Cregganduff

Cregganduff is a townland of 574 statute acres 3 roods and 38 perches in County Armagh about two miles east of Crossmaglen on the road to Newry. It is bounded on the north by Freeduff and Tullynavall, on the east by Lurgancullenboy, on the south by Cregganbane and on the west by Cloghoge. In the Tithe Applotment Books of 1828 the total area of the townland is recorded as 320 acres 3 roods and 32 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

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 DUFF (OSNB ii 16): There are several portions of bog in this td.. the remainder is under tillage, but the soil is of inferior quality growing light crops. There are several connecting bye roads in this Td. for the convenience of the inhabitants who are very numerous here but their dwellings are rather wretched. The S.W. corner comes down to the village of Creggan.
It contains 574..3..78 of which 59..1..11 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	£221.67	£262.12	£296.00	£407.90	£407.75	£407.75	£366.00	£364.75	£362.75	£363.00	£398.75	£409.25	£609.50	£867.50

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

• Francis Devlin.

Griffiths Valuation records the owner of most of the townland as John J. Biggar with the exception of 16 acres belonging to Patrick Murphy. A National School House and a forge (Patrick Murphy) is recorded.

Also at the time of the Valuation the Dundalk Silver, Lead and Copper Mining Company had a mine in the townland. It did not prosper and was closed without making a profit.

Census of Ireland 1901 - Native Irish Speakers

Of the 27 households enumerated, 17 contained at least one native Irish speaker - a total of 23 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	72	59	60	55	52	48	38	33	31	32	30
People	393	252	291	266	256	199	156	129	129	115	93
People per house	5.5	4.3	4.9	4.8	4.9	4.1	4.1	3.9	4.2	3.6	3.1

In the period of 110 years, the number of households more than halved halved but the population dropped by 76% - more than threequarters. There was a reduction of 141 people (35%) between 1841 and 1851, clearly as a result of the Great Famine. The decline continued for the next century. As can be seen from the House and Landholder lists, the number of houses in the townland was recovering in the second half 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.