Cregganbane

Cregganbane Glebe is a townland of just over 584 statute acres in County Armagh about a mile and a half east of Crossmaglen on the road to Newry. The Tithe Applotment Books show the area to be 215 acres and 1 rood (Plantation Irish measure). It is bounded on the north by Cregganduff, on the east by Lurgancullenboy, on the south by Cornonagh and Drumbally and on the west by Urcher. The townland contains Creggan Church and Graveyard. Creggan Bridge, above the only waterfall on the Creggan river, stands at the head of an area of woodlands, known locally as "The Lawns", through which the river runs, and now known as "Poets Glen". The former manse has been demolished. The Church stands on the edge of a rocky cliff above the river and is the resting place, in a recently discovered vault, of the last of the O'Neill clan who dominated the Fews between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. The graveyard contains memorials to two of the Gaelic Poets, Patrick Mac aLiondan and Art Mac Cooey, as well as the grave of the famous poet and outlaw Seamus Mor McMurphy. There is a very active local history society; The Creggan Local History Society.

Name of Townland

John Donaldson says that "This townland, from which the parish of Creggan takes its name, is now divided into two - the one half being laid off for the glebe. The Rector's division became better cultivated than the rest of the townland, and received the name of Creggan-ban, or white Creggan; but the remaining part, now set to tenents, is equally as rocky and uncultivable as Cregganduff, or Black Creggan, the name by which the other half of the townland is distinguished." ⁽¹⁾

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

CREGGAN BANE GLEBE (OSNB ii 12): This td. is the Glebe of the Parish. The village of Creggan. Church, Parsonage and school are all in it. It is the handsomest spot in the parish beside the village of Creggan.. A rapid river runs thro' a glen by the church, its banks are well wooded .... ornamental clumps giving it a very gay appearance.
It contains 586..2..9 of which 61..3..22 is uncultivated and bog, and 1..0..32 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	£159.62	£264.58	£281.50	£407.50	390.50	371.75	£377.75	£374.75	£372.25	£366.00	£403.00	£413.75	£561.50	£586.00

* Excludes value of Glebe lands.

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

• Rev. Charles Atkinson
  
• Jerry Jeffers [ED: Presumably 'Jeremiah' - see Tithe Applotment Books below.]
  
• James McPartland

Griffiths Valuation records the owner of the townland as Rev. William Barlow, with the exception of 41^1/2 acres belonging to Rev. Alex. H. Synge and 8^1/2 owned by Peter Wade.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 206 people in 48 households; a ratio of 4.3 people per household. The households occupied a total of 144 rooms; a ratio of 3 rooms per household and 0.7 people per room. One household occupied 18 rooms, one occupied 6 rooms, two occupied 5 rooms, eight occupied 4 rooms, nine occupied 3 rooms, 24 occupied 2 rooms and three occupied one room. Nineteen of the houses were thatched.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 48 households enumerated, 12 contained at least one native Irish speaker - a total of 16 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	80	72	63	60	57	51	48	42	36	36	34
People	419	382	317	296	276	223	202	169	150	121	111
People per house	5.2	5.3	5.0	4.9	4.8	4.4	4.2	4.0	4.2	3.4	3.3

In the period of 110 years, the number of households redduced by 58% while the population dropped by 73.5% - almost threequarters. The population halved between 1841 and 1901 and halved again by 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 valuation records or population censuses were compiled.