In 1610 under the terms of the Ulster Plantation the middle portion of Doughcoron (Dougher) containing 1,500 acres was granted by James the First to William Brownlow. His son William who came to Ireland at the same time received a grant of 1,000 acres to form the manor of Ballynamoney. This resulted in the combined estates occupying the middle proportion of the ancient territory the known as Clanbreasail. Included in this arrangement were ninety acres of endowed glebe land set aside for parochial benefices consisting of the balliboe of Shankill and half the balliboe of Aughnacloghie (Aughnacloy).

The name Shankill - Sean-cill – was the and still is, borne by the townland in which the graveyard is situated, and is from two words Irish words signifying “Old Church”. The map of 1609 shows a roofless church there, so we may therefore assume that the church was of some antiquity then, its ruined state no doubt due to the destruction of the area in the Elizabethan wars.

John Brownlow appears to have had died about 1616 and his son obtained a regranted the lands of Ballynamoney and Doughcoron by letter patent under seal of Charles I., to form the Manor of Brownlowsderry on 29 June 1629. In this grant Lurgan is mentioned for the first time in official documents. It states that Sir William was empowered to hold a weekly market on Friday and two annual fairs, one of the Feast of St James and the other on the Feast of St Martin, subject to the conditions of the plantation in Lurganballyvackan, alias Ballilurgan.

Although there are no records to confirm the earlier interments in the ancient church Shankill, it was more than likely that the majority of space available in the nave, along those plots outside were reserved close to the walls for members and relations of the Brownlow family. But who these people were and by what names were they known is open to question. This is due to the fact that while the family can be traced back to having resided in Derbyshire in the 14^th century, the complete linage of the family that settled in Lurgan in the opening years of the Ulster Plantation is not fully complete.

William Brownlow, who came to Ireland with his father, was granted the Manor of Ballynamoney on 16 June 1610. He was knighted by Sir Henry Cary, Viscount Falkland, Lord Deputy of Ireland on 15 December 1622, and served as High Sheriff of Armagh in 1623. Some time previous to this event he took the remarkable step of allying his family with the Gaelic and Catholic nobility of Ulster through his marriage to Elinor O’Dogherty. The Brownlow marriage not only forged a union between Planter and the Gael but also had the effect of cementing family ties at local level with the O’Hanlons the hereditary lords of Orior, and the O’Neills of Tyrone. Lady Elinor’s aunt Margaret a sister of Sir Cathaoir O’Dogherty was the wife of Hugh oge O’Hanlon son of Sir Oghie O’Hanlon of Tandragee, while her aunt Rose O’Dogherty married firstly Caffar O’Donnell of Caffarsconce, Co Donegal, and secondly to General Owen Roe O’Neill commander of the Irish Army in 1641. William Brownlow’s eldest daughter was one of the most remarkable women of her age having entered the state of matrimony no less than five times. The second marriage with Patrick Chamberlain provided four children, one of whom was Arthur Chamberlain of Nizlerath and heir to the Lurgan estate.

The Brownlow mausoleum in Shankill is situated on the site of the highest point of the graveyard and occupies the site of the medieval church. Shankill is derived from two Irish words “Sean Coill” signifying old church. From this it would appear that the site must almost certainly date back to the coming of Christianity, or at the very least to the Synod of Kells in the 12^th century. The site showing a roofless church is recorded in the 1609 map helps to make this point. One of the reasons for the church having no roof at this period was probably the fact that the roof was thatched and was allowed to fall into decay during the troubled state of the area during the Elizabethan Wars. In the early 17^th century the building was refurbished and appointed by King James I, as the parish church of the new town of Lurgan. From that time it was in constant use until the building of the new church on Lurgan Green. During the life of the old church the bodies of the deceased members of the Brownlow family and several of the Waring family of Waringstown were interred in a vault below the floor of the church.

In 1725 a new Church of Ireland church was opened in Lurgan. It was built on the Green at the head of the main street. The church in Shankill was retained for some nine years after years after consecration of the new church, but in 1734 it was demolished, with only a portion of the foundations left to mark where the old church stood. For a period the floor of the old church remained uncovered. However, when William Brownlow died in 1739 and was laid to rest beneath the floor, his widow Lady Elizabeth thought it necessary to erect a mausoleum over the grave as a mark of respect to her husband and his ancestors.

The remains of one of the chief architects of the Brownlow fortune, the Rt Hon. William Brownlow, M.P. for Armagh 1753-94, were also interred here. A Privy Councillor to King George III he was an important personage in politics during the 18^th century and a commanding figure in local affairs. The youngest of four sons, he was the only one to reach manhood and was only 13 years of age when his father died. Although his education was private he spent a considerable part of his early life on the Continent. This was due to the fact that his mother, Lady Elizabeth Brownlow, daughter of the 6^th Earl of Abercorn, married secondly in 1741 a French nobleman, Francis, Count de Kearnic. William Brownlow died on 30 November 1794 and was interred in the mausoleum in Shankill.

He was succeeded by the eldest son – also named William – of his first marriage to Judith Letitia Medyth. Born September 1, 1755, he married his cousin Charity daughter of Matthew Forde of Seaforde. This William Brownlow died July 10, 1815 and the Belfast Commercial Chronical gives the following account of his funeral to Shankill for interment in the family mausoleum:

“The hearse proceeded by the Lurgan Yeomanry, with reversed arms, was attended by his brother, the Rev Francis Brownlow, and several other relatives and friends and arrived at the place of burial at ten o’clock today, accompanied by a great concourse of people. All the gentry for miles around attended the melancholy train, and numerous tenants of the Brownlow estate, all supplied with scarves followed the bier of a landlord universally and deservedly dear to them. These and a vast body of the population of the neighbouring country, all eager to show their sympathy and regret of a loss so generally felt and deplored, formed a most impressive spectacle coming miles of the road towards the tomb of their worthy and departed countryman. But the most interesting and affecting site that could be imagined was presented by the children from the Free School, nearly 300 in number, of both sexes’ who went out for some miles to meet the remains of their benefactor, and join their humble mite of respect and gratitude, not mere for the constant protection and aid they have experienced from him who is no more, but as an offering which might be accepted to their best and most zealous Patroness whose material solicitude for their welfare has so deeply endeared her to them who and to whom they have no other mode of expressing their gratitude and attachement than by evincing she that dose not weep alone. We cannot conclude this report, without congratulating our readers on the proof which this procession to-day gives that worthy and incorruptible integrity, and real independent principal, are sure to obtain the respect, and real merit.”

Charles Brownlow M.P. for Armagh at Westminster, 1822-32, and raised to the peerage of the U.K by Queen Victoria, as Baron Lurgan on 14 May 1839. He was deeply interested in improving his estate and took a lively interest in and useful undertaking in the welfare of the people of Lurgan. He died on 30 April 1847 at he height of the Great Famine. During the winter before his death as chairman of the Lurgan Board of Guardians, he was constantly at his post alleviating distress and attending the wants of the Union, and there he caught the fatal malady typhus fever that terminated his life. Lord Lurgan was a firm member of Shankill Parish Church, but with out a single particle of bigotry; while stoutly and conscientiously holding his own.

The of the last members of the Brownlow family to be laid to rest in the vault was Lady Jane nee McNeill of Barra, the 4^th daughter of Colonel Roderic MacNeill she died on 6 January 1878, and was the last surviving daughter of one of the most ancient and powerful families in the Western Hebrides. She was the second wife of Charles, Baron Lurgan, and the mother of the second Lord Lurgan who was the owner of the famous racing greyhound Master McGrath. Her daughter, the Hon. Clara Anne Jane Chamberlayne Brownlow, married Mr William Macdonald, of St Martin and Rossie, Perthshire, colonel commanding Perthshire Highland Rifles, She died in London on 16 December 1883 and was buried in Glenshee.

In the 1950s, while on a visit to the town, George, 4^th Baron Lurgan, had a new tablet bearing an English translation of the epitaph to William Brownlow inserted into the exterior wall. It reads as follows:

“The remains of the family of Brownlow (not ignoble from its foundation) rests here, Elizabeth (of the most noble family of Abercorn) the illustrious widow of William, who died in 1737, took care to build this tomb as a monument of her affection. He did not require the honour of a tomb, who by his own design and almost at his own expense, raised a grand temple dedicated to Christ, was constantly at public worship, not as a guest of the church, but as an inhabitant of the town. Hither he invited the needy by his charity and by his meek persuasion and by his example. Nor was he wanting in conjugal affection and parental love, of all perhaps he was first and second to none, Stranger, Remark! That whatever he may now be, it is easy to imitate his virtue so that the gate may be found open to you”.

As far as can be ascertained there were only three memorials bearing coats of arms in Shankill. All three have been vandalised to such an extent that they are damaged beyond repair. The most legible is the O’Reilly head stone, now broken in three pieces at rear of the Brownlow mausoleum, bearing the family coat of arms, emblazoning: Two lions rampart combating or supporting a dexter hand at the wrist and apaumee bloody proper. The head stone is of red sandstone possibly imported from Galloway in Scotland, the text in Latin is inscribed in finely inscribed Roman lettering:

“Here lies buried Jane O’Reilly; she lived uprightly in wedlock with Myles O’Reilly, twenty five years and she departed this life the 14^th day of December 1715, in her 54 year of her age in memory of whom stands erected at the expense of James O’Reilly, her warlike son, and eldest by birth.”

The name Jane inscribed on the headstone is referred to as “Jannet ye wife of Myles Rely” in the parish burial records that also reveal the death of a son “Myles Rely chyld, 28^th August, 1687”. Myles O’Reilly was seneschal of the Manor of Brownlowderry in the late 17th and early eighteenth centuries. He died 15 May 1735, and was buried with his wife and child in Shankill.

Like almost every other old burial ground Shankill has traditions, the most curious being the “resurrection” of a lady known as Margery McCall. There is abundant proof that at a family bearing the name of McCall resided in Lurgan in the late 17th century. In 1689 the Patriot Parliament of James II, attained “John McCall of Lurgan, gent”. In 1719 the same John McCall was one of a deputation appointed by Presbyterian congregation to attend the synod and request that the Rev James Fleming should be allowed to remain in Lurgan. Probably this John McCall was the husband of the lady who is the subject of this questioning tradition.

It appears that the McCall’s lived in Market Place on a site now occupied by the L.C.A. Reading Rooms. According to tradition Margery the mother of a young family departed this life and was duly interred in Shankill Graveyard. At the time of her supposed death she was in possession of a very valuable ring, but her family were family were unable to remove from her finger. This being the case there was no other alternative but allow the ring to go with the deceased to the grave. The night of her burial the grave attacked by thieves who having opened the grave tried to remove the ring by cutting the finger off deceased. In attempting this gruesome deed he drew blood and the body the began to show life and rose to confront the thief. This was more than the thief had bargained for and fled the spot with the utmost speed..

Meanwhile the disconsolate husband had been sitting at home with his family mourning the loss of his loved partner. A knock was herd at the door. “Ah!” he said, if your mother were alive I would swear that was her knock. Something prompted him to go and answer the knock and on opening the door there stood Margery arrayed in her grave close. Broken down as he was by anxiety and grief , he was ill able to bear the shock and he fainted on the spot. He soon recovered however, and then he found to his great joy that, by a remarkable interposition of providence , his wife was in a trance when she was supposed to be dead, had been restored to him. It is also clamed that some years afterwards she had another son who became a non-conformist minister. But time came at last when Margery went the way of all flesh and was again interred in Shankill; at her grave was placed a stone recording the fact that she had been twice buried, recording the date of each internment.

There are several versions of the story, but I wonder if anybody heard it told in verse. The following is believed to have been penned by a local scribe under the name of Cortze, at her graveside in Shankill some time in the closing decades of the 19th century.

Died Once Buried Twice

There lowly beneath lonely sod,

A lady twice entombed,

Tradition has it noised abroad,

She was exhumed alive.

Her precious ring her finger bore,

From her bright wedding day;

And in death likewise wore

When buried in the clay.

But a foul thief to steal the ring,

Did cast the clay aside

And he to life did quickly bring

She who lately died.

For he should cut the finger round,

To gain the golden prize,

But when the blood flowed from the wound

She spoke and did arise.

And straight away to her home did go

In her dead robes so white;

Like a wandering spirit free from woe,

But doomed to roam at night.

And when she reached her husbands door,

She gave her well known knock

An he fell senseless to the floor,

Un-nerved by the strange shock.

Her children knew here gentle voice

And flew to her embrace;

And all the neighbours did rejoice,

But marvelled at the case.

But death at last took here away,

As he will sure take all

And not again to Judgement Day

Shall Rise Margery McCaull..

It is a peculiarity of the sites of ancient churchyards - particularly in England - that in a great number of cases they are on the north side of a village, and on the north side of the road that leads to them. There was also superstition that the north side of a churchyard itself is less sacred than the other three points of the consecrated ground. This belief that a body interred there was to be buried “out of sanctuary” such was the false notion that pervaded that this unhallowed ground was reserved for burial of criminals, suicides and the unbaptised. Such was the ill repute that an unexplained burial there would have been considered an implication of guilt, and a grave stone in Epworth, Linconshire, bears the inscription.

That I might longer undisturbed abide

I choos’d to be laid on this Northern side

There is Shankill graveyard an authentic record of this superstition, revealing that such a belief was firmly rooted in Lurgan, and a large section of parishioners shrank from the idea of allowing their departed friends to be interred in such a place of ill repute. At length the Rector of Shankill, Rev Arthur Forde, having during his cure of souls in Lurgan failed to eradicate the superstition, directed in his will that he should be interred in that part of the graveyard that the parishioners has so carefully shunned. His desire was accordingly carried into effect, and the following inscription was put on the tombstone and placed above his grave:

“The Rev Arthur Forde. late rector of this Parish, died the twenty-forth day of December one thousand seven hundred and sixty seven, in the sixty-six year of his age, and is interred here (on the northside of this churchyard) agreeably to the special appointement of his will, in order that, as he himself expresseth it, to remove that superstitious imagination which prevails among many that such is profane and unholy.”

Unfortunately the Forde tombstone, like many other some dating back over three hundred years, and of great of historical and architectural merit has been destroyed by vandalism in recent years.

Lurgan has a link with Magee University College, Londonderry. The founder of the college was Mrs Martha Magee daughter of Mr Robert Stewart. Martha became the wife of the Rev William Magee, who was born near Saintfield, Co Down, in 1754. He was licensed by Belfast Presbytery in 1780 and ordained at Lurgan in the same year. The Rev William Magee died 1800 and was buried in Shankill. After this Martha Magee left Lurgan and settled in Dublin and died in 1846. When Her husband died she was left with two sons, both of whom entered the army. Some time after the death of her sons, her brothers Colonel Stewart, and General Stewart died and left her a vast inheritance. The epitaph on the Magee Memorial in Shankill, reads:

“The Rev Wm. Magee Minister of the Presbyterian Church Lurgan, died 9th June, 1800. At the demise of Mrs Martha Magee, about £60,000 to the Irish Presbyterian Church including £20,000 for the establishment of a college.”

One of the first founders of Methodism in Lurgan was Issac Bullock, a member of a family that had long settled in the town. As a young man he had been in the army, and served in the West Indies, and was one of the 60 called the “forlorn hope”. In 1762 he was one of the first to enter the breach in the storming of Havana, Cuba. Only six of this advance party survived and the frightful encounter that he had encountered in this attack left a profound impression on him, and gave rise to a nervous disposition that remained with him to the end of his life. It is quite possible that Isaac Bullock became converted when Wesley first visited Lurgan in 1756.

It was at the Market House in Lurgan that the seeds of Wesley’s ministry germinated for it was shortly after this that the followers of the Wesleyan movement assembled a room in the home of the Bullock family. This property was at the rear High Street and formed part to the tenement known as “The Rookery”. From this time onwards the Bullock residence was used for regular worship, in fact it was not until some 22 years later that the first Methodist Meeting House in Lurgan was founded off Queen’s Street in Nettleton’s Court. Isaac Bullock died and is buried in Shankill. Perhaps the last survivors of those who had heard Wesley speak in Lurgan were Isaac’s daughter Susanna Bullock, and his niece May Furphy.

The Bullock’s were originally Quakers. Ezekiel Bullock one of five sons of George Bullock who came from England to settle in Tullygally in the seventeenth century. There is also an 18th century sandstone headstone marking the burial plot of the Bullock family in Shankill inscribed. “Here lyeth the body of John Bullock who departed this life ye 4th of October 1771, aged 64 years." By the 19th century, however owing either to phonetic decay in local speech or a clerical error the name is recorded on two other headstones in the graveyard as Bullick. The first a headstone in sandstone records the memory of “James Berril Bullick, who died 9th January 1859, aged 39 years." The second headstone is set within a railed enclosure bearing the inscription “In affection remembrance of Mary Ann Bullick, died 28th June 1851." Jane Bullick died 4th October1864. Thomas Bullock died 22 may 1858. Elizabeth Bullick died 1st January 1851. Mary Bullick died 23 September 1880. My heart and my flesh faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Samuel William Comerford Bullick died 1st January 1881, aged 12 years and 5 months. God is Love. Also Wm Bullick who died 5th September 1889, aged 75 years, also Thomas Bullick son of above who died 5th May 1902, aged 27 years.

The Methodist Church situated in High Street was erected in 1826 on a site purchased from. Mr George Chapman. The church was completely remodelled at a cost of £800 in 1888. Two interesting tablets commemorate Rev John Armstrong, 60 years in the ministry and John Johnston distinguished for “ Deep and long tried love of the cause.” The Rev Armstrong, was buried in Shankill, his headstone bearing the inscription:

Erected by admiring friends, to the memory of the late Reverend John Armstrong, Wesleyan minister, born 1778, died 1^st August 1875. For sixty years he discharged the duties of his sacred office with zeal and fidelity rarely if ever surpassed.

Though dead yet he speaketh. Also his second daughter Margaret Armstrong, who died 31^st December 1875. Also his widow Ellen Armstrong, who departed this life 19^th March 1876, aged 17 years.

On April 22, 1787, the vestry minutes makes reference to three men William Kane, Edward Hudson and John Dennison, members of the Lurgan Volunteer Corps who had met their death in peculiar circumstances, and had lately been were interred with military honours in Shankill. From this it would appear that on the 19^th March 1787, a party of Lurgan Volunteers, led by Lieutenant Godfrey set out serve a warrant on David Kerry residing at Ballygavie, Tullylish. Kerr resisted arrest and in the melee that followed fatally gunned down William Kane. The fugitives refused to surrender; his house was then set on fire. However, Kerr managed to escape the blaze, but not before he had bayoneted the unfortunate Edward Hudson, who lived for nearly a week after the incident, The other unlucky member of the corps John Dennison, who although he was on duty was in a bad state of health, the result being that he caught cold and died a few days after the unfortunate affair. He was buried in Shankill on the same days as Edward Hudson. David Kerr was subsequently arrested and charged with the murder of Kane and Hudson at Downpatrick Assizes, that September and was sentenced to death in the following month.

A few weeks after the event at Tullylish, the Belfast Newsletter of June 16, 1787, a death notice relating the burial of another member of the corps in Shankill. “Died a few days ago Mr William McGowan of Legacurry Hill, a member of the Lurgan Volunteer Company since its foundation. They attended his corpse at the interment.”

The Watsons of Lakeview were one of the leading manufacturing families in the town. Of particular interest is Francis Watson, who died 16 October 1877. A controversial figure, Francis presided at the opening of the Orange Hall in Castle Lane in 1859. In his inaugural speech the County Grand Master, Colonel Blacker of Carrickblacker, Portadown, paid tribute to Francis and the Watson family for the keen interest they had taken in the welfare of all classes and creeds in the area, and the great support they had given to the Orange cause.

In the 1860, the parish church, dedicated to Christ the Redeemer, was rebuilt and the principal window in the chancel by Beyer of Munich, which consisted of three lights featuring the four Evangelists, was presented by Francis Watson. The largest centre light some 28 feet high has full-length figures of the apostles Mark and Luke, and the others at 22 feet each, of Matthew and John. In 1878 when a peel of eight bells was installed in the church tower, the largest individual subscription of £200 was received from William Watson of New York.

The family headstone bears the inscription:

Sacred to the memory of Ann, wife of Robert Watson, who died 1^st May 1831, aged 49 years. Also four of their children who died in infancy. Likewise Isabella, his second wife, who died 25^th May 1840, aged 43 years. And the above named Robert Watson, who died 18^th July 1848, aged 72 years. Likewise Francis Watson, eldest son of the above named Robert Watson, who died the 16^th October 1877, aged 68 years. Likewise Mary Jane, wife of the above named Francis Watson, who died 17^th December 1885. Also the children of Francis and Mary Watson: William Watson, died 18^th December 1840, aged 11 months. Jane Watson, died 28^th August 1854, aged 11 months. Arthur Wellesley Watson, died 6^th October 1854, aged 2 years. Martha Stuart Watson died 19^th March 1870 aged 11 years. William Watson, died 8^th September 1875, aged 23 years. Francis Watson, died 14^th June 1901, aged 55 years. Robert Watson, died 25^th January 1925, aged 70 years. Joseph Stuart Watson, died 3^rd February 1935, aged 86 years.

The town’s leading entrepreneurs in age of Victoria were the Malcolms. Founded at the beginning of the 19^th century by James Malcolm, the company was extensively engaged in the manufacture of fine cambric produced by handloom weaving. As a man with an acute knowledge of the practical aspects of the industry, he advanced the business with new ideas incorporating straight forward functionalism and new technology with manufacturing gusto. In 1855 James Malcolm’s diversity and dynamism and success in local and commercial life was such that it caused him to invest heavily in the building of factory specifically designed to house the first power loom weaving complex in the area.

At his death in 1864 James Malcolm left effects of over £70,000, an enormous sum by any standards at this period in time. His son also named James who had already been actively engaged in the management of company succeeded him. It was an age of expansion and assumed his responsibility by increasing productivity, by a further planned development of the manufacturing operation at Factory Lane. Here the production was confined to cambric and cambric handkerchiefs, providing employment for upwards of 500 operatives. In 1886 the company further expanded by purchasing the hemstitching patents taken out by J. B. Robinson, and building erecting the first factory of this type in the in the United Kingdom in Union Street, to give employment for about 350 people. At this period the new buildings and premises including the Factory Lane operation and the Union Street factory extended over an area of 10 acres, in the heart of the town. Besides holding the principal interest in the family enterprises in Lurgan, James Malcolm was also an extensive stock holder and director of the Northern Spinning and Weaving Company Ltd, Belfast. He was also a prominent figure in Masonic circles, and Deputy Lieutenant of County Armagh.

There are plots holding the remains of the Malcolm family, in the graveyard, The earliest is enclosed with railings with two headstone.

“Sacred to the memory of George Pentland Malcolm, who died 18^th June 1859, aged 21 years and five months son of Samuel Malcolm, who died 6^th October 1861, aged 21 years. And of Charlotte Malcolm, who died 2^nd November 1861 aged 19 years. Also James Malcolm their father, who died 5^th February 1864, aged 76 years. Also Charlotte Malcolm their mother, who departed this life 1st August 1870, at Long Beach, America, aged 64 years.”

There is second tablet placed on the railings within the enclosure that reads. “This table is erected to the memory of Thomas Pentland Esq, who departed this life 19^th January 1860 by his bereaved wife. And also their two infant sons.”

The second family plot is mounted by a large head stone executed in Mourne granite and is decated.

In loving memory of James Malcolm D.L. died 6^th January 1916. Aged 63 years. Also his wife Eliza Malcolm, died 17^th May 1923, aged 78 years. Also their daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Patterson died 24^th April 1932 aged 58 years. Also their son Herbert Cecil Malcolm D.L. died 14^th November 1946 Aged 61 years.

Till he come.

During late nineteenth century due to urban development brought about by the industrial development of power loom weaving the population of multiplied, and confined space such as the ancient burial ground at Shankill proved to be inadequate depository for the dead. In 1861 the Town Commissioners realised that the old graveyard at Shankill had outlived it usefulness and considered at matter of urging the necessity of another burial ground in the town. Meeting as a Burial Board they selected a four-acre site “on the new Tandragee line” that Lord Lurgan had promised them at £10 per annum. Later in the same year the Commissioners drew up regulations with a scale of charges ranging from two shillings and six pence to ten shillings. Corpses from the Union Workhouse were to be buried at two shillings and six pence so long as the depth did not exceed seven feet. Any interment over this depth, the additional cost was two shillings and six pence per foot.