urcher

Urcher is a townland of 497 statute acres 1 rood and 10 perches lying to the east of Crossmaglen, straddling the Newry Road. It is bounded on the north by Cloghoge, on the east by Cregganduff, Cregganbane and Liscalgat, on the south by Drummuck and on the west by Sheiland, Monog and Carran. In the 1828 Tithe Applotment Books the total area is shown as 265 acres and 3 roods (Plantation Irish measure)

Name of townland

Urcar, "A cast or throw". According to Hugh Macauley, writing in the 1992 Journal of the Creggan Local History Society, the likely explanation of the name is that there was a church between Crossmaglen and Creggan at Killyloughran and the "cast" referred to the funeral practice of mourners casting a stone to form a cairn on or near the grave, or alternatively that the mourners built their cairn at a point from which they first caught sight of Creggan graveyard.⁽¹⁾

There are three townlands called 'Urcher' in Ireland; in Counties Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

URCHER (OSNB i 15): It is in the west of the village of Creggan, and principally under grazing. There is a considerable portion uncultivated and bog. In detached pieces a road to Crossmaglen runs thro' the N. of this td. from which it is distant about 1/2 a mile and which is its market town.
It contains 494..1..27 of which 55..2..11 is uncultivated and Bog.

Griffths Valuation (1864) records the owner of the townland, with the exception of four houses, as Thomas P. Ball. Of the 28 landholdings recorded, ten were of less than ten acres, 10 were between ten and 20 acres and eight were of 20 or more acres.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 62 people in 17 households; a ratio of 3.6 people per household. The households ocupied a total of 54 rooms; a ratio of 3.2 rooms per household and 1.1 people per room. One household occupied more than 4 rooms, four occupied 4 rooms, six occupied 3 rooms, five occupied 2 rooms and one household had but a single room. Eight (40%) of the houses were thatched.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 17 households enumerated in the Census, five contained at least one native Irish speaker - 8 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 with the exception of Anne Conlon, born in Co. Monaghan and James Duffy, born in Co. Louth.

• Mary Nugent, sister of Bridget Nugent, 56
• Owen Morris, farmer, 75
  his wife Anne, 80
  their daughter, Katie, farmer's daughter, 48
  and son Patrick, farmer's son, 38
• Anne Conlon, wife of Peter, seamstress, 50
• James Duffy, farm labourer, 62
• Bridget Donnelly, mother-in-law of Thomas Corr, 68

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.

In the period of 110 years, the number of households more than halved (58%) and the population dropped by 68%. The largest drop (57%) was in the 40 years after 1841, reflecting the continuing effects of the Great Famine and lack of rural employment opportunities.

Family Connections

The O'Reilly Family's grandfather (Joseph A.) who was born in Co. Galway, moved here from Moybane at the beginning of the 20th century. The Joseph O'Reilly listed in 1957 is him.

Names of House and Land Holders

All the valuations since Griffiths distinguish between those with houses in the townland and those, living elsewhere, who 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, the details provide a comparison of the names of house and land holders who were 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.