Though a increasing place, Armagh
has now no manufactures, and but little trade, except in grain, of which
a great quantity is sent to Portadown and Newry for exportation: much
of the flour made in the neighbourliood is conveyed to the county of Tyrone.
After the introduction of the linen manufacture into the North of Ireland,
Armagh became the grand mart for the sale of cloth produced in the surrounding
district. From a return of six market days in the spring of 1835,
the average number of brown webs sold in the open market was 4292 and
in private warehouses 3412, making a total of 7704 webs weekly, the value
of which, at £1-11-0 each amounts to £620,942-8-0 per annun.
But this does not afford a just criterion of the present state of the
trade, in which a great change has taken place within the last '20 years;
the quantity now bleached annually in this neighbourhood is nearly
double that of any former period, but only a portion of it is brought
into the market of Armagh.
The market house, is an elegant. and commodious building of hewn stone, erected by Archbishop Stuart, at an expense of £3000 occupies a central situation at the lower extremity of Market street;
The linen hall is a large and commodious building, erected
by Leonard Dobbin, Esq., M.P. for the borough: it is open for the sale
of webs from ten to eleven o'clock every Tuesday. A yarn market is held,
in which the weekly sales amount to £3450, or £179,400 per
annun. There are two extensive distilleries, in which upwards of 25,000
tons of grain are annually consumed an ale brewery consuming 3800 barrels
of malt annually; several extensive tanneries and numerous flour and corn
mills, some of which are worked by steam. The amount of excise duties
collected with the district for the year 1835 was £69,076-5-8.
The old shambles, built previously by Primate Robinson,
have been taken down, and a more extensive and convenient range with markets
for grain, stores, weigh house, &c., attached, was erected in 1829
by the committee of tolls : the supply of butchers' meat of very good
quality is abundant, and the veal of Armagh is held in high estimation:
there is also a plentiful supply of sea and fresh-water fish. Several
of the Inhabitants, in 1821, raised a subscription, by shares (on debentures
or receipts) of £125 each, amounting to £1700, and purchased
the lessee's interest in the tolls, of which a renewal for 121 years was
obtained in 1829: eight resident shareholders, elected annually, and called
the "Armagh Toll Committee," have now the entire regulation
and management of the tolls and customs of the borough, consisting of
market-house, street, and shambles' customs, in which they have made considerable
reductions, and the proceeds of which, after deducting the expenses of
management and five percent. interest for the proprietors of the debentures,
are applied partly as a sinking fund for liquidating the principal sum
of £1700, and partly towards the improvement of the city and the
places for holding the fairs and markets. The Bank of Ireland and the
Provincial Bank have each a branch establishment here; and there are also
branches of the Northern and Belfast banking companies. The post is daily:
The post-office revenue, according to the last return to Parliament, amounted
to £1418-4-0
