During the nineteenth century countless prisoners had punishment for their crimes meted out in the Courthouse that occupied the site of the new Magherafelt Library. The Old Courthouse was built in 1804 and used until 1871 for County hearings, Petty Sessions, Salter's Company manorial court proceedings and Parliamentary election campaigns.

Maitland's History of Magherafelt tells us that the Old Courthouse:

"consisted of a spacious hall at one end and two jury rooms at the other. The intervening space was fitted up with jury boxes on either side which opened into the jury rooms. At one end there were benches for the Chairman of Quarter sessions, magistrates etc and the dock was situated at the other end, near the door."

Originally there were cells for prisoners underneath the north end of the courthouse but when James Boyle visited Magherafelt in 1836, as part of the Ordnance Survey mapping of Ireland, he was not impressed with the conditions which he described as:

"unhealthy in the extreme and totally unfit for the confinement of human beings. There are 2 small damp cells, each 15 by 12 feet and 8 feet high, one opening off the other, without any kind of furniture" and that as "many as 28 unfortunate creatures have been at one time during the quarter sessions confined at night."

'Unlocking the past' a Bridewell cell

Soon after this report the London Company of Salters, the landowners of the town of Magherafelt, agreed that a Bridewell should be built beside the Courthouse. An extract of the minutes of the Salters' Court for the 4th May 1837 explains how Sir Robert Bateson, the lessee, suggested the Linen Hall beside the Courthouse should be demolished and a Bridewell built in its place. The new Bridewell was designed by the County Surveyor, Mr Stewart Gordon, and erected in 1839 at a cost of £515. When Mr Valentine visited, on behalf of the Salters' company, in 1845, he described the building as "clean and in excellent order" . Here prisoners were kept before the Petty Sessions held on alternate Wednesdays when: "all cases of felony, assault, rescue, servant's wages, poor-law rates, and disputes arising between manufacturers and weavers are heard and adjudicated".

Friday, 11th January 1867

Judge J C Coffey is in charge of proceedings at Magherafelt Courthouse dealing with a large number of crown cases.

At 10 o'clock the prisoners are brought into the dock, having been taken from their cells in The Bridewell via the underground tunnel. As they wait to be tried for their crimes, Judge Coffey and the local magistrates then swear in a Grand Jury of 22 men and Mr Archibald McFall agrees to serve as their foreman.

Before proceedings begin Judge Coffey addresses the assembled crowd at length, admonishing them for the large number of crown cases to be dealt with, but congratulating the citizens of Magherafelt on the fact that Christmas had passed without any insurrection or disturbance of the public peace.

When all the cases have been heard, the jury takes several hours to consider their verdicts. On their return 8 guilty verdicts are pronounced, out of a total of 11 cases.

• Mary is found guilty of stealing "wearing apparel" and sentenced to 2 months imprisonment.

• William is convicted of stealing yarn (used for the manufacture of linen)

• John and James are charged with assault, fined £1 each and sent down for 2 weeks.

You can find a fuller report of these court proceedings in the Coleraine Chronicle.
( This report has in fact been preserved on microfilm and is kept by the Library Service, where you can still access and read it today. )

YOUR RESPONSES

Melanie (McFall) Arscott - Jan '07
Amazing what one finds via Google. The Foreman, Mr. Archibald McFall is my ancestor and I am actively researching the McFall's of Magherafelt.

The names Archibald was used by numerous generations and one Archibald wrote many letters to his brother Charles in Canada (which I have). He was also appointed a Commissioner to the High Court Chancery in 1850.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone with connections to the McFall's.