Marion,
Glad to have helped. I probably should have explained where my information
comes from. In the 1980s I worked alongside some UK Customs Officers in Belfast
who had, in their careers, worked along the border. They obviously hadn’t been
there in the 1920s & 1930s but some had been there in the 1950s and they had a
lot of inherited stories and knowledge about how things operated over the
years. (And things hadn’t changed all that much by the 1980s). In addition, in
The Custom House in Belfast, they had some historical instructions from 1921 on
display in the entrance lobby. These old instructions explained to staff across
Ireland what was to happen at and after partition.
In 1921, there were obviously Customs Officers stationed all over Ireland at
the various seaports, Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Londonderry etc. And most counties
also had a local office that dealt with other customs & excise matters (eg
excise duties at distilleries) and so on. Local Customs offices even helped
the public obtain the 1841 & 1851 census extracts for their pension
applications, if they wished. (The local Customs Officer would help applicants
fill out the form, and send it off to Dublin. You may occasionally see a
Customs stamp on some of those forms on the nli site. That's why). All these
staff were broadly told that if you work in what is to become the Irish Free
State (since 1.1.1949, the Republic of Ireland) then on a certain date around
1.1.1922 you will transfer en-bloc to the new Irish Customs Service. Those of
you in the 6 counties of the new Northern Ireland will remain in the UK Customs
& Excise Department.
The fledgling Irish Customs Service was short staffed in some locations and in
the early years, UK Customs Officers were seconded to work with their Irish
colleagues for a period of time, to help out, before returning to the UK. One
of the notices on display in the Belfast Custom House detailed the terms and
conditions for those cross border attachments. So in the early years of the
Border many of the Customs Officers on the “Irish” side were former colleagues
of their British counterparts. And the seconded ones would even still have been
British Customs Officers, issued temporarily with Irish Customs warrants.
Strange old world.
Elwyn
On Wednesday, 29 June 2022, 12:20:29 BST, marionshephard
<[email protected]> wrote:
Many thanks Elwyn. As always you provide a wealth of information which gives
me a much clearer picture. I was particularly interested in the 1920s and 30s
as all my relatives who would remember them have long gone. I have been reading
something called ' the Irish borderlands Project' carried out by St Mary's
University, London. It was interesting but from what I did hear from my
family it didn't always fit with what I knew. So thankyou for explaining things
so clearly for me.Regards Marion
Sent from my Galaxy
-------- Original message --------From: Elwyn Soutter via CoTyroneList
<[email protected]> Date: 28/06/2022 18:22 (GMT+00:00) To:
marionshephard via CoTyroneList <[email protected]> Cc:
Elwyn Soutter <[email protected]> Subject: [CoTyroneMailingList] Re: The
border after 1921
Marion,
I cannot speak for the Clady Bridge crossing but my family lived in Fermanagh
and routinely crossed the border into Monaghan and elsewhere all through the
1920s & 1930s and beyond. People went back and forth after 1921, just as they
did before. You would have had no difficulty attending church on the other side
of the border, and I am not sure there was ever a regular Customs presence on
Sundays anyway.
There were Customs posts on the major “approved” crossing roads but these were
generally only staffed from 8.00am to 6.00pm. There were Customs Officers on
both sides of the border, so there was an Irish Customs control as well as a
British one. Folk were always a little anxious that they’d have something
seized, or would have to pay duty. (During WW2 my mother in law used to smuggle
the odd half pound of butter from Monaghan to Fermanagh, usually concealed in
her underwear. She would travel by bus and was always anxious about being
challenged, but never was).
As far as I am aware, provided you used an approved crossing point, there were
no restrictions on vehicles or any other form of wheeled transport, unless you
were importing a vehicle permanently or were carrying commercial goods. The
usual excise duties would apply then. Passports weren’t required. There was no
passport control, only Customs.
Most of the time, after 6.00pm there was no-one on the border at all, and I
don’t think there was much coverage on Sundays. Plus there were several hundred
minor “unapproved” roads. There were no permanent controls on them. They were
supposedly only to be used by vehicles requiring local access to land, eg
farmers, and by persons on foot. In practice they were fairly widely used to
cross the border by car. There were mobile Customs patrols that occasionally
checked them but from what I heard they were few and far between. You could
theoretically have your car seized if you used an unapproved crossing but you
normally got it back if you paid a small penalty.
Commercial carriers did pay some duty when bringing goods across the border
(and they could often reclaim tax, if exporting) but otherwise there wasn’t
really a vigorous control. Most people continued to cross fairly easily as they
did before partition. Just you needed to allow a little time in case you were
stopped.
My feeling is that a horse drawn carriage in the 1920s would be unlikely to
have faced any restrictions in crossing. (I have never heard of any). As
international border crossings go it was always very “light touch.” There were
no fences or any other markers along the border, save at the approved crossing
points.
The last Customs controls on the border were abolished on 1.1.1993.
Elwyn
On Tuesday, 28 June 2022, 17:33:09 BST, marionshephard via CoTyroneList
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hello allI am wondering if there is anyone who has some local knowledge about
the border between Tyrone and Donegal at Clady. My family were split in two by
the border in 1921, although the Donegal members seemed to have managed to
continue attending their church in Tyrone ( Urney Presbyterian) and my father
born in Tyrone seems to have known his mother's family home in Donegal. Their
route across the border was via Clady Bridge over the river Finn. I have been
reading about the establishment of customs posts and how it affected people
living along the border. Does anyone know if clady Bridge was an approved
crossing or not, and how easy was it to move between the two counties there? I
know movement on foot was allowed and restrictions were introduced on motor
vehicles but what about horse drawn carriages?I would be grateful for any
information or thoughts that anyone has.Regards Marion Shephard
Sent from my Galaxy
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