Markethill town, Mullaghbrack civil parish, Co. Armagh

MARKETHILL, a market and post-town, partly in the parish of MULLAGHBRACK, and partly in the district of KILCLUNEY, barony of LOWER FEWS, county of ARMAGH, and province of ULSTER, 5 1/2 miles (E.) from Armagh city, on the mail coach road to Newry, and 60 miles (N by W.) from Dublin; containing 1048 inhabitants, and comprising 195 houses.

It consists of one principal street, from which two others diverge, and is situated in the midst of a fertile country, the extensive demesne and splendid castle of Gosford, the property of Viscount Gosford, adding greatly to its beauty. Two miles to the south-west is the Vicar's Cairn, or Carricktole, commanding a most extensive and beautiful view. Dean Swift in his writings notices a favourite spot here, which he named Draper's Hill; it is now within Lord Gosford's demesne, This is a thriving town, having more than doubled its inhabitants and houses within the last ten years; it has an excellent market on Friday, and a fair on the third Friday in each month for cattle and pigs: petty sessions are held every Friday, and quarter sessions for the county, alternately with Ballybot, in a neat sessions-house.

The staff of the Armagh militia is at this town; among their muniments is deposited the stand of colours taken by them from the French at Ballynamuck, in 1798.

It is a constabulary police station; and here is a small prison, with separate cells for males and females. There are large meeting-houses for Presbyterians of the Synod of Ulster and the Associate Synod, and one for Wesleyan Methodists, also a national school and a dispensary.

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