July 1917

Seagoe Parish Magazine.

JULY, 1917.

In memoriam.

In Proud and Affectionate Remembrance of those from

the Parish of Seagoe who fell in the Great Advance on

July 1st, 1916, near Hamel, Picardy, France.

These laid the world away, poured out the red

Sweet wine of youth ; gave up the years to be

Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene

That men call age; and those who would have been

Their sons, they gave, their immortality."

Thomas Joyce Atkinson.

Robert Taylor Montgomery,

William dames Allen.

Thomas Hewitt.

Harry Holmes.

Alexander M 'Cabe.

Frank M'Kerr.

Joseph Parkes.

THE LATE MR. GEORGE CALVERT.

The accompanying Portrait of the late Mr. Calvert will remind us

of the face and form of one who is sadly missed in the Parish. More and

more each day we feel how large a place he filled in our Church and

social life. We have not found if possible this month to give, as we

had intended, an outline of his activities on the various Public Boards of

which he was a member, but we hope to be able to do so in a future

issue. In every direction he exerted an immense influence, and that

influence was always on behalf of what was good and

true. Many expressions of regret and sympathy have

been forthcoming from the organisations in which he was

interested, and one and all voice the same feeling

of the loss which his death has caused in the community,

" Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall

stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean

men."

SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.

Protestant Orphan Society,

The Annual Appeal on behalf of the County

Armagh Protestant Orphan Society will be made in

the Parish Church on Sunday morning, July 8th.

The Society is a staunch helper of the orphans in

Seagoe Parish, and we hope there will be a liberal

response.

Seagoe Day School,

At the examination, held on 15th May, 1917, by the

Diocesan Inspector, the Rev. John Gordon, 107

children passed,

The following received Certificates.

—Seniors—Mervyn Sweeney, Isabella Best, Amy

Holmes, William Kilpatrick, Norman Dickson, and

William Simpson.—Juniors—Sidney Walker, Tom

Best, Sarah Whaley, Eva Magee, Mary Coulter,

Sarah Coulter, Albert Best, Floribel Best. The

Inspector's Report was very favourable.

Eggs for Wounded Soldiers,

At the request of Mrs. Blacker, the children

attending Seagoe Day School, collected Eggs for the

Wounded Soldiers in the Ulster Volunteer Hospital,

Belfast, last week. The eggs were brought in on

Thursday and Friday, 21st and 22nd June, and

reached the large total of 47 ½ dozen or 567 eggs in

all. The eggs were brought on Friday to Mrs. Brew,

Rathlin, for direct despatch to the Hospital.

Edna Watson collected the largest number of

eggs—6 dozen and 7.

The Battle of Messines,

Our local Battalion though not, we believe, actually

engaged in the fight during the first day of the

Battle of Messines, came in for some sharp fighting

on the second or third day during a counter-attack

made by the Germans. The casualties were slight

6 killed and 32 wounded. None of the six, who made

the supreme sacrifice, belonged to this neighbourhood.

Sergeant James Sheppard, of Levaghery, received a

wound in the forehead, but we are glad to hear that it

is slight, and we hope soon to welcome him back again

among his old friends in Seagoe. He is at present in

Hospital in England. We hear on good authority

that the Germans suffered more heavily at Messines

than during any other engagement in the war.

Our Advertisements.

Do you ever read the Advertisements in our

Magazine? We know there are some people, not a

few, who read every word of this Magazine each

month, but, if you have not carefully looked through

the Advertisements, do so this month. You want

good value and you are sure to get it from the Firms

who are kind enough to advertise in our pages.

Can you find out in what advertisements the following

words occur ?—Drawing, Reasonable, Explain,

Private, United, Uusurpassed, Process, Inquire,

Minutes, Way, General, Reported, Note, Worry,

Inspection, Always, Except, Stock, Attractive,

Discounted, Yard, Ulster, 2/8.

Special Anniversary Service.

A Special Anniversary Service will (D. V.) be held

in Seagoe Parish Church on Sunday evening, July

8th, at 7 p.m. The collection will be in aid of the

Enniskillen Memorial Orphan Fund.

Our Sunday Schools,

Prizes for Attendance were distributed on Sunday,

June 24th, in Edenderry Sunday School and in

Seagoe Afternoon Sunday School. Owing to the

difficulty and expense incurred in obtaining Books,

the Prizes were limited to those who had attended

45 Sundays and over during 1916. A large number

of the pupils attained this high standard, which is

very creditable to the Schools. Farther Distributions

of Prizes will be made in the other Sunday Schools

of the Parish on succeeding Sundays.

PARISH REGISTER FQR

JUNE, 1917.

Baptisms.

The following were Baptized in the Parish

Church on 2nd June, 1917.

Steenson—Alice, daughter of George (Private, 10th Royal Irish Fusiliers) and Mary Steenson,

of Portadown. Sponsors—Sarah Totton, Mary Steenson.

McNeill—James Henry, son of Samuel George Irish (Private, Royal Fusiliers, Salonica) and Anna McNeill, of Ballymacrandle. Sponsors—Edith Fleming, Anna McNeill.

McClatchey—Josephine, daughter of William (Munition Worker) and Mary Anne McClatchey, of Edenderry. Sponsors—Elizabeth McNally, Mary Anne McClatchey.

Freeburn—Joseph, son of Joseph and Sarah Freeburn, of Edenderry.

Sponsors—Isabel Black, Sarah Freeburn.

Jane, daughter of William Henry and Eliza Jane Armstrong, of Portadown.

Sponsors—-Maria Jane Gordon, Eliza Jane Armstrong.

Marriage,

Magee and Magee—On 13th June, 1917, Joseph William Magee, of Kernan,

to Emma Magee, of Kernan.

Burial

McKerr—14th June, 1917, Elizabeth Isabella McKerr, of Dublin, aged 9 months.

SEAGOE

Offertories for June,

PARISH MAGAZINE.

Sunday—Mornings, £5 3 6

Evenings, 1 5 5

Week Days 0 5 6

£6 14 5

Special War Certificates,

Special War Certificates on Parchment have been

awarded to Lance-Corporal James Henry England, of

Knock, and to Private A. Lyness, of Drumgor, for

Distinguished Conduct in the Field. This is a very

high Distinction, and we congratulate very heartily

our two young Parishioners on their Courage and

Devotion to Duty.

The following is the Certificate awarded to Lance

Corporal James Henry England 36th (Ulster) Division,

British Expeditionary Force.

This Certificate is awarded to No. 248, Lance Corporal James Henry England, 16th Batt. Royal

Irish Rifles (P.), who on two occasions endeavoured under heavy fire to bring in from " No Man's Land " (Thiepval Wood), his Platoon Sergeant, who was fatally wounded on 7th July, 1916.

O, S. NUGENT,

Major General,

Commanding 36th (Ulster) Division.

Date, 2nd April, 1917.

ITEMS.

A resident in Ardmore Parish made a profit of £92

in a fortnight this spring by the sale of eggs.

The title of Armagh Protestant Orphan Society has

been altered to the County Armagh Protestant Orphan

Society.

The In Memoriam lines printed on our front page

were written by Lieut. Rupert Brooke. who died

from fever while serving with the Mediterranean

Expeditionary Force.

Mr. Moffett has on view at his Photographic Studio

in Edenderry a most life-like portrait of the late Mr.

George Calvert. It is an enlargement of a photograph

taken by Mr. Moffett at the time when Mr. Calvert

was photographed for his portrait as Churchwarden

of Seagoe Parish. No likeness could be more perfect

than that which Mr. Moffett has reproduced in this

enlargement.

Congratulations.

We offer our hearty congratulation to Major the

Rev. F. J. Halahan, S.C.F., Rector of Drumcree, on

his being awarded the Military Cross. Those who

have been with our Battalion since it went to France

speak in glowing terms of Major Halahan's courage

and devotion to duty, and all who know him will

rejoice that he has obtained this fine distinction.

Old Seagoe Notes.

The Blue Stone, Seagoe.—BY THE REV. ABRAHAM

DAWSON, AM —A portion of the ancient Parish of

Seagoe, on the old road between Portadown and

Lurgan, where the Townland of Lisnamintry adjoins

Lylo and Clanrolla, is known by the local designation

of The Blue Stone. It derives this name from a large

boulder stone which stood in this locality until

one hundred years ago. Its position is said to have

been at the right hand corner of the field on Mr.

William Robinson's farm, close beside the junction of

the lane through Clanrolla (called " The Blue Stone

Lonan ") with the Lurgan Road, as it passes through

Lisnamintry At this spot it is said to be now

buried, and the place is noted on the Ordnance Survey

Map as " The Blue Stone." An old tradition hands

down the memory of its great size. It is said that

Duke Schomberg marched by this way to the Boyne,

with his division of King William's army, and that

on the top of this stone he had his dinner laid out, of

which he partook without alighting from his horse.

The disappearance of this remarkable stone is

connected with a frightful murder, of which tradition

still preserves the remembrance in a very peaceful

district. We are indebted for the following details to

notes on the parish of Seagoe, compiled by the late

Lieutenant-Colonel William Blacker, of Carrickblacker,

for Shaw Mason's Statistical Survey of Ireland,

In the year 1781, an old man, named John

M 'Neilly, resided in the Townland of Lylo. He had

a valuable farm, and his only child had been married

to James Tollerton, but was at this time deceased.

Tollerton expected to succeed to the farm on the

death of his father in law ; but, disappointed at the

old man's prolonged life, and probably instigated by

his father—a man of the worst character, and the

terror of the neighbourhood—he resolved to murder

M'Neilly. Aided by his father and his brother John,

a, man of weak mind, he carried out his ruthless

design, killing the old man as he lay in his bed, A

variety of circumstances, strikingly providential, led

to the conviction of James Tollerton and his father.

and they were hanged near the scene of the murder,

on a hill which to this day is known as " The

Gallows' Hill." Mr. Workman, an active magistrate,

who had been mainly instrumental in procuring the

conviction of the murderers, had the bodies taken

down from the gallows and removed for burial. He

caused a deep pit to be dug close to and extending

under the Blue Stone. In this pit the bodies were

laid, and the great stone being heaved in on the top

of them, the whole was covered over with earth. Not

long afterwards Mr. Workman received information

that some friends of the murderers had arranged to

raise the bodies, and he hastened to the spot to

prevent the act, which they had nearly accomplished ;

but, on his approach, they fled, leaving the bodies

and their implements behind them. Mr. Workman

and his assistants then raised the bodies ; and, having

made great fire of turf, he reduced them to ashes.

which he cast into the hole under the stone, and

covered all up once more. The place has been undisturbed ever since.

Stuart (History of Armagh, p. 562, note) says that

the persons who sought to raise the bodies belonged

to a riotous band called " The Blue Stone Boys ;" and

that those who aided Mr. Workman in dispersing

them and defeating their project, were the Armagh

Second Volunteer Company. " Since that period,"

he adds, " The Blue Stone Boys have not assembled."

The brother of weak mind, mentioned in the

narrative, disappeared immediately after the murder,

and it was generally supposed that he had been made

away with by his father and brother, to prevent his

blabbing the crime. But above twenty years later,

in the year 1803 or 1804," Colonel Blacker writes,

'”A gaunt, and time withered idiotic creature presented

himself at the house of one of my tenants, an

elderly man who had known the Tollerton family.

He took some meat which was offered him, refused a

bed, but lay down on some straw in the barn. His

moans during the night were described to me as

something unearthly. The only intelligible words he

was heard to utter were, “The bloody deed ! “ repeated

two or three times. When day broke he had disappeared.

This was John Tollerton .—Lurgan

Parochial Magazine, 1880.

Where the Blue Stone is Buried.—Our readers

may like to know exactly where the Blue Stone is

buried, Some day we hope to see it raised and set

on a neat pedestal. It was a historic landmark.

SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.

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1. Original site of the Blue Stone. The hollow

where it lay may still be seen.

2. The place where the Blue Stone was buried.

The exact site is marked by some large stones let

into the bank above it.

3. The triangular grass plot marking the place

where the bodies of the Bluestone murderers were

first buried.

Postilion Days in Portadown.—A Portadown

resident of the last generation used to recount the

scenes of excitement which occurred in Portadown

and the neighbourhood when the Primates of Armagh

were expected to pass through the town. In the

days before Railways were introduced the Archbishops

of Armagh travelled in magnificent coaches, drawn

by four or six horses ridden by postilions in bright

livery, and accompanied by much luggage and many

servants. The Episcopal equipages were specially

attractive to the residents on the occasions when the

Primates drove through Portadown to Donaghadee to

embark for Portpatrick in Scotland on their way to

attend the House of Lords at Westminster.

The Prebend of Dromara in 1748.—The Rev.

Arthur Ford, formerly Rector of Seagoe, was collated

Prebendary of Dromara in the year 1748. After a

lapse of 170 years the office has come back to the

Parish of Seagoe in the appointment of the present

Rector, to the same position.

Ancient Looms in Seagoe Parish.—Some of

the Hand Looms still in use in the Parish are of

great age. One at least has been in use for 110 years,

and the ribbon of cloth woven on it in that period

would reach from Seagoe to Constantinople. Perhaps

some of our readers could give us particulars regarding

the age and history of their looms.

Ardmore Church in 1783. —Ardmore Church

was blown down in a, great storm on November 4th,

1783. This Church was apparently in the townland of

Ardmore, near the lake shore. The present Church is

in the townland of Derryadd.

Seagoe Church in 1862.—Seagoe Church underwent

many alterations and improvements in 1862,

and was re-opened for Public Worship on October 26th

of that year.

Extent of Seagoe Parish.—The Parish of Seagoe

comprises 29 Townlands, extending over 5,466 acres.

In 1880 it contained 704 Church families and 3,647

individual members of the Church. These figures

were the result of a careful census made by Dean

Dawson.

Portadown and the Pneumatic Tyre—Mr. J.B.

Dunlop, the inventor of the Pneumatic Tyre, in a

letter to the Irish Cyclist," published on June 6th,

1917, writes.—" In 1889 the pneumatic appeared on

once cinder track in Ireland. This happened in

Portadown a week before the Liverpool Events, when

McCormick 'c cleared the boards." The interesting

fact recorded in this extract is that Portadown can

claim to be the first place in which the Pneumatic

Tyre was used in a regularly contested cycle

race on a cinder track. We have heard

it stated, though with what certainty we cannot say,

that the inventor of the Pneumatic Tyre is a native

of the Birches district, near Portadown. The race

above referred to took place in August, 1889, and the

track was in the present People's Park.