D O W N. 



61 



^ Doirn. got in the barony of Mourne, the lordship of Newry, 

 v ' "V"*' and in part of Upper Iveagh. Along the face of the 

 mountains there are several quarries of it, and, from the 

 little river Annalong, it is exported to other places on 

 the coast. There is also excellent free stone, the chief 

 quarries of which are those of Scraba, near Newtown, 

 and those of Kilwarlin near the road from Hilsborough 

 to Moira. This last furnishes very large flags of diffe- 

 rent colours. There are some of a clear stone colour, 

 very hard and very beautiful. A stone taken from it 

 / for a step to the communion table of Hilsborough 



church is 22 feet in length, and two in breadth. There 

 \. are quarries of excellent slate, wliich are wrought to 



great advantage. At Crayleuth there is a black marble, 

 exceedingly fine, and susceptible of a very high polish. 

 There are mines of lead which were worked formerly, 

 but are not worked now, at the Blundel estate at 

 Dundrum, and also at Clonligg, between Newtomvards 

 and Bangor. Copper ores are said to have been found. 

 There is coal too, but no encouragement to win r> it. 

 This county contains, besides., ironstone, fuller's earth, 

 soap-stone, and crystals. There are some mineral wa- 

 ters, both sulphureous and chalybeate ; those near Bal- 

 linahinch are most frequented. 



Weights and measures in this county, as in others, 

 are various. ' In the neighbourhood of Guilford, the 

 cwt. is 112 lib; at Dromore it is in some cases 112 lib. 

 and in others 120 lib. In the latter place the boll is 

 equal to 10 bushels, and the bushel to 32 quarts. The 

 following is from Dubourdieu's Survey of Down; cwt. 

 = 8 stone; stone = 14 lib; ton =r 20 cwt; bushel 

 = 32 quarts = 1 gallon ; 1 hhd. = 12 Winchester bush- 

 els; boll = 10 Winch, bush. Oatmeal is sold by the 

 cwt. of 120 lib. potatoes by the stone of 14 lib. ; un- 

 dressed and heckled fl;ix by the stone of lli lib. ; beef 

 and pork, when sold by the cwt. have it at 120 lib. 

 tallow, per stone, of lf> lib. ; hides, per cwt. of 120 lib. 

 Oats are now the only grain sold in this country by mea- 

 sure. 



K- Down contains, besides the lordship of Newry, eight 

 baronies, viz. Upper Iveagh, Lower Iveagh, Kinelear- 

 ty, ( ; -ti'-reagh, Dufferin, Ardes, Lecale, and Mourne. 

 In these there are sixty parishes. It used to send in 

 all It- members to parliament. Since the union it re- 

 turns only four, two for the county, one for Newry, 

 and one for Downpatrick. The county freeholders are 

 no fewer than 30,OOO. These elect, without a contest, 

 whatever persons may be nominated by the Marquis of 

 Downshire, who has divided and subdivided, and again 

 divided his estate, so that it has become, what Mr 

 Wukefield terms, a marren of freeholders. There are 

 two regiments of militia, North and South Down. 

 Condition of The fanners and peasantry, with few exceptions, live 

 the inhabi- ' n smoky huts are extremely poor, and dirty and sloven- 

 ly in their habits. A considerable improvement, how- 

 ever, in the modes of living has taken place of late 

 years, and it i.s gradually advancing, though that ad- 

 vance must be slow, while proprietors continue to con- 

 sider their tenants as mere engines of parliamentary and 

 political ambition, and do not themselves lead the way 

 to plans of amelioration. That part of the county 

 which comprehends Hilsborough, Banbridge, Moyal- 

 lan, and round towards Newry, is inhabited by a mid- 

 tile class of opulent manufacturers, whose dwellings 

 are neat and comfortable, and whose general circum- 

 stances exhibit evident symptoms of industry, civiliza- 

 tion, and contentment. 



Ecderiuti. According to Dr Beaufort, this county, which is all 

 on V &e. *" *k* ecclesiastical province of Armagh, contains al- 



HMtt 



most the whole of the bishopric of Dromore, viz. 22 pa- Down, 

 rishes, having 23 churches, and extending over 143,700 V " > *"Y"""*' 

 Irish acres. The chapter is composed of a dean, pre- 

 centor, chancellor, treasurer, archdeacon, and one pre- 

 bendary. The lordship of Newry claims an exemption 

 from Episcopal jurisdiction ; and the proprietor of the 

 lordship holds his own peculiar court, granting mar- 

 riage licences, probates to wills, &c. under the old monk- 

 ish seal. The bishop resides near the town of Dromore, 

 not twenty miles distant from any part of the diocese ; 

 he has 93 parishes in his gift. In 1 779, his revenue 

 was about L. ^000 ; it is now L. 4500. The bishoprics 

 of Down and Connor were united in the year 14.54. 

 Of Down, only a small part of one pa: is!) is situated in 

 the county of Antrim, all the rest, consisting of 38 pa- 

 rishes, having 33 churches, and covering 201,150 Irish 

 acres, is contained within the county of Down. The 

 chapter is composed of a dean, precentor, chancellor, 

 archdeacon, and two prebendaries. Of Connor, there is 

 only a part of one parish, extending to 3700 Irish acres, 

 in this county. In 1779, the bishop of Down and 

 Connor had a revenue of L. ^800 ; it now amounts to 

 L. 5000. He has in his gift 1 5 parishes in the diocese 

 of Down and 38 in Connor. In the year 1790, the 

 deanery of Down was worth only L.2000 per annum. 

 It now lets for L.3700. Of the Protestants, who amount, 

 according to the estimate of Mr Wakefield, to about one 

 half of the population, the greatest part are Presbyteri- 

 ans. The Antiburgher Seceders have six congregations 

 at the following places, Bally-Copland near Donagha- 

 dee, Newton Ardes, Gilnekirk in the parish of Castle- 

 reagh, Hill Hall near Lisbum, Moira and Newry. 

 There is also a considerable number of Quakers, and 

 the Methodists are gaining ground. In some parishes 

 there is not a family belonging to the established 

 churh. In some parishes also between Lisburn and 

 Belfast, and along the southern shore of Belfast Bay, 

 there is not a Catholic family, nor almost an indivU 

 dual who is not a Presbyterian. The people who in- 

 habit the mountains, and the poorer classes in many 

 other places, are of the Catholic persuasion. Mr 

 Byrne, a merchant in Dublin, has an estate here of 

 L.3000 per annum, and is the only Catholic proprietor 

 who possesses a qualification for being put on the 

 grand jury. The yeomanry and higher ranks of this 

 county, who have among them an Orange party, are 

 very hostile to the claims of the Catholics, on wh6m 

 they are too much accustomed to look as beings of an 

 inferior order. 



The county of Down is in length from north to south Fxtcnt all( j 

 51 English miles, and in breadth from east to west 39.5. population. 

 Its area 874 square miles, or 559,995 English acres. It 

 contains 36,6:i6 houses, which at 5.6 to a family, give 

 201,498 inhabitants. At this rate, there will be about 

 15.28 acres to a house, nearly 42 houses to a square 

 mile, and about 2.77 souls to the English acre. This 

 is Dr Beaufort's statement. In 1751 the number of 

 houses was 19,270, and in 1791, by a return of govern- 

 ment, It was 38,351. Allowing, as Mr Dubourdieu 

 does, 5^ persons for each house, the population, in the 

 former year, would be 101,167, and in the latter, it 

 would be 20 1 ,342. In the parish of Annahill he found, 

 on enumeration, that there were on an average, 5i to 

 a house: There were 400 houses, and of course 2100 

 inhabitants, of whom a proportion of 6.5 or 318 were 

 liable to serve in the militia. According to this esti- 

 mate, he makes the population of the whole county to 

 be 220,447. Mr Woods, a dissenting clergyman, gives 

 the following return for the parish of Bangor : He says 



