Donaghcloney Old Graveyard
This old graveyard is situated on a mound above the River Lagan. It's clear to see that the site was once a reasonably large ring fort, well sited just above the river. The previously circular site was altered by the building of the road. The oldest known gravestone dated from 1707, but many of the oldest stones are sadly no longer obvious or legible. The following inscriptions are or were on headstones in the graveyard. Photos of headstones follow beneath.
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Finding Connections
Articles
Here we print articles of interest contributed by our members:
Seapatrick Co Corner, Then and Now
Seapatrick Co Corner, Then and Now
This article was written by Tommy McClimonds, Member FM43
The above photos of Seapatrick village show what is known locally as the “Co Corner”. The original Co-Operative shop was opened by F W Hayes & Co around 1900 and traded up until the late 1960s. As a youngster in the late 60s and early 70s I still remember a very high counter with associated tall backed chair. My Mum used to lift me onto the chair so I could see what was going on. I remember sugar being weighted out on a set of ancient scales and then packed in shiny cardboard greaseproof paper with the four ends neatly tucked inside. The hand operated bacon slicer was the only machinery I remember in the shop and the muslin-covered side of bacon hung on a hook behind the counter. No health and safety legislation back then! Through the double doors on the left hand side of the shop was the coal yard, I remember I collected small drums of paraffin there for use in my Mum’s stove. The stove was kept in her outside shed specifically so she could bake her soda, wheaten and treacle farls on the oversized large cast iron griddle that she always swore by.
During the 60’s and 70’s the proprietor was Johnny Matier, who lived with his wife in the first house to the immediate right of the shop. The shop was then taken over and modernized by Arthur Kerrigan who ran it successfully for a number of years. It then passed through a number of hands, including the legendary Walter Orr, assisted by his son Maurice, who continued to run a grocery/provisions store and had moved from their earlier shop which was located further up the village. It eventually was taken over by Gillian Close in 1995 who ran a successful antiques business there as Mill Court Antiques, until taken over by its present owners, Comb & Bark Grooming.
Cherryvale Football Club
This article was written during lockdown by Tommy McClimonds (Member No FM43) for the Banbridge Chronicle and was published on 26th May 2021.
The picture is of a long forgotten local football team from Seapatrick village, Cherryvale Football Club, along with some interesting snippets of local social sporting history to match.
Cherryvale Football Club took the name from the area in which they played. This was located to the east of what is now Nesbitt’s Farm, the “White House” or as it was originally called “White Hill”. Although the name “Cherryvale” has been well and truly expunged, just like our local townland names, from the current digital maps of the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI), the name Cherryvale is very clearly shown on the earlier OSNI maps.
Indeed the relatively flat meadow in which the team played is still there today. Back in 1912, it belonged to Henry (Harry) Templeton and ran alongside the lane down to the then Templeton farm, which is just a ruin today. [As a young teenager in the late 1930’s, my late mother Sarah McClimonds (nee Bingham) remembered well being sent to collect buttermilk from Templeton’s farm.] Thanks to information from Jackie Sneddon, another Seapatrick stalwart and font of local Seapatrick knowledge, apparently Harry Templeton charged the team members one penny each or a shilling for the whole team each time they played a match. How does Jackie know this? Well, Jackie’s late father Fred Sneddon, although not in the picture as he was slightly too young in 1912, later played for Cherryvale and it was his job to actually collect the match fees for Harry Templeton!
Apparently Ellen Giles - a mill worker/yarn spinner who worked for Hayes Mill in Seapatrick and lived in the village at the time - made the shorts for the team from white linen flour bags, which were in very common use at the time.
Despite further research, I have been unable to unearth any other information on Cherryvale Football Club. The only current reference to Cherryvale in the Banbridge area that I have been able to find is Cherryvale Gardens, a short terrace of houses directly opposite the entrance to Havelock Park on the Lurgan Road. It would be interesting to know if this terrace of houses had any connection to the Football Club.
The picture was taken in 1912 and unfortunately there are no names, but I am indebted to the late Roberta McCauley (nee Fyvie), originally from Milfort Terrace, who gave me the picture a number of years ago.
Should anyone recognise any of the lads in the photograph, please email abcfhasec@gmail.com
That Name!
“So what is your third Christian name?” she said. “Never you mind!”, said I, laughing. “My mother inflicted a name on me that I don’t know where she found. I just want to forget about it!” We continued to work on my family tree, something I hadn’t really had any interest in before.
I live in a house on our family farm, built after we got married, more than 20 years ago. I never really thought much about the history of the farm and the area and the families who lived here, until after my Mum passed away. I began to renovate the old family farmhouse and found a 'logie hole' window which had been hidden in the wall. I wondered just who would have looked through that window in the past. I chatted to my friend, Joy, and she suggested doing a bit of research on the family and the farm and putting it all into a book for future generations to enjoy, and dedicating it to my Mum and Dad. What a great idea!
I didn’t know where to start, but we met up regularly and gradually we found out more and more. I was just entranced with all this wonderful information. We uncovered maps showing that the old farmhouse had been there from at least the early 1800s and we found that many of the families who lived around us had also been here for generations and, of course, had intermarried.
I started to visit a few elderly neighbours to see what stories I could glean from them. One very elderly neighbour told me about his memory of standing with his family at the end of his lane, aged 8, and watching the funeral of my Great Grandmother, which was in January 1925. He described the funeral procession, led by two big black horses, with plumes on their head, pulling the hearse. What a sight that must have been and it certainly made an impression on that 8 year old boy!
I knew that my paternal grandmother’s second name was the same as my dreaded third name and that I had been named after her, but I'd no idea of its origin beyond that. As we developed the family tree higher and wider, we found that name cropping up time and time again. We eventually counted 7 girls given THE name, the earliest having been born in 1852. Where on earth had it come from?
We had been researching the working of the land by my ancestors, looking at Freeholders’ Records and Tithe Applotments and also the history books. We had found that the farm had once been part of the Rathfriland Meade Estate of the Earl of Clanwilliam. The lands had been in the hands of Donal Og Magennis, Lord of Iveagh, but then King Charles II granted the whole of the lands to an Alderman Hawkins, of London, to thank him for his services in the parliamentary war. The lands passed through the hands of the Hawkins and Magill families and eventually to the Earl of Clanwilliam through marriage. I was able to send to the Norfolk PRO in England for a CD which had all the maps drawn of the lands and named the tenants in 1776 – a wonderful coloured map, a copy of which now hangs on our wall.
And the mystery of the name was finally solved! The first Countess of Clanwilliam, who had married Sir John Meade, was named Theodosia Hawkins-Magill. Yes, that’s my third name. Theodosia! Now I wear my Theodosia with pride! The Countess of Clanwilliam died in 1817, but her name has lived on for many years in the surrounding families. It means ‘Divine Gift’ or ‘Gift of God’. Now Emma, my daughter, we need to talk about your name. You only have two Christian names, and I think we should really add a third….a distinctive, historical nod to your ancestors and their landlords…..
Article Contributed by Member No FM14
Dad's Memoirs
My Dad was Henry Robinson, known as Harry and he was the youngest son of Isaac Robinson and Ann Elizabeth (also know as Liz-Ann) McAdam. The McAdams were from Cloncore and Ballynarry in Portadown and belonged to St Paul's Tartaraghan. Isaac and Liz-Ann and their young family moved to Belfast for work reasons in the early 1900s.
Harry recorded his memoirs and the following is an excerpt from his 1982 memoirs, contributed by Harry's daughter.
Article Contributed by Member FM21
The Cigarette Case
I remember hearing that during the 1st World War Serviceman were given free cigarettes. I don’t remember who told me. Maybe my Father?
This cigarette case inscribed SS Tuscania has always been in the house, I can’t remember ever asking my Father about it. He like many others never spoke about the war.
Recently I delved into the internet and found a website in memory of the SS Tuscania.
I quote from it as follows “Journey back into the time of the Gilded Age, whose time has come and gone. This was an age known for great Transatlantic Ocean Liners. The Titanic, the Lusitania and the Tuscania were some of the famous lost Liners during this era. The Tuscania was a luxury Ocean Liner built in Glasgow in 1915 for travel to and from New York via Liverpool. In 1916 it was requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship. It made four journeys before it was sunk on February 5 1918 between the Island of Islay and Rathlin Island.”
As I write I just realise it is February 5 2021!
The following account is by a newspaper reporter who was travelling in another ship in convoy with Tuscania and others in 1918, some of whom were on guard.
“Winter twilight was drawing in when we sighted land, Northern Ireland. Far away we saw the revolving light of a lighthouse winking. About an hour later we heard against our side a queer knocking sound like a boy dragging a stick along a picket fence. ‘I suppose that’s a torpedo knocking for admission’ said one. Then an Officer came to say that Tuscania was in trouble. She was not more than a mile from us. We were under orders to get away and knew that guardian destroyers would be hurrying to the rescue. Next morning when we arrived safely at an English port we were told that the torpedo was meant for us but our Captain had taken swift action and missed it by inches.”
Sadly 200 American and 9 British soldiers were lost on the Tuscania, some on the rocky shore of the Island of Islay. A Memorial was erected there in1920. I have a newspaper report of a special ceremony held on Islay to mark 100 years since the event.
The wreck of the Tuscania lies 7 miles north of Rathlin Island Lighthouse and was discovered in 1996 by a team of divers including Tommy Cecil from Rathlin Island. He sadly died in 1997, I remember hearing about it at the time but did not make the connection with the Tuscania, a sad happening on both events.
Did my Father travel on the Tuscania during the War and was this when he was given the cigarette case and cigarettes? In later years he crossed the Atlantic several times but on other ships. Did he know about the tragic event of 1918? I can only wonder.
Article Contributed by Member FM10
What happened to the Grandfather Clock?
The grandfather clock referred to in the map above was made by Samuel Carrick of Portadown, probably in the late 1850s or early 1860s. Samuel Carrick was born around 1837 and had a successful jewellery and clock making business in West Street, Portadown. He was a regular advertiser in the local paper. He married Anne Eliza Fulton in June 1859 and in the early days of Samuel's business the family lived in Woodhouse Street in Portadown.
Daughter Susan Elizabeth was born in 1860 and son William Fulton in 1861, both of whom died in infancy. Samuel James was born in 1865 (he was a jeweller, married and then emigrated to Australia in 1884), daughter Annie Elizabeth was born in 1867 and David George in 1869. In 1870 another son was born who sadly died in infancy. Four more boys followed - William West Fulton in 1871, Charles Henry in 1873 (he was also a jeweller and emigrated to the USA in 1895), Alfred Ruddell in 1875 and Thomas Edwin in 1877 - and the family was complete. However, Samuel died from cancer in 1893, aged just 56.
David George followed his father and became a jeweller. In the 1901 Census he was 32 and still living at home with his mother and Elizabeth, West, Alfred and Thomas, all of whom belonged to the local Methodist Church. They must have been quite well off as they had a live-in servant. In the 1911 Census the family were still living in West Street, but now only David and William were at home with their mother. David was still unmarried and a jeweller, while William was a grocer. David died of pneumonia in 1931, aged 61 and still working as a jeweller.
The face of the clock which Samuel Carrick had sold was cut from a sheet of steel with a chisel and the well-crafted mahogany case has simple lines. It is a 7 day clock which strikes the hours. The clock face also has a date dial.
The clock face has beautiful rural scenes of Northern Ireland painted on it, presumably painted by a local artist. The painting shows cottages in the upper left and lower right of the clock face, which are mirror images of each other. There is also a hay cart and wooden hay rakes in the painting.
The first owner of the clock was a farmer named William Hampton, son of Seth Hampton. From information received, research suggests that William lived in a townland in Kilmore Parish called Drumard (Primate), which is on the Loughgall Road from Portadown. If this is the correct person, William was a widower when he married Mary Rountree on 11 October 1851 at Kilmore Church of Ireland. We don't know what ages they were, but Mary was recorded as being a minor, which meant she was under 21 years of age. As birth records don't begin until 1864 and there is no record of any baptisms online, we don't know what children they had until after 1864. Leonard was born in 1866, but died as a baby, and we've been told that he had a brother named Joseph, who must have been born just before recording of births began. When William died (we don't know when), Mary emigrated to New Jersey, USA - along with the clock! But she must have been homesick, as she returned to Ireland just a year later, again bringing the clock with her.
Mary remarried (we think to a man named Lindsay) and later lived in Belfast. We're told that the Hamptons were related to the Redmonds and the Lees families in the Portadown area. The Redmonds are said to have had a strawberry farm around 1900 and their son became a doctor, having graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.
William and Mary's son, Joseph Hampton, married Sarah Boyd, daughter of James Boyd, in St Anne's, Belfast in 1891. Joseph was working as a fitter and living at 27 Bellvue Street in Belfast, while Sarah was working as a stitcher, living at 28 Drew Street. Joseph and Sarah had 5 children - William John b 19 Dec 1892; Joseph b 11 July 1897; James Boyd b 3 Feb 1900, Henry Nicholl b 31 Mar 1901 (died Jan 1902); Mary b 9 Aug1903. The grandfather clock found its way to Joseph in 1896 and we are told that Joseph gave the clock case a French polished shellac finish around 1900.
The family were living at 5 Isoline Street in Belfast when sadly Joseph died of pneumonia on 4 Jun 1906, aged just 39. His eldest child, William John, who was 13 years old at the time his father died, inherited the grandfather clock. In 1913, Sarah and the family emigrated to Montreal, Canada and the clock went too, but minus its original cast iron weights which were left behind in case they came loose on the journey and would damage the case. Before leaving Belfast, the original weights were weighed and in Montreal, new ones were made from brass tubes and filled with lead to the correct weight. Somehow the second hand was lost in the move to Montreal and so William John made a new one from memory.
The weights were originally hung on some type of cord and then later the family used fishing line. The only problem was that this would eventually break, inevitably in the middle of the night, waking everyone up! Eventually they changed to using stainless steel woven wire cables.
The family moved from Montreal to Chicago and then on to Cleveland, Ohio and the clock came too. William John married Marion and they had two children, in 1929 and 1934. Another move was made to Boston and then to Rhode Island and yes, the grandfather clock came too.
How do we know all this? Because William John and Marion's son wrote a letter from his home in Rhode Island on 16 April 1979, to a fellow clock enthusiast in Portadown. That letter has now turned up amongst a collection of photographs. At the time he wrote his letter, the clock was in fine fettle. We found out that he still lives at the same address, managed to trace his son, on Facebook and sent him a message. His parents, Don and Sylvia, are well and have sent us these photos of Don and the clock - if you happen to be related to the Hampton family, who were originally from the Portadown area and then Belfast, or the Carrick family from Portadown, do please get in touch.
Article Contributed by Member FM07
