Legmoylin

Legmoylin is a townland of 342 statute acres 2 roods and 36 perches in County Armagh about three miles east of Crossmaglen. The village of Silverbridge is at its northern tip. It is bounded on the north and northeast by Carrive (in the Forkill Parish), on the southeast by Tullydonnell O'Callaghan, on the south by Glassdrumman and on the west by Carnally.In the Tithe Applotment Books the area is shown as 200 acres 2 roods and 26 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland

Leac Maoilain, "Moylain's flat stone" Fr. Murray gives Leac Maoilinn, "The flat stone on the hill-brow" ⁽¹⁾.

There is no other townland of the same name in Ireland.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

LEGMOYLIN (OSNB ii 38): A bye road from N.T. Hamilton runs thro' this Td. Silver Bridge is in the N. end of the townland. The soil is light but well cultivated and gives tolerably fair crops. About 5 miles from N.T. Hamilton.
It contains 342..2..36 of which 12..1..13 is uncultivated and Bog.

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	£159.87	£108.25	£140.65	£138.75	£142.50	£142.25	£142.00	£153.50	£153.50	£200.00	£200.00	£286.00	£299.75

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There was one such house in the townland;

• Richard Jeffers.

Griffiths Valuation records that, apart from 28 acres belonging to James Jeffers, the Townland was owned by Walter McGeough Bond.

Census of Ireland

In the 1901 Census a total of 82 people were enumerated in 18 families, a ratio of 4.6 people per family. The position in 1911 was a total of 66 people in 16 families, a ratio of 4.1 people per family. There were ten thatched houses in 1901 and eight in 1911.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 18 households enumerated in 1901, six 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 are recorded here. All were born in Co. Armagh -

• Mary McAteer, farmer, widow, aged 90
• Michael Murphy, farmer, aged 90 and his wife Catherine, aged 70
• James McShean, farmer, widower, aged 76
• Catherine Murchan, farmer, widow, aged 60
• Owen Rafferty, farmer, aged 70, his wife Bridget, aged 68 and their daughter Lizzie McDonnell, a National School Teacher, aged 44
• Bridget Ferron, farmer, widow, aged 84

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	27	25	25	25	21	18	15	14	14	10
People	141	129	120	111	123	96	82	61	64	56	44
People per house	5.2	4.8	4.8	4.4	4.9	4.6	4.6	4.1	4.6	4.0	4.4

In the period of 110 years, the number of households reduced by 63% and the population by 69%.

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.