Troubled waters at Baker’s Bridge
Jonathan Smyth's Times Past Column
In 1846, damage caused by the drainage board was reported at Baker's bridge, as Jonathan Smyth recalls in this week's Times Past Column...
Since the 1780s, the Bakers of Ashgrove operated an eel weir on the River Erne at Baker’s Bridge near Belturbet. John Baker, son of John Noble Baker of Ashgrove, inherited the weir and was owner in the 1840s.
It was as a result of the fifth and sixth Victoria Drainage and Navigation Works that legal troubles arose. The weir had caught a considerable number of fish and was a source of continuous profit for the Bakers. John’s grandfather had ‘made this weir the subject of a family settlement’, settling it on his son, having gone so far as to build the well-known Baker’s Bridge ‘at his own expense for the purpose of establishing this weir’.
The Bakers had fished and sold the catch up to the year 1846, supplying ‘different markets’ and fetching between £50 and £70 per annum, excluding the number of fish eaten in the Baker household, and what they gave away to neighbours and friends.
In August 1842, under new legislation, the Commissioners of Public Works were appointed as Commissioners of Drainage, tasked with the drainage of rivers and lakes and for the purpose of alleviating and averting the ‘mischiefs of flooding’. Many Cavan landholders gladly availed of a tempting opportunity to improve their holdings.
Drainage and reclamation
The works allowed for the ‘purpose’ of increasing the ‘prosperity’ of the farms next to the rivers and lakes. Baker’s worries began in 1846 after he applied to the commissioners to have a section of the river drained at Ashgrove. The drainage board questioned Baker as to how far they must relieve the obstructions in the river and, as part of the agreement, they leased the weir for half a season at £40.
I tend to think that Baker was like the dog from Aesop’s fables with the chunk of meat between his teeth, who seeing his shadow in the water, imagined he spied a much larger amount and let go of what he had.
Unfortunately, for Baker, the drainage workers got a little too enthusiastic, and the entire weir got uprooted and was cast aside on the riverbank and, in so doing, they destroyed Baker’s fishing right. The commissioners were quickly summoned to a meeting to assess the damage they caused while stressing that the work had actually improved many farms, which otherwise would have remained flooded.
Incensed by the destruction, Baker sought compensation. The board merely offered £295, an amount so paltry that it might hardly cover the cost of fish eaten at the Baker household’s dinner table, even if he was never to send another fish to the market, so The Anglo-Celt claimed. Metaphorically speaking, poor old Baker had lost his golden goose, and now without its golden eggs, the only thing he could do was demand more compensation.
Court
On Friday, October 20th, 1848, a jury was sworn in and then taken out to Baker’s Bridge to see the crass damage perpetrated and to meet with the two parties, that is Baker as owner and the commissioners as respondents in the case. It was agreed that the hearing should go ahead the following Monday.
On Monday, the jury were summoned to the box. Those sworn-in consisted of William Carmichael, James Berry, Thomas Bligh, Charles J. Murphy, William Fairis, Thomas Hartley, William Moore Black, John Warner, Alexander Berr and Henry Humphreys.
John Baker, as appellant, was represented by Mr Swanzy, Mr Erskine and Mr Armstrong. They asked Mr Collis who appeared as counsel ‘on behalf’ of the commissioners, if he was willing to forgo the usual court formalities and get on with the matter. Collis told them to ‘proceed the regular way’. Formalities were a little difficult to adhere to, added Swanzy, since a star witness called Rowan came all the way from Dublin, having himself served the ‘required notices’ on the commissioners, but had walked from the court, in disregard to a summons to be in attendance.
Swanzy told the court of the situation that Baker found himself in when the board of works carelessly removed an eel weir on the Ashgrove side at Baker’s Bridge, which a jury must ‘enquire into’ and ‘assess’ the damages caused. According to the speaker, the various lakes and rivers at Killeshandra, Farnham, Belturbet and including the River Erne, all joined up and flowed beneath Baker’s Bridge.
Argument and discussion followed when Swanzy announced that the writ upon which the proceedings were being held was incorrect because the appellant had wrongly been listed as the Rev John Baker. The objection was overruled, and the court announced it would permit Baker to ‘stand in holy orders’ if needs be.
Like the Rolling Stones song, Baker got no ‘satisfaction’ and had to be carried out from the courtroom in a fit of apoplexy. The verdict was that a compensation payment of £340 should be granted to the infuriated John Baker. Many years, long after the weir’s demolition, it is interesting to note that Baker’s Bridge became a popular site for coarse fishing competitions.
Ashgrove was in the headlines again in June 1850 and this time it was over a suspected case of poisoning. Thomas Cassidy, a former publican, lived with his niece on a six to seven acre holding, which he rented from John Baker. Thomas had for some time been in delicate health and, in consequence of this, his niece Anne Reilly came to stay with him. Cassidy quit his licence as a publican, but he secretly continued in the trade with the help of his niece, they sold spirits from the house.
When someone whispered in John Baker’s ear that Cassidy had met his end by foul means, he felt it was his duty as a magistrate of the county to ‘inquire into the matter more fully’. Anne Reilly was arrested by the Milltown police and a guard was placed in the graveyard in Urney until William Pollock completed an inquest on the deceased. The contents of the stomach were tested, and loose papers in the Cassidy home checked for poisonous substances. However, the medical people found no evidence of foul play. The man’s death was caused by a visitation of God, stated the jury.
Anne Reilly was acquitted of any wrongdoing and warned that, in future, she must not engage in the ilicit sales of spirits at Ashgrove.
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