1783 Taylor & Skinner Newry, Markethill, Scarva, Poyntzpass, Loughgilly Ireland Road Map
Published in 1783, this hand-coloured antique Ireland road map is Map 22 from the second revised edition of Taylor & Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland. The survey was undertaken in 1777, first published in 1778 and corrected for the 1783 edition.
The engraved heading, “From Newry to Market-Hill and to Stewartstown,” identifies the principal journey represented on the sheet. Mileage tables also record the continuing route through Tandragee, Portadown and Blackwaterfoot towards Stewartstown, together with distances from Newry to Scarva.
Prominent places shown include Newry, Markethill, Scarva, Poyntzpass and Loughgilly, with the map extending through parts of Counties Armagh and Down. Poyntzpass appears on the engraving in the historic form “Points Pass.”
Newry is shown with roads towards Dublin, Belfast, Downpatrick and Castleblayney, while the Newry River and canal corridor runs alongside the route. Nearby places and estates include Lisdrumgullion, Mullaglass, Greenfield and Dernolly.
Further north, the engraving records Loughgilly, the River Cusher, Markethill and Gosford Castle, together with Clare, Richhill, Acton and numerous churches, country houses and named properties. On the eastern side, the road follows the waterway towards Scarva and the Banbridge road.
The central section includes Drumbanagher and Poyntzpass, illustrating the dense network of roads, waterways, estates and settlements between Newry and the surrounding Armagh and Down countryside.
The combination of towns, estates, river and canal routes, and named properties makes this map particularly interesting for Counties Armagh and Down local history, Irish genealogy and family-history research.
Identified as Map 22 in Taylor & Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland, it forms part of their extensive late-18th-century survey of Ireland’s principal roads.