Clarbane

Clarbane is a small townland of 70 statute acres and 4 perches, about two and a half miles northwest of Crossmaglen on the Castleblaney Road. It is bounded on the west and north by Co Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland (one of the boundaries being the River Fane which flows into Lough Ross a few hundred yards to the south), on the east by Tullyard and on the south by Drumgose. The 1828 Tithe Applotment Books record the area of the townland as 48 acres 1 rood and 36 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland

Clár Bán, "The white level place, or the waste (or empty) level place" ⁽¹⁾. Apart from the Hearth Money Rolls, where it is called Clare, it has always been called Clarbane.

There is no other townland of that name in Ireland.

Ordnanace Survey Name Book ⁽²⁾

CLARBAWN (OSNB) A small townland 10 chains N. of Lough-Ross. The road from Crossmaglen to Castleblaney runs exactly central E and W thro' it about 3 miles from Castleblaney and 2 from Crossmaglen. The land is somewhat better than the adjoining td. [It is] all under tillage. There are a few dwellings on the road of a despicable appearance.
It contains 79..0..4.

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	£40.56	£38.64	£62.50	£63.00	£62.75	£59.75	£57.75	£53.50	£61.25	£61.25	£62.50	£62.50	£68.75	£68.75

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 being owned by James McWatty.

Census of Ireland 1901

In Census 19 persons (6 male and 13 female) were enumerated in 4 households; a ratio of 4.8 people per household.

No native Irish speakers were identified in the townland.

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	8	9	9	7	7	6	4	4	4	4	5
People	50	45	40	34	34	21	19	24	15	10	19
People per house	6.3	5.0	4.4	4.9	4.9	3.5	4.8	6.0	3.8	2.5	3.8

In the period of 110 years, the population dropped by almost two thirds - 65%.

Names of House and Landholders ⁽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.