Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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lighthouse on the island of Innistrahull, and will be ren-
dered still more safe by two others now in course of
erection on Shrove Head, Ennishowen, intended to serve
as guiding lights past the great Tun Bank lying to the
east. A new and very important trade as connected
with the port, is the herring fishery; in 1835, upwards
of 5800 barrels were cured at the Orkneys, by Derry
merchants, and the total quantity imported exceeds
12,000 barrels, one half of which are cured by vessels
fitted out from this port; large quantities of oysters
have been taken in the river Foyle since 1829. The
limits of the port extend to Culmore, a distance of three
miles; the lough has been deepened under the directors
of the Ballast Committee, in consequence of which, vessels
drawing 14 feet of water, can come close to the quays.
At the entrance to the lough is a well-regulated esta-
blishment of pilots, under the superintendence of the
Ballast Board. The Ballast Office was established by
act of parliament in 1790, and remodelled by another
act in 1833: the port regulations are under the control
of a committee of this establishment, consisting of the
mayor and seven other members, of whom the two
senior members go out annually by rotation, and who
have the power of making by-laws. The corporation
alone possessed the right of having quays prior to 1832,
when they lost their monopoly, and private quays were
constructed: they disposed of their interest in the
merchants’ or custom-house quays, in Nov. 1831; there
are now 21 sufferance or private wharfs or quays, in-
cluding two at Waterside, in the parish of Clonder-
mot. A patent slip dock was constructed in 1830, at an
expense of £4000, in which vessels of 300 tons registered
burden can be repaired: prior to that period most
vessels were sent for repair to Liverpool or the Clyde,
and two large brigs have been built here since that date:
naval stores are brought chiefly from Belfast, but sails
are manufactured here. The custom-house, a small and
inconvenient building, was built as a store in 1805, and
since 1809 has been held by Government on a perma-
nent tenure, at an annual rental of £1419. 4. 6., at first
as a king’s store, and since 1824 as a custom-house:
the premises comprise some extensive tobacco and tim-
ber yards, laid out at different periods, and extend in
front 450 feet, varying in depth: the duties received
here in 1837 amounted to £99,652. The markets are
generally well supplied. The shambles, for meat daily,
and to which there is a weigh-house attached, are situated
off Linen-hall-street, and were built in I76O, by Alder-
man Alexander and other members of the corporation:
the tolls belong to Sir R. A. Ferguson, Bart., who in
1830 purchased the shambles and the fish and vegetable
markets of the corporation. The linen market, on Wed-
nesday, is held in a hall occupying an obscure situation
in a street to which it gives name, and built in 1770, by
the late Fred. Hamilton, Esq., to whose descendant the
tolls belong: it consists of a court measuring 147 feet
by 15, and enclosed by small dilapidated houses; the
cloth is exposed on stands placed in the court and
under sheds; on the opposite side of the street is the
sealing-room. The butter market, in Waterloo-place,
for butter and hides daily, and to which three weigh-
houses are attached; the fish market, off Linen-hall-
street, daily; the potatoe market, in Society-street, for
potatoes and meal by retail daily, with a weigh-house
attached; and the vegetable market, off Linen-hall-street,
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for vegetables, poultry, and butter daily, were all built
in 1825 by the corporation, to whom the tolls of the
butter and potatoe markets belong. The cow market,
for the sale of cows, pigs, sheep, and goats, every Wed-
nesday, is held in a field to the south of Bishop-street,
near the river, which was enclosed in 1832 by the cor-
poration, to whom the tolls belong. There are also a
flax market in Bishop-street every Thursday, and a
market for yarn in Butchers’-street every Wednesday.
Six fairs are held annually, but only three are of im-
portance, namely, on June 17th, Sept. 4th, and Oct.
17th; the others are on March 4th, April 30th, and
Sept. 20th. Custom was charged on every article of
merchandise brought into the city prior to 1826, when
it was abolished, except as regards goods conveyed over
the bridge; and in lieu thereof, the corporation instituted
trespass, cranage, storage, and other dues. The post-
office was established in 1784; the amount of postage
for 1834 was £4047. 17. 1 1/2 The revenue police force
usually consists of a lieutenant and twelve men; and
the constabulary is composed of a chief constable and
twelve men.
The municipal government is vested in a mayor,
twelve aldermen, and twenty-four burgesses, assisted
by a recorder, town-clerk, and chamberlain; and the
inferior officers of the corporation are a sword-bearer,
mace-bearer, four town-Serjeants, two sheriffs’ bailiffs,
&c. The mayor and sheriffs are elected by the common
council on the 2nd of Feb., the former from among the
aldermen, and the latter from the burgesses, from whom
also the aldermen are chosen; the burgesses are ap-
pointed from the freemen and inhabitants. The sheriffs
exercise jurisdiction both over the entire county and the
liberties of the city; and the town-clerk is generally
clerk of the peace for the county. The freedom is in-
herited by the sons of aldermen and burgesses, and is
obtained by marriage with their daughters, by appren-
ticeship to a freeman, and by gift of the corporation.
The city returned two representatives to the Irish par-
liament till the Union, since which it has sent one to the
imperial parliament. The right of voting was formerly
vested in the burgesses and freemen, in number about
450; but by the late enactments, under which a new
electoral boundary, minutely described in the Appendix,
has been established, the former non-resident electors,
except within a distance of seven miles, have been dis-
franchised, and the privilege extended to the £10 house-
holders: the number of registered voters on the 1st of
April, 1835, was 724, of whom 504 were £10 house-
holders, and the remainder freemen. The mayor, re-
corder, and all aldermen who have filled the mayoralty,
are justices of the peace within the liberties, which com-
prise the city and a circuit of three Irish miles measured
from its centre; and they also exercise jurisdiction by
sufferance over the townland of Culmore. The mayor
and recorder, or the mayor alone, hold a court of record
every Monday, for pleas to any amount; the process is
either by attachment against the goods, or arrest of
the person. The court of general sessions for the
city is held four times a year: there is a court of
petty sessions weekly, held before the mayor, or any
of the civic magistrates. The mayor also holds weekly
a court of conscience, for the recovery of ordinary
debts not exceeding £20 late currency or servants’
wages to the amount of £6, and from which there