Clarnagh

Clarnagh measures 357 statute acres 2 roods and 8 perches. It lies about three miles south east of Crossmaglen. It is bounded on the north by Drummuck and Liscalgat, on the east by Coolderry, on the south by Sheelagh and Courtbane (both in Co Louth) and on the west by Drummuckavall. The Tithe Applotment Books of 1828 record the area of the townland as 202 acres 3 roods and 20 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of Townland

Clár an Átha, "The level place of the ford" ⁽¹⁾

There is no other townland in Ireland with this name.

Ordnanace Survey Name Book ⁽²⁾

CLARANAGH (OSNB ii 6) This is high situation and light soil producing inferior crops of oats, potatoes and flax. There is a large portion of Bog or uncultivated ground here. Has a few straggling ... laid out level to rum here and there, this is for the convenience of carriage to and fro. The dwellings are numerous but poor in the extreme. Nearly all under tillage.
It contains 357..3..27 of which 5 1..2..36 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	£125.86	£160.04	£168.75	£217.80	£216.05	£214.05	£203.90	£202.90	£201.50	£198.25	£223.40	£221.65	£244.15	£255.65

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

Griffiths Valuation records that, with the exception of six houses, the owner of the townland was Rev. Patrick McKeown.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 133 persons in 33 households, a ratio of 4 people per household. The total number of rooms occupied by the households was 72; a ratio of 2.2 rooms per household and 1.8 persons per room. Five of the households had 4 or more rooms, one had 3 rooms, 22 had two rooms and five had a single room.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 33 households enumerated in the Census, 12 contained at least one native Irish speaker - 18 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.

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	47	47	42	44	42	39	33	34	30	27	25
People	354	232	186	205	175	149	133	116	105	87	89
People per house	7.5	4.9	4.4	4.7	4.2	3.8	4.0	3.4	3.5	3.2	3.6

In the period of 110 years, the number of households dropped by 47% and the population by 75%. Between 1841 and 1951 (the Famine years) the population reduced by a catastrophic 34% and was followed by a long decline right into the middle of the twentieth century.

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.