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BAN
fast banking companies have been established here. The
situation of the town on the great north road to Belfast,
and in the centre of a fertile and highly cultivated district
watered by the Bann, is very advantageous to its in-
terests. It is within three miles of the Newry and Lough
Neagh canal, to which a branch may be formed at little
expense; this improvement appears to have been at one
period contemplated, from an excavation which is still
traceable from Millmount down the valley on the south
side of the Bann. Within an extent of four miles there
are six good stone bridges over the Bann, besides several
of wood: in 1690 there was not one bridge over this
river throughout its entire course of 36 miles, from the
mountains of Mourne to Lough Neagh. The Marquess
of Downshire is proprietor of the town and a large tract
of land in its vicinity. The principal seats in the neigh-
bourhood are Ballievey House, the residence of G, Craw-
ford, Esq.; Ballyvalley, of the Rev. J. Davis; Mill-
mountj of R. Hayes, Esq.; Brookfield, of Brice Smyth,
Esq.; Huntley Glen, of Hugh Dunbar, Esq.; the glebe-
house, of the Rev. IX Dickinson; Edenderry, of W. A.
Stewart, Esq.; Seapatrick House, of F. W. Hayes; Esq.;
Lenaderg Cottage, of T. Weir, Esq.; and Banview, of
G. Little, Esq. There are also several large and handsome
houses in the town, the residences of wealthy merchants
and professional gentlemen; and the farm-houses in the
vicinity are built in a superior style of convenience and
comfort. The market is on Monday, and is abundantly
supplied with all kinds of provisions, and with pedlery
and other commodities: the sale of yarn and brown
linens, formerly very extensive, has declined since the
new system of spinning and manufacturing was esta-
blished, but considerable quantities of both are still dis-
posed of. The market-house, situated in the centre of
the town, close to the viaduct, is a large and handsome
edifice surmounted by a dome, and was built by the
Marquess of Downshire in 1834, at an expense of £2000:
abrown linen hall was also erected by him in 1817, and
a market-place for meal and grain in 1815. Fairs are
held on the first Monday in every month; and fairs for
horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and manufactured goods are
held on Jan. 12th, first Saturday in March, June 9th,
August 26th, and Nov. 16th; the last is a very noted
fair for horses. Petty sessions are held once a fortnight,
and here is a chief station of the constabulary police.
The parochial church, situated in this town, is a
handsome cruciform edifice, with a tower surmounted
by a spire, recently built at an expense of about £3000,
which was chiefly raised by subscriptions among the
more wealthy parishioners. Near it is a large and
handsome meeting-house, recently completed for Pres-
byterians in connection with the Remonstrant Synod,
and of the first class, in lieu of an old one erected in
1720: and there are also one for Presbyterians in con-
nection with the Synod of Ulster, of the third class, and,
at a short distance from the town, one for Seceders;
besides a place of worship each for Wesleyan and Pri-
mitive Methodists. A school, in which about 60 boys
and 50 girls are taught, is endowed with £50 per aim.
and 1½ acre of land: the school premises, including
residences for the master and mistress, were built by
subscription, towards which the Marquess of Down-
shire contributed £90. Here is also a dispensary.
Within half a mile from the town, on the Dromore
road, a sulphureous chalybeate spring has been lately
178
BAN
discovered, the water of which having been analysed is
found to equal that of Aix la Chapelle, and is efficacious
in scorbutic complaints. This is the birth-place of the
late Baron M c Clelland, third baron of the Exchequer;
and near the town was born Dr. Dickson, Bishop of
Down and Connor.—See SEAPATRICK.
BANDON, or
BANDON-
BRIDGE, a borough, mar-
ket, and post-town, partly
in the parish of KILBROGAN,
barony of KINALMEAKY, but
chiefly in that of BALLY-
MODAN, partly in the barony
of KINALMEAKY, and partly
in the East Division of the
barony of EAST CARBERY,
county of CORK, and pro-
vince of MTJNSTER, 15½
miles (S. W.) from Cork,
and 141½ (S. W. by S.) from Dublin; containing 9917
inhabitants. This place derives its name from the erec-
tion of a bridge over the river Bandon, and owes its
origin to the English planters on the great Desmond
forfeitures in the reign of Elizabeth. It is first noticed
in 1609, when Jas. I. granted to Henry Becher, Esq.,
the privilege of a Saturday’s market and two fairs
at the town lately built on the south side of the river
Bandon, near the bridge; and in the grant made to
Becher, in 1612, of a moiety of the territory of Kinal-
meaky, which was erected into the manor of “Castle
Mahowne,” power was given to him and his heirs to
appoint a clerk of the market in the newly erected town
called Bandon-Bridge, or in any other town within the
said territory, with the privilege of licensing all trades-
men and artisans settling therein. These grants were
shortly afterwards purchased by the first Earl of Cork,
whose exertions in promoting its growth and prosperity
entitle him to be regarded as the founder of the town,
which he peopled with a colony of Protestants from
Bristol, and which in a few years, from a mere waste of
bog and wood, became a spacious, handsome, and well
fortified place, continuing to flourish and to increase in
extent and importance. At the commencement of the
civil war in 1641, the town was placed under the
government of Lord Kinalmeaky, son of the Earl of
Cork, who took possession of it in January 1642, and
mustering all the inhabitants put it into an excellent
state of defence. As it was the only walled town in
this part of the country, it became an asylum for the
English of the surrounding district, and by its own
resources maintained four companies of foot, raised a
corps of volunteers, and made every preparation both
for offensive and defensive warfare. On the 18th of
February a party of Irish under M c Carty Reagh ap-
proached, when Lord Kinalmeaky sallying out with 200
foot and 60 horse, a severe conflict ensued, in which,
without the loss of a single townsman, more than 100
of the assailants were killed. The inhabitants soon
afterwards, in conjunction with a troop from Kinsale,
defeated another party that had lain in ambush to sur-
prise them, and in a short time took several forts in the
adjacent territory which had been held by the Irish;
they also killed fifty who had made an attempt to carry
off their cattle; but on Cromwell’s approach in 1649,
they declared for the parliament. In 1688, hearing