Lurgan Tolls and Customs Payments ~ 1830
By Ken Austin
Market Day in Lurgan 1890
Prior to the plantations in the late sixteenth, century, internal trade in Ireland was linked to a mainly pastoral economy subject to low levels of external and internal demand. Local inhabitants and farmers would gather in the town square on no particular day or time and sell there wares. In larger towns there were sellers every day except the Sabbath, when a small offering was made to the church. Trade was done on an informal basis and often no money changed hands, but goods were 'Traded' for other goods and so life passed at an unhurried pace for centuries.
The coming of the Landlord estates and later the booming Linen trade in Lurgan changed all that. As the Linen trade grew, the English and Scottish Lords saw the chance of making a regular income from the granting of licences for markets and fairs, much as they had done in England. Soon every town in Ireland had its market and fair days. Not content with licence fees alone, the Lords found that they could charge Tolls and Customs fees to every trader who attended the fairs and markets. Their greed knew no bounds and tariffs were levied on everyone from Farmers selling live stock to Bakers and Fishermen selling their wares.
The end of the Napoleonic wars on the Continent meant a sharp decline in demand for agricultural goods, and both Lurgan and Ireland entered a prolonged recession. In 1825 a mechanised linen mill was established in Belfast. The work of producing linen thread, which had augmented farming incomes for years, could now be done more quickly and more cheaply by machines. At a stroke, the domestic linen industry was rendered prostrate and the large manufacturers became prevalent in and around the town. Every spinning wheel in the district was forced to work for the larger companies if they wanted to sell their threads and home spun and very soon even this cottage industry came to an end as mechanization took complete control.
Below is a list of Tolls and Customs charges for Lurgan's market and fair for the year 1830.
| |
s. |
d. |
| Wheat, per barrel or sack, for custom and weighing on market-days |
– |
3 |
| Barley, per bole or sack, for custom and weighing on market-days |
– |
3 |
| Oats, per bole or sack, for custom and weighing on market-days |
– |
3 |
| Oatmeal, per sack, for custom and weighing on market-days |
– |
3 |
| Potatoes, per load, for custom and weighing on market-days |
– |
6 |
Country Butchers, for Sale in the Street:
| |
s. |
d. |
| Hides, per custom and weighing on market days |
– |
1½ |
| Tallow, per cake, custom and weighing on market days |
– |
1½ |
| Beef, per carcass,custom and weighing on market days |
– |
3½ |
| Pork, per carcass,custom and weighing on market days |
– |
4 |
| Mutton, per carcass,custom and weighing on market days |
– |
1 |
Town Butchers, for Sale in the Shambles:
| |
s. |
d. |
| Beef, per carcass,custom and weighing on fair days and market days |
– |
4 |
| Pork, mutton and veal, per carcass, for custom and weighing, each on fair and market days. |
– |
1 |
| Pedlars, travelling chapmen, old clothsmen, and stockingmen, each, on market days |
– |
3 |
| Hatters, shoemakers, pumpmakers, and broguemakers, each, on market days |
– |
1 |
| Street auctioneers, each, on fair days and market days |
– |
6½ |
| Bread, fish, butter, cheese, besoms, baskets, kishes, bee-hives, wooden-ware, crockeryware, garden-stuff, fruit, young trees, and sucking pigs, each, on market days |
– |
1 |
| Horses, mares, bulls, cows and oxen sold, each, on fair days and market days |
– |
4 |
| Swine, sweep, lambs, goats and kids sold, each, on fair days and market days |
– |
2 |
Custom payable on Fair Days in the Town of Lurgan:
| |
s. |
d. |
| For every car, cart or horse load of wheat, barley, oats, oatmeal, potatoes, hides, tallow, beef, pork and mutton, driving or coming into the town of Lurgan on fair days, shall pay |
– |
4 |
| Every pedlar, travelling chapman, old clothsman, stockingman, hatter, shoemaker, pumpmaker, and broguemaker, coming into the town of Lurgan on fair days with any said goods, shall pay, each |
– |
4 |
| Every person bringing bread, fish, butter, cheese, besoms, baskets, kishes, bee-hives, woodenware, crockeryware, garden-stuff, fruit, and young trees, into the town of Lurgan on the fair days, each, shalll pay |
– |
4 |
| Every horse, mare, bull, cow, and oxen, sold on any of the fair days held in the town of Lurgan, shall on their leaving the town, pay the sum of |
– |
4 |
| Every swine, sheep, lamb, goat or kid, sold on any of the fair days held in the town of Lurgan, shall, on their leaving the town, pay the sum of, each |
– |
2 |
By Order of Henry McVeagh
Agent to Charles Brownlow, Esq.
This first day of July, 1830.
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