Carrickamone

Carrickamone is a small townland of 118 statute acres 3 roods and 14 perches (including three acres of water) less than half a mile north of Cullaville straddling the N53 (Concession Road) to Castleblaney. It is bounded on the north by Ballynacarry, on the east by Cullaville, on the southeast by Annaghgad and on the south and west by County Monaghan. It's boundary with Monaghan is the River Fane which flows from Lough Ross a mile to the north. The Tithe Applotment Books record the area of the townland as 66 acres 3 roods and 23 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland

Carraig na Mónadh, "The rock of the bog" ⁽¹⁾

There is no other townland in Ireland with this name.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

CARRICKAMOAN (OSNB ii l4) Adjoining the village of Cullaghville. The road to Castleblaney rums thro' it about four miles from the latter. There is am old fort in the centre of the td. & a portion of bog on its N. side. The land is light quality producing light inferior crops. The County meer runs along its S, side. The dwellings are as usual in the parish, being indifferent and appearance uncomfortable.
It contains 118..3..14 of which 7..1..5 is uncultivated and Bog.

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	£156.00	£73.66	£76.75	£82.50	£80.75	£81.75	£84.75	£84.75	£84.75	£84.25	£91.65	£91.75	£100.65	£106.00

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

• James Montgomery Reed.

Griffiths Valuation records that the townland had a Free School House and was owned by the representatives of John Reid.

Census of Ireland 1901

In the Census 42 persons (18 male and 24 female) were enumerated in 10 households; a ratio of 4.2 people per household. The households occupied a total of 22 rooms; a ratio of 2.2 rooms per household and 1.9 people per room. Two of the households occupied 3 rooms and the other eight had 2 rooms. Six of the houses were thatched.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 10 households enumerated in the Census, 3 contained a native Irish speaker. 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.

• Catherine Finnegan, farmer, widow, 65
• Dennis McCreesh, farmer, 82
• Bridget Rooney, farmer, 55

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	16	13	12	10	12	10	9	10	7	7	7
People	80	70	68	40	45	35	41	43	37	29	25
People per house	5.0	5.4	5.7	4.0	3.8	3.5	4.6	4.3	5.3	4.1	3.6

In the period of 110 years, the number of households more than halved and the population dropped by 69%. Following an initial fall between 1841 and 1851, the position stabilised until 1881 when it plunged to half its 1841 figure. Thereafter, for the next 30 years it fluctuated about this figure before resuming its decline until 1951.

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 vauation records or population censuses were compiled.