SECTION SIX
John Harland – son of Thomas (1819) and Margaret
b. 25 May 1854
m. 23 April 1880 in Dublin; & 2 April 1891 in Portadown.
d. 15 March 1948
b. 25 May 1854
m. 23 April 1880 in Dublin; & 2 April 1891 in Portadown.
d. 15 March 1948
John Harland (1854 –1948) was a big man in every way – over six feet in height, and a strong athletic body. He was born and brought up in Maytown, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh. He was educated at The Newry School ‘under Frank Annesley Potterton’. He was still only 24 when, ‘in 1878 he inherited the business started by his grandfather 80 years previously, that of agriculturist and general merchant’. These data come from ‘Contemporary Biographies (1909)’. Were the figure of 80 years to be exact, this would give the unlikely date of 1798 - the year of yet another rebellion against the British Crown - and when his grandfather, John Harland (1784) was still only 14 years old. This business included a grocer's shop in Bessbrook right at the foot of Maghernahely hill.
The very word Maghernahely is a rallying cry to the Harland diaspora so an understanding of its meaning is important.The word magher in Irish usually means a plain, which would be entirely inappropriate here. Here it refers to the alternative meaning of ‘church lands’; while the suffix refers to something like ‘the altar’ or ‘church relic’.In early times this land was to be found in the barony of Upper Orior; which was O'Hanlons' country. Bassetts Co. Armagh Directory reported that there had been ‘a religious house’ built on Maghernahely ‘early in the Christian era’; but only some of its foundations remained when the land came into the possession of Henry McShane O’Neill: this O’Neill had been one of Tyrone’s generals at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, (v ABOUTUS/HISTORY1)but was reconciled to James I who gave him a life-long grant of the land in 1609. His successor, Sir Toby Caulfield, who also created Castlecaulfield in Co. Tyrone, built a fortified farmhouse or bawn on the old monastic site, with walls up to 14 feet in height. It was claimed that many of the stones from the original building were to be found in these walls. Convent buildings eventually replaced this bawn.
When planning his marriage (1880) John Harland built a fine new home, which he called “Hillside”. It was perched near the top of Maghernahely, some 300 feet above sea level; and local people called it 'Harland's Folly' for they predicted, quite wrongly as it turned out, that it would have an unsure foundation and an ignoble end. The site became surrounded with trees that he planted, and had a large vegetable and flower garden, and, originally, a very large, commercial greenhouse. In the modern era the correct address was, ‘Hillside’ 29 Convent Hill, Bessbrook.
The very word Maghernahely is a rallying cry to the Harland diaspora so an understanding of its meaning is important.The word magher in Irish usually means a plain, which would be entirely inappropriate here. Here it refers to the alternative meaning of ‘church lands’; while the suffix refers to something like ‘the altar’ or ‘church relic’.In early times this land was to be found in the barony of Upper Orior; which was O'Hanlons' country. Bassetts Co. Armagh Directory reported that there had been ‘a religious house’ built on Maghernahely ‘early in the Christian era’; but only some of its foundations remained when the land came into the possession of Henry McShane O’Neill: this O’Neill had been one of Tyrone’s generals at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, (v ABOUTUS/HISTORY1)but was reconciled to James I who gave him a life-
When planning his marriage (1880) John Harland built a fine new home, which he called “Hillside”. It was perched near the top of Maghernahely, some 300 feet above sea level; and local people called it 'Harland's Folly' for they predicted, quite wrongly as it turned out, that it would have an unsure foundation and an ignoble end. The site became surrounded with trees that he planted, and had a large vegetable and flower garden, and, originally, a very large, commercial greenhouse. In the modern era the correct address was, ‘Hillside’ 29 Convent Hill, Bessbrook.
From the front door of Hillside there was and is a most spectacular view with an arc of almost 180 degrees, and the basin of County Down spread out before the eye, backed by a semicircle of granite peaks that are known world-
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