Ballyduff

By Guy Scott

Manvers Township lies between Victoria County and Lake Ontario. It was originally part of old Durham County, but in the amalgamations of the 1970s, it voted to join Victoria County (now City of Kawartha Lakes). The township was settled in the 1830s and was primarily a farming settlement. The only rivers of note were the headwaters of the Pigeon River and Fleetwood Creek. The earliest settlers trickled in from the Lake Ontario front or from Cavan Township to the east. A series of cross-roads hamlets sprang up along the early pioneer trails and roads. These hamlets consisted of a school, maybe a church, a blacksmith and a general store. As the transport grid in Manvers changed, many of these hamlets were bypassed and dwindled into ghost town status. The present transportation network consists of two railway lines and two major highways (Highway #7 running east-west and Highway #35 running north-south.

Located in the (almost) dead centre of the township, Ballyduff was among the earliest settlements, with its first pioneers arriving in 1820. The nearest mill and stores were at Millbrook, which was accessed by a blazed trail. When it came time for a post office, the name Harrisville was suggested by the local tavern owner a Mr. Harrison. But the rest of the settlers rebelled and chose Ballyduff after a town in Ireland where many of them originated. In fact, most of the early settlers were Ulster Irish. When Manvers Township Council was organized in 1850, Ballyduff was designated a site for the township council meetings along with Lifford, four concessions north. The cross roads community contained a school (SS #2 Manvers), several hotels, a general store and two churches (Methodist and Presbyterian). Ballyduff was located on the main north-south road (now Highway #35) but lost its prominence to Pontypool (also on this road, but three concessions to the south). When Pontypool became a station on the CPR railway in 1855 Ballyduff drifted into obscurity.