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Note from Jackie:
The Thomas Irwin mentioned within
is my great-great-grandfather's brother.
If anyone knows where to get a copy of this book,
please E-Mail me.
CRONKILL (or Cranfield) townland is the smallest in the parish, and the farthest from Milltown Church in a westerly direction, and the one roadway in the townland is full of pot-holes and has a very uneven surface. There are no Roman Catholics in the townland.
Mr. Robert Irwin, Cronkill, stated that when his family purchased their residence
in this townland a hundred years ago they were told that it was formerly a glebe-
land attached to the old church at Maghery. Mr. Irwin possesses one of the oldest
Orange sashes in existence.
The funeral on 13th May, 1894, of a prominent Cronkill Orangeman, Thomas Irwin, was the occasion of one of the greatest local battles on record. As the cortege slowly wended its way to Milltown churchyard, a concerted and premeditated attack was made on it at Maghery. The hearse was stoned and the mourners were assaulted with weapons and farm implements, and many parishioners of Milltown Church, like the late R. W. Conn who passed away last year, bore the marks of the assault to the day of his death.
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