LOUGHROSS

Location Loughross is a townland of 231 statute acres 1 rood and 10 perches in County Armagh about a mile and a half northwest of Crossmaglen straddling the road to Castleblaney. It is bounded on the north by Corliss and Creenkill, on the east by Rathkeekan, on the south by Creevekeeran and Lough Ross itself and on the west by Drumgoose and Tullyard. Seventeen acres of the townland is accounted for in Lough Ross. Name of townland The name of the townland means either "The pleasant lake" or "The lake of the Ross" depending on which authority you consult. There is no other townland in Ireland with that 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 1969 Valuation £105-6-8 £118-4-0 £143-0-0 £147-5-0 £152-8-0 £249-3-0 £265-18-0 In the Tithe Applotment Books of 1828 the total acerage is given as 142 acres 2 roods and 13 perches (Irish). The Half Yearly Rectorial Tithe was £5-5-4. The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There were no such houses in the townland. < 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. In the Title Applotment Books the same name may appear more than once for different parcels of land. Griffiths Valuation records the owner of the land as John Clooney. The distribution of the land holdings, by acreage, 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 12 7 2 21 1935 9 5 3 17 Census of Ireland 1901 The Census enumerated 57 people in 16 households; a ratio of 3.6 people per household. The households occupied a total of 32 rooms; a ratio of 2 rooms per household and 1.8 people per room. One of the households had 4 rooms, one had 3 rooms, eleven had 2 rooms and three occupied a single room. Native Irish Speakers Of the 16 households enumerated in the Census, 8 contained at least one native Irish speaker - 15 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 Mary Tavey, born Co. Monaghan. Kate McEnteggart, mother of Kate Grant, 70 Owen Courtney, farmer, 85 and his wife Ellen, 60 John Courtney, farmer, 70 his wife Ester, 65 and sons, Peter, farmer's son, 19 Thomas, farmer's son, 17 and Michael, scholar, 15 Bridget Courtney, farmer, 62 and his sister Mary, lace maker, 60 Michael McConville, farmer, 44 and his wife Annie, 25 Catherine McConville, retired farmer, 70 Mary Tavey, farmer, widow, 83 Kate Treanor, lodger with Sarah Hanratty, domestic servant, 59 * The average age of the Irish speakers was 57; oldest 85, youngest 15 * Of the group, nine could read and write, five could read and one could neither read nor 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 28 21 18 19 17 16 16 15 12 12 10 People 147 102 104 90 84 66 59 53 47 31 41 People per house 5.3 4.9 5.8 4.7 4.9 4.1 3.7 3.5 3.9 2.6 4.1 In the period of 110 years, the number of households dropped from seven to two and the population from 49 to five. The initial fall of 14, after the famine years, was followed by a slow steady decline until the 1920s when the position rallied briefly until after the 1937 census. 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.