For 40 years, Harry McKennell was a familiar face at markets across Armagh and beyond. Now approaching 90, the former stallholder has looked back on the hard work, chance opportunities and family support that took him from a packet of lettuce seeds to a long-standing presence at Armagh market.

Harry’s working life began elsewhere. He was a Steriliser Operator at Tullygoonigan Factory before becoming a relief bread man, travelling as far as Newtownards. He later built a business selling vegetables and flowers at markets in Armagh, Dungannon, Portadown, Cookstown, Strabane and Rathfriland.

Armagh I visited Harry at his Loughgall Road home, where he had arranged old family photographs on the living-room coffee table. The images prompted memories of his parents, his wife Hannah, their children and the working life that shaped the family.

From the factory to the market

At Tullygoonigan, Harry worked with milk brought in by tanker. The milk was put into tins, sealed, washed and sent into a steriliser. His responsibility was to control the steam, which reached 243 degrees of heat.

He recalled earning 12 shillings extra each week for the responsibility, with his pay eventually rising to eight pounds, eight shillings and four pence a week. When he began, he said, he earned less than five pounds a week.

Harry also worked on the family farm, where potatoes, barley and other crops were grown. He was still living with his parents and saved what he could before marrying Hannah, who also worked at the factory.

The couple bought a farmhouse near Hamiltonsbawn with two acres of land for £750. Harry said he had saved the money himself and secured the property after making one bid.

He then took on relief bread rounds when a local bread man was sick. The work involved early starts, late finishes and journeys through five of the six counties. Some rounds covered about 100 houses, while larger rounds brought in more money because more bread was sold.

The lettuce crop that changed everything

The turning point came when Harry bought a packet of lettuce seeds from a seed shop on the Shambles at the age of 21. The packet cost half a crown, or about 12-and-a-half pence in today’s money.

Using old boards, an oil heater, bags and a piece of glass, he raised the seedlings before transplanting them into prepared rigs. From that single packet, he produced 960 lettuces. Some had leaves “as big as your hand”.

Harry took a box of the lettuces to The Garden Stores in Armagh city, which was then run by Mrs Flanagan. He asked for four pence each, although he said he was not familiar with the going price. The sale brought him £16 — the equivalent of three weeks’ wages at the time.

That crop led Harry into growing and selling flowers and vegetables. He later began working market stalls for nursery owner Ben Simpson, whose business was on the Hamiltonsbawn Road. The more Harry sold, the more he was paid, but he handed all the market takings back to Ben at the end of each day.

The arrangement was built on trust, but Harry eventually decided to work for himself. When another stallholder who attended the Armagh and Dungannon markets retired, he applied for stallholders’ licences with both councils and was accepted.

Building a family business

Harry left Ben after working a week’s notice. He planned to buy some stock from his former employer, but Ben pointed out that there was little sense in selling against himself. Harry instead sourced extra variety from Davidson’s nursery, alongside produce from his own home place.

Several years later, he acquired his uncle’s 50-acre farm in the Tyra area off Cathedral Road. It was valued at £7,000 by Jack Cairns. Harry sold his Hamiltonsbawn home and used his market savings towards the purchase, then cleared the remaining debt within three years without paying interest.

He built glass houses on the farm, eventually covering at least an acre and a half, and expanded into flowers. He sold produce at market days in Rathfriland, Dungannon, Strabane, Armagh and Cookstown.

Harry’s son David continues the family business and looks after the glass houses installed during his father’s market years. He also remains a familiar sight at Armagh market in The Shambles.

Harry’s story is rooted in work, but he said his family was the reason for it. He spoke proudly of his children, Roberta and David, and of Hannah, whom he described as a constant worker by his side. The photographs in his home preserve the people and places behind a 40-year Armagh market legacy.