DO NOT PUBLISH YET. FAR FROM COMPLETE
The Reilly family were not one of the top tier of local landowners but were important in the development of the area. See Helena Gamble’s detailed account of the Reilly family for much more detail.
According to George Patton, King William III’s quartermaster was a member of Enniskillen brigade named Reilly and he was rewarded with land around Scarva after the King and his army had camped there during 1689. He subsequently built Scarvagh House.
Miles Reilly
John Reilly (1710?- ….)
The first John Reilly was born about 1710 and married Lucy Savage of Ardkeen in 1838. Lucy was descended from both the Poyntz family and the Lucases of Castle Shane, Co Monaghan.
John was quick to spot the commercial opportunities created by the opening of the Newry canal. Harris (1744) reported that:
“Coal-yards and Store-houses are now preparing beside the new canal at Scarvagh Bridge” and that Mr. John Reily “has a view of forming a village near this bridge, and for this end has obtained a Patent for Fairs and Markets”.
Much later, in 1827, an newspaper advert proposed to let the coal store, and said it held about 100 tons of coal. Scarva Coal Store was closed in the 1980s and is still disused.
He also established a salt works in partnership with Thomas Steers, the engineer appointed in 1736 to take over the construction of the Newry Canal after Richard Castle was dismissed. Apart from being used to flavour food, salt was very important for the preservation of butter.
John Reilly MP (1745-1804)
John’s youngest son, also named John, eventually took over his father’s estate and Scarvagh House. He married Jane Lushington from Kent in 1773.
John was elected an MP for … in … and served for …… years.
High Sheriff of County Down in 1776.
He achieved the high office of First Commissioner of Public Account for Ireland in … and served for …. years.
1794, 7th October – John Reilly of Scarva advertises for sale a 21-year lease of
“The towns and lands[2] TULLMACHAN, SGAGNALISH, DRUMANARGELL, AUGHALISH, TERRYHOOGAN and MENTLONE, containing almost seventeen hundred acres…the estate of Edward Lucas[3]…The lands produce upwards of £1,000 yearly profit rent, and will rise considerably.” [Dublin Evening Post]
Was he Lord Downshire’s agent?
He died at … on 26th July 1804.
John Lushington Reilly (1775-1840)
Patron of the Belfast Music Festival
John Temple Reilly (1812-1903)
In 1847, Reilly was Chairman of the Loughbrickland Famine Relief Committee. (different John Reilly)
[2] Was this perhaps the derivation of the word townland?
[3] Presumably an ancestor of Charles Davis Lucas VC?