CARRICKAMONE

Location Carrickamone is a small townland of 118 statute acres 3 roods and 14 perches (including three acres of water) less than half a mile north of Cullaville straddling the N53 (Concession Road) to Castleblaney. It is bounded on the north by Ballynacarry, on the east by Cullaville, on the southeast by Annaghgad and on the south and west by County Monaghan. It's boundary with Monaghan is the River Fane which flows from Lough Ross a mile to the north. Name of townland The name of the townland means either "The salmon's rocky ford" or "The rock of the bog" depending on the authority consulted. There is no other townland in Ireland with this name. 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 1970 Valuation £156-0-0 £73-15-3 £76-15-0 £82-10-0 £91-15-0 £100-15-0 £106-0-0 In the Tithe Applotment Books the total area is shown as 66 acres 3 roods and 23 perches (Irish) and the Half Yearly Rectorial Tithe as £7-16-0. The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There was only one such house in the townland; that of James Montgomery Reed. 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 that the townland had a Free School House and was owned by the representatives of John Reid. The distribution of land holdings in 1864 and 1935 are set out in the following table.   Holdings - number by acreage   Less than 10 10 to 19 20 and over Total 1864 5 4 nil 9 1935 7 3 1 11 Census of Ireland 1901 In the Census 42 persons (18 male and 24 female) were enumerated in 10 households; a ratio of 4.2 people per household. The households occupied a total of 22 rooms; a ratio of 2.2 rooms per household and 1.9 people per room. Two of the households occupied 3 rooms and the other eight had 2 rooms. Six of the houses were thatched. Native Irish Speakers Of the 10 households enumerated in the Census, 3 contained a native Irish speaker. 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. Catherine Finnegan, farmer, widow, 65 Dennis McCreesh, farmer, 82 Bridget Rooney, farmer, 55 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 16 13 12 10 12 10 9 10 7 7 7 People 80 70 68 40 45 35 41 43 37 29 25 People per house 5.0 5.4 5.7 4.0 3.8 3.5 4.6 4.3 5.3 4.1 3.6 In the period of 110 years, the number of households more than halved and the population dropped by 69%. Following an initial fall between 1841 and 1851, the position stabilised until 1881 when it plunged to half its 1841 figure. Thereafter, for the next 30 years it fluctuated about this figure before resuming its decline until 1951. Names of House and Land Holders All the valuations since 1864 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. The data are not strictly comparable since the information was gathered for different purposes and used different criteria. The table below allows the reader to compare the names and note some remarkable survivals of names. While we can not be sure that there are direct lines of descent in every case, it is more than likely that many are the same families.