Glassdrumman

Glassdrumman (known locally as "Glassdrummond") is one of the largest townlands in South Armagh (1136 statute acres). In the Tithe Applotment Books the total area is given as 660 acres and 11 perches (Plantation Irish measure). It is about three and a half miles from Crossmaglen on the Creggan-Ballsmill road. It is bounded on the north by Lurgancullenboy, Carnally and Legmoylin, on the east by Tullydonnell O'Callaghan, Tullydonnell Gage and Ballynaclosha, on the south by County Louth and on the west by Mounthill. It has a small lake and an area of bogland. On a rocky outcrop above the lake was the castle of the O'Neills, which guarded the flat approches from County Louth into the hilly and wooded Fews. The castle was sacked in 1642 and finally demolished about 1700. Not a trace remains as its stones were used by one "Patchey" Murphy to "build a house" and "make a piece of road", according to a local tradition in the early 20th century recorded by L.P.Murray in his "History of the Parish of Creggan in the 17th and 18th Centuries". There is a Patrick Murphy recorded in the 1766 Cenus - see below. The townland had a National School and Catholic Chapel. The old chapel (built in the 1770s) was replaced by a new one in 1932 using stones from Ravensdale House, Co. Louth and rebuilding its fine Italian Tower as the church bell tower. The Primary School remains but on a different site.

Name of townland

Glas-Droman, "The green ridge" ⁽¹⁾.

There are 17 townlands called 'Glasdrumman' in Ireland. They are in Counties Armagh (2), Cavan (3), Down (3), Fermanagh (4), Leitrim (3), Monaghan (1) and Roscommon (1).

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

GLASDRUMANN (OSNB ii 34): A large portion of this td. is bog, uncultivated ground and water. The road from Balls Mill to Creggan Village runs thro' it. The village called Balls-Mill is partly in the S.E. corner of this td. There is a good R.C. Chapel in the N.W. The soil ...
It contains 1137..3..9 of which 53..3..36 is uncultivated and Bog, & 19.0.35 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	£564.06	£453.35	£558.90	£575.75	£565.50	£563.25	£565.25	£557.00	£566.00	£619.75	£627.00	£828.50	£920.25

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There were four such houses in the townland -

• Widow Devitt
• Francis Forde Esq.
• James Johnston
• Laurence McArdle

Sources of Information

Griffiths Valuation records that apart from 57 acres owned by James Jeffers, the townland was owned by John J. Bigger and James Eastwood.

Griffiths also records a Police Barracks, office and garden in the townland.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 254 persons in 62 households; a ratio of 4.1 people per household. The households occupied a total of 165 rooms; a ratio of 2.7 rooms per household, and 1.5 persons per room. Of the 62 housholds enumerated, nine had a single room, 32 had two, 10 had three and 11 had 4 or more.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 62 households, 33 contained at least one native Irish speaker - a total of 50 in all. Since theirs was the last generation to have been born into a substantial Irish speaking environment, their names, occupations and ages are recorded here. All were born in Co. Armagh, with the exception of Patrick Kerley and Patrick Lynch, both born in Co. Louth.

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	103	83	80	83	69	68	62	56	51	54	45
People	549	387	337	355	325	324	260	233	198	155	159
People per house	5.3	4.7	4.2	4.3	4.7	4.8	4.2	4.2	3.9	2.9	3.5

In the period of 110 years, the number of households more than halved (56%) but the population dropped by 71%, almost three quarters. The reduction of 162, (30%) in the 10 years to 1851 directly reflects the effects of the Great Famine.

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.