Annaghgad

Annaghgad is a townland of 267 statute acres 3 roods and 28 perches (including 5 acres of water) close to the village of Cullaville. It is bounded on the north by Glassdrummanaghy, on the east by Clonalig and Drumboy and on the west by the Fane River which is the border with County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. In the Tithe Applotment Books of 1828 the total acerage is given as 135 acres and 1 rood (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland

Aonach na nGadaí, "The robbers fair". The couplet "From Carrickmacross to Crossmaglen there are more rogues than honest men." is said to derive from here. A more likely derivation is Eanach na nGad, "The marsh of the osiers". ⁽¹⁾

It is the only townland of that name in Ireland.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

ANNAGHGAD (OSBN ii 2): This is perhaps the most miserable townland in the parish. The soil is light and inferior. The dwellings are mere huts. The Cully river runs along its W. side on which are two eel weirs. There is a considerable portion of bog here and an old fort in the S.W. end. There are only two bad connecting lanes here for the convenience of its inhabitants.

It contains 267..3..28 of which ... is uncultivated and Bog, and 2..0..0 water.

Valuation

Although the decimalisation of the currency was introduced only in 1971, all of the valuations in the following table have been converted from £sd for convenience.

Year	1828	1837	1851	1864	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926	1935	1952	1957	1974
Valuation	£97.00	£121.73	£135.00	£154.00	£155.00	£155.00	£153.25	£152.25	£152.00	£152.50	£174.25	£172.25	£183.50	£180.00

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There were no such houses in the townland.

Griffiths Valuation records the townland owner as Denis Kelly.

Census of Ireland 1901

The 1901 Census of Ireland enumerated 101 persons in 26 households; a ratio of 3.9 people per household. The households ocupied a total of 57 rooms; a ratio of 2.2 rooms per household and 1.8 persons per room. Six of the households occupied 3 rooms, 19 occupied 2 rooms and one occupied a single room.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 26 households enumerated in the Census eight contained one native Irish speaker - 12 in all. Since theirs was the last generation to have been born into a predominently Irish speaking environment, their names, occupations and ages are recorded here. All were born in Co. Armagh with the exception of Patrick Farrell, born Co. Monaghan

* The average age of the group was 59; oldest 70, youngest 28
* Two of the group could read and write, one could neither read nor write.

Population Decline

The following table sets out the number of houses and population enumerated in the townland in each of the 11 Censuses held between 1841 and 1951.

	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926	1937	1951
Houses	32	28	32	30	32	28	26	21	20	20	17
People	162	137	137	125	144	114	101	76	71	60	53
People per house	5.1	4.9	4.3	4.2	4.5	4.1	3.9	3.6	3.6	3.0	3.1

In the period of 110 years, the number of households almost halved (47%) and the population dropped by two thirds (67%). After an initial fall in the 1840s due to the Great famine the numbers steadied up to 1891. However, the next 60 years saw a steady and continuing decline.

Names of House and Land Holders ⁽³⁾

The following table sets of the names of those who owned or rented houses and land on the townland at the time the valuation records or population censuses were compiled. The 1935 Revaluation identified bog as a separate category. Since the map references for the bog are the same in 1935 and 1957 the information has been extrapolated to the Second Revision.