No Poor Parish: Newtownstewart (1988)

News Letter

We have another fascinating old clip from from our friends at Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive. This clip is from 1988 and is courtesy of UTV © ITV.   It is part of ITV's travelogue series, About Britain, the focus of this episode of No Poor Parish is on Newtownstewart in Co Tyrone. The area and district has been a centre for civilisation for hundreds of years.  In this clip interviewees chat to the documentary makers about fair days in  Newtownstewart. Recalling the fair day which was always held on the third Thursday in  a month, one interviewee said: “I would reckon that we would have 300 odd cattle at the fair, it might have been more, it would all depend on the time of the year.” They added: “Those cattle were always on the street, from what we would have called the Bank Corner, up towards Cow Market Street and Dublin Street. At the other end of the town, you would have had a horse fair, while from the middle of the town up to the Methodist Church the sheep were sold.” The full video can be viewed at https://digitalfilmarchive.net/media/no-poor-parish-newtownstewart-2353 See more films at www.digitalfilmarchive.net.  Twitter – @NIScreen Facebook – @northernirelandscreen Instagram – @northernirelandscreen #DigitalFilmArchive #NorthernIrelandScreen

Transcript

00:00 Every third Thursday we had a fair in Newton Stewart.

00:03 An open fair.

00:06 - We'd always, I would reckon, about 300 odd cattle

00:10 in Newton Stewart.

00:11 Might've been more, different,

00:12 it all depended on the time of the year.

00:14 Now those cattle were always on the streets

00:17 from what we called the bank corner.

00:18 That was beside the bank,

00:20 away up to what they called the Cow Market Street

00:22 and Dublin Street.

00:24 Now on the other end of the town,

00:27 you had a horse fair, away down the bottom of it.

00:30 In the middle of the town from that same bank corner

00:33 up to the Methodist Church, the sheep were sold.

00:37 And there's a row of pig carts from Marshall's Hotel

00:40 halfway up the main street.

00:42 And the town was filled with people.

00:47 - You know, my grandmother,

00:49 she was quite an old lady when I knew her,

00:52 but she gave evidence at the bank murder

00:55 in famous or infamous bank murder in Newton Stewart.

00:59 - If you walk into a pub miles from Newton Stewart

01:03 and happen to mention you're from Newton Stewart,

01:06 the first thing that happens,

01:07 somebody will interrupt you quietly and say,

01:10 excuse me, you mentioned you're from Newton Stewart.

01:13 Isn't that the town where Montgomery

01:15 murdered the bank man, his own best friend,

01:20 and him drinking with him the night before?

01:23 And so it was this continued interest in this murder

01:27 that made me do a little bit of researching.

01:30 And eventually the findings I presented

01:33 in the form of a play called Newton Stewart Bank Murder.

01:36 - Poor Mr. Glass and him so good, dead, murdered.

01:42 The Lord have mercy on him.

01:45 - When I first arrived on the scene,

01:47 I saw through the open door of the inner office,

01:50 the door of the safe wide open.

01:52 And I suspected then that the robbery

01:54 was the motive of the crime.

01:55 - This is a sad day for us all.

01:58 A day we will never forget.

02:00 Young William has balanced his books for the last time.

02:03 God grant him the reward of a life well spent.

02:08 - Mr. Strahan, you have lost a faithful colleague.

02:11 I have lost one of my best friends.

02:14 I'll not rest until his murder is brought to justice.

02:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended