The Monaghans Chap. 2 Consett & return to Ireland

An early Locomotive passing the original blast furnaces

at Consett in the mid 19^th century

By the time of the census of 30 March 1851 the Monaghan family were at Berry Edge (which was to become Consett). 

A wagonway between Stanhope, and Westhoe (South Shields) had been opened in the 1830’s.  The route was at first travelled by a combination of horse drawn, gravity propelled, and static engine-drawn mineral wagons.  The line, opened to transport lime, limestone and coal, passed close by Medomsley.  This early rail link was a major factor in the creation of large scale iron making in the Consett area, and in the development of the associated coal field, as from the first it allowed the products of this isolated area access to the Tyne and to the rail network.  Soon the railway system was used to bring the raw materials to the iron works. 

Ironstone mining

The Derwent Iron Company (DIC -the forerunner of Consett Iron Company) was founded in 1840* but the census of 1841 shows very few iron workers in the area, suggesting the works was very much in its infancy.  At first the works used locally mined ore.  Before the Monaghans arrived in Consett there had been a bitter strike in the autumn of 1845 caused by the Derwent Iron Company cutting the wages of the ore miners.  Ironstone miners, like colliers, were bond to their employer.   When the miners struck they were evicted from their houses.  The first evictions resulted in ‘an outrage’ - no further detail is given in the reports in the Courant of 3 October 1845... 

Newcastle Courant Friday 3 October 1845

On Wednesday last week [24 September] 35 police constables proceeded to the Conside Iron Works, headed by the chief constable, holding warrants against twelve men for the outrages of the previous week who, it turned out had decamped in the interim.  One hundred and forty more parties were then quietly ejected, without any seeming disposition on the part of the men on strike to offer any resistance, although there is, apparently, no intention, on the part of those left in possession of the houses to resume work.

Monaghan Cousins?

The 1851 census shows a Monaghan family at 167 Berry Edge, Consett.  Later censuses, as described below, revealed that they were from Dunamore, and so surely related to our Monaghans.  Ann Monaghan (maidne name McNamy -see Brooms Bapt Reg) (44) was the head of the house and was a housekeeper.  The census shows she was married, but as in subsequent censuses no husband is present.  Margaret (17) was ‘working at bricks’ (another Irish woman Catherine Brannah (25) was a labourer ‘working amongst bricks’, Elizabeth (15) and Joseph (12) were cleaning ironstone.  Catherine (10) Michael (8) and Agnes (4) had no occupation.  All the family were born in Ireland.  Catherine (10), Michael (8) and Agnes (4) were too young to work.  Catherine later married a Peter McElhone (from Tyrone) in Stockton in 1865, and the 1891 census for Cowpen Bewley (Port Clarence) shows Catherine (Monaghan) McElhone (and presumably her siblings and her mother) were from Kildress, County Tyrone and so it is very likely that that the family were relatives of Michael Monaghan. 

Perhaps Margaret Monaghan worked at the Conside Brick Manufactory.

This advert, inviting designs for a bridge across the Hownes Gill appeared in the Newcastle Courant of 6^th December 1844. The difficult to read words say “intended to cross the Hownes Gill”.  The following April another advert appeared, reading “Wanted 200-300 EXCAVATORS on the Stanhope railway near the Hownes Gill.  Apply to Wm. and Geo. Jewitt on the Railway Side rear Hownes Gill.” (N. C. 11 April 1845)

As transport links improved, the poor quality local ore became less important.

The railway bridge opened in 1857 and ironstone mining in the Consett area ceased , as Cleveland and Cumberland ore was brought in over the Gill.  Later, ore was brought by rail up the Browney Valley to Consett via Knitsley Station.

A number of adverts in the Newcastle Courant (N.C.) testify to the growth of Conside and the surrounding towns.

With the Belsay Castle Inn and the blacksmith's catering for travellers, Allensford must have been the Victorian equivilant of a motorway service station.

Newcastle Courant 26 June 1845 WANTED immediately, Two journeymen SHOEMAKERS; liberal wages will be given.  Apply to Edward English, New Conside, near Blackhill Iron Works Shotley Bridge 25 June 1845

Edward English, of High Conside, appears in this 1851 census as a shoemaker employing two men.  Edward’s neighbours included 2 grocers, a butcher, a tailor and the landlord of the Puddler’s arms.  They had come from various parts of Northumberland and Durham to set up business in Conside.

   

Newcastle Courant Friday 25 July 1845 WANTED Four or five Pairs of good SAWYERS. - apply to William Nicholson, Builder, Shotley Bridge. Shotley Bridge 24 July 1845

This advert for 4-5 pairs of sawyers, suggests that a lot of building work was in progress.

The sawyers would use a two handled saw, called a 'whipsaw'. Sawing was a slow and exhausting process, requiring strong men with great stamina. The top sawyer had to be especially strong because the saw was pulled in turn by each man, and the lower had the advantage of gravity. The top sawyer also had the important task of guiding the saw so that the board was of even thickness. This was often done by following a chalk line. The top sawyer kept the cuts straight or curved as required and estimated the width of the planks. He was the man in charge of the operation, and it wasn't uncommon for nicknames such as 'Williams Top-sawyer' to be common currency in country areas. (from Wikipedia)

Newcastle Courant Friday 25 September 1846 TO SPADE AND SHOVEL   MAKERS.                                                       WANTED immediately, ONE OR TWO                                                          SPADE AND SHOVEL FINISHERS; also                                                                 ONE OR TWO SHOVEL SHAFT MAKERS.                                                   Steady and good Workmen will find constant Employment.  Apply to Thomas Walker, Blacksmith, Shotley Bridge 25th September 1846

A description of Lead Gate (sic) in an advertisement in the Newcastle Courant of 17 April 1846)

Adverts from the Courant 17 April 1846. I imagine much of the blacksmith’s work came from horse drawn traffic on the road now known as the A68.

Like miners and puddlers, agricultural labourers and domestic servants were bound, - legally required to work for the duration of the bound, a year for ‘hinds’ – agricultural workers, and six months for domestic servants.  1845 the first Shotley Bridge Hiring was held on 5^th May.    A hiring fair was an excuse for celebration, and sometimes an occasion of crime.

Newcastle Courant 23 Feb. 1849 Durham General Sessions Barnard Kelly (18) pleaded guilty to a charge of having, in the parish of Lanchester, on the 26 Nov., stolen three pairs of boots and two shoes, the property of Thomas Railton.  He pleaded not guilty to another charge of having stolen, on the same day and place, a silver watch, the property of Wm Long.  Mr LIDDELL stated the case. Prosecutor had gone with his brother in law, on the day in question to Shotley Bridge Hiring, and gave the latter his watch to take care of in a public house kept by Martin Bell in which the prisoner was at the time; the brother in-law found the watch had been taken from his pocket.  Next day prisoner sold it to Anne Thorpe, a woman in Newcastle. Guilty.  Sentenced to a fortnight’s imprisonment for the first crime and 7 years transportation for the next. [Martin Bell was the son in law of Elizabeth Oley MB].

Even in those days people would travel to Newcastle for recreation!

  

Newcastle Courant Friday 27 February 1846 JANE GREEN (17) was charged with having, on the 7th February [Saturday], Robbed George Scott of a purse containing 4 sovereigns.  Mr KING, stated that the prosecutor was a waggonman lately employed in the iron works near Shotley Bridge.  On the day in question he came into Newcastle, and called on a friend, who accompanied him the Sun public house in Sandgate, where he first saw the prisoner.  After having some drink he went to the prisoner’s house, when she contrived to pick his pocket, and run away with it.  He immediately gave information to the police, who did not apprehend the prisoner until the next morning, but no money was found upon her.  Guilty.  To be imprisoned with hard labour for 6 months.

Newcastle Courant Friday 20 November 1846 LANCHESTER -Friday – before Wm Thos. Greenwell and Robert Balleny Esqs., - John Conway and Hugh McGinn charged by PC Connel*, of Conside, with stealing turnips, the property of P Annandale, Esq., were fined 1s each and 10s 6d costs.... Eliz. Forster, of Crook Hall, charged with taking a cabbage, belonging to John Murray of the same place, was fined 6d and 10s costs.

*By 1851 PC Zecharia Connel of School Row, Berry Edge, had been promoted to Sergeant.

    Newcastle Courant, Friday 12 March 1847.  Main roads were still financed by tolls on travellers levied at tollgates, such as the High Gate at Benfieldside.

Newcastle Courant Friday 26 March 1847 WANTED immediately, a Number of JOINERS and HOUSE CARPENTERS Apply to John Heslop, Builder, Shotley Bridge  TO CABINET MAKERS. 10 [?] good and steady workmen in the Business will meet with constant work and encouragement by applying to J. Snowball Cabinet Maker Leadgate near Shotley Bridge. Newcastle Courant Friday 14 May 1847 To sawyers A PAIR of good SAWYERS will meet with ... prices an inside pit, with a constant job by applying to J. Snowball Joiner and Ca-...  Leadgate near Shotley Bridge.

These adverts illustrate how building work was continuing in the area.

Clearly the town had a chemist’s by 1847 (Newcastle Courant).

Newcastle Courant Friday 23 April 1847

The inquest, reported in the following week's Courant, concluded that 'old flaws in the metal' were the cause of the explosion of the 19^th of April but, as above, it was not thought necessary to print the names of the people concerned, as they were just working people.

Newcastle Courant Friday 30 July 1847

As well as trouble between the Irish and the English there was no shortage of conflict within the Irish community from the 'grand battle royal' described above to Anne Duffey's assault on her Crook Hall neighbour, labourer Patrick Carroll.  The Courant of 19 November 1847 reported that she was fined 5s with 10s costs.

James Hoy (27) was charged with hitting John Wade on the head with an iron bar in Mr Cairn's public house at Berry Edge, on 12 July, the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, 1848.  Hoy said that he had been insulted and provoked and hit Wade with the first thing that came to hand.  He was imprisoned for one year.

In contrast, the High Conside News and Literary Institution's February 1848 tea party was addressed by Messrs Kelly, Little and Hutchinson, (NC 25 /2/48) and the following month R Ferens esq., surgeon gave a lecture on anatomy to members of the Polytechnic Institute, Leadgate (NC 24/3/48).        

A court appearance on a minor charge by a Robert Smith, clog maker, shows that at least some people in the area wore clogs. (NC 28/4/48).

The 1851 census showed that Michael Monaghan had become a coal miner, which was to remain his occupation for the rest of his life.

Up to 1844 miners were employed on an annual bond, tying them to a particular employer for twelve months.  After the defeat of the miners’ strike of 1844 the bound was contracted on a monthly basis.  Miners could be fined, or imprisoned for absence from work, for taking a day off, or for attempting to leave their employer while the bond was in force.  A typical case was that of Joseph Taylor, a miner, who, appeared before the Lanchester Magistrates on 20^th January 1847 and was ‘committed to the house of correction for two months for absenting himself from his employment with the Derwent Iron Company.” (Newcastle Courant 29^th January 1847)  At the end of the month any troublesome miner could be turned out from their job and their home.  Puddler and some other iron wrkers were also bound to their employer on an annual basis.

Typical Weekly Expenses of a Miner with a wife and two children (1850)
Wage: 20 Shillings a week	S	D
1lb blasting (gun) powder	1	0
1lb candles for use in the pit		10  1/2
soap		7
1.5 lb sugar at 9d per pound	1	1    1/2
2 ozs tea		6
Quarter pound coffee		7
21lbs bread *	2
Yeast, salt, pepper		4
7 lbs beef at 7d per lb	4	1
Pint of milk a day at 1.5 d a pint		9
3/4lb butter	1	1
1 lb cheese		8
1 lb bacon		8
Tobacco		8
Total	14	11
* Perhaps flour if the woman of the house baked bread.

“The condition of the miners in the early days was terrible.  They were little more than slaves.  They never worked less than ten hours a day, six days a week.  For this they were paid between fifteen and twenty shillings a week.  Conditions did not improve a great deal until the Coal Mines Act of 1870 came into operation”*

*PL Robson in ‘The Consett Story’.

The DIC had sunk the No 3 and No 4 pits at Berry Edge in 1847.  The site of the No1 pit gives its name to the village of Number One, on the edge of Consett, at the top of Blackfine bank.  Pits 1, 3 and 4 had been abandoned before 1851.   The nearest pit to Michael’s home was Consett Coal Pit now the site of Consett Parish Church, but the Number 2 pit was within walking distance, as was the Latterday Saints pit at Delves.  Many of these pits held ironstone as well and coal.  The family consisted of Michael 35, Hannah, 38, Bridget, 3 (all born Ireland); Mary 2, and Francis, 4 months (both born in Tow Law, Durham).   A visitor in the Monaghan household was John Loy. There were 4 Loy families in Kildress parish; perhaps the Monaghans knew the Loys from Ireland. Another visitor (or lodger) in the household was Barney Mulhatton. This is also a Dunamore name, Charles Mulhaton was a witness at Michael and Hannah’s wedding.  In 1841 there had been 186 men and 192 women in Dunamore; by 1851 the figures had dropped to 149 and 152 respectively.   As the Monaghans had found a living in Durham,  it would have been strange if other Dunamore people had not emigrated to Consett.  There were two other male visitors, or lodgers; David Harper and Charles Kelly; the men were all labourers at the Iron Works.  There was also a female lodger, Margaret Regan, paper worker (Annandale's paper mill at Shotley Bridge was the major employer of women in the area). The entire household was Irish.

Kildress Families in Brooms Parish, Co Durham

The marriage register of Brooms Church, the first Catholic Church in the area, lists quite a lot of detail of the background of some of the parishioners; the following were from Kildress. 

In 1847, William the son of Patrick McNamee and Bridget (Keeney) married Mary Ann the daughter of P McGurk and Catherine (Donley), both families were from Kildress.  Later that year James Corr, son of John and Bridget (Hughes) of Pomroy parish, married Mary O’Brien, daughter of James and Susan (McClean) of Kildress.  On 9^th January 1848 William Parks, son of John and Margaret (Johnson) of Louth Parish in Co. Louth, married Susan Grimes, daughter of Thomas and Hannah (McGurk) of Kildress.  Patrick Lockeran, son of Thomas and Mary McCready of Donomow (Dunamore Townland, or Donaghmore Parish?) Co Tyrone married Ann Newman, the daughter of William and Ann (Thompson) of Leitrim Parish, Co Leitrim. 

 1848 Charles Kelly, the son of Patrick and Sarah (McAvoy) married Sarah Broadley daughter of Felix and Sarah (Mucklehatton), both of Kildress Parish. 

Philip Mohan and Jane Hacky were married on 5 October 1848; Philip’s parents were Patrick Mohan and Helen (Mackleroy) of Co Fermanagh,   Jane’s parents were Michael H and Ann (McClosky) of Kildress Parish. 

William Killen was the son of James and Ann (McGuire) of Drumaroad Parish Co Down.  He married Anne Meloy, daughter of John and Sarah (Small) of Kildress on 26 June 1849.  On 26 November 1850 Fr Francis Kearney officiated at the marriage of Thomas McKew, son of Lawrence and Mary McHew of Berry Edge, to Margaret Malone, daughter of Hugh and Anna Malone of Dunamore.    John Brady married Frances Delaney, on 23 August 1851.  John was the son of John and Anne Brady; the family seem to have come from Dunamore, though Fr Kearney’s entry in the register is hard to read.

A wedding, on 11 February 1851, which likely had Kildress connections, was that of Patrick McGeratty, son of Thomas and Mary McGerratty of Tyrone, to Sarah Ann Conway, daughter of Francis and Mary Conway of Blackhill.  Sarah’s sister Margaret was a witness two weddings of Kildress people at Brooms, and family is likely to have come from Kildress, where there were Conways listed in the surveys of 1827 and 1860.  There were also several families of McGerrattys   in Kildress (including that of my gt gt grandmother) and a Peter McGerraty was a lodger with the Conways in 1851.  Patrick Geraghty (20) and his wife Sarah (20) appear in their own household at Blackhill on the 1851 census.  A witness at the wedding was Peter Brady of Blackhill, such a man, aged 26, was a lodger in the household of Francis and Fanny Walker at Blackhill in 1851; the entire household was Irish.  The other witness was Catherine Clifford, also of Blackhill, likely the 20 year old daughter of William and Ann Clifford who appears on the 1851 census.  So far Patrick and Sarah McGerraty/Geraghty have not come to light after 1851.

An 1852 entry in the Brooms marriage register records the marriage of James Steel, son of Robert and Sarah of Donamore*   and Isabella Logan was the daughter of Neill and Margaret of Kildress.  The witnesses were Joseph McGahan of Berry Edge and Margaret O’Brien of Lanchester.  James Eccles, the son of John and Ellen of Kildress, married Mary Clarke, the daughter of John and Sarah of Berry Edge, on 23 January 1854.  Michael, the son of Charles and Mary Loughran of Kildress married Ann Graham at Brooms on 30 January 1854.   Ann was the daughter of Henry and Sarah Graham of? In the Brooms marriage register there is a line rather than a location for the birthplace of the parents, perhaps unknown. 

Further Brooms weddings in the years up to the end of 1855, with one or more partners from Kildress took place between: Thomas Woods and Bridget Grimes, John Maley and Mary Conway, Patrick Garvan and Ellen Foy Neil McGurk and Catherine Mohan, John M’Creton and Margaret McGraine, Charles McGinn and Sarah McElhatton.  From the start of January 1856 a new register was used and the residence of the parents was no longer recorded.  The presence of a large group of people from the Cookstown area was also commented on by the late Miss Teresa Matthews, a former school teacher at Brooms in her taped interview with in the Beamish Archives.  So we can be confident of the strong connection between Dunamore and the Consett area.  [See the longer post on this subject].

The registers of St Thomas’ RC Church, Wolsinghan, and the 1851 census illustrate that several Irish families, some  from Kildress, were, like the Monaghans, moving between Tow law and Consett**.  Consett and Tow law had been linked by the Weardale Extension Line of the Derwent Railway for both passengers and goods from August 1845, though passengers had to disembark and continue by cart until they had passed the obstructions at Nanny Mayor’s incline and Hown’s Gill until the Hown’s Gill Viaduct opened on 1^st July 1858***.

* [or perhaps the parish of Donaghmore, though this parish in Derry Diocese, but situated in Co Donegal, had few immigrants to North West Durham]

**See appendix Irish marriages and baptisms at St Thomas of Canterbury Wolsingham.

***See Consett,  A Town In The Making p35 Tommy Moore

Bartholomew Monaghan see the seperate posting on Bart.

 

On 27 July 1852 William Monaghan was born, and he was baptised at Brooms Church.  His godfather was someone called John Core - it’s not clear yet whether he was related to ‘our’ Core’s*.  The 1841 census had shown only 19 Irish born people in the Consett area, out of a population of 1,269.  By 1851 the population of the area had grown to 2,475; a large proportion of them born in Ireland.

The Iron Company’s general offices at Berry Edge, dwarfing the workers’ houses on the right.

* According to Brooms parish register a John Core came from the parish of Desertcrete in Tyrone.

Other Monaghans and Kildress people in the area in the mid 1800’s The first Monaghan ‘event’ recorded on public record in County Durham was the birth of an Alice, the daughter of Catherine Monaghan, a single woman, in the Union Workhouse Durham at 11.45 am on 16 September 1847.  It can’t have been a very joyful event.  I intend to see if anything more can be found out about these people. Peter Monaghan, a boy, was robbed on the way to a shop in Newcastle, to buy flour [Newcastle Courant 12 Feb 1845]. There were Tyrone and Mayo Monaghans in the city.   An early Monaghan event on 4 March 1851 was the marriage, at St Cuthbert’s, Durham City, of John Monaghan of Framwellgate Moor, son of Thomas and Bridget Monaghan of Kilconey to Ann Burke of Framwelgate Morr, daughter of Martin & Mary Burke of Newtown. There is a Kilconey parish in Co Galway, which includes the town of Newtown so I don’t think there’s any likelihood of these people being related to our Monaghans. There was a James Monaghan in the Tow Law area in the 1850’s - in 1854, at St Joseph’s, Tow Law; his daughter Catherine Monaghan married Dennis Ward of Wolsingham. Newcastle Courant, Friday 11 June 1852.  Marriages: at Durham on 31st ult. Mr Patrick Lamb to Miss Rose Monaghan both of Willington.  At St Wilfred’s Chapel, Bishop Auckland, 14 February 1855, Edward Lambe (pitman of Crook), son of James Lambe, married Mary Monaghan (20, spinster of Crook) daughter of Philip Monaghan, an agricultural witnesses Thomas Kelly and Bridget Callan. The 1851 census of Thornley Colliery shows a John Monahan (sic) 24, coal miner a lodger with the Turley-McRay family.  Fellow lodgers were Peter 25, and John, 23, McCullagh also coal miners.  Monaghan and McCullagh are Dunamore names.  Another Kildress name found in the area was Owen Garahty, he was robbed of half a crown [Newcastle Courant 21 October 1842].  An Edward Monaghan, 58, stoneman, was injured on 30 May 1920, and subsequently died after a long illness on 25 August 1922, I wonder if these people, on the other side of Co Durham were relatives of ours? On 11 July 1856 a medical student who had stabbed a street cleaner in the leg with a sword stick was fined £5!  At 4.15 am, Alfred Scott Gill, on the way home and drunk, stabbed John Grieves who was sweeping the gutters in Blackett St in Newcastle City Centre.  John's collegues, John Mugglehatton (McIlhatton) and Patrick McCrystal gave evidence.  These two unusual surnames are found in Kildress, there seems a strong possibility that the men were from that area. The 1851 census shows John McElhatton abd family at Pudding Chare, St John's, Newcastle

At some point over the next two years the Monaghans returned to Ireland; we don’t know why they left.  Of course Michael and Hannah would have missed Ireland and perhaps there seemed to be a chance of making a living there.  There were a couple of court cases involving assaults on Monaghans [see Newcastle Courant]; these may have been a factor.  Another possible explanation is that Michael may have been blacklisted after a strike, Sidney Webb, in his ‘Story of the Durham Miners’ reports that refers to a coal trade circular of 10 October 1849 that advised coal owners to refuse employment to miner who could not produce a satisfactory leaving certificate from his last employer.  By 1853 all trace of the miners’ union had disappeared.  

For whatever reason the Monaghans were back in Ireland by about 1854, when Ann Monaghan was born. At some point over the next two years the Monaghans returned to Ireland where Ann Monaghan was born about 1854.    Apart from the baptism of Bridget Monaghan in 1846, there are no baptisms of children born to Michael and Hannah recorded in the Kildress register, so it must be assumed that the Monaghan’s either did not return to Dunamore, or if they did, they didn’t stay there for long, English births are available on line, and the three missing Monaghan births were not registered in England. Registration did not commence in Ireland until 1865.  I have not yet found a record of the baptisms of Ann, Patrick or John Monaghan.

The 1861 census returns for 2 Red Row, Crookhall shows a Patrick McGarrity, 26, labourer.  Patrick’s wife was Mary McGurk, 20; they had just had a child, Patrick, aged 1 month.  The couple had married at Brooms, the register shows that bride and groom lived at Leadgate at the time, and that Patrick was the son of James ‘McGirraty’ and that Mary was the daughter of Francis McGurk, Mary’s mother, Eleanor McGork, 45; a widow was in the household in 1861.  The witnesses at the wedding were James McElhone of Crookhall and Mary Haughey of Leadgate.  Mary’s brothers Michael 24, and Felix,22, were also in the household at census time, as was John McGarrity, 31.  Michael McGurk, 45 was also there, he was an uncle, presumably Mary’s.  Apart from baby Patrick all came from Tyrone, and quite possibly from Kildress Parish where all these names were common.

There were coal mines on Co Tyrone; perhaps with Michael’s experience as a miner, he went to work in an Irish pit. 

In 1837 Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland wrote ’in Annahone [East Tyrone] are valuable mines of coal, which, though discontinued in 1825, were formerly worked with great advantage: they are now leased by the owner to a spirited individual, who has recommenced them, with success, upon an extensive scale’.   Of Drumglass, just north of Dungannon, Lewis wrote ‘Here are extensive collieries worked by the Hibernian Mining Company under lease from the Lord-Primate. The upper and best seam is about a foot thick; under it is a thin stratum of iron-stone, and then a seam of coal two feet thick. About 180 persons are employed, who raise 500 tons weekly. A drift is being made from these works to coal beds on the Earl of Ranfurly’s estate, about a mile distant; and a line of railway has been marked out from the collieries to the Tyrone canal at Coal Island.’  There was a coal field at Coalisland where at one stage there were 11 mines.   At least one mine worked a 5’ seam at a depth of about 200’.  [from the Co Armagh section of the Dictionary we read ]...The river Bann, from its junction with the  [Newry] canal to Lough Neagh, a distance of eleven miles and a half, completes the navigation, opening a communication with Belfast by the Lagan navigation, and with the Tyrone collieries by the Coal Island or Blackwater navigation.

The Coalisland field continued production throughout the 19^th century, though on wag, an Irish MP, suggested that a good way of extinguishing a burning house was by the application of plenty of Dungannon coal.