Milford, County Armagh
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Milford is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, one mile from Armagh city. It grew up around the linen mill owned by the McCrum family in the 19th century. It had a population of 301 in the 2001 Census. It is situated in the Armagh City and District Council area.
Milford takes its name from a large corn mill, the remains of which stand on Maggy’s Burn at the bottom of the steep main street of the village. The ford crossed the stream. Milford is an immaculately preserved example of a model Plantation of Ulster village. Linen was the industry here and the Mill is still standing.
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[edit] The Home of the Penalty Kick
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In 1890, Mr. William McCrum from Milford, Co. Armagh, N. Ireland gave football the penalty kick, arguably world sports' most dramatic rule.
McCrum's idea for penalising foul play around goalmouths rocked the Victorian establishment that ran football. The English FA regarded it as a contradiction in terms: only gentlemen played soccer and gentlemen didn't cheat, while the press angrily condemned the "Irishman's motion" as a "death sentence" for the game.
Although an Irish league founder and one of their key administrators, the young goalkeeper got little or no credit and the penalty rule passed into history as a happy accident. But then who could have foretold just how important the kick would become, going on to decide the outcome of some of the world's greatest cup competitions.
[edit] History
It was the linen industry of the 19th century, which resulted in Milford growing up around the mill built on the River Callan by William McCrum in 1808.
A decline in the overall importance of the linen industry in the post war years led to economic stagnation of this once thriving community, where the mill was the prinicpal source of local employment. Since the mill closed in the 1980s, Milford rapidly became a forgotten village, the tall factory chimney keeping a mourneful watch over a valley of better days.
Finally it was time for it to go as well, demolished with the factory site in 2001 to make way for a new private housing development.
However, the phenomenal interest created by the penalty kick story has given the village a timely and invigorating lease of life. As the Home of the Penalty Kick becomes home to more and more new families, Milford will reverberate once more to the sounds of its prosperous past.
[edit] Sport
William McCrum who inherited the village from his father also founded Milford Cricket Club and Milford Football Club for the benefit of himself and his workers. His lasting legacy was the invention of the penalty kick which was adopted by the Irish Football Association at its 1889 meeting on McCrum's proposal and introduced throughout football in 1890.
Until recent years the village of Milford consisted of three streets of terraced houses but in modern times several new housing estates have been built. In the summer of 2005 another estate is being built on one of a number of fields which is locally believed to have been the site of the original football pitch where Mr McCrum had some of his workforce practice the original penalty kicks. The developer has said that he would be sympathetic to the idea of a plaque recording the link with the penalty kick.
The village has a strong cricketing pedigree.
The Village also has a strong Hurling Pedigree.
[edit] Transport
- Milford railway station opened on 1 October 1909 and finally closed on 1 February 1932.[1]
[edit] Education
- Aghavilly Primary School
[edit] References
- ^ Milford station. Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved on 2007-11-04.
== See also
