The Cattle Market:In my youth there were more than one; I remember cattle corralled adjacent to Dublin Bridge Station (as in photos on this site) and a livestock market facing the Frontier Cinema.But by then the main farm stock market was immediately behind our home in Monaghan Street.I remember cows and calves being auctioned there, old farmers feigning disinterest lest they artificially inflate the prices they would pay!
Our house is one of the six chimneys in the top left of the photo!!
I remember flocks of sheep, and cattle, and pigs being driven from South Armagh into town, perhaps just one or two men or boys with a dog struggling to contain them.And impatient drivers – they were much fewer then – behind, trying to control their temper as they could do nothing but wait.Drivers hated meeting livestock on the road travelling in their own direction.They could not be passed. Those coming to meet them could, but at the risk of damage to their shiny new cars as brutish cows jostled one another for position as they tried to pass!
And the smell!How I remember the smell!We would watch the goings-on in the Patrick Street Market from the back bedroom of Aunt Cissie’s house (where I lived!).The farmers’ wheeling and dealing was a sight to behold.The Dealing Men from Crossmaglen!
Horse Troughs:They were located at all the entrance roads to the town and some at strategic places in the town too.Our nearest one was one hundred yards away at the junction of Monaghan Street and Monaghan Row.They were about the size of a bath and filled with water to refresh livestock that may have been ‘on the hoof’ for most of the day.
Water Pumps:It’shard to believe now, but when I was a child many houses did not have an internal mains water supply.Water had to be carried in from a hand-operated water pump in the yard or the street and that usually served many homes!Such houses also had a dry toilet.
