MONOG

Location Monog is a townland of 224 statute acres 2 roods and 13 perches lying immediately east of Crossmaglen. St Patricks Church, Crossmaglen, erected in 1835, lies in the townland. It is bounded on the north and east by Urcher and on the south by Sheiland. Name of townland The name of the townland means "The soft bog". There is no other townland of that name in Ireland. Sources of Information Information about the townland was extracted from the following sources - Census of Creggan 1766 Tithe Applotment Books-Creggan Parish-1828 Townland Valuation 1837 Griffiths Valuation 1864 Census of Ireland 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1926, 1937, 1951 First Northern Ireland General Revaluation 1935 Second Revaluation 1957 Valuation Annual Rateable Valuation of Townland Year 1828 1837 1851 1864 1935 1957 1972 Valuation £110-3-4 £151-17-6 £150-10-0 £242-13-0 £316-3-0 £470-8-0 £644-8-0 In the Tithe Applotment Books 1828 the total area is recorded as 136 acres and 33 perches (Irish). The Half Yearly Rectorial Tithe was £5-10-2. The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There were three such house in the townland - George Harvey Rev. M. Lennon James McKenna The Third Revaluation (1975) did not identify property by townlands. Instead, it used the new Post Office system of road names and postcodes. It can therefore not be used to continue this series of household, land and property censuses. To get as close as possible to the present, the position in the townland at the date of the last recorded revision of the Second Revaluation is presented. Griffiths Valuation records the owner of the land, with the exception of a few acres and houses, as Thomas P. Ball. The distribution of land holdings in 1864 and 1935 is set out in the following table.   Holdings - number by acreage   Less than 10 10 to 19 20 and over Total 1864 26 3 3 32 1935 20 6 2 28 The 1957 land holdings were not counted. Census of Ireland 1901 The Census enumerated 49 persons in 14 households; a ratio of 3.5 people per household. The households ocupied a total of 50 rooms; a ratio of 3.8 rooms per household and 1 person per room. Three of the households (with 9 people) occupied 6 or more rooms, one (with 6 people) occupied 4 rooms, three (with 16 people) occupied 3 rooms and seven (with 18 people), occupied 2 rooms. Native Irish Speakers Of the 49 households enumerated in the Census, four contained at least one native Irish speaker - nine in all. 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. Mary McCoy, seamstress, 48 Catherine Mcgeeney, seamstress, 54 Thomas McNulty, farmer, 57 his wife Catherine, housekeeper, 59 sons Michael, farm worker, 23 Joseph, farem worker, 17 and daughter, scholar, 13 John Loy, farmer, 67 and his sister-in-law, Margaret Byrne, farmer, 62 * The average age of the Irish speakers was 44; oldest 67, youngest 13. * All of the group one could read and write. 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 41 32 22 21 15 13 14 12 17 21 17 People 200 134 81 76 65 57 49 44 47 65 66 People per house 4.9 4.2 3.7 3.6 4.3 4.4 3.5 3.7 2.8 3.1 3.9 In the period of 110 years, the number of households dropped by 59% and the population by 67%. The initial fall of 33% between 1841 and 1851 - the famine years, was followed by a rapid decline in the following ten years, leaving but 40% of the original population. There followed a continuing decline until the 1911 Census after which when the position improved slightly for the next 40 years. Names of House and Land Holders All the Valuations since Griffiths identified those with houses in the townland and those who while living elsewhere leased or owned land there. The Census of Ireland enumerated only households in the townland. The following table uses this approach. Although the data is not strictly comparable since the information was gathered for different purposes and used varying criteria, it provides a comparison of the names listed in the townland at the different periods. While we can not discern the direct lines of descent it is clear that many are from the same families.