|
The Families
|
|||
|
Early History
The Streets War
Commerce and Trade Institutions |
|||
|
The McSheffrey Family of Kyle's Brae
William McSheffrey, Laurel Hill
Willie Herald, Killowen Street
HT Barrie, Manor House
James and Hugh McSheffrey, Kyle's Brae
Thomas Adams Sen & Jnr, Shuttle Hill
Tommy Adams, Shuttle Hill, Lily Peacock, Pate's Lane |
|
Killowen and The
Waterside are The Waterside and Captain Street
The Pike Meeting House The 1831 Valuation Map shows a lane located 100 yards up Captain
Street leading to the Seceded Meeting House. This building was the forerunner
to Terrace Row Presbyterian Church. During the rebellion a stock of pikes was
found in the roof space and under the floor. The place became known as The
Pike Meeting House. In the mid 1800s the
increased horse and cart traffic demanded a more suitable route out of
Coleraine that bypassed the torturous climb up Captain Street and the cart
haul (Carthall). An extra horse was kept at the bottom of Carthall to assist
the normal traffic using that route. To that end the ground from the Pike
Meeting House was levelled off to form the Institution Road (Castlerock Road)
at its present level. The earth was transferred to the Bann shore. It was
used to build up the ground for the Strand Road and to level off the height
discrepancy between the end of the Bann Bridge and the Waterside road. The Mary Ranken Maternity Hospital William Douglas then started to build a pair of semi-detached
houses on the former location of the Pike Meeting House in 1891. At the same
time a group of local doctors wanted to improve on the limited space
available at the infirmary and hospital attached to Coleraine workhouse. The
local doctors bought the buildings after a series of fund raising exercises and
soon after that Coleraine town had its first Cottage Hospital. The wall
between the two houses was removed and a wide staircase was fitted so that
patients could be moved about more easily (Coleraine Chronicle, 1 March,
1980).
The
Mary Ranken Maternity Hospital After Ratheane hospital was built in 1924 the Cottage hospital
was sold to Dr Ranken Lyle of Newcastle-on-Tyne. He handed the building over to trustees and
the building then became known as the Mary Ranken Maternity Hospital, in
memory of a close relative. This was the same Mary Ranken of Moneycarrie had
been responsible for building the Temperance Café in Queen Street. This
allowed the local farmers and others to use refreshment facilities rather
than the local public houses. Residents
of Captain Street in 1958 From
left to right; Mrs Moorehead, T Bell, Mrs Gage W
Weir, Mrs Weir, Mrs Clements, Mrs Thompson, Miss Brown, Mrs Downs, Jim White Michael
McDermott, David Kelly, Maureen McCann, George McCann, Lyle McCann, Elma Weir The Crawford Family In the mid 1800s the Crawford family lived and worked in Captain
Street Lower. They were nailers by trade and they operated a forge on the
north side of the street. The first nailer in the family was the great great
grandfather of the present generation (2009). He was called Henry Crawford.
Between the years 1831 and 1852 Henry and his wife Elizabeth had nine
children, six boys and three girls. Two of those boys, Henry junior and John
followed their father into the nailers trade. By 1859 the extended Crawford
family were tenants in Churchland, Killowen Street and Captain Street Lower.
Henry Crawford rented number 23 Lower Captain Street and that house had the
nailers forge attached to it. This business was located halfway down Captain
Street Lower on the north side of the road. That was opposite the spring
pump. There was open ground between the forge and the Court House (built in
1853). Reid’s built their bakery on that open ground. Lower
Captain Street in the 1860’s Henry’s son John took over the forge in 1875 and then in 1880 it
was passed over to Henry junior. Johnston Abraham (b
1876 d 1964), a world-famous Coleraine author and surgeon wrote a letter to
the Coleraine Chronicle on the subject of Captain Street. In that letter he
described in vivid detail the Crawford’s forge and one of the nailers who
worked there. At the time the forge was owned and operated by Henry Crawford
junior, the great grandfather of the present generation. As a child Johnston
had attended the Model School at the top of Captain Street Upper and he
described his route home as follows, “The last house on that side (of the road) on the way home was a constant fascination to us
school boys, for it was the house of the nailer. I don’t suppose anyone now
remembers the nailer-the blacksmith who made nails by hand. He was a big man
with black curly hair, bare-armed and wearing a leather apron. The forge was
open to the world, and it was one of our joys to watch him at work. He liked being watched because he
was a real artist. He kept the furnace glowing with a foot bellows and we
used to watch him as he thrust the long thin round iron bar into the coals
until it got red hot at the end. Then the fascination increased. He hammered
the glowing tip musically on the anvil, fashioning nail after nail from the
end, cutting off lengths of nail as required with a special edged hammer, and
tossing the finished article into a tub of water at the side. It was wonderful to watch the speed
he could work at. He would turn out sparrables for nailing shoes by the
hundred in an hour-inch nails, two-inch nails, three-inch nails, blue and
tapering square-sided with beautiful square diamond heads. He was proud of
his handiwork, and spoke contemptuously of the new wire nails with tinned
surfaces that were just beginning to come into the shops. ‘Soft things that
bend, not like my nails,’ he used to say, not knowing the day of his craft
was over.’ J
Johnston Abraham, Coleraine Chronicle. By 1890 the Crawford
forge was closed and the houses of John, Jim and Henry Crawford in Captain
Street Lower were in the process of being returned to the landlord, Sir
Hervey Bruce. The handover was complete by 1896 and the houses were all
demolished. Hamilton’s Terrace was built on the ground of the forge in 1896.
The majority of Henry Crawford’s children emigrated to America after the
handover to Sir Hervey Bruce. Another relative of Henry’s called Robert
Crawford from Tamnymullan, Maghera sold fish. He would walk from Maghera to
Coleraine with a handcart to sell his fish. Robert took his whole family of
thirteen to America around the same time as Henry senior’s children emigrated. A six-inch nail manufactured and used in Coleraine town. It was
found during the re-roofing of New Row Presbyterian church and reputed to
have been made in the Captain Street Lower forge about 1860. Henry Crawford stayed
in Coleraine and married Elizabeth Getty from Londonderry. They had three
children, Elizabeth, Mary and Thomas (b 1868 d 1955) who became the
grandfather of the present generation. Henry Crawford junior then went to
America when the nailers trade became defunct. Thomas was the first Crawford to serve his
time as a plumber. After he left school at the age of fourteen he started his
apprenticeship in 1882 to John McCandless. John in turn had served his time
to a firm called Williamson. They had been based in Bridge Street and their
principal business was making acetylene lamps. Thomas then married
Catherine Wilton (b 1871 d 1955), the daughter of Mr and Mrs David Wilton
from Park Street. They lived in Bellhouse Lane in the early stages of their
marriage. From 1896 onwards Thomas and Catherine had seven children, five
boys and two girls. Lily was born in 1896 and William was born in 1898. The Coleraine
Fire Brigade in 1909 Thomas was an original member of Coleraine Fire Brigade. They
were known as ‘The Handcart Brigade.’ From left to right, John Walker, Thomas
Crawford, Tom Lamont, D Wilton, TG Lynn, C Boreland, George Jamieson and A
Anderson. Many of these men are mentioned throughout the history of Old
Killowen. In his early youth
Thomas was the Band Master to the first part-music band in the Coleraine area
after he left the Old Commons and Ramparts band. In 1911 Thomas was also part of the group
led by HT Barrie that built Union Street Orange Hall. HT Barrie donated the
ground for the building and also donated some of the building funds. Thomas
was in charge of the plumbing and heating work of the hall.
Thomas remained a leading
figure in the Coleraine Orange Order and Unionist circles for sixty-six
years. He was also a keen rower and an active member of Coleraine Brookvale
Football Club in 1888. In 1927 he was
a committee member of Coleraine Olympic Club when they won the Irish Junior
Cup. The five sons of Thomas
Crawford followed in his footsteps. William, Harry, Jack, Jim and Thomas were
all plumbers by trade, volunteers in Coleraine Fire Brigade, members of LOL
735, as well as keen bowlers, rowers and footballers. Thomas stayed with
McCandless for thirty years. Then in 1912 he started up his own business. It
was known as Thomas Crawford and Sons. William was the first son to join him
at the age of fourteen, then James started his apprenticeship with his father
in 1917. William married Nina
Robinson from Castlederg, County Tyrone in 1931. They lived on the
Ballycastle Road. William and Nina had four sons, William, Randall, Samuel
and George. They all attended the
Boys’ Model School at the top of Upper Captain Street and then transferred to
Coleraine Academical Institution. William and Nina’s
firstborn was Bill and he was born on 8 August 1932 in Coleraine. By 1947 Bill’s talents as a historian were
most apparent when he won first place in the whole of Northern Ireland with
his Junior Certificate examination in History. In 1950 Bill attended Trinity
College, Dublin and read History. After his graduation he became an assistant
teacher of History at Lurgan College in County Armagh for the next thirteen
years. Bill’s next career move took him to the Public Records Office in
Belfast where he spent the next fourteen years in the post of Education,
Publications and School Liaison. He also spent a considerable time as a
lecturer to local history groups and the joint editor of Aspects of Irish
Social History 1750-1800 alongside another Coleraine man, Brian
Trainor. He also became the Honorary
Treasurer to the Federation for Ulster Local Studies in 1975 and then the
Federation’s Development Officer. As hic career developed Bill was
continually producing many articles, journals and books. In 1980 Bill moved to
the post of Keeper of Material Culture at the Ulster Folk and Transport
Museum, Cultraw. During that tenure Bill earned his Doctorate from Queens
University Belfast in 1983 for his thesis titled, Economy and Society in
Eighteenth Century Ulster. In 1961 George
Crawford applied to join the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Sergeant Hastings
conducted the interview and then wrote a short letter to George a week later
stating that he was an unsuitable candidate. The criteria used by Sergeant
Hastings for potential candidates may have been inherently flawed. At the age
of 20 George was the youngest Sergeant in the Metropolitan Police and went on
to be a Chief Constable. He retired in the late 1900s after thirty successful
years in the Metropolitan Police. The
MacLaughlin Family The MacLaughlin family have provided Coleraine town with three
generations of solicitors, two generations in the licensed trade and much
more than that. They have always taken an active part in the administration
and development of the town. The family have also served the Crown during the
Great War and the Second World War. Origins There are two sources of the MacLaughlin family, the Donegal
source and the Meath source with the family name O’McLaughlin. In the early
1900s the O’ was dropped and the family became known as McLaughlin. The
Coleraine MacLaughlin’s can be traced back to James McLaughlin who had a farm
at Claggan, Bellarena. He had five
sons; James, Daniel, Edward, Patrick and John. The eldest son James stayed on
the Claggan farm while Daniel and Edward emigrated to the United States.
Patrick and John lived in Coleraine and carved a career for themselves in the
licensed trade. Patrick established his wholesale and retail licensed trade
in 1807. The 1839 Trade Directory lists Patrick McLaughlin as a publican and
spirit merchant. The Spirit Trade A spirit merchant always bought whiskey in
bond and kept it in his own store. That required capital to establish and
because Patrick’s father was a farmer from Magilligan it is difficult to
ascertain the source of that capital.
Patrick may have inherited the business because there was a Richard
McLaughlin who had a public house in the Waterside. Richard lived on the east
side of the Bann at Hanover and was a bit of a nuisance to the Irish Society
because he wouldn’t maintain his property to their satisfaction. Spirits were kept in
a Bond Store and you did not have access to it. The Excise officer always
retained the key. Patrick’s son Daniel was raised in the Waterside and he
often talked about the Excise officer called Ellingham Laport. The spirit
merchant couldn’t open up the bond store without the Excise officer being
present. Ellingham Laport was always known as ‘The Sweetie Man’ because he
always had sweets for the children. Patrick never enjoyed his role as a publican. He had a few
family tragedies to deal with during his lifetime concerning alcohol. In
fact, in the letter he left to his widow Patrick stated that he did not like
the retail trade. It has been said
that when the dockers were paid and came into his bar on their way home he
always refused to serve them. He told them all to go home to their wives
first. But there were too many pubs between McLaughlin’s and the foot of
Pate’s Lane for those not prepared to heed his admonishment. Patrick did establish
a very successful mail order business. When he died in 1880 at the age of
sixty-eight he had spent almost fifty years in the licensed trade. James
McLaughlin’s other son John was also very successful in the licensed trade.
He had licensed premises in the Diamond, Church Street and Portstewart. He
also built Carthall House late in the 1881. Two of John’s sons also became
involved in the licensed trade. Edward managed the Killowen distillery at one
time, became a J.P. and a member of the Route Hunt while James managed the
Limavady distillery. In 1898 the family
presented St John’s with memorial windows in memory of Patrick and his
brother John of Carthall who had died in 1897 (Mullin, 1979, P145). The
window did not survive the many renovations. During the Great War of 1914-18 there were age restrictions on
recruits. The army did not take on the older men until the war had decimated
the young men from the ranks and the general population. Charlie was one of
the older volunteers and he joined the Royal Army Pay Corps in Dublin. There
were other exceptions made for his medical problems. Because he had varicose
veins he was exempt from wearing puttees and enjoyed presenting his Excused
Puttees chit to all those in authority that challenged his dress code. Charlie’s wife Catherine
(nee Rice) came from Dundalk and her sister was married to an active member
of the IRA, Tom O’Dwier who was usually on the run. O’Dwier had run away from
home as a young man and learned to drive a car in New York. On one occasion Charlie was late in leaving
Dundalk to catch the train back to Dublin. O’Dwier said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll
run you in because I have a car of my own.’ Charlie was extremely dubious
about surviving the journey. First they had a flat tyre and there was no jack
to raise the axle so O’Dwier found a tree stump and that was used instead.
Charlie went through a dozen hells wondering if O’Dwier or his car would
allow him to reach Dublin but all was well on the day. Charlie had two
brothers; one was in Canada and the other was in New Zealand. They both
joined up as they saw this as a way of getting back home to Ireland. The
Canadian brother managed to get back home and qualified as a solicitor after
the war. The New Zealand brother; James B McLaughlin died on the Somme. After Charlie left the
army he went to live in Portstewart. His son Daniel grew up in Portstewart
with his sister. He was educated at the Coleraine Academical Institution. In
1948 he came to live and work in Coleraine as a solicitor in the family
business D. MacLaughlin and Son. The Queens Visit in 1953 When the Queen came to Coleraine after her
Coronation, Dan McLaughlin’s mother and sister came up to Coleraine to see
her. They met up with Howard Gribbon, a former local commander of the B
Specials, outside Coleraine Railway Station and the Queen came along to have
a chat with them. During the conversation the Queen motioned for her driver
to come over to the group. As the driver came forward Howard exclaimed, ’Ach,
it’s James Shields, I haven’t seen him since I arrested him in the 1930s for
being an IRA man!’ Dan MacLaughlin’s Career Dan’s first great interest was archaeology
and he would spend his spare time in the sand hills collecting flints and
other artefacts of the earliest settlers on the north coast. Dan has an
abiding memory of an unoccupied house on the Murder Hole Road outside
Limavady where the walls were constructed of compacted earth, as hard as
concrete. Many of the deeds Dan
was working on in the solicitor’s office had the names of descendants who
were still resident in the Coleraine area. Because of that he became more
interested in the lives of the people in the northwest rather than the
artefacts. Daniel finished his
career as a Resident Magistrate and in his retirement he has devoted his time
to the development of the town with a special interest in its University and
the Causeway Museum.
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Lawrence Crawford, Killowen Street
Jessie Thorpe McSheffrey Kyle's Brae
|
|||
|
Thomas
Crawford 1911
H.T. Barrie J.P. M.P.
|
|||
|
Mullan, Kyle's Brae |
|||
