Cullyhanna Little

Cullyhanna Little is a townland of 331 statute acres 1 rood and 2 perches about four miles north of Crossmaglen. It includes 8 acres of Cullyhanna Lough It is bounded on the north by Skeriff and Cullyhanna Big, on the east by Tullynavall, on the south by Cloghoge and Sheetrim and on the west by Kiltyban. Cullyhanna Big and Cullyhanna Little were not recorded as separate townlands before the Townland Valuation of 1837. Therefore I have included the earlier census/survey information in each of the townlands.

Name of townland

Tullach Eanaigh, "The marshy hill", or Coilleach Eanaigh, "The marshy forest" ⁽¹⁾.

In the 1664 Hearth Money Rolls the name is Cullhennagh. In the 1766 Census of Creggan it is Cullyhannagh

There is no other townland of that name in Ireland.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

CULLYHANNA LITTLE (OSNB ii 23): Within a mile of this village. There is a large quantity of scattered bog in this Td. A few lain out country lanes or small roads for convenience of the inhabitants. The land is very inferior and cold(?) soil growing light indifferent crops of Oats & Potatoes. The dwellings are also very poor and filthy in appearance.
It contains 330..3..18 of which 54..3..5 is uncultivated and Bog, & 7..3..37 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	1837	1851	1864	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926	1935	1952	1957	1974
Valuation	£193.50	£215.25	£265.85	£260.35	£259.85	£258.60	£255.35	£254.60	£254.10	£267.60	£282.85	£343.85	£344.85

* See Cullyhanna Big

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There were none in the townland.

Griffiths Valuation records Thomas P. Ball as the owner of the townland.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 73 persons in 19 households; a ratio of 3.8 people per household. The households occupied a total of 42 rooms; a ratio of 2.2 rooms per household and 1.7 persons per room. Of the 19 households, five had 3 rooms, 13 had 2 rooms and one had a single room. Eight people occupied the single room accommodation.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 19 households enumerated in the Census six contained native Irish speakers - seven 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 -

• Mary Hughes, farmer, 55
• Bernard Hughes, farmer, 83
• Patrick Kelly, farmer, 70
  and his wife Rose, 58
• Michael Carragher, farmer, 53
• Peter Quinn, farmer, 75
• Laurence Quinn, farmer, 60

* The average age of the group was 65.
* Of the group, Four could read and write, three could neither read nor write.

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	39	36	36	30	28	25	19	21	18	18	14
People	210	193	189	169	140	112	73	67	59	50	43
People per house	5.4	5.4	5.3	5.6	5.0	4.5	3.8	3.2	3.3	2.8	3.1

In the period of 110 years, the number of households dropped by almost two thirds (64%) and the population by 80%. After the initial fall following the Famine years, the population fell steadily until the beginning of the 20 century after which the rate of decline slowed down.

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.