Drummuckavall

Drummuckavall (288 acres 3 roods 36 perches) as its name implies (McCowells ridge), occupies a large drumlin on the Co Louth border two miles south of Crossmaglen. It is bounded on the north by Sheiland, on the east by Drummuck and Clarnagh, on the south by Courtbane in County Louth and on the west by Moybane. In the Tithe Applotment Books - 1828 - the area is shown as 158 acres 1 rood 39 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland

Druim Mhic Cathmhaiol, "McConville's ridge or McCawell's ridge".

In 1664 it the townland was "Drumwalle"; in 1766 "Drumackevall"; since then "Drummuckavall". There is no other townland of that name in Ireland.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

DRUMMUCVKAVALL (OSNB ii 17): There is a lake on the W. of this td. called Drummaghavawl Lake & considerable patches of bog & uncultivated land. The road from Dundalk to Crossmaglen runs thro' its S.W. side. Distant about 11/2 miles from Crossmaglen. The land is high and of very inferior quality producing indifferent crops. There is a small fort centered in the td.
It contains 286..3..1 of which 37..0..30 is uncultivated and Bog, & 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	1837	1851	1864	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926	1935	1952	1957	1974
Valuation	£139.69	£160.00	£183.00	£182.50	£181.50	£181.10	£174.85	£174.85	£174.35	£189.60	£188.60	£229.10	£249.10

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

Rev LP Murray, in his "History of the Parish of Creggan in the 17th and 18th Centuries" in The Journal of the County Louth Archaelogical Society (Vol VIII 1934 No 2) comments -

"A very interesting name is Brian Sonna of Drummackewall - represented today by numerous families who call themselves Lucky."

Griffiths Valuation records that the land was owned by Thomas P. Ball.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 94 people in 20 households, a ratio of 4.7 people per household. The households occupied a total of 54 rooms; a ratio of 2.7 rooms per household and 1.7 people per room. Seven of the households had 2 rooms, nine had 3 rooms and four had 4 rooms. 17 of the houses were thatched.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 20 households enumerated in the Census, 7 contained at least one native Irish speaker - 11 in all. Since theirs was the last generation to have been born into a substantially Irish speaking environment, their names, occupations and ages are recorded here. All were born in Co. Armagh with the exception of Margaret Kirk, born Co. Louth and Anne Byrne, born Co. Monaghan.

• Mary Luckie, farmer, widow, 43 and her brother Edward Morris, boarder maintained by interest, 33
• John Luckie, farmer, 56
  and his wife Anne, 58
• Mary Devlin, sister of Patrick Devlin, widow, 54
• Thomas Daly, farmer, 68
  and his daughter Annie, housekeeper, 28
• Margaret Kirk, farmer, widow, 48
  and her brother-in-law John Kirk, farm servant, 55
• Owen McEneny, farmer, 56
• Anne Byrne, housekeeper, widow, 79

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	29	30	28	28	25	24	20	19	19	17	14
People	165	149	139	116	115	111	94	79	81	57	47
People per house	5.7	5.0	5.0	4.1	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.2	4.3	3.4	3.4

In the period of 110 years, the number of households halved but the population dropped by 72% - almost threequarters. The largest drop (43%) was in the 60 years from 1841 to 1901. The decline continued through the first half of the 20th 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.