Drumboy

Drumboy is a townland of 273 statute acres 3 roods and 1 perch in County Armagh on the border (the River Fane) with Co Monaghan not far from the village of Cullaville. It is bounded on the north by Clonalig, on the east, south and southwest by Co Monaghan and on the northwest by Annaghgad. In the Tithe Applotment Books of 1828 the total area is shown as 130 acres 3 roods and 17 perches (Plantation Irish measure)

Name of Townland

Druim-Buí, "The yellow ridge" ⁽¹⁾.

Until 1864 official records show slightly different spelling - 1664 (Drombee); 1766 and 1828 (Drumbee); 1864 onwards (Drumboy). It is still known locally as Drumbee.

There are five townlands called 'Drumboy' in Ireland. They are in Counties Armagh (1), Donegal (2), Fermanagh and Leitrim.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

DRUMBOY (OSNB ii 30): A large portion of bog & uncultivated ground, besides) a quantity of water. There are only very narrow bridal lanes thro' it. The County meer runs along its S.W. side. The land is very inferior in quality producing miserable crops. The dwellings very poor. A large fort with [text breaks off].
It contains 273..3..1 of which 82..0..36 is uncultivated and Bog, & 6..2..0 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	£111.45	£119.25	£146.40	£146.40	£144.90	£142.20	£141.20	£141.45	£140.95	£153.90	£153.90	£167.15	£216.65

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

Griffiths Valuation records Denis Kelly as the owner of the townland.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 58 people in 15 households; a ratio of 3.9 persons per household. The households occupied a total of 30 rooms; a ratio of two rooms per household and 1.9 people per room. Of the 15 houses, 10 were thatched. One house had 3 rooms, 13 had 2 rooms and one had one room. One family of five people occupied the single room dwelling and there was a family of 11 people in a two-roomed house.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 15 households enumerated in the Census, five contained at least one native Irish speaker. 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 with the exception of Mary McKenna, born in Co. Monaghan

• Mary Harvey, mother of Patrick Harvey, widow, 70
• Hugh Campbell, farmer, 82
• Phillip Kelly, stonemason and farmer, 60
• Edward McKenna, farmer, 69
  and his wife Mary, 60
• Ann Gartland, farmer, widow, 60

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	27	23	22	24	17	16	15	14	12	13	12
People	151	114	107	113	98	76	69	59	40	42	57
People per house	5.6	5.0	4.9	4.7	5.8	4.8	4.6	4.2	3.3	3.2	4.8

In the period of 110 years, the number of households more than halved (55%) and the population dropped by 62% - almost two thirds. The largest drop (54%) was in the second half of the nineteenth 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.