injured by a great fire, which consumed the middle and northern parts of that portion of the city which was called Trian Mor. For the repairs of the injured streets, GELASIUS afterwards made a very great collection through various districts of the country.* In 1151, Dervolg the daughter of Domnald and wife of Theodore (or Tirdelvach) successive kings of Ireland, died at Armagh and was buried there.t In 1165, Armagh was in part consumed with fire.t and again in the year 1167, it was wasted by an immense conflagration which raged on the one side from the cross of Saint Columba to that of Saint Eugene or Owen, and from thence to the cross at Port-Rath, sometimes called Rathene or The Castle. The intermediate buildings and churches, except that dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, were totally consumed with fire.§ It appears from the circumstances narrated of this fire and of the preceding one which took place in the year 1121, that about the middle of the twelfth century, there were four stone crosses in the city of Armagh, viz: Saint Brigid's, Saint Columba's, Saint Eugene's and the cross at PortRath. A fifth was brought by Primate Prene from Raphoe, in the year 1441, and erected in the Cathedral. This is supposed to have been the cross, which lately stood in the centre of Market-street. There is however a fragment of a cross still existing at the great west door or entrance into the Cathedral, which is commonly called Saint Patrick's Chair, and is probably a remnant of the Raphoe cross. Besides these, there were originally two crosses in the burying ground annexed to the Cathedral; one of these stood at the north, the other at the south side of the church. Armagh was anciently divided into four parts:-the first was styled Rath-Ardmagh or Castle-Ardmagh, and sometimes Port-Rath; the second was called Trian-Mor S Vita Tria Thaum, p: 676, + Ibid. p. 306. + Ibid. p. 309. 8. Gelasii, cap. 27. Tria. Thaum. p. 309. The Annals of Inisf. place this Vita Trip. pars 3, c. 77, 80, 81. et sequent, event in 1166. that is the third greater portion; the next was denominated Trian-Massain; the fourth Trian-Saxon or Sassenagh, that is the third part appropriated to the Saxons. This last place derived its name from the English merchants and students who inhabited that district of the city. That such students flocked formerly to Ireland and frequented the schools or colleges of this kingdom, is beyond all question. To this fact, the venerable Bede and many other writers bear the strongest and most unequivocal testimony.+ A passage in a grant made to Sir Toby Caulfeild, on the twelfth of July, 1620, powerfully corroborates the account given by Colgan of the ancient subdivisions of Armagh. This grant speaks of a way called "BoreneTrian-Sassenagh" passing by the garden walls of the "Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul to Temple Columbkilly." Here we have distinct mention made of the Trian-Sassenach," (or Saxon,) the portion of the city appropriated to the Saxons or English. The deed also mentions certain stone chambers belonging to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. These are yet in existence and the geographical direction of the road, leading from the ruins to the Templum Columbæ, may be ascertained without the smallest difficulty.+ The present" English-street" seems clearly to have derived its name from the old denomination "TrianSassenagh" or the Saxon portion of the city. Castlestreet is that district of the town which was anciently called Port-Rath or Rath-Ardmagh and occasionally Rathene. Some of the ruins of the ancient castle may yet be seen, in the rear of the tenement formerly possessed by Mr. Thomas Campbell. It is stated above, on the authority of Colgan, that Armagh was frequented not only by students from GreatBritain, but also by English merchants. To some of my Tria Thaum. p. 300. Hist. Gent. Ang. 1. 3, c. 25, l. 4, c. 3, 4. et passim. Camden. S. Alcuin. in vita Willeb. See Appendix, No V. See Appendix No, XIV. readers, this assertion may appear improbable. Yet in a very remote period of antiquity, Ireland was wellknown to commercial nations. Tacitus says that "the ports and landing places of Hibernia are better known than those of Britain, through the frequency of commerce and merchants." Be this as it may, it is certain that manufactures of frizes and other woollen goods were carried on in Ireland, so early as the reign of Edward III. In the Dittamondi of Fazzio Delli Uberti a Florentine poet, who wrote about the year 1357, the following passage occurs : "Similimente passamo en Irlanda, La qual fra noi e degua di fama Per le nobile Saie che ci manda." "In the same manner we pass into Ireland, which among us is worthy of renown, for the excellent Serges which she sends us." This writer had visited Ireland, and we have in the above passage a direct testimony, that her serges were exported to Italy, where they were in high repute, as may be fairly inferred from the phrase "degna di fama." Madox, Rymer and the dictionary of Della Crusca maintain that manufactures of frize existed in Ireland, even so far back as the thirteenth century, at a period when it was yet unknown in England. The author of Della Crusca quotes an ancient Florentine's book of accounts, in which one of the items charged is for "a piece of serge of Ireland for clothing the wife of Andrew."+ In 1360, the weavers of Catalonia who manufactured serges of the finest sort, imitated those of Ireland, and • Vita Agricolæ c. 24. † See Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy vol. 1, p. 18, a paper written by Lord Charlemont. the belles of Florence wore the Irish sayes as a fashionable dress.* Anderson in his treatise on commerce says that woollen clothes were made in Ireland in 1376. The manufacture of linen is also of considerable antiquity in Ireland. In a poem written A. D. 1430, by Hakluyt a patriotic English traveller, there is a passage which proves that linen-cloth was at that period imported into Chester from Ireland : "Hides and fish, salmon, hakes, herring, Skins of otter, squirrel and Irish hare, Of sheep, lamb and fox is her chaffare. Fells of hides and conies great plenty, &c.f Donat who was bishop of Fiesole in Italy, about the year 802, describes Ireland as "dives vestis" rich in garments or clothing; and in the Polychronicon Ran. Higden. an English writer who died in the year 1362, we find a passage precisely to the same effect.‡ Thus it appears certain that at a very early period of time the people of Ireland were known as manufacturers of linen and woollen cloths. In the sixteenth century the people of Ireland seem to have possessed a superabundance of linen, of which they made a very extravagant use. At that period it, was fashionable to wear shirts and chemises, each of which contained thirteen or fourteen yards of linen. An act of parliament passed A. D. 1537, limited the quantity to seven yards for each smock or shirt, to be measured according to the king's standard. Campany's hist. of Barcelona vol. 1. † Hakluyt's principal navigation voyages, edit. Lond. 1598. See also Newry Magazine vol, 2, p. 92 for an able discussion on this subject. Polychron. Ranulph. Higdeni apud Gale, p. 179 180. |