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been recently widened; and over the Foyle, by which,
name the united rivers Morne and Fin are called, is
another, to which three arches have been added. The
appearance of the town is strikingly prepossessing, and
the effect is further increased by the thriving orchards
attached to the houses and in the immediate neighbour-
hood, producing apples, pears, and cherries in abun-
dance. The manufacture of corduroys and other cotton
fabrics was formerly carried on here to a limited extent;
and in the neighbourhood are several bleach-greens, none
of which at present are in operation. The principal trade
is in grain, of which more is sold in this market than in
any other in the county; great quantities are annually
shipped for Liverpool, Glasgow, and other ports. The
provision trade is also very extensive; more than 1000
tierces of beef and 2000 barrels of pork are annually
cured here for the English market. There is a large
ale and beer brewery of some celebrity, chiefly for the
supply of the town and neighbourhood, yet considera-
ble quantities are sent to Londonderry, Coleraine, Lifford,
Donegal, and other places. The chief exports are wheat,
oats, barley, flax, pork, beef, butter, eggs, and poultry;
and the imports, timber, iron, staves, groceries, and
articles of general merchandise. The trade of the
place is much facilitated by the Strabane canal, which
meets the river Foyle at Leek, about three miles below
the town, and is navigable for vessels of 40 tons’burden.
It was constructed in 1793, at an expense of £12,000,
defrayed by a grant from the Commissioners of Inland
Navigation, aided by the Marquess of Abercorn, and
brought into the town by two locks. On its banks are
large ranges of warehouses and stores for grain, with
wharfs and commodious quays, well adapted to the
carrying on of an extensive trade. Near the town, on
the river Foyle, is a salmon fishery, which belonged for-
merly to the corporation of Lifford, but is now the pro-
perty of the Earl of Erne; great quantities of fish are
annually taken. The market is on Tuesday, and is
largely supplied with corn, provisions, and brown linen;
and fairs are held on the first Thursday in every month,
and on the 12th of May and November (O. S.), for
horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. The market-house is a
commodious and handsome building; and the grain and
meal markets, built by the corporation in 1823, are
large and well arranged; over the principal gateway are
the arms of Strabane.
Jas. I., in the 10th of his reign, made the town a
free borough, and granted the inhabitants a charter of
incorporation, by the title of the “Provost, Free Bur-
gesses and Commonalty of the borough of Strabane”,
with a weekly market, two annual fairs, and the power
of returning two members to the Irish parliament, hold-
ing a court of record and other privileges. By this
charter the corporation consists of a provost, twelve
free burgesses, and an indefinite number of freemen,
assisted by a recorder, chamberlain, two serjeants-at-
mace, and other officers. The provost, who is also clerk
of the market and judge of the borough court, is annu-
ally elected on the 29th of Sept. from the free burgesses,
by a majority of that body; if no election takes place,
he continues in office till the next appointment. The free
burgesses fill up vacancies as they occur, from the free-
men, by the provost and a majority of their own body,
and also admit freemen by favour only. The cor-
poration continued to return two members to the Irish
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parliament till the union, when the borough was dis-
franchised. The court of record held before the provost
had jurisdiction to the amount of 5 marks, but after the
abolition of arrest for small sums, the business of the
court declined, and it has since fallen into disuse. The
corporation has no property but the tolls of the
fairs and market, which are under their regulation.
There is a chief constabulary police station; the quarter
sessions for the county are held here in April and Octo-
ber; petty sessions on alternate Tuesdays, and a court
for the manor of Strabane, every month, at which debts
to the amount of 40s. are recoverable. The church built
here in 1619, by the Earl of Abercorn, has, since the
parliamentary war of 1641, been the parish church of
Camus-juxta-Morne: it has been enlarged from time to
time and is now a handsome cruciform structure in the
Grecian style, with a cupola, and the arms of the
founder over the principal entrance. There are a
spacious R. C. chapel, and two places of worship for
Presbyterians and two for Wesleyan and Primitive
Methodists. A handsome school-house, with apart-
ments for the master and mistress, was erected in
1826 by the Marquess of Abercorn, who endowed it
with £40 per ann.; and there is a fever hospital, with
a dispensary attached. About one mile from the town,
on the road to Londonderry, is a chalybeate spring,
containing iron, magnesia, and sulphur, held in solution
by carbonic acid gas. Of the castle built by the Earl
of Abercorn nothing now remains; the site is occupied
by a dwelling-house and merchant’s stores. Strabane
gives the inferior titles of Baron and Viscount to the
Marquess of Abercorn.
STRABOE, a parish, in the barony of RATHVILLY,
county of CARLOW, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles
(W.) from Tullow: containing 195 inhabitants. It is
situated on the north side of the county, and on the
confines of the county of Kildare; and comprises about
500 statute acres. It is a rectory, in the diocese of
Leighlin, forming part of the union of Rathvilly: the
tithes amount to £115. 10. 2½. In the R. C. divisions
also it is part of the union or district of Rathvilly.
STRABOE, a parish, in the barony of MARYBOROUGH
EAST, QUEEN’S county, and province of LEINSTER, 2¾
miles (S. E.) from Mountmellick, on the road from
Portarlington to Maryborough; containing 2176 inha-
bitants. The parish, which is situated near the river
Onas, and watered by one of its tributary streams, com-
prises 5335 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe
act: the land is generally productive, and limestone of
good quality is quarried for agricultural and other uses.
The principal seats are Shara House, the residence of
T. Kemmis, Esq.; Eyne House, of Capt. R. Lavers;
Straboe, of the Rev. T. Kemmis; Derry, of J. Baldwin,
Esq.; and Knocknagrove, of M. Dillon, Esq.: at Shara
is a foundry, and there is a constabulary police station
at the Heath. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Leigh-
lin, forming part of the union of Maryborough; the
rectory is impropriate in — Lewis, Esq. The tithes
amount to £300, of which £200 is payable to the im-
propriator, and £100 to the vicar. In the R. C, divi-
sions the parish forms part of the union of Maryborough;
there are some remains of the ancient parish church, and
a well held in much esteem, near which are the walls of a
castellated mansion, erected on the site of the ancient
castle of Morett, one of the fortresses originally built