BY COACH AND CAR TO NEAR AND FAR!

A VICTORIAN TIMETABLE
by Rosemary McMillan

The Ulsterbus Belfast to Dublin Express coach glides powerfully away up Church Street. The passengers are cocooned in air conditioned comfort and soothed by taped music. It all makes a sharp contrast with the possible scenario in the Square one hundred and thirty seven years ago. Then the horse drawn Royal Mail Coach would have rattled and clattered down Bridge Street and into the Square, pulling up to a noisy halt outside the Post Office. Any alighting passengers would have been both bone-shaken and travel-stained.

Apart from these differences in comfort, the cost and the time taken for the journey are also dissimilar. In the 19th century the journey from Belfast to Dublin cost �3.5s.0d. for two insider seats and took 13 hours to accomplish. Today that journey can be done in 3 hours and costs �9.50 per person, day return.

Slaters Commercial Directory of Ireland 1856 gives an insight into coach and car travel from the town. The number of people providing the service reveals competition for passengers but there is no clue as to whether the "cars" were Jaunting cars, side cars, brakes or worse!

Some of the departure times are also quite amazing. Can you envisage a Royal Mail car leaving for Ballynahinch, Comber, etc., every morning at twenty five past two? or Belfast at ten minutes past four?

Amended extracts from Slaters "Commercial Directory of Ireland" 1856

To Dublin The Royal Mail left from the Post Office every morning at eight and a Coach every night at eleven.
To Ballynahinch, Comber. etc.; The Royal Mail car left from the Post Office every morning at twenty-five minutes past two.
To Banbridge Cars from Edward McCartney's (who was a butter factor as well as running the posting establishment) Andrew Jelly's (a spirit and porter dealer) and John Scott's (a surgeon in Bridge Street) every morning at nine.
To Belfast The Royal Mail car, from the Post Office every morning at ten minutes before four and every night at a quarter to eleven.
To Lisburn A car from Edward McCartney's every morning at a quarter past seven, arriving in time for the Ulster Line of Railway train at a quarter before nine and again occasionally leaving Dromore at nine; a car from Andrew Jelly's every Tuesday and Friday morning at a quarter past nine and one from John McGrady's at the same hour; all go through Hillsborough.
To Lurgan Cars from Edward McCartney's, Andrew Jelly's and John Scott's every Thursday morning at nine.

The running of some of these local cars to Lisburn and Lurgan corresponds to the Market Days, Tuesday and Thursday, in these towns.
By 1863, the coach/car service from Dromore had been considerably reduced. This is probably indicative of the number of people who now chose to travel on the Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Co. railway line which had opened on the 13th July in that year.
The change is also reflected in this excerpt from the Belfast and Ulster Directory for that year which advises us of the following:

Conveyances

To Lisburn - Every morning, (Sunday excepted) from Dawson's (Dawson was a car owner and spirit dealer) and McCartney's in time for the first train and for the forty five minutes past ten train to Belfast.

Curiously there appears to have been no road transport between Dromore and Moira, the nearest rail station on the Ulster line, even though a fairly good road between them was mapped by Daniel Anderson as early as 1755.

ALEXANDER COLVILL WELSH
by Gilbert Watson

Alexander Colvill Welsh had an established business as a glazier and painter in Dromore, Co. Down in the nineteenth century but he enjoyed a much wider reputation for his collection of antiquities. He was the son of William Welsh of Dromore who married Jane Dickson the daughter of Joseph Dickson and Jane Colvill, and the great-grandson of Dr. Alexander Colvill. His paternal grandfather was George Welsh who was born in Moira in 1720 and is buried in the Cathedral grave yard at Dromore along with his two wives.

Alexander Welsh was also married twice. Firstly to Mary Trail by whom he had three children; Anne Blackwell, William and Jane.

 Mary died in 1838 and he married secondly Anne Frazer by whom he had four daughters, Anne born 1844 who married John Ellis; Alice Margaret born 1848; Elizabeth Harberton who married a Mr. Finlay; and Alice Jane born 1855 who married Richard Watson of the Maze.

Welsh was a well known and respected collector and antiquary and was very knowledgeable on the history of Dromore and it is unfortunate that little of the vast store of knowledge which he possessed is on record. He was in correspondence with another noted collector Dean Dawson of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, during the 1830's and together with John Roggan of Ladies' Bridge was instrumental in providing further material from the North of Ireland for the Dean's collection.

Welsh viewed the Dean's collection during a visit to Dublin in 1839 and he was so impressed by what he saw that he admits in a letter that his own collection was lowered in his estimation. The Dromore collection of artefacts was  viewed in the mid 1800's by John Roggan, who was so impressed with the great variety and number of articles that he composed and published "A Quaint Catalogue of Antiquities in the collection of Mr. Welsh, Dromore," which is written in rhyming couplets. The full catalogue is given below and indicates what a valuable museum of treasures was once housed in Market Square

July 11th, 1840.

Welsh's collection and interest was never static and his travels included visits to Dublin and Edinburgh. He was continually adding to the quality and variety of articles and a new pursuit in 1839 of collecting "different sorts of newspapers" was built up to 271 in a short time. His tenacity in the pursuit of artefacts is illustrated by his admission that it took over ten years to procure a square iron bell found in a Forth outside Dromore and his eventual success, in acquiring it from the lady owner, was the result of barter involving a silver crucifix which "she thought more useful." On another occasion, his business acumen is demonstrated in his attempt to acquire an inscribed bell (the Clog Ban) from a catholic family by enlisting the support of his father-in-law who was "much thought of by the Roman Catholic party owing to his political principles" and was also intimate with the Priest who lived next door to the vendor.

At the British Association for the Advancement of Science Exhibition at the Museum, Belfast in 1852 Welsh displayed various exhibits and the following have Dromore connections.

(a) Portions of an ancient conical Cap of closely woven rushes, found with a stone Axe, in Drumbroneth bog, near Dromore.
(b) Three tri-handled cups, of black glazed pottery, found in the original burying-ground of Dromore.
(c) Illustrative American Indian Arrow-head of flint, with which the late Dr. Gillmer, of Dromore was wounded in the leg.

Part of Welsh's collection of antiquities was acquired by the Royal Irish Academy in March 1876 and was subsequently transferred to the National Museum of Ireland in the late nineteenth century. It consisted of some several hundred archaeological objects ranging from flint tools to bronze pins and brooches of the early Christian period and prehistoric period pottery vessels.

The following description of the gold ornaments in the Welsh collection is given in George H. Bassett's 1886 Co. Down guide and directory and the sites in the vicinity of Dromore where the specimens were found are recorded.

"In the Royal Irish Academy (Dublin) collection of Irish Gold Ornaments, are some from the County Down. They belonged to the late Mr. A. C. Welsh of Dromore. The first, a spoonshaped object, one and eleven sixteenths of an inch in width, and two and three-quarter inches long. It is slightly concave, and has a slender tang with triple row of small punched dots, near the edge. It weights two pennyweights and sixteen grains. The second was a bowed object and disc terminations and copper core; one disc gone. It was found at Edenordinary. The third is a specimen of ring money, a quarter of an inch thick and threequarters of an inch in diameter six pennyweights and three grains. The fourth is an unclosed hoop-shaped ring, with copper core having double longitudinal flutings. The core is visible to the extent of a quarter of an inch at the centre of the circumference. It is five-eights of an inch in diameter, a quarter of an inch in width, two-tenths of an inch in thickness, and weights two pennyweights and ten grains. It was found at Ballymacormack.

Welsh was aware of the value of his collection as his will dated 2 February, 1876 stated his intention "to make provision for my wife and her children by my second marriage by the sale of my antiquities and curiosities and therefore they are not named in this my will as Legatus." The beneficiaries were his own son William, his daughter Jane and his nephew William Price. The will gives an indication of the property he possessed, namely a tenement in Market Square occupied by Hugh Herron, a tenement garden in Gallows Street, a house in Mount Street occupied by Betty Jane Kennedy, a tenement in Gallows Street consisting of two houses and gardens occupied by David Thompson and John Prentice as well as his residence in Market Square.

Welsh's knowledge of Dromore has already been referred to, and one of the few known articles by him is a letter dated April 24, 1843 published in The Nation newspaper on the subject of The Break of Dromore. The same account of The Break is given in a footnote to the Montgomery Manuscripts by the editor the Rev. George Hill who refers to the account coming from an unsigned letter dated 24th April, 1843 found among the papers of the noted historian Mr. Samuel McSkimin of Carrickfergus. The account is that of Alexander C. Welsh and his letter to the Nation was probably at the request of the editor John Mitchell, the Young Irelander. Welsh would have known Mitchell as his cousin Robert Dickson was married to Mitchell's sister. The introduction to the newspaper article is probably by John Mitchell.

"The following curious and valuable information we have just received from a Conservative friend, who, in adverse circumstances, has acquired a knowledge of history, art, and numismatics, a collection of antiquities that might excite the envy of many a man with a great name:

April 24, 1843

Sir-You must think me a great procrastinator, or very ungrateful, when I did not answer you kind favor sooner. The truth is, after having made every inquiry from all the oldest inhabitants of this place, I declined writing relative to the "Break of Dromore" until a person who was from home would return, he being one I depended more on for information, as one of his ancestors was likely to have suffered death on a charge of embezzling some of King James' stores, so that many of the occurrences of 1690 were handed down by the family.

From all the information I can collect, I am come to the conclusion that the flight at Dromore took place in the townland of Ballymacormack, immediately adjoining the town. The new line of road that passes through Dromore, from Dublin to Belfast, bisects the battle field. It occupied but a small space on the south side of the Gallows-hill though not on a level, but a kind of glacis, terminating at a bog-a place not ill chosen for a skirmish, such as we may suppose it to have been, for neither could have had much the advantage as to position.

General Hamilton's men were protected on their right by the common-bog, and a small party in the narrow (Gallows) street would have been sufficient to keep them from being flanked on their left. The Protestant party had the bog on their left; but their right lay open for attack. About two hundred yards to their rere la Crows-wood, into which they retreated when repulsed, and from thence they dispersed, part of them passing the eastern extremity of the bog, and made their way over Cannon-Hill, on the opposite side of which lay the leading road to Killileagh and Donaghadee, from whence some embarked for Scotland. What road the remainder took I could not ascertain.

But the whole action must have occupied a very short space of time; for according to tradition, a woman went out to see the flight when it commenced, left bread to bake at the fire, returned after the affray had terminated, and during her absence the bread was not burned. I conjecture none of the inhabitants of the town were in the action; or if any, I will presume to state that none of them fell. My reason for stating so is, had any of then been killed in such a politico-religious occurrence, their graves to this day would be pointed out, and many is the tale of their great prowess would be related, as the present churchyard was then the only burying-place in the parish. And what strengthens me in my opinion is, that a mile from Dromore, in a field on the right hand side of the old turnpike road leading to Hillsborough, a grave is there pointed out, green to this day, said to be that of Marian De Ell, or De Yel, who, for refusing some of James's soldiers a drink of buttermilk, before she had taken off the butter, was drowned by them in the churn, with her head downwards. And about half-a-mile farther on, in a field on the opposite side of the road, is another grave, said to contain the remains of one Campbell, a powerful man, who, armed with only an old sword, opposed part of James's army; but was soon overpowered by numbers, thrown over the ditch, and buried. (Query - When James's army passed, why did the friends of the deceased suffer them to remain there, but have them interred in consecrated ground?).

However, in this instance, I differ from tradition. I rather think the graves alluded to are those of the two soldiers of William's army, who, according to the Rev. G. Story, "were shot near Hillsborough for deserting." Story, or his informant, might have been in the rere of the army at Hillsborough when the account reached him, and caused the mistake, placing the transaction nearer that place than Dromore, nor do I think the mistake improbable as the two places lay only four miles distant, and Hillsborough being a garrisoned town.

I have felt a pleasure in being called on to collect the account of the "break;" for these notices, trifling as they may appear were collected from the only remaining few of the old inhabitants who are fast hurrying from the scenes of this life to mix with the kindred dust of their ancestors, who, in their turn, witnessed the scenes I have written of.

In order to make you more acquainted with the localities, I give the following notes:

Gallows-hill and Gallows-street (formerly the leading road to Hillsborough through Dromore). I conjecture they are corruptions of Galgas-hill and Galgas-street, as the name of the town was originally Ballynagalga.

Crows-wood was a few acres of land then in a state of nature, covered with trees and brushwood, commencing at the Eastern extremity of the common bog, and extended up the hill on which the battle was fought. It still goes by the name of Crows-wood, although it is divested of all the timber, and in a state of cultivation.

Cannon-hill situated on the opposite side of the narrow valley from Crows-wood (and in form of an inverted bowl), rises to an elevation higher than some of the surrounding hills, from the top of which is a fine commanding view of the town, and about a half mile distant.

Cannon, or even musketry, from this hill could have annoyed the enemy when in action; probably those who fled to Killileagh might have previously come from that part, and as this was their direct road, it is likely part of them had been posted here with cannon, if such they had; not is it unlikely that it was a concerted plan with the proprietor, Mr. William Holtrige, of Dromore, merchant, then a leading character, and one of those mentioned in James's act of attainder. The name of this hill partly proves the circumstance, though I remember, when in infancy, to have heard that the name was given it in consequence of Cromwell's men placing cannon on it, and from whence they destroyed the old castle and town; but we have not the slightest historic foundation for the occurrence.

I would give credence to the account of those who fled seeking refuge in Scotland; for an old lady, who has seen some summer suns over ninety, who enjoys all her mental faculties, recited to me the two following lines of a popular song in her infant days, relating to the war of 1690.

`The run at Loughbrickland, the break of Dromore,
Made Sandy and Willy take both to the shore.'

The last word in memoriam to Alexander Colvill Welsh, who died in 1877 and is probably interred in the Cathedral graveyard, we leave to J. W. Montgomery of Downpatrick who in his poem Dromore in Rhymes Ulidian refers to the great collector.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Ramble Through Dromore. John F. Mulligan 1886.
The Nation 13th May, 1843.
A Quaint Catalogue of Antiquities in the collection of Mr. Welsh, Dromore. John Roggan 1840.
Rhymes Ulidian. J. W. Montgomery 1877.
County Down A Guide and Directory 1886 by George Henry Bassett.
Will of Alexander Colvill Welsh dated 2nd February, 1876.
Will of Jane Welsh dated 18th January, 1905.
The Montgomery Manuscripts (1603-1706) Edited by Rev. George Hill.
British Association for the Advancement of Science, Sept. 1852, Descriptive catalogue of the Collection of Antiquities exhibited in the Museum, Belfast.
Welsh Collection, Summary list, National Museum of Ireland.
Correspondence from Nessa O'Connor and Mary Cahill, Irish Antiquities Division, National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Welsh/Dawson correspondence in the Royal Irish Academy, transcribed by Winifred Glover, Ulster Museum, Belfast.

PLEISTOCENE PARK
The Story you have waited 12,000 years to hear!

The inability, or perhaps sheer cussedness, of one of my siblings, to pronounce my church given name, resulted in the title "Moose" being bestowed on me in my early childhood. You will understand then, why my attention was inevitably drawn to the words "Moose-deer" while reading an extract from W. W. Sewards, "Topographica Hibernia" 1795.

He records, that in 1783, a pair of moose deer horns, measuring 14 feet and 4 inches from tip to tip, were found on the see lands of Bishop Percy of Dromore. Almost the whole skeleton of the animal that wore them was unearthed and "computed to have been almost 20 hands high".

Without modern scientific skills, Seward tells us that it was unknown when these animals existed, but he does say that their remains are usually found in the stratum of marl covered by bog.

Marl is a term for clay containing the remains of shells and it is now known that, after the last retreat of the Ice from Ireland, there were numerous fresh water lakes in which such clays were deposited.

At this period Ireland was an integral part of Europe and great deer roamed over the Continent from the Atlantic to the Baltic. The skeleton was therefore most likely that of an Irish Deer or Megaceros - akin to the moose of North America.

A continuing warming up of the climate may have been the cause of the demise of these graceful and well proportioned animals.

As the marls dried out and became stickier they simply mired down in them, or perhaps an epidemic distemper occurred. The growth of forests may have sealed their fate, for while sheltering their natural enemy, the wolf, they also reduced the deer's feeding grounds by preventing them, with their wide horns from entering.

As this is now within measurable time distance of the present day, approximately 10,000 years ago, it has been suggested that the first Irishmen may have seen the Great Deer before it disappeared - The Gaelic term Danik-ailta translates as wild-ox, but this may refer to another species. On the other hand doubts have been expressed that they lived long enough to be contemporaneous with man.

In any event Dromore man encountered their remains over 200 years ago and according to S. Lewis in his "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" 1837 the skeleton was placed in the Bishops palace where it was carefully preserved.

THE TOLL HOUSE
by Rosemary McMillan

This toll house was probably built in the 1740's

The construction, by the Turnpike Trust, which existed between 1733 and 1857, of a new stretch of road between Dromore and Hillsborough, did not affect the site, or the use of, the building.

In the townland of Backnamullagh, the remains of this turnpike road cross the present dual-carriageway from N.E. to S.W. continuing on towards Dromore by way of Mile Bush Road. -formerly the old Hillsborough Road.

The toll house sits in the angle of this crossing and it is thought to have continued to operate as such until the Turnpike System was abolished in the 1850's.

Unfortunately, we have omitted to preserve the Palace and so our Dromore Megaceros has once more gone to earth unless someone knows otherwise! -"Moose" McMillan.
 

JEREMY TAYLOR
By Mark Hobson

Jeremy Taylor was the third son of Mary and Nathaniel Taylor, a barber to trade. He was born in Cambridge and baptised there in Trinity Parish Church, on the 15 August 1613. At the age of three years the young Jeremy was sent to Grammar School in Cambridge. Then at the age of fourteen he entered Caius College as a SIZAR, and when he was twenty years old he obtained an M.A. degree. As a youthful twenty-one year old a dispensation was obtained in his favour and two years before the Canonical age of twenty-three, he was admitted to the Holy Orders. Jeremy Taylor then began to preach with authority, power and sweetness. At that time William Laud was Bishop of London, in 1663 he became Archbishop of Canterbury. Jeremy Taylor continued with his studies and preaching. On a friend's recommendation he preached at Saint Paul's Cathedral in London where he attracted the attention of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was then sent to Oxford where, under the guidance of the Archbishop of Canterbury, he became a fellow of All Souls in January 1636. Then in 1637 he was presented by Bishop Joxon to the Rectory of Uppingham in Rutlandshire. He was also appointed Chaplin to Charles I. While living at Uppingham he made visits to Oxford and to the Court of Charles I. On the 27 May 1639, he married Phoebe Landisdale or Langsdale. In 1640 his great patron Laud was sent to the tower for religious arguments with the King and Parliament.

Taylor and his wife continued to live at the Rectory in Uppingham, where Phoebe gave birth to a son. Sadly this first child, William, died. From this quiet but un-safe retreat he heard the distant mutterings and the loud approaching roar of the troubles of the Civil War. The Solemn League and Covenant had been formed in the year of his appointment to Uppingham and the long Parliament summoned. Jeremy Taylor carried on with his writing and preaching. When the war began in 1642 he was writing "EPISCOPACY ASSERTED", his home was pillaged and his living taken from him. In the year 1642 King Charles I read Jeremy Taylor's book prior to publication. He did not, however, permit the writer to dedicate the book to him. The book was called "OF THE SACRED ORDER AND OFFICES OF EPISCOPACY" (1642).

During the war, Taylor marched side by side with Pearson and Chillingworth, under the Royal Standard for King Charles I. He helped to stir up the spirits of the fainting Royalists with his sermons, as well as caring for the sick and wounded. He was imprisoned twice during the Civil War, but was treated with no great severity. Then in 1644, while commanding an army for the King, he was defeated by Laugharne, a Superior General. He then made his peace with Parliament and received a Pardon. Whereupon he retired to Carmarthenshire, where, being a celebrated man of letters, he opened a school. His wife Phoebe died in 1650. Now in retired life he was able to concentrate on his writings. He was not entirely debarred from the society of the good and the noble, for at Golden Grove, in the same parish, there dwelt a nobleman who was kind to the exiled clergymen. It was at Golden Grove that he wrote his most famous works of all which were "THE HOLY LIVING", "THE HOLY DYING" AND "THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING". In time he then married Joanna Bridges a lady of some property, and ceased teaching. Jeremy Taylor was imprisoned in Chepstow because of his writing about the church and religion. He was eventually released from prison in the autumn of 1655. He spent a short time at Mandinan and also some time in Wales, where he wrote "A DEFENCE OF THE LITURGY", at the request of the King. Then, in the year 1656 towards the end of the Lord Protector's rule, Taylor went to London where he was imprisoned in the Tower because of a mistake which his publisher had made. They had rashly prefixed to a collection of papers a representation of Christ in the attitude of prayer. This offence was punishable by a heavy fine or imprisonment. At this time Taylor wrote his most elaborate piece of work, "DUCTOR DUBITANTIUM", (a guide for the doubtful), which was a work of some controversy. On his release from the Tower having paid sufficiently for what he had written, he left England in 1658.

He was encouraged by Lord Conway to settle in Ireland and take up residence at Conway's princely mansion at Portmore on the shores of Lough Neagh. Near Ballinderry lies the ruined church and castle of Portmore. The castle of Portmore was built in 1664 by Lord Conway on the remains of an O'Neill Fort. Possession of the castle had then passed on to his cousin Popham Seymour in 1683 and later to his brother in 1699. He died in 1731 or 1732 and was succeeded by his eldest son Francis, 1st Marquess of Hartford. The castle at Portmore was demolished in 1761.

The church at Portmore is built on an artificial Island surrounded by a ditch and a double hedge. Many people think that it is the "half ruined church of Kilutagh" where Jeremy preached, while others thinks that it is Templecormac.

Even at Portmore under the protection of Lord Conway he was not safe from arguments. In 1669 he was arrested and sent to Dublin for trial. The charge brought against him was that he had used the sign of the cross in administering the sacrament of Holy Baptism. The charge was brought by a Presbyterian from Hillsborough called Tandy. However, the authorities in Dublin did not take the charge seriously and it was not long before Jeremy Taylor was back at Portmore.

The church in Dromore was the "Church of Saint Colman" and it was attached to the monastery. Under the charter of James I in 1609 it became known as "THE CHURCH OF CHRIST THE REDEEMER", or,

"CATHEDRALIS CHRISTI REDEMPTORIS DE DROMORE".

During the rein of Elizabeth I the Cathedral was in ruins and remained in that condition until James I refounded the See by the Letters of Patent, which gave the Bishops extensive land possession. In 1641 the Cathedral was destroyed and it remained in ruins until 1661 when Charles II gave Jeremy Taylor permission to rebuild the Cathedral.

In 1660 Jeremy had a complete change of fortune. He was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor, and from his next visit to Dublin in 1661 he returned as Vice-chancellor of the University of Dublin. Also in January 1661 on the day of his Consecration in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, two Archbishops and ten Bishops were consecrated by Archbishop Bramhall. Jeremy Taylor preached the sermon on the day he was consecrated. Bishop Lesley's episcopate in Dromore was of too short a duration to effect any changes. In June 1661 Bishop Lesley was transferred to Raphoe, and he was immediately succeeded in the administration of Dromore by Doctor Jeremy Taylor.

The Cathedral was in ruins when he came to Dromore. At his own expense he rebuilt the cathedral on the site of a Sixth Century monastic site. Local whinstone was used in the building of the Cathedral. It was one hundred feet long by twenty feet wide, (covering what is now the Tower aisle). Jeremy Taylor also lived at Hillsborough Castle with his friends the Hills. He used to say his prayers in the fort and when the fort was remodeled for family feasts and parties, an ornamental gazebo was built in the middle of the North rampart in the Bishop's memory. The windows resemble those of the parish church which he had consecrated in 1663.

Jeremy Taylor's career was cut short because he contracted a fever while ministering to a sick man on the 3rd August, 1667. He died at his residence at Lisburn on the 13th August, 1667, and was laid to rest on the 21st August, 1667 in Dromore Cathedral by his friend George Rust, although he had wanted to be buried in his new church at Ballinderry where a grave had been prepared for him. Taylor did not live to see his new Church finished, in fact it was not consecrated until the year after his death.

Jeremy Taylor died aged fifty-four. In his will he left ten pounds to the poor in Dromore. He stated in his will "Bury me at Dromore". He was survived by his wife Joanna and three daughters. In the vestry at Dromore Cathedral there is a Paten and a chalice both made out of silver. Jeremy Taylor's wife Joanna presented them for use in Holy Communion. The following inscription is engraved on both of them,
"IN MINISTERIUM S. S. MYSTERIORUM IN ECCLESIA. CHRISTI REDEMPTORIS DE DROMORE."
"DEO DEDIT HUMILLIMA DOMINI ANCILLA D. JOANNA TAYLOR."

Jeremy Taylor and his wife are buried in the vault underneath the chancel in Dromore Cathedral. The Bishop's Throne in the Cathedral is a memorial to Bishop Taylor.

George Rust became Bishop of Dromore after the death of Jeremy Taylor, who had ruled the Diocese for just under seven years.
On Thursday evening the 5th June, 1958 the memorial lecture to Bishop Taylor was inaugurated in Dromore Cathedral. The instigation of this was the then Rector, Canon R. W. Kilpatrick, who later became Dean of Dromore. The memorial lecture in memory of Bishop Jeremy Taylor, continues to be held each year.

Jeremy Taylor was a celebrated man of letters and he was also a Godly man. He worked throughout the Diocese in helping the poor and the sick. He also helped to rebuild the churches and reassert the Christian faith among the people in his Diocese.
 

LOCALS AT A PHEASANT SHOOT AT GILLHALL IN THE 1960's including--Johnnie McConkey, George Martin, Albert Gribben, Matt Forsythe, Frank Gibson, Victor Gibson, Melvyn Martin, Malachy Gribben, Tom Dick, Jim Stronge, Dicky Gracey, George Gracey, Cherry, Jim Agnew (now in Canada), David McConkey, and John Curran(?).

BREWERY LANE
A BREWERY WITH A COVENANTING CONNECTION
by Robert McCollum

The mention of Brewery Lane conjures up different images in the minds of Dromore folk. Those who have come recently to live in the town probably associate the name with the pensioners' bungalows on either side of the street. But to Dromore residents, born and bred in the district, the name bears with it much wider associations.

Before the bungalows were erected by the Housing Executive in the 1970's the street was much narrower and therefore appropriately designated, a lane. On either side of this lane stood neat rows of two-storey terrace houses. In the middle of the right-hand terrace David Martin had a coal yard out of which he ran a successful coal delivery business.

Brewery Lane will forever live in the memory of some Dromore citizens as a source of employment. The lane terminates at the entrance to a hem-stitching factory which produced a selection of linen tablecloths etc., which, not only supplied the local market, but were exported to many parts of the world. With the closure of the business in 1991, due to difficult trading conditions, the factory buildings have been demolished and the site is open for redevelopment. At present the possible erection of a nursing home is being pursued by a firm of developers.

The name of this particular street has always been associated with the place of worship which has occupied a site adjacent to the factory for a century. This is the Reformed Presbyterian Meeting House, otherwise known as the Covenanters. The history of this place of worship is very much associated with the denomination to which it belongs.

The Covenanters trace their roots back to the Scottish Reformation. In the 17th century the general population in Scotland, through subscribing the National Covenant of 1638, covenanted their church and nation to Christ. This concept of a church and nation covenanted to Christ was anathema to the Restoration King, Charles II, and from the outset of his reign (1660) he embarked on a policy of persecution against those who adhered to Covenanting convictions. After 28 years of bitter repression, in which 18,000 suffered by death, banishment or being reduced to absolute poverty, relief was obtained in the Williamite Settlement of 1688-90. The Settlement, however, gave no place for a covenanted church and nation and a minority of the population remained separate from the Revolution Church to maintain this vision. These are covenanters who in Ireland and Scotland, and subsequently in other parts of the world, were formed into the Reformed Presbyterian church.

Christians with covenanting convictions have been associated with Dromore for most of the history of the denomination's existence in Ireland. One of the first Covenanting ministers ordained in Ireland was the Rev. William Staveley and the Call that was issued to him in 1772 came from the "Covenanted electors between the Bridge of Dromore and Donaghadee in the County of Down". Although resident in Knockbracken, Staveley exercised an itinerant ministry which extended from Co. Down to the Counties of Armagh, Monaghan and Cavan. The Covenanters in Dromore would benefit occasionally from his ministry. At this time in the history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church small groups of Covenanters living in a locality were formed into Societies for mutual spiritual support and fellowship. Dromore was no exception and the first record of these Societies being involved in Calling a minister of their own is found in the Minutes of the R. P. Synod for 27th May, 1812:

The Minutes of the Southern Presbytery report that the Societies in the vicinity of Dromore, hitherto unconnected with any congregation had become attached to the congregation of Rathfriland, which Congregation had presented a Call to the Rev. John Stewart - that he had accepted of it and was installed to the Pastoral Charge of the congregation of Rathfriland and Dromore on Monday, 25th May, 1812.

This arrangement with Rathfriland existed until the death of Mr. Stewart in 1837. This occurrence appears to have prompted the Dromore covenanters to Call their own minister. Having called licentiate James Steen this young man was ordained to the gospel ministry in Dromore on 4th June, 1839. This settlement in Dromore may have been part of the motivation which caused Rev. James Dick, at the Synod meeting in July 1839, "to give notice of motion for the formation of a Fifth Presbytery, comprising the congregations of Dromore, Bailiesmill, Knockbracken, 2nd Belfast and Ballyclare". Dissension in the Synod of 1840 and the subsequent departure of the Eastern Presbytery to form a separate denomination - the Eastern Reformed Presbyterian Church - caused Mr. Dick to withdraw his motion. Although no details are recorded of the size of the congregation in 1839 we can assume it bears some relation to the statistics given for Dromore in 1854. The Drornore congregation consisted of 2 elders, 3 societies, 14 families and 45 members with an annual income for congregational purposes of �16-4-0 and �2-3-0 for missions.

Mr. Steen's connection with the congregation was short lived for in the report of the Southern presbytery to Synod in 1840 the following paragraph is included:

Presbytery are sorry in having to report, that at its last meeting, the Rev. James Steen petitioned for a disannexion from the congregation of Dromore, as its pastor, on the ground of the unpromising and hopeless state of the congregation. The Presbytery, before taking up the case, thought it advisable to hold a visitation Presbytery, at Dromore, for the purpose of investigating more particularly the state of the congregation, in order to decide on this matter: this meeting is to be held on the first Tuesday of August next.

At this meeting Mr. Steen resigned. He joined the General Assembly the following year and was installed in Clonduff Presbyterian Church on 21st June, 1842 where he ministered for 39 years.

After Mr. Steen's ministry Dromore never had its own minister again and had to depend on pulpit supply, sometimes on a very irregular basis. For example, the Southern Presbytery report to Synod in 1843 reads:

The vacancies of Grange and Dromore, and the Society in Dublin, have received some supply of ordinances from us during the course of the past year.

Better provision was made for Dromore in 1845 as is reported by the Presbytery to the Synod.

According to an arrangement approved of by Presbytery the vacancy of Dromore has been taken under the pastoral care of the Rev. J. W. Graham, for one year, and supplied with sermon every fourth Sabbath.

Mr. Graham was the minister of Bailiesmills congregation who, with his congregation, was received into the Southern Presbytery from the Eastern in 1840. This arrangement with Mr. Graham seems to have continued until his death in 1862 when Bailiesmills returned to the Eastern Presbytery. Recognition is given to Mr. Graham's service in Dromore in the 1850 Presbytery report.

The vacant congregation of Dromore has enjoyed preaching about half time during the past year from members of Presbytery and Licentiates, including the ministerial labours of Mr. Graham one Sabbath in the month, although no pastoral relation, strictly speaking, has as yet, been formed between him and that people.

At this time the Presbytery apparently had grounds for encouragement in the work among the Dromore Covenanters. Excerpts from the reports to Synod in 1851 and 1853 give reasons for optimism.

Presbytery has under its care the vacancy of Dromore, which has been supplied with preaching about half-time. The adherents to our cause in that place although not numerous appear steady, not withstanding the many difficulties with which they had to contend for many years. (1851) During the past year the vacant congregation of Dromore has been supplied with a preached gospel almost every alternate Sabbath; the members in that locality continuing warmly and steadfastly attached to a covenanted cause and testimony, and giving regular attendance on the ordinances of Divine institution. (1853)

The tone of Presbytery's report in 1856 is altogether different.

Dromore has received as formerly the preaching of the Gospel every third Sabbath, and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was celebrated there on the third Sabbath of August last, not without some evidences we trust of the presence of the Master of Assemblies; still, with sorrow we are compelled to state, that our cause does not seem to be making much progress in this place, there appears to be a considerable amount of deadness, and besides some of the most active and influential members of our Church there, have in the inscrutable Providence of God been removed by death, thus leaving a void not easily supplied. Still we know that the residue of the Spirit is with God, and he, by breathing on even dry bones, can cause them to live.

The witness, however, continued and from church records it appears the present meeting house in Brewery Lane came into the possession of the Covenanters in 1881. The property was sold by John and Robert Harrison to the church which was represented by John Wright Hawthorne and Thomas Hawthorne of Fedney, Josiah Archer of Ballymacbrennan (farmers) and John McEwen of Dromore (tailor).

In 1898 Dromore was transferred to the care of the Eastern Presbytery and became associated with the work of the Dromara congregation. The monthly service became the responsibility of the Dromara minister. This arrangement worked well for almost a century until in 1990 a committee of the Eastern Presbytery was given the responsibility for oversight and services are now being held weekly.

Whatever the future of the Covenanter witness in Dromore it is likely to continue in Brewery Lane for the fellowship has had plans drawn up to erect a new meeting house when the site is redeveloped.

Research into Brewery Lane has not revealed anything about what gave the street its name. Obviously there must have been a brewery there at some time. Did the Harrisons produce beer in the present meeting house before it became a place of worship? Might there even be an old still under the floorboards? Some of the readers of this journal may be able to reveal some information so that the mystery of the brewery in Brewery Lane may finally be solved.

MY GRANDA AGNEW
by Sam Johnston

As my paternal grandfather died before I was born, I somehow felt shortchanged when I discovered that other boys had two grandfathers.

Perhaps that was why I cherished and adored my grandfather Thomas James Agnew and when he came to visit his daughter, my mother, I would get out my little green stool and sit between my father and him, as quiet as a mouse, for children in those days were seen and not heard, especially six year olds like me.

I hung on their every word and yearned to be grown up like them and to experience the things they talked about. Things like gardening, fishing, greyhound racing, rabbit hunting and canary breeding. The finding and dressing of Blackthorn sticks. Playing marbles on the public road by men of mature age in the long summer nights. Swimming in the Lagan. And the doings and happenings and goings on in their places of work. To me it was magical and to be allowed to sit up late instead of being chivvied to an early bed was a bonus beyond price. The older I grew so grew my appreciation of old Granda. He was a very wise man whose council was much sought after in short, he was a sage. Perhaps his profound knowledge of the Bible had a lot to do with it.

He was born around 1850 and was a handloom weaver plying his trade from his home in the Kilntown district. He would tell of weaving till 3 o'clock in the morning because there was no food in the house to feed his growing family. Then, putting his bolt of cloth on his shoulder, he would walk ten miles to Lurgan, to the depot where he received his wages. The journey home again to Dromore seemed much shorter with only his money to carry, and with a visit to some shops, which were just opening at that hour, he would return home with much needed foodstuffs for his famished family. Were those the good old days?.

After rearing his family in the Kilntown, he removed to Ballynaris Hill and with the handlooms becoming obsolete he found work as a roadman, or surface man as they were called, whose job it was to keep the roads free of potholes, cut the grass verges and overhanging hedges, clean out sheughs and gratings to avoid flooding, and while there wasn't the same amount of litter that disfigures our streets to-day, there was always ample supplies of manure from the "exhausts" of horse drawn vehicles to be swept up.

It was a retrograde step when the councils discontinued the use of these surface men and replaced them with a mechanised gang of men who were rarely seen in operation! Consequently our roads to-day are a danger with head high vegetation obscuring the view of motorists, especially when entering main roads from by-ways. It is high hypocrisy on the government's part to implore the public to "KEEP BRITAIN TIDY" when they keep their thoroughfares in such a disgraceful state.

Roadmen were plodders regarding work, and strength had to be conserved when wielding scythes, bill-hooks, sickles and spades in the execution of their jobs. So it was said by the cynics that a sure cure for warts was to immerse them in a roadman's sweat, implying that it was a very scarce secretion!

When Granda retired from work he removed from Ballynaris Hill to live with his spinster daughter, in a little whitewashed cottage in Ballymacormack, access to which was down a rough track across two fields. I well remember the fragrance of the old cabbage roses which grew in profusion right up to the low thatch, and a huge stone on which we sat outside the door and which I associated with the song about "The stone outside Dan Murphy's door".

I was not alone in my memories about this old place, for my sister Margaret reminisced time and again how she would be invited by her aunt, after whom she was called, to stay for a few days when she was a schoolgirl. She would sit on the big stone which she imagined was a throne, and she a little princess, until Aunt Maggie would call her in for her tea. While there was nothing "fancy" on the table, they being, like everyone else, poor people, she did have a whole egg to herself which was akin to a banquet! It was served with three condiment: salt, a little butter, and a large dollop of pure love for a little niece.

When I reached my teens Granda was long dead. By that time I had developed a love for poetry and had attempted to put together some lines of my own. You can imagine my delight when I first learned he had been a poet of some note himself. his son, my Uncle Sam, would recite snippets of them for they were chronicles of happenings and events that occurred during his lifetime. Like, for instance, a big stag hunt that traversed many districts before being ended in Lisnashanker, as described in the poem:

In the townland of Shanker
We forced him to turn,
He was surrounded by men
And caught near the burn.

And there was another, telling of two rascals who stole six hens from a widow near Magherabeg. The astute woman went to Lisburn the next day and her "hunch" proved correct, for she found the robbers trying to sell her hens which were trussed up in a potato basket. She confronted them and they took to their heels and ran off, or as Granda wrote:

"Give back, give back my fowl," she cried!
"Or on the police I'll call,"
And they ran home by the Longstone
Leaving basket, fowl, and all.

Just two years ago I was given copies of two of his poems by a relative, and I treasure them greatly. The first tells the true story of an attempted murder on the Lurgan Road at Coolsallagh around the 1930's when a married man took a crazy notion for a young woman who, quite rightly, spurned his advances. This unrequited love curdled his passion into an insane hatred, and one Sunday evening as she cycled to church he lay in ambush and blasted her with a shotgun as she passed. The victim fell to the ground and the would-be assassin broke from his cover and bolted madly across the fields to his home, not far away.

The crows had hardly settled round their nests in Gillhall demesne after the first explosion till they were airborne again in a raucous black flailing of wings as the sound of a second gunshot rent the air as the madman blew himself into oblivion.

The shock and terrible tragedy on that tranquil Sabbath evening is vividly portrayed in Granda's poem:

When one reads poetry of such quality and then reflects that the writer had received only the very minimum education back in the 1860's one can only conjecture what heights his latent talent could have scaled had he been given the further education available today.

There is the other side of the coin which shows some students who are to-day attending universities but lack the basic respect for other people and their possessions. I have witnessed at first hand brand new flats, inhabited by said students, reduced to stinking hovels with excreta encrusted toilets. The space under the beds being used as rubbish dumps for their unspeakable litter, and the panels of inside doors kicked into firewood.

Granda would have directed them to the chapter and verse which warns of the profligacy of casting pearls before swine. Had he been around to-day he would have been the first to admit that with his free access to all this knowledge, modern man has advanced with giant strides DOWN the hill of Uprightness.

One of the great money spinners of to-day is the sale of refreshing drinks. In Granda's time the poor mans thirst quencher was Adam's ale obtained from a cool spring well. In the very hot weather the sure way to allay a thirst was to add a handful of oatmeal to a can of spring water, the result being a kind of uncooked porridge which slaked parched throats indefinitely. It was called sowans and when `sowans' were mentioned in our house, someone was sure to recount the story of the summer evening when three of Granda's daughters were sent some length to a neighbouring farm for a large can of buttermilk.

In those days women wore monstrosities of torture called `stays,' the tension of which was controlled by a type of hook and eye fastener on front, and laced with a strong cord behind. What with the long walk, the sultry air, and the tight enveloping stays, the more plump of the sisters was dying of thirst. Fortunately, there was a large bucket of `sowans' available at the farm, and the water level was lowered several inches, and then several inches more, before they started on the return journey. The plump one had only gone a short distance when she, complaining about her continuing aridity, had recourse to the can of buttermilk, part of whose contents became another ingredient in what was fast becoming a gaseous cocktail. In fact her sisters could hear the rumblings of the fermentation taking place inside her bloated body and fearing that the imprisoned gases would make her airborne, took her by the hand lest she floated over the hedge!

At last they reached the haven of home and immediately to their bedroom where the plump one- who was getting plumper by the minute-was divested of her outer clothing and the task of unhooking the stays was begun, but it was beyond their combined powers! Granda's aid was then sought but all the pummelling and wrestling only increased the pressure like an agitated bottle of champagne.

There was only one thing for it. Granda took out his penknife and cut through the retaining cord on the back of the stays. Mercifully there was no-one standing in front of her for the stays catapulted forward like a projectile, pulverising the plaster on the bedroom wall! Later when the plaster was repaired it served as a memorial of `The Night of the Sowans'.

Alright! I may have embellished and embroidered a little in the telling of it, but in the main the tale is true.

The second poem I mentioned earlier was in much lighter vein and concerned a greyhound owned by Granda's son Sam and called "Ghandhi" after the illustrious Indian statesman who `shook the world' with his non-aggression and peaceful policies.

Greyhound racing - if not the sport of kings - was the poor man's pastime and a grand old character called Billy Mussen owned a field where now stands the houses of New Cottages and Wallace Park. This field was dubbed `Mussen Park' and greyhounds from near and far competed there. The track was about 150 yards long and lay up a gently sloping field which afforded a good test for stamina and speed. The starting box was hand-operated and a strand of bull-wire stretched from there to the finishing line. The stuffed pelt of a rabbit was fastened to a piece of board about 4" x 12". Two metal rings through which the bull-wire ran were affixed to the board. A strong linen cord was tied to the rabbit and the other end was attached to the rear wheel of a specially adapted bicycle at the top of the field. When the gear wheel of the bicycle was cranked by hand the linen cord was wound onto the rim of the rear wheel and the rabbit would come hurtling up the field, bobbing along like the real thing, with four greyhounds in hot pursuit!

As far as we small boys were concerned the `Star of the show' was called Jack `Snick' Magee, the local blacksmith. He it was who operated the winding apparatus, and I can still see his brawny arms cranking like mad as he strained to keep the rabbit ahead of the greyhounds! While most small boys wished to be engine drivers on the Great Northern Railway, we yearned to emulate Jack Magee.
Quite large crowds would come to these races and would align themselves on either side of the bullwire, forming an avenue up which the dogs raced.

Billy Mussen had a four-footed `flying machine' called `Dodger'. Like many a good dog he would be taken to compete at other free-and -easy race tracks and entered under another name so as to attract greater odds in the betting. However, the fact that he had one lop-ear was the `give away' that blew his cover and warned the cognoscenti that he was indeed the great `Dodger'.

A tale attributed to Billy, and I can fancy I see the gleam in his eye, and the grin lurking beneath his ragged moustache, as he would tell the tale of how a big storm blew down the shed which housed his big billygoat. Until he got his shed repaired, and because the weather was extremely cold, he kept the goat in a spare bedroom at night where, according to Billy, he got the odd mouthful of straw out of the old mattress. News of the goat's habitation came to the ears of the priest and he inquired of Billy if it was true. Billy assured him that it was, to which the priest asked aghast,"But William, what about the smell"? "Ach sure Father" replied Billy, " the old goat soon got used to it!"

But now to Granda's second poem. Like Ghandhi the politician and statesman, Granda saw that Ghandhi the greyhound would also have his niche in history when he penned the following poem about his exploits when he won a big race at Dromara.

Can I say in conclusion that I think my granda, like Ghandi, was `some pup' too