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Photo taken 2006 by Brian Shaw
The lord of the manor is the Marquis of Hereford who resides permanently in England. There are no villages in the townland. Small shops are located throughout the area selling tea, tobacco, sugar, candles, bread, flour, oatmeal, etc. The nearest Established church is at Soldierstown, in the parish of Aghalee. Presbyterians and Methodists attend meeting houses in Moira and there is a Roman Catholic chapel in Aghagallon. There is a permanent school, which has hitherto received a grant from the Kildare Street Society, the rate of tuition for which is from 2 to 3 shillings per quarter. There are 35 Protestants and 25 Catholics, 48 males and 12 females, a total of 60 pupils (1835). It falls under the National Board of Education. About one-third of the families are employed in trade and manufacture which they combine with agriculture. Most trade is in the produce of the land which can be readily exported to Belfast by means of a canal connecting Lough Neagh in the east to the urban area. There are 209 weavers in the parish of Aghagallon and almost all of the women spin, the chief product being cambric. There are no mills because of an insufficient fall. There are osier beds which are used to make firkin hoops and baskets. Fishing is not practised as a trade; they merely satisfy their own wants. Most of the land is bogland, interspersed with numerous small oval-shaped hills of gravel and sand. The houses are built on the hills which are cultivated while the bogs are used for fuel. Most of the holdings are from 10 to 13 acres. |