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| Roger Magenis Will Uncle of Jane Magenis Marmion |
| General HISTORY and references |
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| Stories of Mourne Marmions |
| Tom Cunningham Research |
| _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Certainly the family were very heavily into Flax growing right up to the second WW. -- one benefit of flax was that it was harvested relatively early, bound into bundles and put into a water filled ditch, known locally as a 'shuck' which was usually close to a stream or river,.This process went under the term retting. You knew where and when by the intensity of the smell ! When the outer layer had rotted off the inner fibres were then sent to the mill - Christopher Marmion- and bleached. Milling determined the quality of the cloth and bleaching was used to improve the saleable attraction. As mentioned previously the Marmions had financial interests in a mill or mills near Newry. Probably in excess of 90% of all linen from Ireland came from the North and that principally County Down. The Mourne soil was probably the best.The advantage of the early cropping of Flax lay with the undersowing with grass so there was good feeding for the cattle from July on. From a very early time rotation of crops was practiced. -Dr. V Marmion |
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| Ballymagart Mill, and Millhouse (below)once owned by James and Christopher Marmion then Alexander and
Mary (Marmion) Macdonell. Ballymagart Mills are situated in a valley to the west of Ballyardel Road; near the White Water River (Grid Reference J 277143). They are reached by a lane which in earlier days resounded to the rattle of horses and carts bringing flax to be scutched, and grain to be ground. D. Nicholson |
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| "Bellhill" aka "Belmont" ay Ballyardel This beautiful house was demolished about 25 years ago. James and Jane went to live here in 1825/6. We cannot be sure that this was the original house but we do know that this was the house from which their grandsons - Patrick and Thomas Dowdall lived in 1889. The brothers' mother Bessy who was a daughter of James and Jane married a John Walter Dowdall. Bessy and John came into possession of this house about 1850. This photo was taken about 1950. T. Cunningham |
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| "Janebrook" above Marmion home at Lurganconary. This is the site James and Jane lived on before moving to Bellhill in 1825/6. |
| Wolfe Tone famously said, "From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Ireland and Great Britain as the curse of the Irish nation, and felt convinced, that while it lasted, this country would never be free or happy. In consequence, I determined to apply all the powers which my individual efforts could move, in order to separate the two countries." |
| "We know of only one definition of freedom; it is Tone's definition, it is Mitchel's definition, it is Rossa's definition. Let no man blaspheme the cause that the dead generations of Ireland served, by giving it any other name and definition other than their name and their definition." -- Padraig Pearse |
| In honor of our ancestor's struggle to be free, two favorite quotes: |
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| Thank You to Dr Vincent Marmion for use of the pictures. |
| The family lived at Ballyardel (Ballyardle)2km W of Kilkeel; 348 acres; means ' Ardal's townland ';part of the Bagenal Estate in 1540; in 1659 there were 6 Irish people living here & it was owned by Richard Houston Esq. Thanks to Ros Davies |
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| Massforth Church, burial grounds for the Marmion Family in Kilkeel |
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| Click: So what was Linen used for? |
| photos Tom Cunningham |
| photo Myles S. |
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| click any of the photos to enlarge |
| James Marmion's son in law Alexander Macdonnell inherited the Ballymagart, shortly after in 1835 there was a fire in the mill. |
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| "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops.Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters." Norman Maclean, "A River Runs Through It" |
| above: Bell Hill, home of James and Jane (nee Magenis) Marmion consisted of house and farm plus 73 acres,in the Kingdom of Mourne, the townland of Ballyardel which consisted of 348 acres, in the Civil Parish of Kilkeel. see map of the area |
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| above: Grange, Lurganconaray photo: Fiona Jones |
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| photo Fiona Jones |
| Lady of Lourdes Church photo Fiona Jones |
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| County Down |
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| We have begun to reconstruct how all the members of the family are related (see Marmion Tree above) In the Early 1800 the family were farmers and involved in the booming linen industry. They had wealth and land. Then as the bottom dropped out of the linen industry some members of the family became involved in smuggling. Read Tom's Marmion and Related families of Mourne. Most of his research is at top left of this page. The Marmions migrated here from County Louth, and because the family was Catholic they had many restrictions on them in County Louth, where as in County Down these restrictions were far less. The Marmions were trying to hold on the their land, which some estimate at a little over a thousand acres. They married well, and also had loyal freinds thus enabling them to have their lands held in trust, and for a time their plan in County Down worked. They held on to what they had. However it was not to last. James and Christopher were brothers, just 2 of the sons of Patrick Marmion and Mary Garvey (Mary was the daughter of Dudley Garvey and Bridget McDermott) their sons became involved in the smuggling of liquor and tobacco, which was considered acceptable at the time. Taxes were very high and getting liquor and tobacco past the governmant revenue officers was the objective. James married Jane Magenis in Dublin in 1790. Christopher married her sister Charity Magenis. The Magenis girls were the daughters of Arthur Magenis and nieces of Roger Magenis of Ballooly. Christopher, a fighter, got in quite a lot of trouble and was in the newspaper whenever he was invovled in incidents that sent him to court ot to goal. His and James' brother in law John Magenis was leader of the United Irishmen in County Down. Christopher was involved in the 1798 Rising, even hiding Tone and Teeling at Ballymagart Mill. James, on the other hand, kept his nose to the grindstone., probably because he had a large family to consider. James had land at Lourganconary, and named it Janebrook after his wife. Arthur Marmion, James' son became a freeholder at Lurganconaray. He is listed as a spirit dealer in his early 20s, later he became a broker/agent and spent time in Dublin. Arthur married Catherine Murphy who was distantly related. They lived in Dublin in the early years of their marrigae (1828 to 1830) at Summer Hill Parade, because it was higher in elevation, above the soot and smoke of the the chimneys it was thought of as a healthful area of Dublin.. Both the Marmions, Garveys and Murphy's had an intrest in the land at Aughnagon. Arthur's oportunities were growing limited and in 1833 he left for the US forever via a ship out of Belfast. Family lore has it that he came to the US to further the family business. He seems to have been involved in importing liquor, it involved many family throught the US and Canada.. Catherine left with the children 2 years later in 1835 sailing from Dublin to Baltimore harbor, however she returned to Mourne a few times for visits. The family settled in New Orelans. The rest of the Marmions migrated to England, to obtain employment. Many more immigrated to the US and some to Scotland, while we can not forget the transportation of some others to Australia. In England Sir John Marmion employed quite alot of his cousins, he ran a stevedore firm in Liverpool on Brusnwick Dock. The Marmion families who's fathers or brothers were transported to Australia (some listed as political prisoners) were eventually relaeased and became prosperous there. The other Marmions that left for the US did rather well for themselves in America as well. Few remained after the famine, many seeking employment left for England where they would work for a time to obtain the funds for passage to the US or Cananda and some remained in England. By the time of the famine the family had lost most all they had only 40 years before, there really nothing left. High taxes and the many times dishonest soli itors of absentee landlords took what they could, with the power of the government behind them. Today there are no Marmion Families in County Down. While there are not many, there are still Marmions listed in other places in Ireland,. Most of the much more detailed information on the family is located at left. The Marmions were only in County Down for two hundred years, their history is very much entwined with quite a lot of the families that lived there during that era as well. The Marmion Family pages are located further down on the left. If you are intrested in your own family page, contact us. I would like to thank Tom Cunningham for his significant contribution in uncovering our family history, without him, this page would not exist. |
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