Local history: Development of Ballina Quay impacted on Killala in 1838
PART ONE
By Tom Gillespie
SAMUEL Lewis (circa 1782 to 1865) was the editor and publisher of topographical dictionaries and maps of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The aim of the texts was to give in 'a condensed form’ a faithful and impartial description of each place.
The firm of Samuel Lewis and Co. was based in London. Samuel Lewis the elder died in 1865. His son of the same name predeceased him in 1862. The names of places are those in use prior to the publication of the Ordnance Survey Atlas in 1838.
The dictionary gives a unique picture of Ireland before the Great Famine.
Lewis’ reference to Killala reads:
KILLALA, sea-port, market and post-town, and parish, and the seat of a diocese, in the barony of Tyrawley, county of Mayo, and province of Connaught, 22 miles (N.) from Castlebar, and 131 miles (N.W.) from Dublin, on the road from Ballina to Ballycastle; containing 3,875 inhabitants, of which number, 1,125 are in the town.
During the disturbance of 1798, General Humbert, with two frigates of 44 and one of 38 guns, having on board 70 officers and 1,030 men, sailed from Rochelle on August 4, to make a descent on the county of Donegal; but being frustrated in that attempt by contrary winds, landed his forces art Kilcummin Bay on the 22nd off the same month.
The garrison, at that time consisting of only 50 men, fled after a vain attempt to oppose the entrance of the French vanguard; and several of them were taken prisoners.
The French forces were joined by many of the peasantry, and after they had taken Ballina greater numbers flocked to their standard, to receive the arms and uniforms which had been sent from France for their equipment.
The town is situated on the bay of the same name, and on the west bank of the river Moy; it contains about 200 houses, of which in the principal street are well built.
The manufacture of coarse linen is carried on to a very small extent, but the principal trade is the exportation of grain, of which the annual average from 1810 to 1820 was 5,000 tons, chiefly oats and barley; and the value of the imports, consisting of planks, iron, tar, slates, flax-seed, herrings, and sugar, about £5,000.
The trade was on the increase from 1820 till 1825, but, from the improvements of the port of Ballina, what formerly came into this port for the supply of that town is conveyed thither direct by the river Moy, and from 1830 to 1835 the average exports from Killala have not exceeded 3,500 tons, nor the value of the imports £4,000 per annum.
A considerable fishery is carried on, in which more than 300 persons are occasionally engaged, and for which there is a very good station; and large quantities of sea-manure are landed at the quay; the pier is very old, but has recently been repaired.
The entrance to the bay is between Kilcummin Head and Kennisharrock Point. On the western side of the bay, off the point of Ross, are the Carrigphadric rocks, between which and the mainland is a shoal dry at low water: and on the eastern side, about two miles from Kennisharrock Point, is a creek called Pullogheeney, where small vessels load kelp and other commodities during the summer.
The harbour affords good and safe anchorage for vessels, drawing eight to nine feet of water, and vessels drawing 12 feet may get to the anchorage at high water.
A constabulary police force is attained in the town; and it is the head of a coast-guard district, comprising the stations of Dunkeehan, Port Terlin, Belderig, Ballycastle, Lacken, Kilcummin and Ross.
The market is on Saturday, and fairs are held on May 6, August 17, and November 8. Petty sessions are held in a private house every Friday, and a manorial court is held occasionally.
The episcopal See of Killala appears to have been founded between the years 434 and 441, by St. Patrick, who during that period was propagating the faith of Christianity in the province of Connaught; and built a church at this place called Kill-Aladh, over which he placed one of his disciples, St. Muredach, as bishop.
Of Muredach’s successors, who by early writers are called bishops of Tiramalgaid (from the surrounding territory, now the barony of Tirawley), and also bishops of O-Fiacre-Mui (from a district of that name extending along the river Moy), very little is recorded til after the arrival of the English in Ireland; though the few names that occur within that period is that of Kellach, the son of Doghan, or, according to some writers, of Owen Beol, King of Connaught.
At the instance of Donat O’Beoda, who was bishop in 1198, Pope Innocent III conformed all the ancient possessions of the see; and in 1255 a bishop of Killala, whose name is not given, accompanied the Archbishop of Tuam into England, to petition the king for the dress of certain grievances to which the clergy were then exposed.
Robert of Waterford, who succeeded in 1350, was fined 100 marks for neglecting to attend parliament assembled at Castledermot, in 1377, to which he had been summoned.
Owen O’Connor, Dean of Achonry, was advanced to the see by Queen Elizabeth in 1591, and was allowed to hold his deanery with his bishopric; and his successor, Mer Magragh, was permitted to also the see of Achonry in commendam.
Archibald Hamilton, who succeeded in 1623, obtained from Jas. I a commendatory grant of the see of Achonry; and his successor, Archibald Adair, was in 1630, consecrated Bishop of Killala and Achonry, which two sees appear from that time to have been united.
Thomas Oteway, who succeeded to the united sees in 1670, rebuilt the cathedral from the foundation.
The sees of Achonry and Killala continued to be held together till the death of the last bishop, Dr. James Verschoyle, in 1833, when under the provisions of the Church Temporalities’ Act of the 3d and 4th of Wm. IV., they became annexed to the archiepiscopal see of Tuam, and the temporalities were vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.