Dunsin k . He took out British n a tur alization in 1885, whilst residen t at Ar magh . Apart from his monograph on Tycho Brahe he also engaged in other similar stu dies For inst an ce , h e was a me ber of a committee organ i zed by t he Royal Socie ty and the Royal As trono mical Soci et y to prep a re an edition of tb e col le c t e d works ot Sir Willi am Herschel and acce pt ed the task of writing a b1ograpb1cal introducti on for \\hi ch pu rpo s e he was entr u st ed by the Herschel family ld th a great mass ot aut obi ograp hical memoranda. The Royal Soci ety also deposi ted at Armagh Herschel's original observ ation books and ot her miscellanea connected with them so that Dreyer might r evise Herschel's recordings on nebulae. At the same tim e be wa1 busy on Tycho Brahe for .bich manu scripts from the Royal Library at Copenhagen had been sent acroH . He was succeeded at Armaghby Dr. J. A. Hardcastle, great grandson or Herchel the discoverer ot the pJ.anet Uranus

Dunsink like Armagh, haa had its lean times but fortunatel.J both are now progressing •teadily. Wehave not dealt in d.tail with the story ot the constant worl')'

1D eacb regard11lc t1.Jlanctt and requiaitH. We have

instead confined ourselves to a slight s-,.1rvey of Dunsink its founder and directors, with occasional references to Armagh.

It is a curious fact that both observatories owe their origin to two very eligible bachelors. Andrews, however, did not have the pleasure of seei ng his observatory built nor had he any part 1n the selectio n of a location, choice or architect, or director. Archbishop Robinson had perhaps leas necessity to conserve his wealth. At anyrate he had the satisfaction at selecting the architect and the site, seeing his observatory completed and appointing the primary astronomer.

'.l.'hefirst and second directors of each observatory were in Holy Orders. Both observatories are credited with a ghost and in ea ell case the reputed spirit is said to be the second astronomer. Personally I have not seen the Armagh ghost nor do I know of any person 11ilohas had that particular experience . If th• spirit ia still around when the planetarium 1S built it may prove an additional attr a ction especially 11' b1 mathematical caleulations 1 t can be !llade to appear at stated time 1 . 'lra.di tion tells ws that it ha• always bffll a qui.•t kind or ghost -it baa never been known to claak ohaina, anit bloo cl-curdllng croana or carry it• head 1n 1ta arms - it walks instead 1n

sober attire gazing at the heavens and refusing to talk to anybody . The Dunsink ghost, Iain told, behaves in a similar agreeable fashion.

The third astronomers at Dunsink and Armagh were both addicted to verse but neither were likely to have set the wrld on fire as poets. Wordsworth is credited with persua ding Hamilton that there was little likelihood of his :naking good in poetr;y 1:1i,.i;c..Qre!cre hti ha.4 better stick to science. Robinson evidently found that out for himself for he ceased to write poetic effusions before he entered Trinity.

The fourth directors at each place were of foreign parenta ge~ a German and a Dane - Brunow at Dunsink and Dreyer at Annagh.

None of Armagh's directors have so far achieved knighthoods, but two of Dunsink 1 s superintendents had that honour thrust upon them - William RowanHamilton in 1835 and Rober t Stawell Ball 1n 1886.

Dunsink does not, however, possess the continuity of Armagh. Its list of directors is a blank from 1921 to 19~7, in which year it passed into new governorship.

There is no such gap in the roll here. Armagh was indeed in those year• the only observatory :t'unctioning in Ireland, a distinction or which we ma)' well be pr oud.

In the one hundred and sixty-six years since its f ound ation Dtms ink has had a total or eleven directors. Armagh has been in existence for one hundred and sixtyone years and in that period has had onl.y seven directo rs, one or -whomdied shortly after being appointed.

Dunsink's re cord for a director is thirty-six years; Armagh' s best effort is fifty-nine years.

Dunsink ' s first director was a parson and the second holder of the office took Holy Orders immediately after his nomination. Such clerical as sistance was an essential in those day"s, other'win the astronomership would not have f'urnUhed the necessaries or life. The same conditions pr evailed in Annagh and continued longer. At Dunsink the prac tice was broken by William Rowan Hamilton, but at Armagh·the custolB remained and 1 ta directors were supplied with Qhurch living• d011111until 1882, 1n v:iich year Dr. Dreyer became Director. At his resignation in 1916 he wa1 replaced by a l.a}iman, Dr. J. A. Hardcastle, "10 died lotb Novebel", 1917, and waa followed 1n .1918 bJ th• Rn. William Frederick Archdall Ellison M.A., B.D., tathff or M•l"f1Jl Archdall Ellison, now Director or Dunsink - the teaond old boy of Armagh Royal School to bold the _important post - 'lllo I am sure aometimH recall• aatronomioal stud.in in the ancient o:1-,. jut u 1111r--ber bit father and bis wndertul

gift for ~ak:1.ngdifficult and abstrus1ve subjects

interesting . Mr. Ellison, a s all old members of this Society will know, was given charge of the Parish of Kildarton on coming to Armagh. Afterwards he was honoured with a Pre bendship or Armagh Cathedral, a token of regard that gave great s at is facti on to his ~any frien ds, clerical and otherwise.

I would like to again digress for a f'ew moments on the subject of the fo unders or the two observatories.

Archbishop Robinson and the Pr ovost of Trinity 'lo'Gre contemporarie s and must frequen tly have met on social and official occasions. We may assume that the Archbishop ' s plans for the revival of university st a tus in Armagh had by then beoome know in Trinity circles, as he built and endowed a jus t ly celebr a t ed Library in 1771, just three years previ ous to Andrews death - the first step towar ds the proposed uni versity.

In 1777 the Archbishop was riased to the p eer ag e aa Baron Rokeby ot Armagh , fully aware ot the h istory ot the city as an early se at ot le a rnin g and also ac quaint ed with the fact that in 1"83, in the reign ot Elizabet h the Flrst, pr oposals had been made to r t he foundation of universities at Armagh and Limerick. Upon further consid era t ion, however, i t was decided that Dublin was a more convenient

situation and thus Trinity came into being in 1$92.

Limerick seems to have accepted the decision but in Ar.nagh the subject cropped up again in 1787 when Thomas Orde (created Baron Bolton 1797), the then Chief Secretary brought an educational scheme before the Irish House of Commons. All the proposals paased excepting the clause relating to the founding of a second university. The only opposition arose fl"om Trinity 'Whoserepresentative believed that such an institution in Ar21agbwas likely to deprive Dublin of students fr01'l! Northern counties. Evidently Trinity bad doubts about whether so-:neot the huge areas of land in Ulster that bad been granted in the reign of James I towards its upkeep might not be di v erted to some extent to an establishment within that Province, Armagh alone SUpplying some 22,000 acres .

A change of' Govern ment took pla ce shortl y af t erward s resulting in Orde 's r e tir ement so the ma tt er dropped for the time being. It is clear, however , that it was intended to r e - r ai se the mat ter , f or foll ow.ing Lord Rokeby death in l79lt: i t was f ound that his 'Will embodied a hand some b eque1t to wards the prol ect with a further lega cy t ~wards a College Chapel.

He had, ot course, founded the observatory 1n his ownlifetime , with the poHibiUty o£ the un1verai t.J in bi• 111%14bu.t a1 , though hia intention• were waJ'llll.y

supported by Lord Cornwall i s they were eventually block ed by the Duke or Por t land, the then British Prime Ministel" , lilo refus ed to re commendthe plan to the King.

The question was afterwa r d s revived in 1826 by Archbishop Lord John George Be re sford but again the cry of possible detrim ent to Trinity a ro se . &lbsequantly, in 1845, when QueenI s Coll e ge came into bein g Belfast was chosen though Al'lllagh "WOuld i ndeed ha ve been the more ideal situa tion .

Pers onally I fe el sorry that Archbishop Robinson • s plans- misca r ried. Rad they materialized the round er ot Armagh Obsava t ory 1110uldhave been respons i ble for a university as well.

Yet another i nter es t i ng connection with Dunsink is the fact that Pr ovost Andrews mother was the sis te r of an Ar!llagh cl e r gyman and landowner, the Very Rev. John Averell, D.D., Prebendary or Tynan, Co. Armagh, 1765-177 0, the head or a family holding a considerable pro p er ty in the city and vi cinity and the builder of a very fine group of houses known to e a l".lier generations ot Armach i ans as tbe Seven Sisters bllt now dea1gnated the Seven House sa t err a ce that remains as a memorial of brot herly affe ct1.on besi des reminding us that the neph ew of a rect or ot Tynan was a celebl'ated Provost ot Trinity, t.he tounder o~ Duna1nk and the son ot the eldest ot the seven

Averell sisters, each or 'Ahomhad a home here in this ancient city whose links with Ireland generally are so pleasing a feature of its heritage as ecclesiastical capital.

In conclusion I must apologize tor these rather gossipy re:uarks regarding Ireland's tw observatories. They are the outcome of a talk with Brigadier Papworth in which we discussed the affinities and contrasts of the two observatories and are certainly not as coo,.prehensive as they lllight be, but they do illustrate the old assertion that no matter \ilere we travel in Ireland we will find associations with Armagh. ~at is as it 1hould be and long may it continue so.

Directors OF

~. Rev. Henry Ussher 1785-1790 . l. Rev. J .A. Hamiltonton 1790-1815.

~. Rev John Brinkley 1790-1826. 2. Rev. w. Daven port 1815 -l.823 .

). William R. Hamilton 1826-186,. 3. Rev. l . R. Robinson 182 3-1882 .

1 Francis Brunow 1865-1871+.

t Robert bert s. Ball l87lt-l892.

l. A.R. Rambaut 1892 - 1897 .

'. Charles J . Joly 1897-1906.

~- E.T. Whitta ker 1906-1912.

1. H.C. Plummer 1912- 1921.

). H.A. Bruck 1947- 195'7•

.• M. A. Ellison 19!>8.,.1963.

? Dr. P. A. Wayman 1963-

J.~.E. Dreyer 1882-191 6. ,. J.A. Hardcastle 1917.

6. Rev. W.F.A. Ellison l918-l9 36. 7. &.M.Lindsay 1937.

CITY OF ARMAGHFIELD CLUB

SATURDAY, NOV 27, 1948

The City of Arr.aagh Field Club had a "Seeing the City" outing on Saturday last . This was organized by Mr. Felix Hughes, the Club Secretary, and was a most successful venture.

Members met at the County Museum at 2.30 p.m. and were joined there by friends from Dublin, Monaghan, Dungannon, Rostrevor and Portadown. In welcoming the party, Mr. Paterson spoke of the pleasure it gave him to see so many visitors from other towns. He had consulted with Mr. Hughes as to how the party might derive the most enjoyment from their visit and it had been decided that instead of a conducted tour, the Club and its visitors should be given the "freedom" of the Museum with liberty to examine the collections generally, or concentrate on material of individual interest. He then suggested that those who required guidance as to the best way to get around the collections as a whole, should begin with the pre-historic implements and pottery. They covered the Neolithic Bronze, and Iron Age Periods and formed the best county collection in Ireland. He stressed the point that the claim was no idle boast but actual fact. He regretted that the Early Christian, Viking and medieval periods were so

poorly re pre s ented. Tha t was due to various causes, some of which he would deal with later. Under the hea ding of miscellaneous collections he grouped Period Costumes of the 18th and 19th century; Uniforms, Volunteer, Yeomanry and Militia; local tokens of the 17th, 18th and 19th century; "A.E." material - books, paintings, etc; railway data of local interest; traders' bills; apprentice indentures, County Grand Jury material, etc. He also drew atten tion to a facsimile copy of the Book of Armagh, the Seal of the Corporation of Armagh, the Journal of the Pipe Water Commissioner s and other material of local interest and adv ised the party that they would be expected to make an effort to complete a "Museum Quiz" with which they had been presented on arrival. All the answers to the queries would be found on labels in the Museum.

He then asked Members to pay particular attention to Rocque's Map of 1760 for the City of Armagh and to O'Neill's [O'Hagan] Map of the City for 1851, saying that the latter, apart from its map value, showed the origin.al design for the new cathedral and portrayed the Market Houee ·and County Infirmary as they were at that date. He. hoped they would carefully study those maps as streets of the City were the text on which was based the paper he wouJ.d later read to them.

Mr. Paterson then proposed that the party should break up into small groups and that all should attempt the "Quiz".

kn hour later the Club left the Museum for the c athedrals, pro ce eding by Market Street to the old cathedral and inspecting on the way the outlines of the old hill-top rath. They then c onti nued to the old cathedral where the con ductor dealt with the story of the hill from pre -Chr istian days down the centuries to more modern times, and discussed the many ecclesiastical buildings of the City in the days when the town was a notable s cho lastic centre. He then spoke of the arrival of the Vikings and the Anglo-Normans and the c onsequent destructiore and burnings. The c a thedr al as it stood i ncor porated the shell of the church built by Archbishop O'Scanlon in 1268 and covered the sites of three earlier churches.

The party then entered the c at hedral and inspected the interior. The conductor said it was rich in sculptures by great figures like Roubillac, Chantry, Rhysbrack, Nollekins, etc. and that its collection of military colours was of great interest. He pointed out the Irish Volunteer banners and the French Colour captured at Ballinamuck and said that the other flags were Armagh Militia and Royal Irish Fusilier banners.

In the Ch apter Room he spoke a t some le ng th of the drast ic restoration c a r r i e d out in 1834 and told how many old carved stones of pre- 13th century date that had been preserved by Archbish op O'Sc anlon were then disc a rded. Some he said might be sa fel y dated to the 9th century. The party then ex amine d a pre-reformation altar slab and continued to the c han cel with its mediev a l incli na tion and the south transe pt, passing out again by the south aisle of the nave.

They next visited the tablet which marks the burialplace of King Brian Boru. There the conductor mentioned the entry inserted in the Book of Armagh by that monarch's orders in 1004, and there was some further dis cussion as to Viking raids on the City, its church es and schools. He then said that members might be interested in hearing that in the year 448, just 1500 years ago , St. Pa trick held his first Synod in Armagh. Whether that took place in Templenafertagh or not he could not say -there was no definite date for the period that elapsed between Patrick's arrival and Daire's conversion to Christianity.

In the Book of Armagh there is a beautiful story relating to the consecration of this hill. We are told that when the saint was given the site he journeyed up the hill with hie attendants and followers from his first church in what is now Scotch Street, presumably by the way of

Market Street, and that within a clump of willows a deer and its fawn were disturbed. The deer fled but the fawn was too startled to move. Patri ck, we are told, took it up in his arms and later after the ceremony of taking over the hill had been completed he pro ceeded down its northern slope to climb an eminence on the north, the hill of Knockadrain, the site of the new c athed ral. There he laid the fawn down and looked back upon this hill upon which we now stand , just as we shall do in a few minute s .

At the new cathedral a short halt was made on the terrace. The co ndu ct or there discussed the laying of the founda tion- st one on the 17th March , 1840, by Archbishop Crolly and informed the party that the material for the exterior was local limestone and that for columns and arches freestone had been obtained from various quarries in the vicinity of Dungannon. He said that the original architect was a Mr. Duff who had a preference for what might be termed the "Minster" style and that they had seen a reproduction of his design in the museum.

Archbishop Crolly died in 1849 and Mr. Duff passed away about the same time. This resulted in the bringing in of a new architect, a Mr. McCarthy of Dublin, who changed the plans and finished the building in pointed Gothic deriving his inspiration from 14th century architecture.

The work continued under the guidance of Archbishop Dixon who died in 1866. His successor was Archbishop Kieran who was old and in frail health. He died in 1870 and was succeeded by Archbishop McGettigan under whom the exterior was completed and many internal improvements carried out as well. The dedication took place on August 24th, 1873, 20,000 people being in Armagh on that day .

Archbishop McGettigan died in 1887 and up to the end of his episcopate £70,000 had been spent on the work. His successor was the famous Cardinal Logue, Archbishop from 1887 until 1924, and it was during his tenure of office that the decoration of the interior was carried out. The inner walls had originally been painted but such decoration suffered from condensation during certain seasons of the year, a fact that resulted in the Cardinal choosing a mosaic covering.

When Cardinal Logue came from Donegal to Armagh there were still people alive who remembered his efforts to relieve the poor of his native county who were desolated by the failure of their crops. For that particular relief he raised the princely sum of £30,000. Armachians still remember his great National Cathedral Bazaar, the net result of which was also £30,000 - a sum believed to be a world's record.

The conductor said that by 1904 the sW!l of £100,000 had been spent . Cardinal Logue was responsible for the interior as they would now see it. He would suggest that in the church they should inspect with care -

1. The High Altar with its beautiful sculpture of the "Last Supper" by Aurelli i, a distinguished Roman artist, and the Rood Screen which was one one of Cardinal. Logue's first works. At the same time they should carefully examine the magnificent crossing, a feature due to Duff's plan for a great central tower.

2. The Pulpit - the work of Signor Medici of Rome.

3 . The Altars of St. Brigid, St. Joseph, Sacred Heart, the latter the work of Signor Ruffononi of Rome, and the Lady Altar containing some of the oldest work in the Cathedral.

4. Stations of the Cross. These were erected in 1875 by Archbishop McGettigan and are amongst the very few relics of the original decorations remaining. They are uniq_ue, the moulds having been destroyed following their casting.

5. Cardinal's Throne and Altar Pavement by Signor Venturi of Bolonga.

6. The painted roof portraying incidents in the lives of Irish saints, and the mosaic medallion portraits beneath the clerestory windows.

Members then entered the cathedral and were conducted round the building, later proceeding to the Sacristy where some of the more valuable vestments, including the magnificent gift from the Empress of Austria, were displayed by Mr. Campbell. The Sacred Vessels and two Monstrances were also shown, a privilege much appreciated by the visitors. Shortly afterwards they proceeded to the C. B.

Cafe, where following tea, they heard the conductor use the streets of the town as a background for data on local his tor y . A vote of thanks to the s peake r was proposed and seconded. Mr. Paters on having briefly replied, members warmly complimented Mr. Hughes on the success of the first local outin g and upon excursions generally . They then expressed their indebtedness to Hr . Boyd for his care of Club finances.

The "Museum Quiz" was then dealt with and Mr. Lynn as President was congr atulated on the pleasant manner in which . he had fulfilled his duties as Chairman . Thus concluded a memorable meet ing, one indeed of which the Secretary may well be proud.

ARMAGH,

The traditional significance of Armagh in pre-christian 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 Al'magh in the year 44lt A.D. He soon secmred sites tor churches and im;nediately began preparati.ons tor the 1nstru.ct1on or the young people of the area, and so about the Teal" lt;o the first school ot the new regime was opened. Cultural growth was gradual in the sixth and seYenth centuries but by the end ot the latter century the schools of ,A!'magh were widely recognised.

1'he city and its amenities figure favourably 1n a po• attributed to princeAlfrid later 1.1.ng of the Northumbrian Saxons, who about the year 68lt is reputed to haYe been a pupil 1n one ot 1-ts aehools. B7 the . succeeding centurf Armagh had acquired an enviable position but duJ.'1ng the ninth and tenth centuries the city, its schools and cburcbes, sut'tered Cl'8atl7 through the raids of the norsemen who•• repeate4 jj 1ncrara1ona resulted 1Jl the destruction of the achoJ.asUc eatablllllaent.a and their books, and ,o alamed foreign ~• , tba''-7 no longer cam• lo atw.171n the saae mabers. IA tbo••eentui•• aaagh vu pluD4el'ecl 1n 830, 8'7, 890, 919 and 9116. !be Olll,J looal apeeSaen ot pemaub1p to surrtve those '-11• 4aJt the • -a?~ Book of Armagh c011plle4 1D one et 11N ......U.e boa•• ot the o1'7 1n the yeu 807, am one •t ... wl 1n••· d au irish manuscriptsll&DU8ffiph, the onlJ OMt

indeed, or early origin that can with certainty be dated. It 1s our source for the story or the contacts between Patrick and Daire, the then Prince of the di.strict, the enclosing rings~ whose entrenched abode are still traceable. They provide visible reminders or Patrick's arrival in the mid-fifth century, to which era belongs the celebrated Patrick's Bell, one of' two famous personal mementoes linked tor ever with Armagh. Centuries later the Bell had a shrine made tor it by Donnell O'Lochlan, king ot Ireland, during the Primacy of' Donnell MacAuley, Archbishop of Armagh, b7 which inscription it can be dated as having been fashioned betwen the years 1091 and 110;. nie second, the ven~rated Bachal Isa untortlmately no longer exists. 11. vaa the most :renowned ecclesiastical relic in Ireland and remained in sate keeping 1n .lrmagh until 1179, 1n lllhich year it was carried oft to Dublin by a f'ol'ce ot Anglo Normans there to be ntained until the Reformation llhen it was publicl.7 burned 1n 1538

I.earniDg made steady progress 1n the city in the el.ennth aentm,r. Bduoation gained a fresh impetus 1n the 12th aentur7 when the aendment of the Irillb church vas inspired 'bJ' st. Malachy a taaous Armachian, the site ot whose birthplace bears a commerorative tablet He vas born 1n the cit7 1n 109; and 41c lllt8. Two other Archbishops of Al'magh, st. Celsus and n. Concord vne also ot looal extraction and eduoated lllte a .. Malachy 1n om- c1'7 acdlool.s. In those centlll'ies the aaboo:La

of Armagh maintained their national importance and were fostered by the kings ot other provinces besides Ulster - ror instance, by the King ot Munster in 907 and Roderick O'Connor High King of Ireland, in u.69, the latter benefaction beJ.ng the last grant made by a king ot Ireland towards education 1n the city. It was not, however, the last assistance given by' a loeal prince tor 1n l.387 Nial O'Neill king or Ulster, buil.t a hostel on the outskirts ot the city tor the accommodation ot the many learned men who found in Armagh a spi1'1tual. home.

In l.l.62 it was decreed at an ecclesiastical. synod that no person shoul.cl be pend.tted to teaoh or publicly lecture on theology who had not studied at Armagh thus contelTing on the ..abools of' Armagh pre-eminence oTer all the other school or IrelaDd, and contina1DC the city in 1'8 cla111 to university Raks. !bat vas but a tew years before the Anglo Norman conquest, 'by which the Irilb monastic schools were at tJ.rn little d1nurbed. :their uaetulne••• bovnar, or ecbloation. Saoh schools did not sutter actual •xttnoUon util Iha dissolution of monastries 1n l.S37. BJ' that cleene I1"8l.ud .. i.n tor a U.. v.ltholR m, educational. f'acU11:1• Ja 1558Dr George Dowdall Archbishol of Armagh JJ9U"1•• QueenMary u to the neeess1t7 tor a university 11114 schools 1a 1S83 ill the "1111 or Elizabeth I a pl'OpOaal. ...... II 1dalr?11b universities at baach and Limericka,

Dublin eventuaJ.ly acquired the coveted prize . rhe Earl of Tyrone made a t'urther attempt in 15'99 but that was likewise unsuccesst'Ul . During Elizabeths s sovereignty endeavours were made to set up schools in the shire tows but nothing seems to have been accomplished 1n Armagh until the Plantation or Ulster. In 1608 lands were granted bT King James and set apart tor the up-keep or tree schools 1n the various northern counties by which the Royal School Armagh, an important educational establishment, came into being and still nourishes.

1'he c1os1ng years ot the eighteenth century brought the f(Uestion or a university ~t Armagh again to public notice.

Lord Rokeby, the then Archbishop, bequeathed a legacy to wards its tound.ation having du.ring his lltetime endowed a library and observatory as ad3unots. fhe sche111ehad, however, to be drop ped because or opposition .from various sources. An ertort was made 1n 184; to obtain a Queen'ss College tor the c1t,-, bllt though the general opinion towards the propo sal was pa1'tial to a college at A1'1llaghit ws erected in Beltast 'Whereit. has sinae be~• the university ot the proYince.

Sobool.s and eftnts such as I have mentioned presaae the neoe•a1~ ot libraries. 1he first mention o~ such an 1nst11iu.t1.oa at Armagh oaca.ra1D the Annals 1n the 7eu l.020, lib.en the tom

•• dnanate4 'b7 a fire lllhicrh consumedthe great stone church tbe tower and 11• bells, tbe stone church of the elections the atone church or the chariot ot the Abbots, and the books 1n tbe houses ot' the students with much gold and silver and

other prec ious things - the only exception in the general catastrophe being the library. Just what that library contained we shall never Imow. ntere is, however, ample evidence that long prev1.ous there had existed at Armagh a series ot scribes whose chief monastic service seems to have been the multiplication or books . Entries relating to them begin 1n 720 and include great figures such as the compiler of the Book ot Armagh, in itself merely a copy of an older original that was probab1y lost 1n one of the Norse raids.

Die death or a celebrated librarian ot Armagh 1s noted in 1136 and an Armagh manuscript written in the :rollowing year is still preserved., 3:hat century, however, saw the coming ot the Anglo Normans and the reneval ot raids on the c1 ty al.most as disastrous as those suffered in the days or the Vikings. or the state ot the ancient library trocn that period dovn to the Refol'llation we have practically no knowledge. %here are in the present collections a unique set ot archiepiscopal registers beginning in l33J but they tol'lll part or the archiepiscopal records rather than library archives, and cannot therefore be considered Slll'ViTals trcm the earlier library.

Ve ue aware, or course, that the city was beginning to decline before the Reformation and that at'terwards the wars between the English and the O'Neill made the town a barracks rather than a seat ot stud.7. Dla-e was stu.l, howvv• a library 111the J.7'b oentuZoTbllt we an utterly 1n the daZ'k u to oon'81lta. baa Pzi1.U' O'Mellan's s account ot 1'•

destruct ion one would assume that it consisted chiefly ot English th eologi cal works - the actua.lr entry dated 6 M81', 161+2, ' I reads as f'ollowss - "Armagh was burnt; the cathedraJ. vith its steeple and with its bells, org ans and glass windows, and the whole City, with the fine library, with all the learned books or the English on Divinity, logic and philosophy". We cannot nen guess as to what pe?'ished then and not until over 120 7ears later was there any reTival ot literary amenities in the ci~.

1'he llbraey of today owes its foundation to Archbishop Robinson who was translated t1'om Kildare to Al'!Zlagh1n 1765'. S1x years later, 1n 1m, he bllilt and endowed it naming it the Public Library o~ Armagh, and so that the scheme might have perm.anenq obtained by aot ot Parliament a charter ot incorpol'atJ.on under which it is still go,rerned. !lhe or1g1Da1 ed11'1oe was designed b7 Thomas Cooley, an architect not unknow 1n Dllblln. lt vas enlal'ged 1n 18lt8 but the alterations humoni.ze ao veU with the ol.cler vol'k •• to be scarcely noticeabl.e.

Die book ool.lectioa ia an important one and conta1.ns apeo1aena ot eal.7 pr.1.nting besidH SODl8 rather rare vorka, aon ot llbiah were the gift ot its .tounder, amongst them a tU-8' edition Gulliver's Travels with annotaUons in the authol' • s own handvrlting. 1'he manueript collection 1s, hovaftr, the greatest t:rea8111'eot the librarr. It consists UIUOhmedieval aatuial an4 DWJT interesting iteas ot the 171;h and 18~ oentm1.ea, aaae or which 7ou v:Ul han an opportun1t7 of inapeating later bf pel'mission ot the Keeper, the Very Rey.

the Dean or Armagh, and under the guidance ot Hr. &. Hamilton

Assist.ant Librarian

1n conclusion I would like to point out that Armagh's appeal. llea not so 1111ch1n what is to be seen, as 1n a 1117stict .reeling or canmunion ld.tb the past. It has mothered UIQ'

t8lll0Us men - and we co love our anoient c1.'7 al.¥878 Nm•ber

Uiai U vaa one ot the moat distinguished centres ot Ir1* leun1Dg, t2\e throne ot k1Dgs 1n Us gol.den age and the l.an nating pl&oe or maD7 aaints and warriors llhoae naes •111>lODI u 1ilM sea gil'deth ov ial.e lball hang in spl.enclov o•n 1,•.

TheMall,

In the 17th century the area now known as the Mall was called the commons and was the site of the local Race Course. At that time t seems to have been customary for the Corporation to provide a prize of plate to which there are references in extant Corporation records.

About 1742 the Corporation decided to enclose the portion lying within the circle of the race-course leaving sufficient room for the track outside the enclosure, that part of the course being now represented by the roads enclosing the central green. The result of that planning is .clearly shown on Rocque 1 s Map of 1760.

A few years later Richard Robinson, D.D., was translated from the See of Kildare to the Archbishopric of Armagh and shortly afterwards procured an Act of Parliament whereby the Commonswere incorporated as the Public Walks of the city and thus ended its career as the Race-Course.

In 1797 further plans were considered for its development, and in the following year the low surrounding wall was built and other improvements carried out. A date stone incorporated in the west pier of the central gate opposite the Court House ·inscribed 1798 is a relic of that period.

The first building erected on the Mall following its utilization as Public Walks was the Prison in 1780. It was followed by the Court House in 1809, between which date and 1835 all the more interesting . houses on the east side of the Mall were built~

In the last quarter of the 18th century it was at times a reviewing ground for the county companies of the Irish Volunteers and subsequently for the Armagh Militia and the County Yeomanry Corps. Other military inspections, . presentations of colours 1 etc. took place down the years and so to the great War of 1~39-1945, when it provided an as;embly place for a number of important parades and for the first time in its history had a. British Royal Prince review the soldiers of a famous Irish Regiment. Shortly after it was the scene of an American review,probably the largest ever to take place upon. it. ·

,

The Mall, '-21.

Up to the replacement of the Sovereign and Burgesses by Town Commissioners in 1833 the care of the Mall was in the hands of the Corporation. At that date the control passed to a body of Trustees whose successors hold the property for the use of inhabitants. The Mall as a whole is not so well kept as i t might be but that is due to shortage or -funds rather than lack of interest.

T ' l .1,:, li ALL,

The Mallwas the local race-course and references to it appear in Cor poration Records . They, howeve r, are deficient as re gards the 17th century but a re a vailable from 173<::until 181tO.

In 1731 the Corporation n was concerned in raising money by subscription for the presentation of a piece of plate for competition, of which part of the cost presumab ly came out of Cor p oration finances. At any rate a Corporation minute of 15th June, 1752, states 11that money was to be borrowed and laid out on enclosing that p art of the Commons of the said Cor poration of Armagh lying wi thin the circle of the course, leaving sufficient room for a course without the said en closure and that same should be e nclose d with a ditch 8 feet wide and quic kened with good thorn quicks" with three or four gates ; inside to be kept for hay and sold yearly.

The result of the above planning is p ictured on Rocque's Map of the City, published 1760, bu t evidently drawn some years earlier. The map in questi on po rtr ays the commons within the "Horse Course 11 and marks the "Starting" and " Win ning Posts 11 • The area was then devoid of houses and simply known as "The Course" or 11Commons 11 •

Shortly after that date Dr. Richard Robinson was translated from the See of Kildare . to the Archbishoprick of Arillagh, and in 1773 tie leased the ."Commons11 to-·the Sovereign and Burgesses. Thus ended "the Commons" career as the local race course. The transfer of the Commons to the Corporation is embodied in the Act relating to the foundation of the Public Library of Armagh, 13 and 11+George III • .Cap.l+O. ·

Statutes of Ir eland , Vol. X, 13th and 14th George III, pp .603610

An Act for settling and preserving a public library in the city of Armagh for ever, and for enabl i ng the archbishop of Armagh t o ap p ropriate par ts of a p iece of waste g round co n tiguous to the said cit y to c er t ain uses for the benefit of the inhabitant s t hereof , and to make long lease s of the re mainder .

Paragraph VII I ( pp 608 - 609i And whereas several other public k as well as p rivat e buildings ha ve within these few years last past been e rected in and ab out the said city, and furt he r buildings and enlargements to the said city are now c a rryi ng on; and it being represented that a pa rcel of l and adjo in ing to the said city, and containing nine acres, one rood, and thirt y seven perche s, Irish p lantati on mea sure, which is part of the estate of the archbishoprick of Armagh, and i s surr ound ed on every part by land the property of the said see 7 and that the sa~e be in g coarse and swampy no par t thereof bath ever been let , excep t a small spot whi ch was de mised by Hugh , formerly lord archbi shop of Armagh, for the term of forty year s in the year one t ho us and seven hundred and thirty six to the government for a barr a ck, which barrack fell down in ruins many year s ago, and a new barrack is now building on other ground the e st ate of the said see, and that the rest of the said land has been waste g round s erving principally for holding fairs, and from the swampy con dition , in which it remains, i s unhealthy, and in many respects a nuisance to the said city: at the suit therefo r e of the said Ri chard lord archbishop of Armagh, and the humble suit of the s ove reign and burgesses of the cit y of Armagh , be it fu r ther ena ct ed by the authority aforesaid , that the said pa rc el of waste land, c on t aining nine acres , one rood, and th irt y seven pe rc hes as aforesaid , with all bui l di ngs which shall stand thereup on , shall be and remain vested in the said Richard lord archbi sh op of Ar magh and his successors archbish ops of Armagh for ever, - -to the intent and purp o se that the s a i d Ric hard lord archbishop of Armag h or his succ essor s may and a r shereby au thorized to cause such roads, as he shall th ink necessa~y , t o be made t h r ough the said g r ound from the said city to t he roads leadin g on each end of the said groun d from the said city to dif fe re nt parts of the c oun t y , and to par c e l out the remainde r of the said ground into so many divisions , as he or they shall think p ro p er, and by deed under his or t hei r hand and ar ch i epis c opa l se al to app ro p r ia t e such divisions, or so many of them as he or they sh all t h i nk f it , severall y for the use of hold i ng fairs and for h oldi ng markets , aad i'or such other uses as he and they shall judg e to .mos t ~ t a geo us to the inhabitants of the said city , rr e nce fo rt h to remain so a pp ro p riated for ever; and to

Statutes of Ireland , Vol . x, 13th and 14th George III. demise and lease by ind en ture unde r his and their hand and arc h ie piscopal seal the remainder of such divisions, as also such par t of the division to be a p pro priated for markets , as shall be necessary for sha wbl es , from time to time, for any number of years not exceeding sixty years , taki ng such fines upon each de mise and rene wal , and reserving t he reu pon such annual rent, as he and the y shall thin k fair and reasonable , such rent to be made payable to the said archbishop and his successors .

Para graph IX. (p.60 9) . And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all such fines and rents, so to be paid from time to ti me to the said archbishop and hi s successors, shall be applied by him and them from time to time to such uses and purposes, as shall appear to him and them to be of most advantage to the said co rporation and the inhabitants of the said city, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever .

Paragraph X. (p p . 609-610). And for the better carryin g this plan into execution, and for removing any obstructions which might proceed from irregularity or inconvenience in the out lines of the said waste ground? or any parts thereof, in formin g such divisions as aforesaid, that the said archbishop or his successors may, and is, and are hereby authorized to exchange so much of other land, the estate of the said see, as will be necessary for those purposes, for a part of equal value of the said waste land ascertaini ng the quan tities and parts to be exchanged by writing under his or their hand and archiepiscopal seal, and lodging in the office of the register of the said see such writing, or a duplicate thereof? tog e th er with a survey of the parts so exchanged one for the other certified under the hand and archiepiscopal seal of the said archbishop, or his · successor; saving nevertheless to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, and saving to all other person and persons, bodies politick and corporate? their heirs , executors, administrators, and successors, other than the said Richard lord archbishop of Armagh, and his executors, administrators, and successors , the said sovereign , burgesses, and corporation, and inhabitants of the city of Armagh , all . such ri~ht, title, or interest, as they or any of them had, or may or might have, in, to, or in any wise concerning the premisses herein before mentioned , or any part, parcel, or particular thereof hereby intended to be vested ' in the aforesaid trustees severally, for the respective uses, intents 1 and purposes before mentioned , as if this act had never been mac:1e.

Statutes of Ireland , Vol . x, 13th and 14th George III .

Paragra ph XI. (P . 610) . And be it ena cted by the autho r ity a for esaid, that this act shall be de emed , taken , and allo wed in all courts within this kingdom as a public k act , and that as such all judges shall take notice thereof without spe c ially pleading the same .

l.3' July, 1793.

11 Mar ch , 1799.

CORPORATIOUEIHUTl;iS ,

Old Streets ,

south

To level the Clay Lump at the north end of the Commons in order to clear out and form a passable road to the Gaol. £5 . 7 . 3 . To remove the 11Enroach ment" lately made on the Commonby Robt. McMast ers and Alex. Prentice and to form a road alongside the common in its old site and s it ua tio n . £4.11.0 .

Flagging foot pathway from English Street to New Walk on the Commons £13 , 18 . 11½. Finishing the same with gravel and small stones and paving channel £11 . 7 . 6 . A man to be hired by the Sove rei gn to attend to Commons Walk at salary of £9, 2. 0. per half year

£1 . 10 . 0 . levied for repair of Circular Road at Foot of Vicar ' s Gardens .

11 Oct . 1799.

W i dening the Bri dge at the N. End of the Commons £6 .1 4 . 1 . (Andrew Lisle) [Lyle?] .

Corporation Minutes

Memo between William, Lord Archbishop of Ar:11agh, of the one Part and Arthur Jacob Macan Esq. , Sove reign, The Revd. Wm Lodge, L. L.D. , Rev . John Robinson Sir Walter Synott, Kt ., Rev . J . A. Hamilton, D.D. , John Staples, Esq . , Rev Jas . Stronge , Rev . Thos. English, Rev . Dan. Kelly John McCan Esq . , Rev. Alex. George Stewart, and Rev NathanielAlexander, Burgesses of the Town and Corporation of the other part .

(9 acres ~3 pe rches of the Commons already granted).

Now remain der of Commons for 40 years from this date, viz. waste land or commons over and above 2 . G G3 which re mainder is at £1 yearly rent .

Witness : Hugh Wil liamson .

CORPORATIOL 1,INUTJJ;S,

797 . Octobe r 3 . l1i eeti ng of Sov e r e i gn and Burgesse s. Lease bet we en same and Wil li am Archbishop of Armagh rela ti ng t o t he commons of Ar magh set out i n full .

1 . A double ditch and a wal k between the di t che s, planted wi th trees on each side t o be made a cc or di ng to plan .

~ . First over s eer s : Rev . Dr Hamilton and Rev. Dan. Kelly .

3. Work carried out by aid of subs cri p tio n s which wer e later r efun d e d , par ts of th e common s being le t and the monie s re ed . theref r om b e in g used to repay subscri ber s.

4. Subscribers were paid off by ballot, their names bei ng wri tten on pape r a nd placed in a hat or box.

5. A person s k illed in takin g l eve ls to e xa min e present course wher e by water is conveyed from the commons.

The Estjmate for alteration of the Commons,

12 perches of Ditchin g \,ti.th two pipes and a bank in the middle ring 14 feet wide and gripe 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep. Gripe 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep. @ 3/3 per per ch . 120 perches or walks between the gripes of the ditches and 20 perches across the ends to join the wide walks to be covered with small stones and gravel at 7d. per perch. 7 perches of drain from N E. side to S.W. at a 1/per perch.

Two pipes under the walk on each side . 14,ooo Quicks at 3/560 Forest Trees at 2d. being two to each perch on each clltcl2.

Filling old watering pool and levellin g at each end of common.

QORPORA 'l'I ON ;;:[1,iU'.r.1:!: S.

(cont'd). The Estimate for alt erati on of th e commons

4 Per ches of sewer from Gaol Sewer to Mr John McCan'ss field drain on t h e N. E. side of th e Cow Market to

be covered and p i p ed over at 27 23 perches of wall at both ends 6 fe e t high from foundations at 6/-.

, pairs of piers c ap p ed .

gates .

6 gates@ 11/l+½.

4 bridges across outside drain outside(?) walk & 15/-. 3

40 pe rc hes of dr ain to be sewered from Slaug h ter House to common 1/1.

Cle ar i ng out the in t ended wate r ing - pool 30 days of horse, car and man @ 'd./2. Paving 60 yards@ lOd.

1,000 different sorts of trees to be planted at l½d . each .

Ex trac t from a Memo - reciting pa r ti cul a rs relating to Commons and how held. Dated 19th Au gus t , 1797 . States - 11All that and those : That pa r t of said common wher e on a Coun t y Gaol hath been erected .

29 Sept . 1831.

30 Sept . 183.:: .

21 Feb . 1831.

21+June , 1836 .

CORPORATIO L j-:nmT.r:;S ,

The hall (181 8- 181+0) .

Donation of £100 to be spent on ere c ting 2 fountains - one at end of Primrose Lane and the other in English Street . Donation of £100 given by Sir J as . Brydges to be s pen t on railing in the Eas t Side of Mall

Committee for thinning trees on the Mall " growing round the Publi c Walks 11 • ( Kel ly: Dean Jackson, Evans, Dr . Kidd , Cross) .

Sovere ign to carry out alterations at south side of the Mall with £100 given by Mr. Golborn on his election as M.P.

Walk across the Mall fro:n Russell Street to be paid for by inhabitants . Mr McWil liams and Dr. Cuming to be consulted.

TH,c;Mall

The Sovereign and the Corpo r ation ,~as don e away with when the Town Commissioners replaced t he.n in 1854 but the Mall was kept up by private subscri pt ions of local peo pl e until Archbishop John George Beresford re newed a lease of t he Commons or Hall on 15 December, 1859 7 for 40 years at a nominal rent and ap pointed the followin g gen tle men trustees -

Geor ge Robinson . Thomas Cuming, M.D.

J . G. Winde r. John Stanley.

Henry Davison

Wm . Paton

Rev . Benjamin Wade

The trustees are a self-elec te d body so when a member died the r emaini ng members co -opte d a new me.nber in his place . Mr. Paton was the last Sovereign of the City and agent to the Archb is hop and therefore took a keen interest in the Mall. The lease frojj Lord John George is clear as to the privi leges of the pu blicwhich were confined to the Public Walks.

When the Church was disestablished a source of revenue ceased, and the letting of the gr ounds brou ght in little money , so tt was necessary from time to time for t h e Trus tees to ap p ea l for assistance. About 1920 much help was gi ven ·locally in t hat way and again recently.

Armagh City Council made at least two attempts to deprive the Trustees of the Mall - the first by Act of Par liament and this time by agreement. See "Armagh Guardian" 9th August, 1929.

/

"Minut es of Ev i dence " Royal Commission of markets Rights and Tol l.

Sub-Co nrni ssion sitting at Arma gh June ll , 1888 . p. 5. Imp rov ements of the Ci ty . I mprov emen t s at Mall , n amel y bo unda r y wall , dr a i n i n g , fen c ing , covering publ ic sew ers, making and flagging g ing c ross walk, iron

g at e s and r a ili ngs , e tc. £870 . Expended bet ween

1 8 32-184 5 .

ARMAGH.

A very great disappointment is in store for the antiquarr who, without previous knowledge, visits the metropolitan church of all Ireland, the pnimatial cathedral at Armagh, the burial place of the renowned Brian Brou, where was preserved the famous bachal Isa or staff of Jesus, which had been used as a crozier by St. Patrick himself.

The Four Masters, under the year 457, relate the building of the town by St. Patrick's care. He ordered twelve men uto erect an archbishop's city there, and a church for monks, for nuns and for the other orders in general, for he perceived that it would be the head and chief of the churches of Ireland in general." The tripartite life of st. Patrick (said to have been written by St. Evin in the sixth century) adds the information that the form 1 style and length of the church were prescribed by an angel. In 1125 the Four Masters tell of the complete re-roofing of the church after 130 years of partial ruin. In 1268 they relate a rebuilding by Primate Gillapatrick O O;Scanlain whose work is evidently to be found in the existing transepts. They have lancets at the sides and three-light traceried windows at the ends. One lancet on the south, very plain, splayed but without shafts, seems to be original; all the rest is concealed by the refacing without and plastering withi~that was carried out in 1834 by primate Lord J.G. Beresford. Besides the transept the church consists of quire of three bays and nave with aisles of five (fig.18). The quire is in the style of the fourteenth century and may have been erected by Primate Miles Sweetman (d.1380). The nave and its aisles form a good specimen of the style of the early fifteenth century. The oblong clustered pillars have ten shafts apiece, the outer ones filleted as is so commonly the case in Ireland. The arches are well moulded and even in their present plastered condition by no means without a certain dignity. The aisles have three-light windows; those of the clerestory are of two lights and splayed downwards.3

1. fhe length was to be 140 feet.

2. A member ot tlie chapter told me that it was recently prop~sed to attempt to restore the original stonework 1n 't!Ut interior but that the removal of the plaster ~• that it was in a very decayed condition and that 1 had been covered with a thick coat of tar to keep in the damp. Almost the only parts of the interior that

look old are the north and south arches of the tower, the others having not long ago been rebuilt to open out the view. Primate Robinson, Lord Rokeby of Armagh (17651794), however, in the late eighteenth century tried to build a replica of Magdalen tower in the middle of the church, but was obliged to desist, as the north-west pier gave way and had to be reconstructed. In 1786 he built the present low and feeble tower and unfortunately never began his scheme of erecting his Magdalen steeple as an addition to the west end. He was a great benefactor to the city, founding the library and the observatory.

3. A- ~ber of fine monuments, none of ancient date, with several flags help to give the interior a cheerful effect.

(Extract from 11The Archaeological Journal" published under the direction of The Council of The Royal Archaeological Institue of Great ~ritain and Ireland, dated December, 1915, P• 393) •

PLan of Armagh Cathedral

Cl ri "'- Ce.-.t . m tu~ • • ,5,..., .. mm Hokv".

TIC OLD CATHEDRAL TOWER .

The ascent to the tower is made by an interestin g old 13th century stairway incorporated in tr1e 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 repla c ed by a more modern but lees 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 c onstant use for . over two hundred years. In that time they ha.~e pea l ed forth in rejoicing o~er famous victories and at peace f oll owing war, at RoyaJ cor onati ons and jubilees, and have tolled in sorrow for t h e passing of kings and archbishops . Each bell bears an inscrip t ion and a few have had to be-recast . The oldest are dated 1721. There is one of 1841 and two of 1885

The bells of Armagh figure in Irish Annals as early as the year ,994. They su f fered frequent d e stru c tion in the many · raiding• and burning s of the City from th$.t period down to the year 1641 , when · cer tain old bellsle with one recast by archbishop Hampton in 1613 were lost in ~he destruction of the ch urch .

Ot all the belle a s s oci ated wi_th Ar magh , that known as st. Patrick's Bell was, and is , the most i mpor tan t . It was , howe v er , a small hand bell and belo ng ed to the great saint him sel f so its history can be tr a ced back to about the year 4 4 4. F ~rt una te l y it ,and with it a beautiful shrine made ~o encase it between the years 1091 and 1105 by comma nd of Donnel O'Loughlin

THE OLD cathedral tower _ f.:¼.) •

King of Ireland and duri1;1g the Primacy of Donnel McAuley Arch bi shop of Armagh.

In past times there was a soctety of bell-ringers c onne c ted with the Cathed r al , and up ~o the outbreak of the nresent war , Curfew was rung each evening at nine o 'clock. The be11s, h owever , have now been a r ranged , so that they can be rung by one pe r s on

From the pa r apet of , the tower there is an astonishin~ly wide view . No place of ancient -impor tan ce in Ire l and , excepting possibly "Tara of the Kings • , co mmand s so fine a pr o spe ~t . One thing is very c ertain , no other site in Ire l and has greater historical relics around it . Let us exami n e the town and oountrye ~de and see what we can find in the immediate ne i ghbou r h ood For brevity's sake let us work by nu mbers -

1. Navan Rath , the a ss embl y place of the kings of Ulster from 350 B.c . to 332 A.D.

2 . Niall 's Mound. Cenotaph er e c ted to mark the spot or1 the ri ver Ca ll an whe r e Ki ng Niall was dr o,m e d in 846 .

3 . Tully a r d mound Asso ci ated with Deirdre and the Sons of Usna and with a later 7th c entu r y St . Cre t an .

4. The Druid 's circle . Remain s of a prehistoricstoric buria l place of ab out 1500 B.C ,

5 . Vicar's Cairn. A prehistoric burial place of ab out 2000 B.c .

6 , Si tea of various ear l y r e li gious foundations in the City prope r - The c hurc hes of St . Bri gid and St . Colu mba, · the Culdee Pr iory , the Abbey of St . Peter and St . Paul , and Templenafertagh, the si t e of St . Patrick' s fi r s t ch urc h in the town 1 Mullynure Abb ey, eo ffll'lonly called Bishop's Court because t h e Arc hbis ho p s somet imes r es ided th e re , deat r oyed by fire in 13?1.

7 The Franciscan Friary erected in 1264 .

8 . Si te of the Ca stle of Armagh, a buiJ di ng er ec ted i n 1227 .

9 . The Royal Sc h ool . F ounded by .Tame s I in 1608. !lo ved · fr om original s i te i n Abbey Street t o pr e sent pos i t ion i n 177 4 .

10 . The Obs e rvatory. Fo unde d by Archbirhop Robin s on in 1789 .

11. Coun ty In firmary . Bui l t 17 74

12. The Deane ry . Built about 1?70.

13. The Prison. Buil t on pr esent site in 1780 to repl a c e an older 17th c entury gaol.

14 . Old Presb y terian Chur ch . Built 1722 .

15 Militar y Ba r rac k s . Moved to present s i t e i n 1773 .

16. St . Mark 's Church, 1811.

17 . St ~ Malachy's Cha pe l. Old 1750 .

18. The Protestant Hall . An i mpor t a nt Inn in the 17th cen t ur y Gave shelter to Ja.mes II in 1689 and sli gh t ly later to King William ' s famous old Gene r al , the Duke of Sc ho mb e r g .

19 The Roman Ca t h olic Cath edral 1840.

20. The Methodist Chu r ch . Built 1786 and since en l a r g ed ~ .

21 The Mar k e t House. Rebuilt in 1835 by Arc hb i shop Stuart , on the site of a 17th c entury Market House.

22. The Public Library. F ound e d by Ar ch b ishop Robinson in l '7'71.

.. 2 3. The Churc h es of Lisnadill ( 1??2 ), Gran g e (1776 ), Killylea ( 1832), Ki l da rton ( 1840}; e t c.

24. Palace Desene Obelisk , 1782• 1?83.

25 . The Castledillon Obelisk , 1782.

26. The bJ.~tor\ o ~own of Dungannon

Till: OLD CA'l'HEDllA L TOWER - ~ .

27 • Sli eve Gallion and the ~er ry - Tyr one )fou ntains .

28. Armaghb ragu e and Car r ic k a t uke .

29 . Ben b urb .

:30. Sessiagh alias Sessiaghmagoll

:31. Lough Ne agh .

ST. LUKE•S HOSPITAL.

The Bill f or the provision of Asylums f or the Lunatic Poor came into being in 1817 and the Armagh District Asylum was the first of its kind built in Ireland under the Act. Plans were drawn up for it by the celebrated Francis Johnston, then Superintendent of the Irish Board of Works, to .ihom we owe some of the finest buildings in Dublin, besides a number of delightfully-proportioned edifices in this his native city and in many towns and counties throughout Ireland.

The foundation stone was laid in May 1821, one hundred and forty years ago, by the Sovereign of the city, accompanied . by the burgesses and preceded the Corporation mace-bearers carrying city maces that replaced in 1657 those lost in the Civil War of 1641, symbols of city authority that still survive.

The official opening took place on 14 July 1825 and the building was intended to accommodate the counties of Armagh, Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone but Cavan was later included. The Derry Asylum was opened in 1829 (the same year as its sister institution in Belfast) wereupon patients from Donegal and Tyrone ware transferred to that establish, ment. ~till later in 1853 Fermanagh was attached to the asylum opened in Omagh in that year. ?en years after that

.sh_Luka's Hospti.aJ....

the increase in numbers of mentally afflicted made asylums in Cavan and Monaghan a necessity and thus Armagh became a County Asylum in 1863.

Many alterations and additions have since been made.

. SUch institutions were at first under the control of Managers assisted by staff consisting of consulting physicians, keepers, nurses and domestic staff . The first manager at Armagh, Mr. Thomas Jackson, was appointed by the Marquess of Wellesly, then Lord Lieutenant and an old boy of the Royal School of Armagh.

II Drumarg or Downs. The Rev . Dr . Burns , holding under , John Beresford Lovat. Two sto re y house, called Green Park , with two loc k - up yards and superior offices, large garden and small pleasure land, etc \I

Valuation of houses in the City and Boro ugh of Armagh, 1833-34.

The Very Revd. Patrick Byrne, D.D., Roman Catholic Dean of Armagh. A native of County Tyrone. ~ducated in Paris and having graduated there was appointed superior of the Irish Seminary at Nantes . After many years he returned to Ireland and officiated as a parish priest, first in the neighbourhood of Aughnacloy and afterwards near Dungannon. He was subsequently chosen President of the College of Maynooth where he resided above five years. He then removed to Armagh where he succeeded the Very Rev. Raymond O Hanlon, D.D.

Coleman's ''Stuart", pp.434-435°

The Very Rev. Patrick Byrne was the last parish priest of Armagh (see p.433 of above). On his death in 1834 Armagh passed over to the Pr imate as an episcopal mensal parish .

ST . 1'ATRICK ' S Seminary

Coleman in his "Historical Memoirs of the City of Armagh" by James Stuart , p . 435 , states that when Dr Crolly came to Armagh in 1835 he found as was usual in the northern province at that time, that no se minary or col l ege was in existence in the whole dioce se for the educ a tion either of cleric al s tude n t s or of lay Ca tholics for the learned professions. There was indeed a classical day school, in Castle Street, kept by a Mr. Breen, a Ca tholic, where many who were afterwards priests of the diocese co mmenced their s tudie s , but it may be said that speaking g ener ally, those who desired a good classical education were forced to send their children to Protestant schools.

(This was remedied by the Archbishop who in 1836 ordered collections to be made throughout the diocese for the building of a Catholic Seminary. This was duly carried out and the Seminary was opened in September 1838. T. G. F. Paterson).

Hugh Breen' s "Treatise On the Summation of Series was published by subscription, and pri nt ed by Joseph Smyth of 34 High Street , Belfast, in 1827 It was dedicated as under"To / Sir Capel Molyneux, Bart. / H. R . I. A . / As A Testimony Of Respect / For That Zeal / \ihich He Has So Often Evinced/ For The /.Advancement Of Science/ .And As A Humble Nark Of Esteem/ Of His Private .And Public Virtues/ This Treatise On The Summation Of Series / Is Most Respectfully Dedicated/ By His Nost Obedient/ And Very Humble Servant, The Author.

Local subscribers included Sir Capel Molyneux, Bart., Archbishop Lord John George Beresford, the Earl of Charlemont, the Honble. Henry Caulfeild, Cha rles Brownlow, Viscount Lifford then Dean of Armagh. and Mr. Owen Gribben of Hockley.

T G. F . Paterson , Tne Irish Astronomi cal Journal , Vol.I, No . 6 , 1951 (p.175) in writing on Local Ast r onomic al Links, mentions that early in the nineteenth century, Hugh Breen, the Master of the Armagh Mechanics Institute , was very much to the fore in the various cultural so cieties of the town . A mathemat ician of no mean order , he became an assistant at the Royal Obse rvatory of Greenwich where in 1940 he was employed in connection with the "Reduction of Observat ions of Planets " , a task he took over from I. W Thomas and succ e ssful ly concluded in 1845 . In 1840 his younge r son joined him at Greenwich. These planetary deductions were not part of the routine duties of the observatory but were spe cia lly unde rt aken on behaJ.f of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, funds being effected by gran t s made from time to time by the Lords Commissio ne rs of the Treasury, G. B. Airy, the then Astronomer Royal being answerable for staff and direction. Breen died on the 1st April 1848 in the 57th year of his age and at that time a regular member of the Greenwich staff.

He left three sons, keen astronomers, all of whom were attached at some time or other to Greenwich Observatory. The eldest son Hugh was for nearly twenty years an assistant at Greenwich but because of poor health resigned before he wae pensionable. Having been born in Armagh, he resolved

to return and in 1860 he made plans to initiate an academy here, but a nervous breakdown prevented the project succeeding. He was the author of quite a few scientific works, by reason of which, and of his services to astronomy he was granted a pension of £50 per annum. After a short time he returned to London where his wife and family had remained.

James Breen, the second son, was assigned an assistantship at Cambridge Observatory in 1846 and held the situation until 1858. Astronomical Society. He was a Fellow of the Royal

The youngest son, John William Breen, was an "Observer" at Greenwich and also at Cambridge.

The Breen record of father and three sons, all astronomers, is probably without parallel in astronomical chronicles. As a rule the sons of such people choose other professions. They seldom acquire a love of astronomy from their parents, though curiously enough some of the more illustrious astronomers of the past seem to have caught the infection from uncles or other relatives.

Hugh Breen the elder, while resident in Armagh wrote a "Treatise on the Summation of Series". This was distributed to subscribers in 1827 and was highly commended.

COUNTYAfil,iAGHIUSCELLANE.A

Mass Gardens a nd Mass Rock s T. G. F. Pa terson

These survivals are relics of the Penal days and al tho ugh such sites must have been plentiful in the past, they are now but folk memories. In the county generally at that period, pries ts and bishops if found celebr ating Mass were liable to imprisonment or transportation. Many stories of such events are still related, one of the most interesting and best remembered being that of the Rev. Patrick Donnelly, D.D., who was born circa 1649 and ordained priest in 1673 by the ill-fated .Archbishop Oliver Plunkett.

Dr. Donnelly was for a time Vicar-General and Administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of .Armagh, a post which he retained after his appointment to the bishopric of Dromore in 1697, and indeed until Dr. Hugh McMahon was consecrated Archbishop of Armagh in 1714. During his connection with .Armagh he resided chiefly at Corrimallagh a small townland now known as Doctor's Quarters, about one mile distant from Lislea Chapel on the way to Crossmaglen.

The "Doctor" survives in local tradition as "the Bard of Armagh" an appellation due to his presence at

fairs and markets in the role of a wanderi ng minstrel. When at such ass emblies he ar r anged for Masses in se cl uded glens and woods.

This little story illustrates his place in tradition, around Camlough, Crossmaglen, Mullabawn and especially Doctor's Quarters, where you will hear in conversation that "the Bard of Armagh was a great man. He was no less than a bishop. He lived in Penal Days and went about as a fiddler. He'd be at markets and fairs all over the county and from after midnight he'd have Masses in out of the way places in South Armagh".

This list of Mass Gardens and Mass Rocks is, of course, very defective, but it does show that in the county generally such places were pretty common -some indeed were still in evidence as late as 1813 - see under Tynan.

Annacramph

Mass Garden near present chapel. Tradition states that Mrs. Cope of Drumilly, driving into Armagh, was so shocked by seeing her own tenants in wintry weather at Mass in the open that she .immediately provided them with a site for a chapel. This has now been deserted.

Ballyargan.

Mase Rock in above townland on the Turly farm.

Ballym a cnab.

Mass Rock on O' Tool e farm i n above to wnl a nd.

Carnally.

A Mass Rock use d here in Penal t imes . (Informant Mr. Devlin, Cully hanna ) . Carrickcroppan.

Mass Rock in above townland n e ar vill a ge of Camlough Cavandoogan .

Before the present chap el was erected in 1826 (on the s ite of a somewhat earlier edifice ) the faithful heard Mass in a secluded corner of a plantation, the remnant of which may still be seen at the rear of the building - see History of Tynan Parish, by Thomas Hughes, p.100. Cladymore.

Mass Garden site near present chapel, on bank of small stream .

Drumcree Parish .

"Mass Box formerly kept and used in Foy Lane in Drumcree Parish" • (Tradition gives no other particulars).

Drumilly I near Mountain House.

"Mass Rock Garden" Site marked by a granite cross and an inscribed slab in September 1952.

There is a "Relig" near the above Mass Rock, on the farm of Mr. Peter MacParland and there is a tradition as to a church site.

Eshwary

Cross -in s cri bed stone in field fence situated under a thorn bush is said to mark "a place where Mass was said in the past". Keady.

The Altar Well. Tradition states that Mass was frequently celebrated at this spot previous to the building of the chapel in 1786. Keenahan.

R. C. Altar shown in above townland on side of road from Charlemont to Loughgall. See O. S . Maps , Sheets 1835 . Kiltubrit.

Site of a Mass Garden, Shown on Rocque•s Map of County Armagh 1760.

Lisadian.

Near Lisadian Bridge, there was a Mass Ga rden.

Local tradition asserts that Friar McGurk was caught celebrating Mass there and was killed. The present road through the glen was not then in existence. Longfield.

A Mass Garden in above townJ.and near the village of Forkhill Site known locally. Maghery

Mass Garden near to present Chapel in a clump of trees midway between Maghery Diamond and the Ferry.

Mullynure llynure •

Mass Garden. School, Armagh.

Raughlin.

See Downey MS., Christian Brothers'

A small stone buildi ng in the Forde demesne used by a Father Byrne, P.P., until about the end of the 18th century.

The original walls now form part of a barn on the Forde property. It is believed to have been in use until the building of a church at Derrymacash in 1825. The Mass House in question is said to have been mentioned in a local directory in 1813.

Shaneglish.

Mass Garden or Mass Rock near the Adair farm.

Shean

On a rocky eminence on the northern end of ridge running from north to south there is an ancient enclosure in which Mass was celebrated in Penal Times, and on the opposite side of the road is the site of a little Franciscan Friary. ahiffrin.

Tannaghmore

The Mass Garden is known as Carrick-

Mass Garden on the land of Mrs. John McConville (Lurgantarry). The spot is said to have been in frequent use from the time of Cromwell till the year 1800 when Lord

Lurgan s ancestor I1r Brownlow gave the Cat h olic s an old disused mill in Dougher townland.

A small shed or "bohog " a.ffording shelter for the celebrant stood in this garden.

Tartaraghan •

Local tradition sta tes that there was a ch apel here that was destroyed immediately following the battle of the Diamond in 1795, an event that did not occur until the summer of 1797 - see Belfast News Letter 14 July 1797. James Verner of Church Hill was accused of encouraging the Yeomanry and Orangemen to fire at it but made a spirited denial saying it was not many years since he had contributed to the building of it.

In the years between 1797 and the building of Eglish Chapel in 1825, Mass was celebrated in the open in a wooden structure called the Mass Box. In that period during political troubles the Mass Box was burned. It is reputed to have occupied the site of the present Presbyterian Church of Tartaraghan.

Tullya near Carrickanann,y Chapel.

Reputed Mass Garden on the farm of Mr. James Burns.

Tullyard

.Mass Rock. Situate on the bank of the River Callan just outside the city of Armagh.

Tullinaval.

"Mass was celebrated in this townl and on a farm (now 1955) belongin g to Miss Maggie Ann Donaghy da ughter of Patrick Donaghy. "little hut " . The place was known as the "bohog" or (Informant Mr. Devlin, Cullyhanna Tullymore, near Armagh city.

A Mass Garden was situate in a small clump of thorns on the right hand side of the avenue leading up to Tullymore House, commonly called Tullymore Park. Different owners of the property have preserved the spot and also a re pu ted font said to have been found there

Tradition states there is an old chal ice buried in or near the Mass Garden. "The garden" in earlier days was on the ancient road from Armagh to the South which crossed the Callan by "St. Patrick's Highway" keeping east of the Saint's Well and across country to join a still older road that ran from Emain Macha southwards. Tullywinny.

Mass Garden called the "Priest's Garden" on the farm of Mr. P. McKeown.

These two accounts illustrate the form of folk memories that ·remain with regard to these links with the past.

The Mass Bush at Dor s ey. 1

"A gentle thorn sheltered the al tar an' there wus great anger over the cutting of it. He wh o owned the land in the oul' days wudn't have had it h a ppen for hundreds of pounds. But he is dead now a n' all his people. An' it's well for shure it wud have vexed him till the heart. He wus a Carragher, an' it wus he lime-w as hed the White Stone each year in the Spring, but since he died it gets none" .

The Mass Garden a t Farlagh ·

"It wus aye a gentle place. The finest gentry bushes in the county are there. Three of them made a ch ap el in the oul' days and Mass wus said there many a time. There wur wee steps up an' a place for the blessed altar , but now shure its the cattle do be tr ampin' it overit's hard till keep them off it. The bushes are hund red s of years of age an' a purty sight they are in the Spr i ng. Ye cud sit in under them the wettest day that iver wus an' not git spot or jap of rain".

(1) The Bard bishop is said to have celebrated Maas here.

CIVIC WEEKEXOURSION

MEETAT COURTHOUSE

This very pleasant building was erected in 1809 to replace the rather grim early 17th century Sessions House in English Street of which later.

It is a very pleasing example of the work of Francis Johnston of Armagh, one of the most notable of the Irish architects of his period.

Johnston was founder of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Art in Du.blin, an institution still in being and architect of many buildings in this his native city, of which later. He was born in 1760 and died 1829.

One interesting feature of the Court House is the surv1 val of two "Fire Marks" on the facade. They belong to the period 1809-1810. Each Fire Office then possessed its own particul.ar "Fire Mark" and in the beginning of the system firemen belonging to individual companies could only assist in quenching such fires as were covered by their own company's marks.

We shall now proceed to the Royal School. Founded by X1Dg James the lfirst in the year 1608 1 t was original.J.y placed on the site of the old Collegiate Church of St. Columba in Abbey Street, an early ecclesiastical foundation then 1n a badly ruined condition.

In the closing days of the reign of Elizabeth the First, the town was destroyed by Hugh O Neill, Earl of Tyrone, A pictorial map of 1602 made by a Cornet in the army of Lord Mountjoy (the then Lord Deputy of Ireland) depicts a sad eight.

Mountjoy was then returning north from the battle of Kinsale and on his way to Armagh built Forts at the Moyry in the Gap of the North, at Mountnorris, and at Charlemont, all in County Armagh.

Now on our left we shall pass the Planetarium, now open to the Public in a limited way. Most people will be sorry to learn that its founder, Mr. Patrick Moore, who came to Armagh in 1965, has decided to retire shortly. We might, I think, wish him here and now the ol.d Armagh farewell •come again, come soon and et~ loll8er•.

Nert (also on the left) is Dean's Hill, which derives its name from the fact that it was for a time a residence of' the Deans of' Armagh.

It is an interestill8 ol.d mansion and was erected 1n 1770, previous to which date the Deans of' this Diocese lived in the city. 11; was planned and erected by Dr. Hugh Hamilton who was presented to the Deanship of Armagh 1n 1768 and two years later in 1770 built the house we now know ae Dean's HillBill.

Dean Hamilton was appointed Bishop of Clonfert in 1795 and translated to the Bishopric of Ossory in 1799. He died at Kilkenny in 1805 and was buried there.

At the Disestablishment of the Irish Church the Deanery and its land were sold to Mr. H. B. Armstrong, grandfather of Capt. Michael Armstrong, D.L., the present owner.

TOWERHILL

This is one of the most pleasant townscapes in the city and indeed one of the most beautiful. in the North of Ireland. Prom it you can see the old and new Cathedrals, the Royal School, the Observatory, the Planetarium, St. Mark's Church, etc •

.ArmaghObservatory, of which one gets a pleasing view from here, was endowed and founded in 1789 by the Most Revd.. Richard Robinson, D.D., who had been created Baron Rokeby of Armagh in 1777 and died 1794.

'Hor his architect, Lord Rokeby chose the celebrated Francis Johnston, a native of Armagh whose works in our city and elsewhere in Ireland, especially in Dublin, are very well known. In he was responsibl.e for the Palace ( 1770), Public Library (1771), the Observatory (1789), the Court House (1809), St. Mark's Church (1811), Bank of Irel.and (1812), the :Mall School (1818), Gateway and clock Tower, Dobbin Street

. (1819-20), County Mental Home (1824-25), Shambles, Market and Clock Tower (1827).

Having found an architect to his liking His Grace set about acquiring a Director and discovered an old boy of the Royal School in the person of the Rev. James Archibald Hamilton, who had reached the school at the tender age of six years. .Afterwards he continued to T.O.D., where he eventually took various degrees and entering the church, arrived here in the North as rector of Kildress, near Cookstown, where besides his clerical duties he was the possessor of a private Observatory from 1780 until 1790. In that year he was appointed Prebendary of Mullabrack and Director of th~ newly founded Armagh Observatory where he died November 20, 1815.

Much as I would like to discuss the Directors down the centuries I have only time to say that it gives me much pleasure to remind you that at present, for the first time in its history, the Director is a native of the County of Armagh. Ye feel. that under Dr. Lindsay's guidance the Obsenatory .bas emerged from its rustic secl.usion and becOJDe at~ iaportant centre of educational. and scientific act:I.Tity.

It. Mark's Church was buil.t as a Chapel. of ease to St. Patrick's Cathedral in. 1811. In the same year a new line d vu a4e J 1nk1 ng Scotch Street with Thomas Street.

Thie thoroughfare was named Dobbin Street, in honour of its founder, Leonard Dobbin, afterwards Member of Parliament for the Borough of Armagh from 1833 until 1838, whose house in Scotch Street we shall visit by and by.

THEFOLLYHOUSINGTRUSTESTATE

This is one of the most attractive housing sites in the city and is sited in Dobbin's Flowery Vale close to the site of our earliest water supply, an amenity made possible through the will of Viscountess Primrose.

Lady Primrose was the daughter of the Very Reverend Peter Primrose, [Drelincourt] Dean of Armagh 1691, until his death in 1722, to whom there is a beautiful. recJ1n1ng statue by the celebrated sculptor Rhysbrack in the old Cathedral. She married the third Viscount Primrose in 1738 and di.ed in 1775.

At the time the bequest came into being, a small tract of land was available at the top of Folly Lane, one of the entrances to the "Flowery Vale". This was aoqui.red and a reservoir excavated which was fed with water from the Folly river The pipes conveying this water to the houses in the oit7 were of wood bored by water driven machinery. Other sou.roes were subsequently acquired and the present waterworks at Seagahan, quite apart from their usefulness, pron.de us with a pic~esque landscape.

THEMILITARYBarracks

The Milltary Barracks are at present empty but one block serves the Crown Solicitor's Office and provides suitable accommodation for the Spring and Winter Assizes, a state of affairs due to the Courthouse being under repair. These particular Barracks were built in 1773 and give the name of Barrack Hill to a long row of houses sai.d to have been erected in 1814.

There were, of course, earlier barracks. The first that we have any record of were built in 1715 and were replaced in 1736 by a larger hill-top barracks which I have already mentioned. These two barracks gave name to Barrack Street, one side of whioh bas recently been demolished. 1736 Barracks site is now covered by the Prison erected in 1782. It bas quite a pleasing exterior. FollowiDg its opening the executions that formerly took place on Gallows Hill were diverted to the Prison Square (local.l.y known as Jail Square). ftley continued to function in public up to 1886 and the Gallows were adorned by a grim replica of a skull in iron. Since that date the executions took place in the Prison Yard. ~he last man to be hanged in .Armagh wu Joseph Fee of Monaghan who murdered James Flanagan the same t01fJ1. It was a most revolting murder and the Jur, cliu.greed twioe, but~ the third occasion he wu tO\UUI pil.'117. He :paid. the extreme penalty on the

morning of December 28, 1904.

In passirui: I would like to record that a large mound, possibly prehistoric, at one time adorned a portion of the Mall opposite the Prison site. Nothing is known of its origin other than that it is portrayed on Rocque's Map of 1760, in which year according to official records it was removed by order of the Corporation.

THENEWRYROAD

THE PALACE

In 1770 Archbishop Richard Robinson began the erection of this dignified mansion which has since been the residence of successive Primates down to the present d~.

There was, of course, an older and small.er Pal.ace situate in English Street but Primate Robinson found it in bad repair and ruthtly considered that it was better to rebuild on a new site.

~or the new Palace he chose as his architect the cel.ebrated Thomas Cooley, who was also responsible for an elegant entrance that has recently been removed. Later during the Primacy of Archbishop Lord John George Beresford an additional storey and a porch was added to the Palace. fhi.e was carried out most unwillingly by Francis Johnston who feared it might spoil Cooley's building, which 1n fact 111 e:z:aotly what happened.

I

The little group of houses facin,Q: this entrance is said to have been very late 18th century but indeed look as if they might be circa 1810 or 1820. They have recently been taken over and remodelled into offices for the Armagh Rural District Council who indeed deserve our best thanks for their preservation scheme whereby the original faoade of the three houses -remains practically unchanged. I

St. Brigid's Well, a couple of hundred yards up the avenue, has been a place of pilgrimage in pa.et days and even yet secret visits are sometimes paid. It was chiefly used for eye troubles but according to tradition was equally good for all ills. It was formerly overhung by giant thorns, from which rage of aJ.l. colours fluttered by hundreds in the passing breeze.

!he water, in commonwith many other Irish holy wells, was said to have been the best in Ireland. It is reputed 'that Lady Anne Beresford sent some to Engl.and with her brother the Lord Primate when he went to pay his respects to Queen Victoria upon her accession to the throne in 1837. !he etory relates that - "the Queen ehe hed a glass of it, an• thea said fill it up again Your Grace. !he divll of noh a well we .bave ill London, and vith that she axed for anotu:r lna:t 1 t 1fU8 tarrably un1uolcy' for the poor oul.d

O I

Primate, for his coachman, that was an ornament to his carriage and the wonder of Europe for his good looks of him desarted Hie Grace for the Queen. if he'd stayed at home". It wud have been better

This very handsome Obelisk that you see on the h111 is a landmark from several roads coming into the city and is magnifi.cently situated with views across country to the Sperrin mountains on the Tyrone Derry border.

The monument was erected by Archbishop Richard Robinson (who by then had become Lord Rokeby) to perpetuate the memory of the Duke of Northumberland (then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland) through whose 1nfiuence Robinson had been translated from the bishopric of Kildare to archbishopric of Armagh

~e Obelisk was designed by Francis Johnston of Armagh and according to a letter of his which has survived was completed in 1789.

THB East side of the MALL

!he Armagh Savings Bank was established in 1818 1n a room 1n the ol.d Armagh Tontine or Assembly Rooms, a buil.ding llllOh 1JL daand for social activities in the cl.osiJl8 years ot the 18th century and indeed for the first half of the u:n oatur;J as regards plays, concerts, whist drives, and other .... aenta.

The Savings Bank soon outgrew its single room and so it became necessary to move to its present position where space for a dwelling house as well as a Bank became available.

As a building it is an attractive example of the period in which it was erected, which indeed is what one would expect, for the architect was William Murray, a nephew of Francis Johnston and well known in Armagh and Dublin.

Bui1 t in 1838 it is a tine example of the craftsmanship of 130 years ago.

Hartford Place. This group of houses was built about 1879 and was named in honour of Miss Hartford, better known to Armachians as the wife of Surgeon Palmar of the County Infirmary.

next buildin8 was erected as a school by Archbishop Stuart in 1818. It was orig1naJJy a place of some architectural. merit but recent alterations have changed its character coapleteJ.y and its present pupils are somewhat noisy.

Bt. Mark's Place built circa 1834 is a good example of a period when houses were still thought of as homes rather tmm containers. Its most interestin8 occup&J3.tat the moment is Mr Patrick Moore who al.as leaves us very shortly

THECOUNTYMUSEUMANDLIBRARY

This buildinp; was erected in 1833 as a school and was at first supported by public subscriptions. The architect responsible for it was the celebrated Francis Johnston whose design had been drawn up a few years earlier and subsequently used for its completion by his nephew William Murray.

The school, however, became redundant and its trustees the Earls of Charlemont and Gosford sold the premises to Lord John George Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh, who with characteristic generosity presented it to the Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society, a local body dating back to 1839 and still in existence.

In 1930 the building was acquired by the Armagh County Council for 1 ta County Library and in 1935 it was decided to raTive the Natural History and Philosophical Society's museum !his took a couple of years and resulted in the openiDg of the Armagh County Museumby Viscount Charlemont, ministerof Education for Northern Ireland in 11937• By 1960, however, the Museumhad exhausted the space at its clispoaal aXld it was decided that sou kind of enlargement wae n.eoeaaary so in. September 1962, . His Grace the Duke of Abercornopened our new extension

At thia peint I think I might mention that in 1854

The Grand National Cattle Show was held on the Mall, an event comparable to the present fixture at Balmoral. There were, of course, earlier cattle shows in Armagh. For instance in the museum we have local show medals from 1835 onwards and Armagh Showe continue ae also annual Point-to-Point races.

[Horse Racing] Now I should like to say a few words about the Mall. :From the middle of the 17th century it was the local racecourse and Borough Records show that the Corporation members were very interested in that particular sport. The actual date, however, on which the ground wae first used for that purpose is unknown owing to the loss of Corporation Records of earlier date than 1731 , in which year the Sovereign, Burgesses and :Freemen of the city suscribed towards a plate or prize and fixed prices for stands and booths on the course.

Bl.even years later the Corporation decided to enclose the part lying within the boundaries of the race-course, leaving sufficient space outside the enclosure for the cont1nuation of the sport. Particulars as to di ditches gates eto. then erected appear in the Borough Minutes unde.r 4ate J'IUle 15, 1742. As far as we know that was the fi.rat att•pt to enclose that part of the Commonsof Armagh. !he reeul.t ot the then plenn1ng is shown on Rocque's Map of

1760, which clearly portrays the Commonswithin the Race Course, as aJ.so the Starting and Winning Posts. The area, of course, 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 Kildare to the Archbishopric of Armagh. Whether he found the bull baiting, the free fights, gambling, cockfighting and drinking that followed the races for some days, offensive or not is a matter on which we have little information. It is possible that he considered the subsequent riots, the gipsy and tinker encampments and other disagreeable nuisances, undignified adjuncts to a cathedral town. At any rate in 1773 he leased the Commons to the Sovereign and Burgesses for the purpose of utilizing them as Public Walk for the inhabitants of the city and thus ended its career as the local race course. This arrangement allowed the citizens to use the walks but deprived them of the liberty to trespass upon the lands therein.

In 1797 during the Primacy of Archbishop Newcomethe Mall vae enclosed by a wall. Thie was compl.eted in 1798 and~ be verified by a date stone at the base of the west pillar ot the central. gate facing the Courthouse. Ocmti.alling ve pass Charlemont Place erected 1829-30

This terrace was intended to have been twice its present length. Had it been completed it would have been one of the moat imposing groups of houses in the North. I well remember Sir Albert Richardson, on one of his all too few visits to Armagh, surveying this group and saying that "of its period there was nothing better in Bath". Author of many books on architecture Sir Albert was a very real authority on the subject.

The reason for five houses taking the place of nine is the fact that whilst they were being erected it was rumoured that the Northern Commandwas about to be moved from Armagh to Belfast. This eventually took place in 1843 and was due to the fact that the then town of Belfast was more troublesome than Armagh.

The terrace derives its name from Francis William Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont, born 1775, died 1863, son of James Caulfeild, 4th Viscount and 1st Earl of Charlemont, Captain of the 1st Armagh Company of Irish Volunteers, Colonel of the First Ulster or .Armagh Regiment of Volunteers and Commanderin Chief of the Irish Volunteers, who was born in 1728, died in 1799, and rests with many generations of Caulfeilds in the family vault in the old cathedral.

Now let us continue along Beresford Row. Most of

the houses therein were built circa 1810-1830. No.1, however, was erected in 1809 and was the first house built on this side of the Mall. It is now occupied by Royal Irish Fusiliers and is a most attractive regimental museum. Situate in a building of architectural merit it retains an atmosphere of the past, which certain1y enhances the carefully planned display of Army Colours, Portraits, Uniforms, Medals, etc.

Passing into the west side of the Mall we shall have a hasty glimpse of College Street, a highway that derives its name from the days when the Royal. School was situate in Abbey Street. It was then and for long after known as the College and sometimes indeed described as the "Eton of Ireland".

College Street came into being shortly after the school moved 1n 1774 to its present situation. Few of the houses in the street are earlier than the beg1nn1ng of the 19th century. One bears a date-stone inscribed "V.B. 1825

Ve shall now move along the west side where ve shall see in eucoeasion a smal.J. group of houses known to our reeidenters as Rokeby Green", a term that once incl\Uled tbe who1e area of the Mall. !his was a coapliment paid )T the citizens to .Archbishop Robinson when he was created Lord Rokeby in 1777

On the right we pass the Mall Presbyterian Church, an off-shoot from the First Presbyterian Congregation. The •split• occurred in 1837. A site for a new church was pr .ocured in 1839 and by Februa.ry 1840 it was officia.J.ly opened.

On the same side before crossing Russell Street we pass Gosford Place built circa 1837, named in honour of the second Earl of Gosford, a former Governor of Canada, and continuing pass Russell Street and Melbourne Terrace, so called in remembrance of two English statesmen, Lord John Russell, a warm friend of Irel.and, and Lord Melbourne, a former Irish Secretary of State and later Prime Minister of England.

Here we see the First Presbyterian Church to advantage. Bl11lt in 1879 it is a most attractive building with a particularly gracetul spire.

Bow we continue to the end of the Mall and proceed to Barrack Street from which we make our way into Scotch Street formerly known as Templenafertagh Street, turning left into Dobbin Street where we find on our left one of .Armagh's old hotels, bu1l. t circa 1811 now alas derelict and about to be demolished Once the busiest and possibl.7 most important hotel in the city its host, Philip Keenan named it the Royal 1Ulder which Utle its coaches, private and public, were well launnl on the roads of the Borth.

Dobbin Street is one of the more pleasing streets of the town and a strict eye should be kept upon it. Unfortunately it is already losing its old character by a superabundance of petrol pumps overhanging its footpath, an u8l,y feature that does not seem to have been adopted by other towns in the county.

In the 18th century Armagh was one of the great linen markets of the north and business was so brisk in the beginning of the next century that Archbishop William Stuart

in 1820 bUil t an enclosed market of which only the chief entrance remains with its cupola and clock. A second entrance had some very fine iron work which was sold by the Urban Council. A third entrance from Linenhall Street had its handsome stone-built arch removed recently from its original position in Linenhall Street.

The Yarn Hall nearby was erected in the same year by Leonard Dobbin of Scotch Street. It replaced an older Yarn Hall that was in being at least as early as 1762. !rhe date stone of th e Dobbin Yarn Hall surV'ives incorporated in a CODllllercial.building owned until recently by the Bradford family.

h-Oll Dobbin Street we shall make our way into Thomas ad Ogle Streets. !hey came into beil:J&in 1759 in which year they were formally opened by the Sovereign and Burgesses

) 0 , of the city attended by the Mace Bearers and accompanied by the chief inhabitants. Thie new line of approach and exit from the centre of Armagh was one of the moat useful. amenities that had so far been achieved in the city. Previously all traffic for the south had to surmount Market Street, enter Castle Street, and make its way down Irish Street and out to Gallows Hill by what was known as the old road to the Fews.

The new street enabled commerce to enter and leave the town by a fairly level route and also opened a new way into Callan Street and the west thus avoiding the Callan Street hill.

Ve now move into lower Irish Street and quickly arrive at the Church of St. Malachy'splanned by Ashlin and Coleman and erected in 1935, an edifice that embodies old traditions 1n Irish architecture and is one of the most pleasing of our city churches.

Immediately afterwards we find ourselves at a laneway that once led to Gallows Hill in the days when executions were carried out in public and were well attended by the local inhabitants. Following the Spring and Winter Assizes it was not unusual to see several bodies hanging from the Gallows for perhaps a. week.

From the very early 17th century the Gallows figure largely in local folklore because of their association with certain notorious outlaws and highwaymen. Some of them were idolized by the people, especially those who before their execution made speeches to crowds regarding their crimes. People in those days were hanged for trifli?lg offences. Tradition states that the last man to be executed there was a servant man who was employed by a Scott of Umgola, and had deprived that gentleman of his wife. The enraged husband took the man to court but lost the case because the jury decided an elopement was an accident that might happen to aeybody. Later it was found that the offender had not alone taken bis wife but had stolen Scott's best waistcoat so Scott again brought him to court and as punishment for theft in those days was death, the unfortunate lover quickly decorated the gallows

From here we continue to the Christian Brothers School, an educational. service that came to Armagh in 1861 through the influence of Dr. Paul Cullen, the first Irish PreJ.ate ever to have been ma.de a Cardinal. Dr. Cullen was born in Co. Kildare in 1so:,. Re was sent at an early age to Rome where he remained for many years eventual.ly succeeding

Archbishop Crolly as Primate of A,magh in 1849. Archbishop Cullen was, however, translated to Dublin in 1852 and died there in 1878.

The first abode of the school was a house in Lower Irish Street loaned to the "Brothers" by the Gribben family who also provided them with some empty stores which for a time were utilized as temporary school rooms. In 1862 they acquired Green Park where they have prospered exceedingly and are now one of the most important educationa.l establishments in the city.

UPPER IRISH STREET

The attractive old stone-built houses that once made this an interesting thoroughfare are now alas being demolished.

Ye do, however, hope that a group of two houses facing the entrance to Castle Street may be preserved. fh.ey were erected in 1689 by Richard Whittington and practical.J.Jr rebuilt by one of his descendants, another Richard Whittington. in 1789.

Castle Street is one of the really old streets ot the city and derives its name from the faet that on the 18th Jamiary, 1227, King Henry the Third wrote to Luke Netterville, the then Archbishop of .Armagh asking for a site in the city "fit for the fortification of a castle". fine was duly erected 8114 garrisou4 and its situation is still k:nOlfJl•

.&notur of the more interestiJJC features 1n this street 1a a tenaoe rt'tll. a date etou iJlsoribed Whaley's Buildings 1773 fM7 dten linked Yi th the faaoue Buck Whaley,

a rather notorious character but he was then a minor and the property in the hands of his trustees.

In Chapel Lane, a narrow roadway leading down from Castle Street to Ogle Street, lies the site of the early medieval church of St. Brigid and the much later chapel of St. Malachy an interesting treble roofed building originally entered from two sides by doorways with inscribed keystones dated 1752. This was demolished some years ago and the site is now covered by a modern sohool.

In this same street we have another ancient site on which sat the ancient Priory of the Culdees one of the earlier religious orders, that firet ·appears 1n Armagh 1n the year 919. It had a lOD8 interesting history but alas time does not permit me dealing in any detailed way vith its past.

Ve nov ma)ce our way down Primrose Hill to Navan Street, passing Drelincourt School on our l.eft. Buil.t 1n 1744 by Mrs Drelincourt Yidov of Dr. Peter Drelincourt Dean of Armaghtro111691 to 1722, in which year he died.

lJ'l passing I shoul.d perhaps mention that some years earlier ah• erected what is perhaps one of the •oat iatereeti.Dg 18th century aon\UUl'ltB 1n the ol.d cathedral.. It depict• tile Dean in a r•ol1n1ng position and is the wwlc of the faaous sculptor Rhysbrack

We now turn right into what in earlier days was known as the Nursery Road, so named because of its mideighteenth century nurseries which were well lmown all over the north.

Now we are fast approaching the Callan Bridge from which we can see a portion of the old hi~hway lmown as the "Green Road" by which tradition says St. Patrick reached Armagh in 445 A.D. The story as chronicled bears evidence of the fact. It is indeed well lmown to antiquarians that a trackway from the south brought him to the banks of the Callan River, which he forded and made his way to the ancient fort on the hill above to seek a site for a church from Daire, the then chieftain of the district.

Within a stone's throw of that venerable old roadway lies St. Patrick's Well still a place of pilgrimage and on the a1ope below are three old roadway one branchin& south and the others north and west. Built with a high centre it has convenient niches in its side walls for the refuge of foot passeD8ers who might chance to meet a amabereou carriage or skittish horse but nowadays they are - only oocupie4 by fishermen or an. occasional. courting couple [Old Callan Bridge] 1f• 8haJ.l. aow talc• the na4 te the north.

shall find the river on our right with the new cathedral on an eminence outlined against the sky.

The architect for the building of it was Thomas J. Duff, followillg whose early and untimely death, the work was continued by J. J. McCarthy, another well-known Irish architect. This resulted in a dramatic change in design.

The foundation stone was laid on St. Patrick's Day 1840, by the then Archbishop, the Most Reverend Dr. William Crolly, who alas died in 1849. Due to the tragic famine of 1847 and the deaths of two succeeding archbishops who were unable to take an active part in its completion, it was not opened until 1873• Archbishop Dixon (1852-1866), Archbishop McGettigan (1870-1887) and Cardinal Logue finally brought the scheme to a successful. conclusion by its consecration in 1904.

Its DISBJlificent interior owes its completion to the energy of Cardinal Logue. He adorned the walls with mosaics which may be seen to heat advantage in the figured Bllbjects of the crossing and in the painted ceiling, perhaps the finest feature of the cathedral. His first work was the beautiful. Rood Screen in 1889. In quick auooeesion followed Altars in the choicest marbles. Outside he was equal.ly indefatigable in his efforts and was reepon.s1ble for the eleven white marble statutes of

l \ 6, the Apostles above the central door of the facade. died 19th November 1924. He

The building of the cathedral was the most outstanding architectural achievement in Ireland in the 19th century and reflects great credit on the two architects concerned.

To Mr. Duff, the original architect, the edifice owes its interior design and the beautiful crossing planned to carry a great central tower. The latter feature was, however, omitted 1n Mr. McCarthy's final scheme.

Delightfully situated on a hill on our right is the Convent of the Nuns of the Sacred Heart. Shortly after Dr. Paul Cullen became Archbishop of Armagh he made application to Madam Barat, Superioress of the Nuns, a lady whom he had met in Rome. .l few Nuns came over 1n 1851 who opened schools 1n Abbey Street. !rhey later took up residence 1n the Pavilion, an interesting old Regency house in enclosed grounds but as it was held on lease they had to move in 1854 to Charlemont Place.

Shortly afterwards 1n the year 1859 through the kind assistance of archbishop Dixon the present Convent was buil.t on a nicely rounded hill with a really pleasant view ·of tu olcl town and the adjoining countryside.

!he Order was French origin but the Irish element llae larcel,y predomillated troa the very b,_g1nn1ng though a

few French and German Sisters were attached for teaching those languages.

Mother Croft may be claimed as the foundress and she bad indeed a difficult time finding accommodation for her schools and pupils. She was, however, successful in her heavy task. .Another Nun's memory is also enshrined in the Convent Chronicles, a Mother Gordon, a native of Scotland who like all good Scots combined piety with a. remarkable aptitude for business. During her twentythree years as head of the community the welfare of the Convent rested entirely in her bands and by her exertions a large new wing was bull t in 1885.

!he Convent audits schools flourish and Nuns of the Arma8hConvent of the Sacred Heart can look back with pride on the self-sacrificing work expended in its early daye for all social classes of the Catholic population of Aragh.

:from here we pass out into the old Armagh-Dungannon road J.eaving on our left the old mills of the Manor of Armagh built in the early years of the 17th century, reaoclel.J.ed, of course, but stil.l workable.

Ye An tr&Tel. right and immediately on our J.eft we :t1m4 a haadeoae early 19th century building cOD111only bcnm u tu Blind asylum It was erected in 1837 by

Archbishop Lord John George Beresford as a Hospital. at a period when outbreaks of Fever were plentiful in our towns generally• By 1854 such hospi tal.s were seldom in use, so under the will of Jacob Macan it became avail.able for the purpose of an Asylum for the Blind. It is now no longer in use and should certainly be utilized for some worthy purpose.

On the same side just before continuing into Lower English Street we find on our right the Shambles Market, with an enclosed yard. The Market contains an elegant building topped by a cupola-type clock tower. This gift

was given to the town by Lord John George Beresford in 1827. Unfortunately its yard has become a cattle mart and is far from a pleasant adjunct to that area.

!Towon the right we find a building of some antiquity and once the social centre of the city. !he Belfast NewsLetter of March 16, 1794 carries a notice reporting that •on hiday last, the Committee appointed to superintend the building of the New Tontine Assembly Rooms met on the site chosen when the foundation stone was laid by the Sovereign Thomas Macan Bsq. It will have !ea, card and Coffee Rooms of elegant design and already subsoriptions nave reached £1,500, but £2,074 has yet to b• fo'lm4Robert Livingstone -. , treasurer •

!bis amenity is said to have replaced an earlier Tontine alao cal1ed tbe Assembly Rooms• That seems to have been in use as early as 1785. A.cco-..n~ ... - t •~ o an advertisement in the :sel:tast Newsletter of June 14 of that year a Mr. Kelly most

respecttul.ly informed the subscribers to the Armagh Assembly Rooms that the second assembly would be on Wednesday 22nd inst.the Cotillion Balls to be continued in the second and last Monday in each month. At the same time we learn that Mr. Kelly was al.ways eupplied with the 11.ost fashionable dances and was •1111ng to attend any family within twenty miles of .Armagh.

The Tontine of 1794 was often in use for private • theatricals. !hese seem to have been first introduced into County Armagh by the Right Jkmb1e. William Brownlow of Lurgan who was born in 1726, an4 ..-aa a representative of the county fl'Oa 175'.5 until. 1794 who·1• eredi ted with having eommenoed the first private theatrical• in Ireland at Lurgan in the year 1759. !bis, of cov•e, is earlier than any evidence that I can produce regartiag the City of Armagh • •• knowthat strol.l.illf. players were visiting Armagh 1n the Jlid-eighteeath centUJ7 ad pJ.ay1ng in auitabl.e premises ..... aftila'b1• to thea fe tlle perio4 necessary for exhauatin& tllilir non of plays. a. urliest aote I have foUlld is an •t17 1a .. parish registers of the baptism of George son

of Samuel Geina, a strolling player, and Annabella abella his wife on 28 January 1757.

The Press is a useful source also. For instance a news item in the Belfast News Letter of June 17, 1783 reads married a few days ago in the Cathedral Church of Armagh, Mr. Leslie to the agreeable Miss Peterson, both belonging to the Theatre of Armagh".

By 1821 it was decided to enlarge the Assembly Rooms. New Trustees were appointed in 1828 and improvements made, and, as early as 1841 the Armagh Musical Society was using its Assembly Room for Concerts. In 1861 it was still well supported locally and is described in that yea:r as an establishment of imposing appearance reflecting great credit on the trustees because of the satisfactory way in which it was conducted. Mention is also made of its Supper Room, Public News Room and other apartments, presumably the Ball Room and the smaller rooms for private parties, dances, etc. ~a continued into the beginning of the 19th century when 1n the year 1908 it became the City Hall.

Ve now look across the street to a terrace that once consisted of seven houses. Known to many generations of Armachians as the Seven Houses it now only sports six. houses were erected by the Very Rev. John Averill, a local landowner who was Prebendary of Tynan, Co. Armagh,

:tro• 1765 until 1771, becoming Bishop of Limerick in that year.

~e houses were erected by Dean Averill for his seven sisters and were provided with accommodation for horses and carriages, pleasure grounds, kitchen gardens, etc., and each house had lands on the outskirts of the town for provision of hay, oats, grazing, etc.

!rhe most interesting house in the group was No.1 in which lived the Dean's eldest sister Mrs. Andrews, mother of the celebrated Francis Andrews who during his term as .Provost of Trinity bui1t the present .Provost's House and was responsible for the present west front of the University, Nsides fo\md1ng and endowing the Dunsink Observatory.

!hat particular house was destroyed some dozen years aeo b7 a fire that only consumed the upper part of the staircaee, the attics and the roof. Later it was demolished tiaoach structurally sound despite the protests of many local people interested 1n its preservation.

Ye ehall. now leave English Street for Abbey Street but ti.ret •• ahal.l look at the new Post Office. It is a utility type building of what one might call the container type. dfioe aeooaaociaUon vaa, of courae, necessary but ._ ,eople feel that•• bafl paid. too hi&hlY for that amenity. lee -av laou••bafl bea lleetrey.a 4u to its development

including an o1d Presbyterian Manse erected in the year 1769 which bad a storey added in 1807 and was remodelled and re-x:oofed in 1848, l!'ortunately its church, erected in 1722, was outside the orbit of Poat Office development so therefore still stands.

On the right hand side of Abbey Street and almost opposite the old Presbyterian Church of 1722, we find the site of the old Collegiate Church of St. Columba. !his church seems to have had little endowments but was of some antiquity. It is ~entioned 1n the year 1010 1n the Annals of Ulster and again 1n the Four Masters 1n 1152

J. map of the City of Armagh made in the year 1602 shova St. Columba's Church in a very ruined condition, and under •orders of the Lord Deputy and Plantation commissioners concerning lands for towns and schools in the Escheated Counties, dated January 8, 1610 (1611) we find that it •was then thought fit that a Free School llh.oul.d ~ . placed within the town of .Armagh and that one of the sites of the Friaries should be made a school house

!bis site later passed to the School of Armagh, better mownperhaps as the RoyalSchool of Armagh, cndJ:lcto 1-t• foundation 'by jamesthe lirst in 1608,

fhe school does not seem t h o ave been ready for pupils until circa 1614-15, ·

In the Civil War of 1642 Armagh was thoroughly sacked by order of Sir Phelim O Neill and on that t g1 ra c occasioii John Starkey the first headmaster with his two daughters lost their lives. Starkey i aid · Y s a to have been a man of good pa:-entage and parts and, in the Depositions of that period is described as a grave man of above fourscore years of age. He had pre'Viously been in the service of Queen Elizabeth the Yirst.

Yollowing the Civil War, the school was rebuilt in the year 1657 and a new headmaster appointed. In that year Cromwell's Commissioners made a survey of the parishes of the county wherein we find the name of the then headmaster. B7 that date the school was again in use. !bis rebuilding of 1657 was replaced by a new and much enlarged school in 1708. !his was a much larger establishment and remained in use until Archbishop Robinson removed it to its pr.sent site in 1774.

A house on the right at the junction of Abbey Street

Yith Dawson street was kn.own as the Head Inn in 1689, when :ting James the Second, the only British Xing to ever visit Araagh, stayed in it on his way to Derry. Later it was OOOU.pied.by the Duke of Schomberg who had some troops quartered on a hill just outside the town still known as

Legar Hill. The building in question bas since those days b .. n rebuilt and is now known as the Protestant Hall.

Ve continue up Abbey Street and at the Archbishop Alexander Memorial Hall we are alongside the site of the ancient Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul in whose walls

Xalaohy O Morgair, better kn.ownas St. Malachy, was educated . Born 1n Armagh circa 1094, he was ordained priest at 28 years of age, and became head of the Abbey School of Bangor.

Rebuilt the church destroyed by the Danes. He became Bishop of Connor 1124, consecrated Archbishop of Armagh 11,2, and founded a Priory at Downpatrick 11,S. Met St. Bernard (la~er his biographer) on his way from Romewhere he had been

appointed Papal Legate. On his second visit to Romein

he vu taken ill alld. died 1n Bernard's arms at Clairvaux.

We lmTe n.ev reached the entrance to the old cathedral, the site of St. Patrick's second church. Alas lack of time preTents us discussing its importance in Pre-Chrlstian times.

Ve cannot examine the period of the three Macha's associated. with it. Ve can, however, state with some confidence that following the defeat of the Ultonian in 332AD thie swait Deca. the residence o! a nn lille of chieftain

A. little over a century 1ater Patrick arrived. and fOWld Daire then Prince of the diatriot, l.1Ting within the ancient enclosure that then doJDinated the hill. Patrick, howeTer,

:tai1ed in hie first attempt to secure the hill for a church eo had to content himself with asp 1 ace on ower ground.

Later Daire fell under the influence of the new rel.igLon, embraced the Christian faith and presented Patrick with the site that was hie heart's greatest desire. Soon the saint's second church arose and there quickly grew around other churches and schools, besides habitations for the preachers of the new faith.

Our foundation as a co111JD.UD1tydates to those days. Bftorte were made by the builder of the city to group as much of it as possible within the hill-top rath - there are a'Ull evidences of ite entrenchments - they afforded a ce:r:'laia amount of proteotion.

!he only properl:y' settled area outside this hill top enoJ.oBU.rewae Patrick's first J.ittle church and its domestic building ,ung-,. !hie stood within a circular entrenchment, which

rellBi.ned in evidence unt11 8't J.east 1602. St. Patrick's sister Lupita was buried within it and there a.re stroXl8 ale1ma for her brother's buriaJ. there aJ.so. If he does :aot rest there he lll118tbe in Saul - he is oertainl:y' no~ buried

1a Downpatrick

!he story of Patrick's acquisiticm of the abode in the hill top rath and the story of the churches on that spot to tlle wouJ.d occupy our attention for several hours so

I all now going to suggest that we have a special meeting soae evening to discuss the growth of Armagh from the beg:lnn1ng of St • Patrick's Mission down to more recent times.

Nov from this spot we shall glance t f la a a ew p ces that merit discussion, so let us begin with the Cul-de-sac facing the west front of the Cathedral and now known as Vicar's Hill. In 1726 Archbishop Hugh Boulter built four houses for the reception of clergymen's widows. endowed with £50 per annum. These he

The area was then grass-covered and extended back into Callan Street. Later Archbishop Richard Robinson supplemented those amenities and erected a :further group of five houses in 1780, and a spacious Music Hall and a repository for Diocesan Registers Wills etc. .lt that time Vicar's Hill was known as the Pound Hill.

!he pound was first situated at Gallow's Hill but moTed to the Cathedral Hill in the middle of the 18th century where it remained until 1806 when a new Pound still existing was brought into being at the back of the Prison and is in all probability the oDl.y surviving exaaple in any town in the .onb..

Ve sball nert consider the ArmaghPublic Library !his WU "fOIUldecla.ad endowed by Archbishop Robinson in 1771 , aD4 · contains some thirteenth century manuscripts as well as a

collection of Diocesan registers o~ s .rom that period down to the beginning of the 18th cen+-•-· and 1 .,..J a so a valuable collection of theological, historical and archaeological interest.

The first Armagh Library that we have any record of 1s mentioned in the Ulster Annals in 1020, which is the earliest reference to such an institution in Ireland. A later Armagh Library with all its valuable books was destroyed in 1642.

Archbishop Robinson's foundation of the Library Observatory was bound up with his idea of a university in Armagh. UD;tortunatel.y his planning failed. Earlier attapta had been made. In 1558 Archbishop Dowdall advised Queen Mary of the necessity of a university and school. in such places as Armagh and in 158:5 Queen Elizabeth the l!'irst proposed that universities should be placed at Armagh and Limerick. Both cities had excellent backgrounds but Arma8h had a special. of Ireland. It was then as now the ecclesiastical. capital

In 1559 the Earl of Tyrone suggested that a university ehould be erected where the sciences might be taught aceoriiac to the RomanCatholic Church but that appeal also oaae to n.oqht.

!be :tOW1dation of a university at Armaghwas &&&in U'fte)lt to aotioe by Thomas Orde, the then Irish Chief

Secretary who in April 18, 1787, introduced into the Irish House of Commonsa scheme of d t e uca ion that passed the House. by opposition from Trinity who no It was blocked, however, doubt feared that part of its lar t ge ea ates in County Armagh might be devoted to the proposed University. Unfortunately a change in Government took place shortly afterwards that resulted in Orde' a_retirement. It is clear, however, that it was intended to revise the proposal again for Archbishop Robinson's will contained a bequest of £5,000 towards its establishment with £1,000 for a chapel to serve the proposed college

Strong efforts were made to induce the British Government to _agree on the foundation. Lord Cornwallis, the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was a keen supporter of the movement to put the Archbishop's wishes into operation but the Duke of Portland, the then British PrimeMinister, re:tu.sed to co-end the application to the King with the result that the legacy lapsed !he matter, however, was ».ot allowed to drop. In 1826, a few years ~ter his appointment to the Archbishopric, Lord John George Beresforcl approached Henry Goulbourne, Chief secretary for Ireland 1821-1828, and M.P. for the :Boroughot Armagh 1826-18,,, to bring the •'tt•r before Lord Liverpool, 1ale tluta Bri.tiah Prime Minister who died shortly afterwards, N utlaillg wu aoeoapliued. As a matter ot taot Goulbourne

felt that the question of detriment to Trinity was likely to deprive Armagh of such an inet·tuti J. on.

Armagh was not.,,,..,~- t bl ""e)........,, rou ed by education problems

:uzitil the year 1845. When the foundation of Queen's Colleges was proposed the town was once more in the 11mel.1ght. A meeting of the chief citizens took plaoe on August 7th at whioh Archbishop Crolly was present and supported the City's desire for a College. The Archbishop was a broad-minded prelate beloved by all sections of the community and ei:x years earlier had founded St. Patrick's seminary now one of the moat important educational. establishments 1n the city. On St. Patrick' e Day 1840 the foundation stone of the new Cathedral was laid. To h1a .,._.p owes a debt of gratitude for a beautiful church.

lf4f a1so bull t St. Patrick' e Seminary in 1838 which has tlourished beyond belief. fhe pupils th<>U8hfew, rapidly increased and day boys as well as boarders were received.

!h.OIJ8hl.83-pupile have always been welcoaed, the seminary was and is mainly intended for the purpose of preparing andats for the College of Maynooth. lrom 1861 the seminary has been staffed by Vincentian fathers who have ... t euooeee:tul].y' conducted it ever since - but to return to the Queen's Colleges.

Archbishop Lord John George Beresford was unable, owing

to 11l,ness to attend but he offered a gift of £1,000 towards the estab1ishment of a Divinity Chair.

Like Archbishop Crolly he was equally popular, but neither Bishops foresaw the religious difficulties that were to arise and shatter their hopes for Armagh.

Later Archbishop Crolly accompanied a local deputation to interview Lord Heytesbury, the then Lord Lieutenant, but that gentleman thought the buiJ.ding of a new college for Ulster in the City o-£ Armagh might o£fend the Presbyterians

In Ulster generally the matter was one of interest and epeewlati-oa but the contest between Armagh and Belfast continued. Partisans in those towns engaged in a newspaper correspondence in. which hard thiDgs were written by both parties. Belfast scorned upon Armagh's pretensions as the ecclesiastical capital. J.rmagh replied that such arrogance came with a peculiarly bad grace from a town of mushroom growth, noted only for its spinning jennies and factories. !he Morning Herald" fanned the flames by stating that Armagh was a more academical town than her alluvial neighbour. Belfast retorted by asking what had ever been done by them for education. Swift came the reply "that is a story that began :tourteen centuries be :tvr• the smoking town of .Bel.fast emerged from the mud on whi o)l. U si ta". It was a wo~ •a-tare an4 aost amusing. ~r, Belfast secured the OOftted prise wt Armagh pr #HN: the college with its :tirst

,resident, the Rev. Doctor P. s. Henry, Minister of the first Armagh congregration He was offered the presidency by the Lord Lieutenant on November 29, 1845, and thus one of the keenest supporters of the effort to establish the !nllti tution in Armagh became the head of the new college in Belfast.

Opinion was very divided as to the usefulness of such colleges. Some people were alarmed by the idea that young people of various faiths might have to mix with each other. qn the whole, however, the proposed colleges were a val.uable contribution to Irish education, and Queen's College, Belfast, has certainly vindicated its foundation. !Promits creation it hu pursued a progressive and enlightened policy that justifies its intellectuaJ. leadership of the Province and now, of course, a university Since its foundation a second university has appeared in Coleraine -of that I have nothing to say other than I think it was a mean trick to alJ.ov .lrmagh and Derry to waste money in a futile attempt on a site that had already been found. .

!he first proper hospital in the city was, to the beat 11,1 kn.owl.edge, called the Charitable Infirmary It was ftpported by private subscriptions UDfortunately I am -.bi. to give the actual. date of its foUJ1dation. It was, UWner, a well organised eetaltliab•ent, supplying good

aedical. and surgical services in 1765 at which time it had aiready been for some time in being. In that year an Act was passed by the Irish House of Oommonsfor the provision of county hospitals and in the following October a meeting was held in Armagh at which it was agreed to found such an institution. Plans were formulated at later meetings and 'by Jul.y 1767 the Governors of the proposed County Hospital had acquired the premises of the Charitable Infirmary in Scotch Street. In the meantime the County Hospital functioned from there, and its Board of Governors assigned their accumulated funds to the Governors of the new institution, who were further helped by the 1oca1 doctors, who had given their services free to the Charitable Infirmary ad acted in the same capacity to the County Hospital until the appointment of a surgeon.

The completion of the new hospita1 took longer than was anticipated oYing to a misunderstanding between the Governors and the architect, an affair resultiD8 in 1.t not being ready for patients until seven years later, during Yhioh tille the Charitable Infirmary remained in use as tu CountyHospital The Governors met for the first time in the •n Infirmary ill September 1774, and at that meeti?J8 it Wu clecidecl that the patients should be removed from the Infirmary forthvi'th, whieh transfer took place ev~ 1a the follow.in& aonth and from that date the County

_

Hospital. has served the city and the county from its present s1te.

Time does not permit me to deal with the growth of the County Hospita1 but I should like to stress the fact that the original block is a very pleasing example of the work of George Ensor a notable eighteenth century architect who married a County Armagh lady, the beautiful Miss Clarke of Ardress, and settling there was the ancestor of the Ensor of that place, a family from whomit passed by the desire of the late Captain C. H. Ensor, O.B.E., D.L., to the National Trust and a house that we propose to visit.

In the first Minute Book of the County Infirmary . there is a pen-picture of the extent and the then lay-out of the wards and from the description therein we learn that it was originally bounded on the front by a high wall, through haadsomely worked iron gates. !his old Minute Book is a ll1ne of information on the growth of the hospital from its inception, down the years to 1853, besides being a source ot historical events like the "Big Wind" of 1839, the of 1847, etc.

Howard's Survey of such establishments shows that he visited Armagh 1782. He found the wards spacious. !lie patients then lay in boxes or cupboards that had Ne tniHcl to attord pr1Taoy, but were no doubt wrong from the

point of view of health. At anyrate he considered them close and offensive, and in his report pointed out that uJld,er those circumstances, beds coul.d not be conveniently mad• or aired, and the tops of the box-like structures in which they were enclosed were simply harbours for dust ~ Canopied and curtained beds, were, of course, commonthen, so ve may assume that the Infirmary beds were the same idea worked out in timber. That is, however, a picture of the wards in the first day of our County Infirmary.

Succeeding surgeons have left their mark in the development and the years have brought about its enlargement and a high system of efficiency. What its future may be ia doubtful. but the original building and ite facade must be preserved.

Pro• this point we can see the windmill It replaced a IIUCh earlier one on the same site, which tradition states was destroyed in the second year of the Civil war It was, hovffer, re-erected in 1660 and remained iJl use until circa 1800. It was aca1n rebuilt in 1810 and still stands though JIOlr dnoid of its machinery.

Al.so Tisibl.e :trom here are Armagh Gas works Brected

1a 1834 the to'lf!l was then lighted by Coal Ge.a and unfortunately ._ procure a aite far the works it was considered necessary to demolish a circle of standing stones, the remains of a

prehistoric burial place, which should have been preserved. Had it been retained, Armagh would have been unique as regards Irish towns.

We shall now take ourselves along to Scotch Street where we shall first visit the site of Templenafertagh, st. Patrick's first church 1n Armagh, one of the most sacred spots in our ancient city, the reputed burial place of the saint's sister Lupita and indeed may be the last resting place of himself. Whether this Church became a nunnery in the lifetime of its founder or after the acquisition of the hill for his principal Church is now uncertain as in 1078 the Annals of Inisfallen record the death of Dubthach Ua Sochain, sage priest of Na Fertagh at Armagh. There is no doubt, however, but that it had become a nunnery befor, the year 1430 and remained so until the beginning of the Plantation period, by which time it passed into the hands of the Annesley family. The Armagh Pictorial

Map of 1602 shows the little church in ruins

!he site was eventual.ly acquired by the Dobbin family !he premises contained about 3½acres and were bounded by Scotch Street in front, the Primate's demesne in the rere, the Scotch Street river in part on the east and Prentice's Lane on the west. The church site was largely in the garden at the rere of Leonard Dobbin's handsome mansion of

1812, which is now in occupation of the Bank of Ireland. Dobbin was Member of Parliament for the city of Armagh trom 1833 to 1838. Born 1762 and died 1844.

The Bridewell occupied a site in this street from at least 1634 • In 1713 it was still in being with a building mown as the Workhouse as well as a Bowling Green adjoi.niDg the Bridewell •

.A.more modern building now known as the Wagon Wheel at the bottom o:t the street was formerly known as the Prussian Arms. This in reality was a portrait of the King of Prussia on a white horse. Less than ha1.:t a century ago the hanging signs was sent to a Belfast :tor re-painting and came back showing King William on a white horse crossing the Boyne That a King in action should have had the audacity to ride a white horse in battle made no impression on the artist.

Now I shall tell you an anecdote about a lady whose husband lived in Scotch Street in the mid-eighteenth century and had what in those days was known as a super "House of Call". Faulkiner's Dublin Journal of Saturday, !'ebruary 17, 1746 carries an obituary which reads -"Last week died •~ Armagh Mrs. Peg Stringer much lamented and parli.cul.arl.yregretted by the gentlemen o:t the Bar and Circuits, whom. she always studied to entertain agreeably" That was a

p1easing tribute as to the worth of the good lady, but unfortunately the member o:f the Bar and Circuits who was entrusted with 1eaving the notice at Faulkiner's suuested an epitaph which read -

"Here lies Peggy Stringer, who loved in her soul

A toast - and a lawyer - a bout - and a bowl; And because in the grave, there's no drink to be had, For a belly full living had drunk herself dead".

l'rOm a City of Armagh Census of 1770 we know that she left at least one son to carry on the business as the entry in the Census states that Thomas Stringer and his wile, Inn Keeper was then resident with his five sons and three cl&1J8}ltersin Scotch Street and that they were a Church of Ire.land family.

Ve are now heading tor the Market Square, at one time the centre of the city and nowadeys better known as Market Street. In origin it seems to have derived its names trom the fact that markets and fairs were held there until well into the 18th century.

!he old Sessions House with its underground Prison was oae of ita earliest features. Stuart in hie "Memoirs of Armaghcity published in 1819, describes it as 'lollowe:-

"!he old gaol consie~ of a dismal suite of subterraneoue apariMnte dirtftl.7 ~•r the Sessions House. A ~t o'l stone stairs let down to these gloomy caverns,

where debtors and felons suffered a kind of semi-inhumation. aenoe in the middle of the last century, when grave citizens would forebode the fate of any idle and dissolute townsman they would say "He will go down the "nine steps" •

The wards of this doleful dungeon were not only arched over with heavy and solid mason-work, abutted in front and rear on walls of seven feet thickness, but encircled and coapletely secured with a kind of ma.say reticulated iron work. Here in a kind of darkness visible, the unhappy 1.mnates sighed away their hours".

Balls were sometimes held in the Market House directly over the dungeon in which the condemned felons were deeply in solitary confinement • .

!he first record that I know of with regard to .Assizes being held in this Sessions House is an Inquisition taken at Armagh before Gerard Lother, one of the judges of the commonpleas and Sir Robert Jacob Knight, Solicitor-General, on the 13th .lpril, 1615, by virtue of a Commission dated 15-th ~ebruary, 1 614.

!he jury consisted of fifteen County Armagh residents, UlODgst them two kins aen. of my own, one described as a gentlemenand the other as a "Yeoman". I have often l"eacl the findings of ._,. partioular Assize. Many people ••:reacquittecl of the enaes they were accused of but oth.u s

werefound guilty and the dread sentence "to be executed at .&,rmagh" appended to their names.

The furniture of the old Sessions House included ducking stool for the punishment of commonscolds, as well as scolds bridles. An Armagh example of the bridle 1 til1 survives. It was a somewhat inhuman instrument and was used to curb the tongues of too talkative women. It consisted of an iron framework, to fit over the head with a fixed gag in the mouth. !rhis was then locked at the Stuart informs us that in the 18th century there were only four notorious scolds punished, one of whom, a Mrs. King, having poisoned her husband, her tongt19 and her eloquence was at last stopped by the hangman

In Corporation Records there are references to idle, lewd and disorderly women being taken up and placed in the House of Correction. Pillories and stocks are also mentioned.

The first Armagh Market House that we have any record of vae destroyed in 1 642 by Sir Phelim O'Neill on which ocoaaion the Round Tower, the Cathedral, its Bells and Organs and its fine old Library went up in flames. At the same time the Market House was damaged so that a new edifice became :uoeeaary 1n 1664. !his was replaced in 1742 aud completely rebuilt in 1815 by archbishop William Stuart, whose accidental death by poisoning in May 1822 was a great shock to the •1:u.... of .&.rmag}l.

On the south side of the Market Place where the steps 1ead down to the lower level is one of the old residences of the town. It housed King James on his way from Derry to the south and to his defeat at the Boyne.

The Market Cross was raised from the rubbish in which it was buried (according to Stuart} and placed in the centre of the Market Place where it had lain in that condition from the end of the 17th century. It is clear, however, from the Corporation Records that the Cross was repaired in 1744, and made secure in its original position, above an ancient well. In 1813 it was again thrown down 8Dd l.ater from the motive of safety it was brought to the grounds of the old Cathedral for preservation, and later removed to the north aisle where surviving portions are on exhibition.

In 1760 the first Post Office that we have any record of vas sited at the top of the north side of the Market Place. Its position is clearl.y shown on a map by Rocque published in that year.

And now l.ast but not least. In the 17th century certain licensed premises in the immediate vicinity of were commonlycalled "Holes in the wall Gates

•t prisons were not so readily opened and such buildings ••reequipped vi th a space in the wall through which food 9oaJ.4 be passed to a warder for inmates -rather similar

.

to the hatches that one sees in modern houses to-day but, of course, of much less depth and in t h e case of the old Sessions House, penetrating a seven foot wall.

Despite the fact that the 'Hole-in-the-Wall' should perhaps be the oldest licensed house in the city it is difficult to find the actual date for its erection. It has probably been in its present position from circa 1614, It seems to have the same establishment as that burned in 1683 and rebuilt some time before 1708 • .Pubs in Market Square include the Sign of the Spread Eagle, and the Sign of the Swan, both in Market Street, all of 1703 vintage. The Spread Eagle had, however, been burned in 1683 and rebuilt. The Swan was situated next door to the Sessions House and was very popular in the ~ tlU!ly days of the 18th century.

BELFASTBANK

This particu1ar Bank was first situated in Market Street and was und~r the management of ThomaeKidd , Eeq., of Upper English Street, whose elegant very early 19th century house still survives and is the residence of the present manager.

Originally Mr. Kidd's house eat at a considerable distance back and had green lawns coming down to the footpath, a stone stairway to the entrance to the hall, with its two handsome iron lamp standards still in place at the bottom of the steps.

Ve know that the Bank was in being in Market Street in 1840 and that by 1850 it had been moved to its present aituation, which gives it a pleasing entrance from the footpath, but unfortunately hides the old Kidd house from view.

The new Bank came into being circa 1850 at which time Thomas Kidd was still manager and living in his own house. the 1ater quarters for the Bank were designed by Lanyon, a 41etingu.ished architect whose work is well represented in Belfast !he stone from which 1t was bu.11t was from a quarry owned by the Rev. Mr. Pratt of Glasslough • ..._ to haTe come into use in 1850 according to a note 1D.

Guardian on Jul.3' 1st of that year.

In tha ear1Y days of Irish Banking the managership of llala 1ut1tutione vu usual.ly giTen to some person with 1194 local conection Mr Kidd filled the post admirab1Y.

[e was a man of some wealth, was a Justice of the Peace lndChairman of the City commissioners for a J.engtby period.

!}le early bank residence is still in use. It seems i piV that it cannot be seen from the street but perhaps Lt ie better that it should retain its peacei"u.J.ness and t14 vor1d charm.

CASTLESTREET

It TJJB.Ysurprise some of you to know that the Garden d of Edenwas situated here in Castle Street. For a good -,a.DYyea.re in the first half of the 19th century it was ,ept ill beauti:ful order by a man called "Paddy Neat Coat". Paddy kept an excellent wardrobe. His coats were . aanY'and were tailored to perfection. He wore Kerseymore shorts with Hessian boots tied at the knees with ribbon and tassels according to changes 1n the weather.

He ie said to have been somewhat vain as regards appearance and attached to his hostelry was a well kept and aheltered garden with tables and comfortable chairs at which one cou1d enjoy his various drinks and help himself to appl.es, gooseberries and strawberries 1n their seasons.

He imagined that he was a very active man and talked greatly about how necessary it was to take the air, but his premises to the He believed that was cold and that they soon

When I came to .Armagh in 1911 "Neat Coat" was dead but his 'bar hie famous advice to his friend.a still occupied ,._, Dent place on the wall.

lr licquor a good, my measure's just h:t xr._ been cheated to '11'1sorrow, low l am reaolTed to tru.at no JION lo~ to-day, and I aa fr•• to say, 1-. WW. be velo0118~act to-aorrow.

1 6 7 6

A young man called William Peplow was born in London on 4th July, 1794, and at the age of ten was put to learn the clockmaking trade. It is not certain whether he completed his apprenticeship or not, but it is certain that some years later he was stationed in the Military Barracks, Armagh, in the 90th Regiment of Foot. While here he met and married Catherine Ann Young in 1814, and a year later their first son was born. He was baptised in St. Mark's Church and called William after his father. Both of these events are recorded in our parish registers. by 1820 William Peplow had obtained his discharge from the army, and was back in Shropshire working on his own account as a clockmaker. He died at the age of one hundred years and eight months. His eldest son, William, learned the trade from his father and, as well as being a watchmaker of renown, became a skilled engraver. He engraved the brass dials of the Grandfather Clocks made by bi.a father. Leaving home, he sought his fortune, first 1n Armagh, the place of his birth, but evidently he didn't find it here, for some time later he moved to Cork and later still, he returned to England He established 1n 1862 a watch and clock mak:Jngbusiness in Stourbridge 1'b1oh, with the years, grew and moved from site to site, aa4 there. His son, another William

became the third in succession as a watchmaker. Of him it is recorded that on 4th July, 1894, he rode a penny farthing bicycle from Stourbridge in .Worcestershire to Shifnal in Shropshire to attend hie grandfather' a hundredth birthday party. In 1916 hie son, still another William, (the fourth) joined the firm. He greatly extended the business and added to it the making of spectacles. He is still there although his son, the fifth William, is gradually taking over the business responsibilities. One morning towards the end of June, the Rectory doorbell rang and the Rector, on opening the door, discovered a lady and gentleman there with a problem. !hey were William (the fourth) and Mrs. Peplow and their problem was, how could they set about finding the parish registers in order that they might see the afore-mentioned entries. We went to the Church Vestry and the old registers were br~ught from the safe and there, sure enough, were the entries almost as clear as the day they were written, safely preserved by the Church. On looking up and finding such entries, one has a renewed sense of the age and continuing life of a parish with generation after generation appearing and passing on. But a far greater sense of that oontinuing life was to be given by what followed. Mr. Peplow asked if he might see our communion Plate and mentioned that he had just completed

a survey of all the CommunionPlate of his diocese in England • We showed him the flagon and alms dish which he stated were good, but modern (early nineteen hundreds). Then we showed him the two old CommunionCups and patons which are used Sunday by Sunday in St. Mark's. These greatly interested him and he stated that, so far as he cou1d judge without his books of reference, they were about 300 years old. He made a copy of the various marks stamped on them and promised to send full details when he returned to England. This he very kindly did. The plate was ma.de in London for the parish of Armagh in the year 1676 by a silversmith called John Ruslen. The same man made Communion plate for the Church of St. Ma.ry 1 s, Sunbury, England.

Needless to say such ancient pieces are most valuable, but a far more impressive fact is this, that when we come to Holy Communion we receive that Holy Sacrament from vessels that have been hallowed by the worship of Armagh l)ariehioners for almost 300 years. What changes have come about in the world throughout those years? But the saae vessels are used at the same service, which brings the same comfort and help and hope to us to-day as it did to vorahippers throughout that long and changing period of hiatory.

Ve are Yery grateful to Mr. Peplow for the trouble he

taken to supply us with this very interesting ~s il)!orJDB.tion, which began with the fact that William Peplow married Catherine Ann Young in 1815, both of whomprobably i ~ed communion from the vessels in which his greatreo• grandson took such a keen interest.

INTRooocToRY

~is is a copy of an address made by the late Major Boyle to a Joint meeting of the Trustees or the Macan Asylum tor the Blind and the Trustees ot the Workshops for the Blind. '.rhe original was toaerly in bis Estate Office, Russell Street . Annotations and corrections by T. G. F. Paterson.

Macan Asylum for THEBLIND

''1 tbink possibly so:ne of you might like to hear a ,tior1: history of the Macan Asylum for the Blind .

In the year 16961 Armagh was granted a Charter by James ;aid, to manage its ow affairs through a Sovereign and twelve (12) .Burgesses. The Burgesses had to be men ot 1ntegr1ty, probity and honesty, and the first Sovereign, Mark Ussher 2 was appointed by the King himsel.t .

In 1759 or some sixty years later, Thomas Macan 3 was appointed Sovereign and he served tor eight terms, none ot than being conseoutive.

In 1797lt Arthur Jacob Macan was Sovereign, and he Hned tor that and the follow.1.Dg two years, and it is he mo 1• our bene.factor. He resigned to go to Bengal, and died some .forty years later, and by his will; dated 9th · lune, 1819 he left the residue of bis estate to the sovereign and Burhesses of the Corporation and Inhabitants ot t.be C1t7 ot Armagh tor building and endowing an asylum for the blind 1n that City on the plan, of that at Liverpool, •t epen alike to all Religious persuasions and, tree trom ilU ti1G1pllne ottena.Ye to tbe tenets ot 8D.7, yet strongl7 latlaleats.ng aoun4 and citore:lng attendance at their l!elp•ft1••plao• of worship the resident burgesses or .the , •• Dean the presbyterian Minister and the Parish priest ot 4aqb ad three oitiuna, . an ·Bpiacopallan,

presbyterian and Roman catholic selected by each sect to "tb•Governors and Directors of the Institution and to ,_.. 8 solemn oatb that they will not act from favour or · .neot1on, but soley for the good ot the Institution, and

ut,end its bane.tits to the utmost, and in the first !JlltaDc• to the blind of the County ot Armagh, in prei"erenoe at all times, not meaning that their admission shal.l be of l'l&bt, nor that 1 t be an asylum to indulge sloth but rather to instruct them bow to earn their 11Ving, and to ' then the deaf anddumb might be added if the tunds adllittecl ot it hereafter. •I appoint the partners of the tt111ot Neasrs. Alexander and Co. to which I belong my ,._tora. 11

Sangor 9th June 1819. , A. J. Macan (Seal). In 181ta IIUYinng Trustee presented a petition to th • Lord Chancellor, to grant permission tor a Scheme to be •• lip 1n acoordanee w1 tb the will. 1n l8S, a lch••va• app:rove4 and ocmfirae4. !b• •llln . PGlnta in the lob•• being (1) . that the Five trustees ll)JI01ntecl an4 be at liberty ~o pureha•• trom Primate Robinson ,s .n_,,.1'4•BaJtOnRokeby a bw.141.ng tor £1.,1:00 • lJbc on •• wsten 114•, clo'•• to ~. ~una.u, or"- '1 ot 4111ap. lhJ.• 1.a the preHat asylum lineb t.• I

• geogian building of which I have a not very flatt er1ng ~graph.

Th• trustee• were empowered:

(1) To expend £300 on alterations, £300 on Furniture , beds, and bedding:

(2) To expend the sum of £50 per year on servants exclusive of their rations. (This Trust I fear has been broken).

(3) To admit not exceeding twelve (12) males into the Asylum.

In 1855 a later Order was made that the Trustees, the Deanot Armagh, the Presbyterian Minister ot the First congregation of Armagh, and the Parish Priest or Armagh, tor the time being, and three laymen representing the above three religions should constitute the governing body. In tile Jnr 1924, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, the Rt.

Hon T. F Moloney, made an Order transferring the sum or cao,ooo odd to :Northern Ireland, and in June 192lt, Mr. lutiee Wilson made an Order that the Accountant General ._Ul.4 pq to the Provencial Bank: ot Ireland the dividends

• theae 8\Ba. !he governing body, as above, lilich was then '-ftlcmtns, haYe ainoe unaged the Asylum to the beat or

•• 1 •bU.117. Basket making was carried on tor many years,

•• Uout ton, ( l+O) year• ago a workshop was added at the "- ot tbe building tor th1• purpose. This work has I~ oeaHd through many causes, and tor many Year• ...11111'1:>el•t 1»l1nd baa dectreaaed, owing, I think, to

•• poliCY of helping these people in their homes, and not ,t11diDI them to Institutions, which are rather now looked cto'lllupon · - another word fallen into disrepute.

1'11• trustees still have Mr. Arthur Macan of Drumcashel Co Louth, a direct descendant of Arthur Jacob Macan, 6 as ' ·~c1.r Qlairman, and he takes a great interest in this, a .s 414 his father be.tore bim. At present he 1s liVing 1n · England and he and the 1'rustees feel that they ld.11 be ·earr,ing out the original 1'ruat, and doing what is best by pt911a:ring a Schan• and becomlng incorporated as 1 t were, vitb 7our Association, still keeping its identity vitb the ,, MacanTrust, and hartng representation on the new Board.

In 1696 William and Mary were on the throne. James II i. did however dissolve the Corporation ot Armagh U1 168b and replaced the Sovereign and Burgesses by the appointment ot adhe .rents of his ow, a state of af'.f'drs · quickly reversed by events at . the Boyne .

,_ Mark Ussher was first Sovereign under the Charter • granted by James I 1n 1613.

·l• Thomas Macan was Sovereign 17591 1763~ 1769 1 1771,. 8'1;773, 1775, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1181, 1182, 1183, 1, ~, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, and 1791+.

lt. Arthur Jacob Macan Sovereign l?9S-1797 was son of Thomas Macan above. He did not serve as stated .from 1797 until 1799.

J. Archbishop Robinson died in 1794 Lord John George Beresford was Primate 1n l8Sa.

~. Arthur Jacob Macan left no issue. Instead or "direct descendant" Hr. Arthur Macan should be described as kinsman

'.L'.rL.:; Macan Asylum for 'l'HE BL I ND .

The Sept of the McCanns in the early 17th century u ied the north eastern angle of the county whe re it ~~d~rs upon Lough Neagh , and their territory is clearly wn on the Plantation Maps of 1609 . The date of their sh~t1ement in the district is uncertain but the Annals of i~eFour Maste rs record the death of Macan, Lord of Cinel Aenghusa Aenghusa in 1155, and state that he was buried in Ardrn~cha 7 from which date onwards references are plentiful . Chieftai~s £ the Clan figure frequently in -battles in medieval times, in ~he la ter wards of Elizabeth and James, in the Civil War of l64l- 42, and the Revolu tion of 1688 . The senior line is believed to have terminated with Glasney Macan who left an onlY daughter, Elizabeth Maca n , who married John Hamilton,a Colonel in the army of James II who fell at the Bat tle of Aughrim. 1

In the next century the head of the clan seems to have been Thomas Macan of Armagh, a Freeman of the city and the Archbishop 1 s agent for the Manor of Armagh. The above Thomas first served as Sovereign or Chief Magistrate of Armagh in 1759i and was again Sovereign six times between that date and 777, from which year he served continuously until 1794. He died in 1795, leaving with other issue (for whom see B .L.G. "Macan of Drumcashel 11 ) a son Arthur Jacob Macan Captain 24th Light Dragoons, who died in India 18th September, 1819, founder of the Macan Asylu m for the Blind who bequeathed a sum of money to the Sovereign and Burgesses of Armagh under which an Asylum for the Blind was eventually opened in 1854.

Captain Macan Will was proved in 1823, but for some la reason the bequest was not implemented until the death of his st surviving nephew following which a sum of £11 1ao.2.1od. Government 3¾per cent Stock, became available in 1848 for the •ndowment o:f the proposed institution .

Much difficulty was experienced in :finding a site, so :~~cation was made to Lord John George Beresford (then !he bishop of Armagh) :for the Fever Hospital and its grounds au hospital had been erected by that Primate in 1827 and wa·s .Jrirted from funds provided by the same generous prelate. at a time when :fevers were rampant in the city and in

r. A Glasney and John Macan were tenants on Cross in the Manor of Maghernahely in 1752 They also appear in 1765 .

ian d generall y, it had served its purpose and was practical~Y Ifree of patients . Its architect was the famous Francis s Johnston who, in the closing years of the 18th and first cg J~ of the 19th century , was resp onsible for many of irmagh's more notable buildings .

certain alterations were necessary and were duly c a rri ed out but the facade remains as first designed . The official operiin g took place on 1st Ap ril, 1854, and the first patients arrived on ·that date .

The Fever Hospital cost Lord John £3 , 500 but he allowed the Trustee s of the newly f or med Asylum for the Blin d to have the hosp i tal and grounds for a sum of £1 ~2 00. Patients were at first received from Louth , Down, and Tyrone in which counties the Macans had interests , but na tiv es of Armagh, the county with which the family was most intimately connected , were to have p reference.

ST. MALACHY' S CHAPEL

CHAPEL LANE

ARMAGH

This is a copy of some notes on the Old Chapel of st. Malachyformerly situated in close proximity to the traditional birthplace and in the immediate vicinity of the Church of St. Brigid co mpiled by the late Rev. L. Murray.

The material is undated and the script was loaned to me by the Rev. Professor T. Fee of Maynooth

This I have done by tile way of annotations.

T. G. F. PATERSON.

11THEOLDCHAPEL II

~ 8 middle decades of the eighteenth century were l\Oted tor the intense church- building activity which was 11>progress th roughout the whole of Ireland. The dawn vas beginning to break on the long night of bondage. fb• devouring flame of persecution had gradually burned J:tself out, although spa~odic outbursts were still being tanned into life, showing themselves to-day in one county, -~-morrow in another. The last really serious conflagra- .., t1oJl occurred in the year 1744 when the rewards for -.,turing a bishop or a priest were increased, respectively, t:rom£,'0 and £20 to £200 and £70. It was not any new llom feeling of kindness towards Catholics that finally 1R'I.Ulgconcessions from the bigoted rulers of Ireland; bat rather a sense of shame, combined with a consciousness CJ!their own power le s sne s s to enforce the Penal Code. be or the more tolerant amongst the landlords -ashamed ot '"ing their tenants being exposed, Sunday after Sunday, 1o the "1.cissi tudes of the elements - had already granted 8 •1on to use old factories, vacant lofts or unused coach houses for the purpose of saying Mass; but the Ol'o'Wdi.ng,congestion, and resultant strain on longed and rotten structures were the occasions of many 1 accidents, some ot which resulted in dreadful lost Jtt.. One such d11a1te-r occurred outside Cookstown

ur o'WilArchdiocese; but it would appear that it was ill 0 the collapse of a floor in Dublin,< 1 )caused by over~wdi,ng during the celebration of Mass, that finaJ.ly torced a reluctant government to grant many welcome, if long overdue, concessions to the Catholics. The cruel ~ roclaniation of 1744 was recalled before a year had elapsed; and Catholics received permission to erect places of worship on secluded sites, where the buildings .could not be seen from the public highways.

Dire necessity had been the origin of many abuses that had crept in during the long period of oppression; -11d the opportunity for perfecting ecclesiastical.

~.41.~cipline - afforded by the relaxation of the Penal Lawswas eagerly taken advantage of by the bishops of the :COuntry. None was more active than Dr. Michael O'Reilly, archbishop of Armagh; and the building of suitable ehurcbes was, next to the writing of his famous Catechism, the chief object of his activities. It is related that for Years he devoted himself entirely to the task of ;l"~•l.ling around from parish to parish -usually without CJ prenous notice -in order to make sure that his carried out. Not merely did he attention to the building of churches, but he

15 said to h ave been in the habit of paying surprise y1si ts during the time of Sunday Mass; and, with a severity which was probab ly more creditable to his zeal than to his prudence, to have publicly rebuked the pastors for any abuses that he may have observed. On such occasions we are told he paid special attention to preaching at Mass, instructing the children, and caring for the altar, vestments and sacred utensils. In spite of this severity, he was a great man in every sense of the word. <2 ) Three of the chapels which owe their existence to his zeal are still in use at the time of writing this section -Grange in the parish of Cooley, St~ Malachy' s in Armagh, and Tullyallen in the parish of Killeeshil. At least another score were in use within living memory - a few of which are still being used as schools, clubs or public-halls.

Dr. O'Reilly's policy was continued by his successor, l>r. Anthony Blake (1758-1782) - at least duri.n.g the •ulier years of the latter's Primacy. Amongst the recuiations made at a Synod held in Dundalk in 1761, tbe following three furnish evidence of the introduction ot a •ore settled regime:

1. That no Mass is to begin on any occasion after l p.m.

(2) a... Stuart pp. 1+()6and lt47.

~ - That the parochial Mass is never to be re~oved from the usual station .

3 . That no colle ct ion at funerals be made on any street or road; nor Mass said excep t at t he usual stations for such prayers .

The following extract from a letter addressed to His Grace from another Synod held in Dundalk three years later (June 5th, 1764) gives us a hint of the e fforts that were being made to supply suitable churches:

11As much as we rejoice, My Lord, at the success your Grace met with in building some Mass-houses where none had been before , we equally feel and partake of your Grace's concern at the negligence as y et , of some parish priest s in promoting p ro perly the erecting of chapel s in their parishes, which is attended with many bad consequences to our congregation. erefore, we most humbly request that your Grace may be pleased not to re:nove or translate for the future any parish priest whom·you will find negligent in that duty to any better benefice, before he leaves some such good monument behind him of his saLd nerformance . And we further beg your Grace not to collate for the future (for three years by way of punishment) any priest to any benefice 'Who 'Will once refuse one offered to him ••.••.

This letter probably indicates the origin of the laudable and now almost proverbial tendency amongst Parish priests to leave, in the words of the Fathers or the Synod of 1764, 11Some such good monuments behind them or their said good pe r formances 11 •

The date-stone of tbe Old Chapel bears the inscription For reaaons already stated, we presume tn1t»r.

Sylvester Quinn 0' nn was in charge of the parish during the period of construction , although it seems evident that the initiative was taken by so~e of the Catholic laymen . In the absenqe of the original lease (3~ or any contempo r ary account - we are entirely dependent on the fragmentary notice in Stuart's Historical Memoirs of the City of Armagh, <4 ) published 67 years after the date on the inscription. As Stuart must have known plenty of people wo remembered the building of the chapel , we may take it that the account is substantially corr e ct:

"The Roman Cat holi c Chapel is situated southeastward of the Cathedral, near the spo t where Temple Brigid for~erly stood. It was built in an enclosure off Chapel - lane , which forms the direct line of communication betwixt Castle Street and Ogle Street . The ground on which it was erected was, in par t, the property of the Annesley family, to whose ancestor it had been transferred by King James I on the 9th January, 1618 . The Roman Catholics, however, derived their title unde r a lease made on 2nd December 1750 , by Thomas Conroy of the ci t y o-f Dublin to Messrs. Henry Whittington Arthur O' Neill, Pierce Maguire, John Qui nn., Robert Jones, Edward Whit t ington, and Edwar d Savage, for a te.rm or 31 years, at two gu i n e as per annum . Shortly after the perfe cti ng o f t h i s i nd e n ture the ch a p el was built. Aft e r th e ~.xpiration of the lease the tenement continued to be held under Thomas Campbell in (3) Should be lvailable at Regis try of Deeds in Dubli n; stuart, pp . 545...~6 •

whL-· Conroy 1s title then vested In 1806 the lease of Rev . W . Martin (;;; chief tenant for the. re:nises to the Earl of Anglesey expired, and the Annesley property was purchasedin 1799 by Leonard Dobbin, Esq. 'WhoNenerously granted a lease of the chapel for 999 years at 5d. per annum, to the Rev. Raymond O' Hanlon, D .D. Hessrs. Charles Whittington , Richard Whittingtonttington, Dennis McKee Charles Cavanagh, and James Gribbin in trust for the Roman Catholics of the parish of Armagh .. ... .

Another portion of the premises on which the chapel was built belonged to Thomas Ogle, Esq. who granted it during his own tenure, to the Roman Catholics of the parish gratuitously . About the year 1799, Ogle Str eet became partly the property of Messrs . William and James Cochran and these liberal gentlemen ~ade a renewable lease of their interest in the chapel tenement to the trustees of the congregation at a barley-corn rent ..... .

The chapel has been greatly enlarged and improved within these few years . The roo~ is triple, as if constructed for three distinct houses, and has a singular appearance , but the entire building has a pleasing effect to the view .

This account gives us to understand that the groun ds necupied by St. Malachy's chapel bad bean cut . off from two tifferant properties. It is evident, however, from a comparison with Rocque's Map, that the gr eater portionit not all - had been within the precincts of the old Regles Bhrighde or Templebreed. This was a very ancient foundation - indicating that the early Christians of Armaghhad a devotion· to St. Brigid. Dr. Reeves has (S) Stuart• s memoir of Armagh p . 54-.5'.

s boWil that the site of the ancient church was about thirty yards from the no rth - east corner of St . Malachy's s chapel.

There are numerous references to Templebreed in the I rish Annals and a foreign Inquisition of the year 1612 deals with the old foundation :

Armagh . 24 Sept . 1612 . Near the town of Ar~agh a re t wo monasteries called Templebreed and Templefartagh farta gh which were dissolved . The late abbess o r priories ss was seized of all the a~bitus and p re cincts of the aforesaid ~onasteries, and of cert ain parcells of lan d and three tenements adjoi ni ng; al so o f th e half townland or bal l i bo e o f Broghan , and of all the tithes of Brogha n, Kil f ud dy, La t t ecollin and Drombies . Since th e Dis solu tion, a ce r tai n Chan t er u s e d to inhabit the h ouse called Templebreed.

In 161 6 , t h e 11sci te, cir cui t, ambi t an d precin ct 11 of the 11nuns of Templebreda 11 , toge t h er with all th eir iroperty in Ar~agh wer e g ranted to Fra n cis Edg eworth/rom whom, in 1619, they were pa ssed by p ate n t to Sir Francis Annesley a n cestor of the Earls of Angl esey.

As stated by Stuart, the property re~ained in the Anglesey f:;unily until 1799 when the 11Earl of Anglesey's liberty was purchased by Mr. Leonard Dobbin - a gentleman -tlhose name is commemorated not merely in the nomenclature

o£ bis native town but in a pbpular ballad that has been for generations in every part of the land.

The »ortion or the chapel grounds that had belon g e<l to the Ogle estate must have ·been a very slender strip;i

•• property ot which it--h'ad ~ormed a part had orig~y

been held by the sept of the MacCoddans as tenants of the Primate. Part of it had been known , in earlier docu:nents, as the "New Demesne 11 • Thr ough the course of a century i t was gr adually acquired by the Ogles from various lessees - Burnhams, Featherstones and Marshes The most fa mous of the Ogle family was Thomas Ogle (circa 1 750) who, in the face of tremendous opposition , built and opened the two new streets - Ogle Street and Thomas Street - wbicb still comme.norate his name .< 6)

It is a pity that we do not know something more about those people whose names appear in the various leases. It is possible that Art hu r O' Neill, (?)whose name is second in the lea se of 1750, ~ay have been curate of the parish - acting in place of the absentee pastor . Weknow that Father Art O'Neill - afterwards parish priest of Ballymore and Mullabrack - had served in Armagh at an earlier period . . Strange to say, the name most frequently occurring in the various leases is that of WhittingtonHenry and Edward 1n the lease of 1750, and Charles and Richard in that of 1799. Curious to find out if this was a Catholic family, we discovered a Papist named "Sylvester Whittington in the Ar.magh census of 1714 B) John Quinn

(6) Stuart's ''Memoir of Armagh", p.~ll, note (l). Seeal..ao p.4ltJ..M-

(7) It seems to . me more likely that he wa.s Arthur O'Neill Draper, Castle St., Armagh;. -$ee Census of A~ City 1770.

,

(in tbe lease o f 1750) was evidently the leading builder of th e period( 9 ) _ we h ave seen his n ame, carved in stone , in many of the older buildings of Armagh. We shall ~ee t him again in connection with the visit of Dr . Troy to Armagh.

It is evident from Stuart ' s narrative, as well as lrom other docu.~ents, that the church had been considerably enlar ged and improved during the pastorates of Drs . Raymond O'Hanlon (1795-1 810) and Pat rick O'ByrneByrne ( 1810 -1819 ). As we shall .have to deal wi"th thi s ~attar in greater d etail in a later chapter, it will be sufficient to remark here that the chapel, as known to the pre sent generation , ~vi.dently owed its appearance to the activities of Drs. O'Hanlon and O'Byrne. T'ne bulging effect - referred to by Stuart as "a singula:r a pp earance 11 - was determ ined, Ji$ may be certain, by circumstances over which the ~Signers had little control. To build quickly and ~h~aply, to utilise the limitations of half'-skilled masons and carpenters, to take advantage of existing buildings, and te make the best use of· the cramped space allotted - these ~ere US~lly the cbie£ considerations determining the plans (9) John Quinn probab;y . of the Castle street famil.y. Tg-( . 014 home- of the f.w.ly be~~ date stones of 1730 & 1830 (lQ) Stuart makes D.o ;reference ta the word bulging

and designs of the pion~er pastors who lived during those 5g7 seventy years which witnessed the slow and gradual disappearance of the Penal Code .