Drumlougher

Drumlougher is a townland of 554 statute acres and 14 perches. It lies about five miles north west of Crossmaglen. It is bounded on the north by Mullaghduff, on the east by Lisleitrim and Annaghmare, on the south by Teer and Teer Island and on the east by County Monaghan. Between 1828 and 1864 the townland seems to have gained approximately 103 statute acres. Some 48 of water might explain some of the difference. In the 1828 Tithe Applotment Books the townland is divided between Drumlogher (Ball) and Drumlogher (Eastwood), the total area being shown as 278 acres and 1 rood (Plantation Irish measure)

Name of townland

Druim-Luachra, "The rushy ridge" ⁽¹⁾.

There are five townlands called 'Drumlougher' in Ireland. They are in Counties Armagh, Cavan (2), Donegal and Longford.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

DRUMLOUGHER (OSNB ii 29): A portion of four loughs in this Td., Kiltabawn Lough, Drumlougher Lough, Lough Patrick and St. Peter's Lough; also a quantity of bog in detached portions. The soil is light tho' good in quality. It is well intersected with bye roads. The dwellings indifferent.
It contains 554..0..14 of which 43..3..12 is uncultivated and Bog, & 49..3..13 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	£274.53	£327.50	£395.00	£395.00	£395.50	£374.00	£382.50	£379.90	£371.90	£392.15	£393.65	£422.40	£478.90

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

Griffiths Valuation records the ownership of the land as shared between Thomas P. Ball and the representatives of John J. Bigger. The rest of the townland was owned by Graham Johnston.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 156 people in 35 families, an average of 4.5 people per family. The families occupied a total of 82 rooms, an average of 2.3 rooms per family. Of the 35 families, 5 lived in a single room, 20 had two rooms, five had 3 rooms and five had 3 or more rooms. Joseph Martin headed a family of nine occupying two rooms.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 35 households enumerated in the Census, three contained a total of five native Irish speakers. Since theirs was the last generation to have been born into a predominently Irish speaking environment, their names, occupations and ages are recorded here. Three were born in Co. Armagh and two, Nancy Duffy and Mary McNamee in Co. Monaghan.

• Mary McNulty, farmer, 70
• Peter Began, farmer, 55
  his son James, mason, 25
  and a visitor, Nancy Duffy, widow, 68
• Mary McNamee, boarder with Richard Mallon, 80

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	61	57	50	52	40	37	35	33	27	22	18
People	335	256	216	246	197	153	156	137	117	80	77
People per house	5.5	4.5	4.3	4.7	4.9	4.1	4.5	4.2	4.3	3.6	4.3

In the period of 110 years, the number of households fell by 70% and the population 77%. The initial fall between 1841 and 1851 (the Famine years) was almost a quarter, (24%) and, apart from a brief rally in the 1871 census the popuation continued to fall for the next 90 years.

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.

For the purposes of simplicity, I have intermingled the names in Drumlogher (Ball) and Drumlogher (Eastwood) in the 1828 column. Those residing in or having land in Drumlogher (Ball) are identified by "(B)". In this column the same individual may be named more than once as lessor of more than one plot of land.