Annaghmare

Annaghmare is a townland of 447 statute acres 2 roods and 17 perches (including 7 acres of water) about a mile north of Crossmaglen. It is bounded on the north by Kiltybane, on the east by Sheetrim, on the south by Creenkill and Corliss and on the west by Teer and Drumlogher. In the Tithe Applotment Books of 1828 the area is recorded as 158 acres and 38 perches. (Plantation irish measure). There is a fine example of a single-chamber Court Cairn in the townland.

Name of townland

Áth na Marbh, "The fort of the dead".⁽¹⁾

There no other townland with this name in Ireland.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

ANNAGHMARE (OSNB ii 3) A considerable part of this td. has uncultivated ground and water. A bye road runs circularly thro' it. It is rented in small portions under tillage. The dwellings are very wretched. There is a corn mill in the N. end of it well supplied with water from an adjoining Lough called Annaghmar Lough.

It contains 447..2..17 of which 199..2..6 is uncultivated and Bog, and 17..1..18 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	£106.60	£138.05	£136.75	£209.30	£208.10	£208.55	£215.80	£207.10	£195.10	£196.55	£217.00	£219.05	£256.05	£259.55

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There was only one such house in the townland -

• George McGeogh

Census of Ireland 1901

In Census 88 persons were enumerated in 23 households; a ratio of 3.8 people per household. The households occupied a total of 57 rooms; a ratio of 2.5 rooms per household and 2.5 persons per room. One household occupied 7 rooms, three occupied 4, six occupied 3, ten occupied 2 and three occupied a single room. One of the single room houses was occupied by six people.

Native Irish Speakers

Four of the 23 households enumerated in the Census contained a total of five native Irish speakers. Since theirs was the last generation to have been born into a predominently Irish speaking environment, their names are recorded here. All were born in Co. Armagh -

• Catherine Quinn, sister of Susan Quinn, cook, 56
• Bridget Quinn, sister of John Quinn, 80
  and Anne Quinn, also sister of John, 75
• Kate McNulty, sister of John McNulty, 75
• Mary Callaghan, nurse, widow, 74

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	36	34	28	28	29	26	23	24	23	21	18
People	189	172	134	137	136	117	102	97	90	59	68
People per house	5.3	5.1	4.8	4.9	4.7	4.5	4.4	4.0	3.9	2.8	3.8

In the period of 110 years, the number of households halved and the population dropped by almost two thirds (64%). After an initial fall between 1841 and 1861 due to the Great Famine the numbers steadied for the next 20 years before continuing its steady and continuing decline for the next 70 years.

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.