The Broharris Canal.

When I was checking W.A. McCutcheon's book, "The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland," for detail on the Strabane Canal I came upon a few paragraphs on what was referred to as the Broharris Canal. I had heard of this navigation but knew nothing about it save for its approximate location. It was some two miles in length and ran in a south easterly direction from Ballymacran Point. It was constructed during the 1820's at a cost of £4,500. McCutcheon relates that certain heavy and bulky foodstuffs and raw materials were trafficked along the canal but that it was mainly used to bring ashore shellfish and kelp from the shallows of Lough Foyle. The kelp was employed extensively as a fertiliser on the slob lands of Myroe and the surrounding area. I suspect that the cut must have been contiguous to the Burnfoot River.

Not long after the construction of the Broharris Canal there was a proposal to construct a separate canal which would have been some 3 miles and 10 chains in length and would have ran from Ballymacran Point to a basin in the townland of Shanreagh about a mile from the then boundaries of Limavady. It was envisaged that two locks would have been required and that the canal would have had a bottom width of twenty feet and a top width of thirty five and a depth of five feet. A John Killaly carried out a survey and he estimated that construction costs would be some £12,155. Nothing came of this proposal.

Sources: W. A. McCutcheon - "The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland."

A Contested Settlement

One Family - A Tale of Division, Devotion and Restitution - Henry Macrory - Curly Burn Books

I bought my father this book for his last birthday. Whilst it contains something of the generational history of the McCausland family of Drenagh its emphasis is on the inter family court case and the preamble to same that threatened to divide the family for most of the 1940's. The prize was not insubstantial, the Drenagh Estate with the Lanyon designed five bay mansion house at its centre.

The basic facts of the case were familiar to me. The estate was entailed and when it was resettled upon Connolly McCausland's twenty first birthday in 1927 his father, (Maurice), caused a forfeiture clause to be inserted which became operative should a successor become a Roman Catholic or indeed profess that religion. Such an eventuality would, as drafted, not only disinherit the successor but also his heirs even if they did not profess to be Roman Catholics. This clause was repeated in Connolly's marriage settlement in 1932. Maurice was to die in 1938. In 1940 Connolly converted to the Roman Catholic faith. By virtue of the terms of the forfeiture clause Drenagh passed to Connolly's elder sister Helen and her family. Initially Connolly seemed to accept the situation but eventuality prodded by his wife he instigated proceedings that aimed to cause the forfeiture clause to be declared null and void.

Macrory says in his introduction that he has been at pains not to take sides. That being the case Helen and in particular her husband Lucius Thompson - McCausland come across as very reasonable and honourable individuals. The author's portrayal of Connolly and his wife Peggy is not descriptive of individuals who are quite as personable as the Thompson-McCaulands.

Mention is made of mole hills on the lawns of Drenagh. A bit of a zoological faux pas that. Thankfully moles are absent from the fauna of Northern Ireland.

 

Rock Biscuits

 

I came across this advertisement today in an old magazine which I was paging through. It dates back to 1928. The Rock Biscuit Company also variously known as the Rock Bread & Biscuit Company was situated on the Strand Road, Londonderry at the bottom of Rock Road. As well as a bakery there were also flour mills, (Rock Mills). The mills were constructed in 1846. The combined business was owned and operated by a family by the name of Gilliland, (S. Gilliland & Sons Ltd.) Ultimately and prior to the development of the site for student accomodation the bakery was operated by the Hunter family of Limavady. My recollection is that Ben Hunter of "Hertford", Limavady Road, Londonderry was the last manager of the bakery. I suppose that the bakery must have closed during the 1970's.

 

Frederick Charles Bloomfield Trench - An Officer and a Private

Limavady's Trench Memorial Flute Band was formed in 1919. It was named after Frederick Charles Bloomfield Trench the second son of Henry Bloomfield Trench and his wife Jessie Maria Rawlins of Huntingdon, Portarlington, King's County. Trench was born on 23rd April 1878. On 27th March 1899 he was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant in the Londonderry Artillery, (Southern Division). On 29th July 1905 he was to marry Catherine Anne Swetenham Lecky the daughter of Sir Thomas Lecky of Foyle Hill Londonderry and Greystone Hall Limavady who had been mayor of Londonderry in 1886/87. Trench and his wife were to live at Greystone Hall.

 

Having been an officer in the militia Trench clearly saw it as his duty to volunteer for service upon the outbreak of war in 1914. Whilst at Finner Camp in Ballyshannon Co Donegal he applied for a wartime commission on 23rd September 1914. He was to be gazetted as a temporary Major on 23rd November 1914 and was the first commander of "C," Company of 10th Inniskilling Fusiliers. He was subsequently attached to 12th (Reserve) Bn Inniskilling Fusilliers.

In the early hours of 12th October 1915 he is reported as having been drunk in the officers mess and ordering drinks to be supplied to him after the mess had closed. He gave an order to a Second Lieutenant by the name of Taylor to turn out four horses which the Lieutenant declined to do in view of Trench's state of inebriation. As a result of this conduct G. H. Rowell, Br. General , Commanding 15th Reserve Infantry Brigade Ulster Division applied for Trench to be tried by General Court Martial . There is more than a suggestion in the Court Martial papers that Trench's conduct had been unsatisfactory for some time. If it had not been Rowell opines that he would have dealt with the matter himself. On 13th November 1915 Rowell had to advise Head Quarters, Irish Command, Parkgate, Dublin that Trench, who was under open arrest awaiting the sentence of the General Court Marshall held on 11th/12th November, had broken his arrest and quitted barracks between the hours of 6.30 and 8.20 pm. The Provost Marshals of Dublin and Belfast were advised of the situation as were the police at Larne, Greencre and Limavady. Trench's Court Martial had been held at Newtownards. He was charged with drunkenness and disobeying a lawful command given by a superior officer, (failing to attend a District Court Martial at Lurgan to which he had been detailed). He pleaded not guilty to both charges but was found guilty and sentenced to be dismissed from His Majesty's Service.

Trench's story does not end there. His sense of honour caused him to enlist as a private in the 1st Btn London Regiment (London Scottish) under the name of Bloomfield. He gained promotion to the rank of L/Cpl and died in action on 1st July 1916. His body was never recovered. His death is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Trench's widow married Rev J G MacManamy on 27th January 1926.

First Trust Bank Shrinks its Network

One could be forgiven for thinking that Northern Ireland's Banks are in a competition to see which of them can close the most branches.

In January the Bank of Ireland announced that it would be closing nine branches. Not to be outdone, First Trust Bank have now stated that they will be closing six branches by the end of June. Among the branches nominated for this programme of, "rationalisation," is that in Limavady. It is reported that the customers from that branch are to have their accounts transferred fourteen miles down the road to the Crescent Link branch of the Bank in Londonderry. That will be convenient! Despite the increase in online banking people do still need to go into their local branch. A twenty eight mile round trip is not an option for many people.

It must now be accepted that our Banks will no longer be providing province wide branch networks. The local bank manager is becoming an endangered species.

Limavady Distillery

The number of distilleries on the island of Ireland can now be counted on the fingers of one hand. The situation was much different in the nineteenth century, most particularly following the revision of the distillery laws in 1823. A great number of small legal stills were set up in areas which had been strongholds of the illicit poteen trade.

The first substantive reference to a distillery in Newtown-Limavady goes back to 1818 when a William Cathar, (variously Cather), was operating a forty nine gallon still. This produced approximately nineteen thousand proof gallons per year. By 1846 the distillery seems to have been owned by a Peter Rankin. How long he worked the distillery is not entirely clear, but by 1887 it had been acquired by Young, King & Co Ltd. which had its Head Office in Belfast. A period of relative prosperity for the business followed, but by 1915 distilling had ceased. It has been postulated that this may have been due to the Immature Spirits (Restriction) Act 1915 which, after a one year transitional period, imposed a minimum of three years warehouse bondage before spirit could be sold.

One of the late nineteenth century managers of the Limavady Distillery was a James McLaughlin who would have been a brother of the grandfather of Dan MacLaughlin, one time Resident Magistrate of Londonderry.

Sources: "Irish Whiskey - A History of Distilling in Ireland,"  E.B. McGuire.

Drumceatt Convention

I am not quite sure who gave me this commemorative cover or indeed who produced it. I suppose that it could have been the then Limavady District Council which had the idea of celebrating this little known event. It does seem to be slightly unusual to celebrate a fourteen hundredth anniversary. It's not one of those anniversaries that strike you as being particularly noteworthy.

The Convention was called by the then High King of Ireland a gentleman by the name of Aedh (aka Hugh). There were three matters deliberated upon:-

1. The release by Aedh of one Scannlan Mor. - He wasn't!

2. The growing and burdensome power of the Bards. - Their powers and numbers were reduced.

3. The relationship between the High King of Ireland and the Scottish Kingdom of Dalriada. - The Scottish kingdom no longer had to pay tribute to Ireland and a mutual defence alliance was established.

I suspect that this piece of ephemera will end up on e bay or in a postal philatelic auction in the very near future.

 

Tesco Limavady Sold

The Roe Valley Sentinel reports that Tesco's Limavady store has been sold to CBRE Global Investors for the sum of £6,250,000. Unfortunately this does not mean that there will be one less Tesco store in the world. The transaction has been one of sale and lease back. It appears therefore that the townsfolk of Limavady may well have the debatable pleasures and advantages of this store until at least 2031. 

Why should Tesco PLC be divesting itself of a portion, albeit small, of its property portfolio? The reasons could be many. It may well make good commercial sense. The Return on Capital Employed (net operating profit divided by capital employed) currently enjoyed by Tesco is variously reported as being between 13.13% and 14.22%. If a property is sold then clearly the capital employed is reduced. With the lease back there will of course be an affect on the net profit. This will be reduced by the amount of the rental now payable less any borrowing costs saved. Provided therefore that the rent to be paid for the Limavady store is less than say 13.13% of the net sale proceeds then Tesco should at least initially be better off and be able to point to a higher ROCE. 

I don't suppose that Tesco will divulge what rental sum they will be paying to their landlord but with prime retail rents in Belfast  running at some 6.75%  and secondary Belfast retail rents giving a return of approximately 9.75% it would not be surprising if they they were paying a rental equating to a percentage return for the new landlord of some 8-9%. How capital values move as against future rental payments is rather unpredictable. Some might say that Tesco is making this sale at the bottom of the property market. Only the future will determine whether the policy of sale and lease back will prove to be the correct commercial decision.