MARKETHILL TOWN

Population: 1250 in 1991, 1224 in 1981, 1109 in 1971.

“Situated adjacent to but by-passed by the main Armagh-Newry (A28) Road
some 7 miles from Armagh, Markethill is for its size an important rural service
centre. It is a prosperous and busy settlement with several factories, a good
range of shops and an important livestock market.” (Armagh Area Plan
2004: Armagh District Council Area)

Settlement map

The town was described in 1838 in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs:

“The town of Markethill is situated in the diocese
of Armagh, province of Ulster, county of Armagh, parish of Mullaghbrack, townland
of Coolmillish and north east circuit of assize, on the mail coach road between
Armagh and Newry, at the distance of nearly 5 and a half miles from the former
and 11 and a half miles from the latter. Distance from Dublin 59 and a half
Irish miles. Latitude [blank] north, longitude [blank] west. The following
are its distances (in statute miles from the neighbouring towns): south east
of Armagh 5 and a half miles, north west of Newry 11 and a half miles, south
west of Tanderagee 6 miles, south by east of Richhill 5 miles, north east
of Keady 8 and a half miles.

…The town consists of 1 principal street
with an obtuse angle in the middle of its length, the upper half being in
a direction north by west, the lower half lying south by west. At the obtuse
angle above mentioned there is a row of houses on the Keady road which is
sometimes called Keady Street, and at the lower of the southernmost extremity
of the main street a short street lets off to the eastward (consisting principally
of new houses) and its being the Newry road has given it the name of Newry
Street (parish of Kilclooney). The breadth of the streets vary, it averages
60 feet and their lengths are as follows: Main Street 550 yards, Newry Street
285 yards, Keady Street 143 yards. Also Gray’s Lane, a narrow lane also in
the parish of Kilclooney, runs in a south easterly direction from the lower
extremity of the main street for the distance of 176 yards.

…The principal public buildings in the
town are a Presbyterian meeting house, 2 Methodist chapels, a court house,
a police station.

…The greater number of the houses in Markethill
are in tolerable order. The following is their number: 3-storey houses none,
2-storey houses 262, cabins and 1-storey 5, total 267. They are all built
of unhewn stone and roughcast. The most respectable houses and shops are in
the northern half of the main street. From the circumstance of the number
of houses of unhewn stone not being roughcast and the rest for the greater
part not cleanly whitewashed, the town presents upon the whole a ruinous and
comfortless appearance.
…Trades and occupations in Markethill: surgeons
2, grocers 8, haberdashers 4, spirit dealers 22, painters and glaziers 1,
watchmakers 1, bakers 2, jailors 1, shoemakers 3, hardware shops 1, nailors
1, wheelwright I, smiths 2, pawnbrokers 1, hotels 2, ironmonger 1, chandler
1, delf shops 2, gunpowder dealer 1, butchers 2, reed makers 1.”
(Ordnance Survey Memoirs 1835-38)

It was also described in The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland (1846, vol. 2, p.735):

“A small Market and Post town in the Parishes of Mullabrack and Kilcluney,
Barony of Lower Fews, Co.Armagh, Ulster. It stands on the road from Armagh
to Newry, four and a half miles south by east of Richill, south south-west
of Tandragee, five and a half miles south-east of Armagh, ten miles north
north-west of Newry, and sixty miles north of Dublin. The surrounding country,
though minutely subdivided into small holdings, is remarkable for the comfortable
appearance of its cottages, the snug condition of its little farms, and the
very improved, and in some respects, peculiar state of its agriculture, –
the last in a great measure, the result of the spirited and enlightened exertions
of Mr.Blacker, the land agent of Lord Gosford and Colonel Close. Nearly three
miles west of the town, and forming a conspicuous feature in an extensive
landscape, is the remarkable hill called the Vicar’s Cairn, whose summit has
an altitude of 814 feet above sea level. In the vicinity of the town is Drapier’s
Hill, celebrated in the writings of Dean Swift. Immediately adjacent to the
town on the north and east, and to a certain extent closely and warmly sheltering
it, is the handsome demesne of Gosford Castle, the seat of Lord Gosford, the
proprietor of the town. The present mansion was built only three or four years
ago, and is a large edifice, in the early style of the Castellated Baronial
architecture. Bryandrum cottage adjoins the east side of the demesne; and
other small seats are in the neighbourhood. The town has a bridewell, a neat
courthouse, a good inn, and several well built houses. The bridewell is quite
new, has sufficient accommodation for the wants of the district, and is kept
in a very good and clean condition. Markethill is the station of the staff
of the County Militia, and the seat of a court of petty sessions, and a fortnightly
court of petty sessions. Fairs are held on the third Friday of every month.
The Markethill dispensary is within the Armagh Poor Law Union, and serves
for a district of 40,418 acres with a population of 23,924 and in 1839 it
expended £139 13s, and administered to 2,115 patients. Area of the Mullabrack
section of the town, 30 acres, of the Kilcluney section, 15 acres. Population
of the whole in 1831, 1,043; in 1841, 1,424. Houses 276. Population in 1841
of Mullabrack section, 622, houses 118. Families employed chiefly in agriculture,
16; in manufactures and trade, 81; in other pursuits, 27. Families dependent
chiefly on property and professions, 10; on the directing of labour, 84; on
their own manual labour, 25; on means bot specified,5. Population in 1841
of the Kilcluney section, 802, houses 158. Families employed chiefly in agriculture,
54; Manufactures and trade, 94; other pursuits no specified, 30; property
and professions, 3. Directing of labour, 81; on their own manual labour, 94;
on means not specified, 0. ”