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cappagh

Location

Cappagh (Cappy) lies about a mile south of the village of Cullaville to the east of the Concession Road which links Castleblaney with Dundalk, passing briefly through this part of Northern Ireland. It is mostly on a hill and has a small lake of five acres. It is bounded on the north by Lisseraw, on the east by Moybane, on the south by Clonalig and on the west by Glassdrumonaghy and Creevekeeran. In the Tithe Applotment Books 1828 the total area is recorded as 84 acres 2 roods and 13 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of Townland

Ceapach, "A tillage plot"(1). With the exception of the Tithe Applotment Books (where it is spelled "Cappy") the name is recorded as "Cappagh" in all the official documents used here.

There are 55 townlands in Ireland called 'Cappagh', many in the same County. They are in Counties Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare (2), Cork, (3) Donegal, Down, Dublin, Galway (9), Kerry (7), Kildare, Kilkenny (5), Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Mayo (2), Monaghan, Offaly (2), Roscommon (3), Sligo (2), Tipperary (4), Tyrone, Waterford (2), Westmeath and Wicklow.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish (2)

CAPPAGH (OSNB ii 20) There is only one small marshy bye road or lane in this td. It is nearly all surrounded by stripes of bog. Chiefly under tillage in small farms producing very indifferent crops. The houses are poor and the few people living here are very uneducated and ignorant. Cappy Lough on the S.W. Side has some trout & eels in it.

It contains 172..1..8 of which 33..O..5 is uncultivated and Bog, and 5..0..20 water.

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 1828 1837 1851 1864 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1926 1935 1952 1957 1974
Valuation £64.50 £68.00 £75.00 £103.75 £104.00 £104.00 £99.25 £99.00 £92.00 £89.25 £97.25 £98.00 £119.25 £121.25

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There were none in the townland.

Griffiths Valuation records that in 1864 the townland was owned by Dominic Daly.

Census of Ireland 1901

The 1901 census enumerated 57 people in 17 households; a ratio of 3.4 persons per household. The households occupied a total of 35 rooms; a ratio of 2 rooms per household and 1.6 people per room. Of the 17 houses, 11 were thatched. One house had 4 rooms, three had 3 rooms, nine had 2 rooms and four had one room.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 17 households enumerated, 14 contained at least one native Irish speaker - a total of 22. 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 Bridget Carraher, Elizabeth Daily, Margaret Kennan, Catherine Carragher and Mary Gerarty, all born in Monaghan.

  • Mary Hughes, lacemaker, widow, 50
  • Margaret McGahan, farmer, 60
    and her sister Anne, seamstress, 70
  • Henry Carraher, farmer, 65
    and wife Bridget, 56
  • Patrick Daily, farmer, 70
    and his wife Elizabeth, 50
    and his nephew Michael Daily, farm labourer, 31
  • Mary Kelly, mother of Mary Shields, 102
  • Peter O'Hare, fowl dealer, 51
    and his wife Mary, 57
  • Francis Trainor, father of Ann Carragher, farm labourer, 96
  • Margaret Kennan, farmer, widow, 56 and her daughter Kate, lace worker, 23
  • Bridget Lennon, farmer, 66
  • Catherine Carragher, farmer, widow, 70
  • Patrick Maguire, farm labourer, 56 and his wife Ann, 65
  • Catherine Brownlow, farmer, widow, 50
  • James Gerarty, retired farm labourer, 60 and his wife Mary, 64
  • Bridget Hughes, retired farmer, 70.
* The average age of the Irish speakers was 61; oldest 102, youngest 23
*Of the group, 13 could neither read nor write, three could read only, and six could both 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 26 28 24 24 25 19 17 15 12 9 9
People 131 130 105 93 90 75 66 50 46 40 31
People per house 5.0 4.6 4.4 3.9 3.6 3.9 3.9 2.7 3.8 4.4 3.4

In the period of 110 years, the number of households decreased by almost two thirds, but the population dropped by 76% - more than threequarters. The population halved between 1841 and 1901 and halved again by 1951.

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.


1828 1864 1901 1935 1957 1974

Households &c Households Households Households Households Households
Owen Caragher Owen Boylan Catherine Brownlow Francis Carraher Francis Carraher Michael Carragher
Michael Carragher Anne Caragher Ann Carragher Michael Carraher M. Carragher Catherine Conlon
Peter Carragher Catherine Caragher Catherine Carragher Owen Carraher Michael Carragher Annie Devlin
Peter Carragher Peter Caragher Henry Carragher Patrick Carraher Catherine Conlon John Feeney
Peter Carragher Jun. Felix Cunningham Peter Carragher James Conlon John Feeney Owen Feeney
Thomas Carragher Owen Daly Thomas Carragher Peter Conlon Owen Feeney Bernard Hamill
Widow Carragher Michael Harvey Patrick Daily James Feehan Bridget Hamill Elizabeth Martin
Widow Harvessey David Hughes James Gearty James Hughes Daniel Hughes Henry Meehan
Bryan Hughes Margaret Hughes Bridget Hughes Bernard Maguire Henry Meehan  
Philip Hughes Mary Hughes Mary Hughes Henry Meegan    
Edward Keenan Owen Hughes Margaret Kennan   Land Land
Michael Keenan Patrick Hughes Bridget Lennon Land Michael Carragher Joseph Carragher
Michael Kelly Catherine Keenan Peter McEntegart Mary Ann Burnlow John Feenan Michael Carragher
Thomas Kinnan Mary Keenan Mary McGahan Thomas Hanratty Bernard Hamill Michael J. Carragher
Widow Lennon James Kelly Patrick Maguire Bridget McEntegart Mary Hanratty John Feenan
Michael Loy Owen Kelly Peter O'Hare Bernard McCoy Bridget Leavins Bernard Hamill
James McAlister Patrick Lennon Mary Shields Patrick McShane Owen Luckey Mary Hanratty
James McArdle Henry McArdle     Peter Maguire Owen Luckey
Owen McCoy Michael McArdle     Michael McCoy Peter Maguire
Stephen McCoy Owen McGahon     Michael McEnteggart Kathleen Morris
Thomas McGahan Patrick O'Hare       Michael McCoy
James O'Hare Francis Traynor       Michael McEnteggart
           
  Land        
  Owen Carragher        
  Michael McCoy        
  Michael McCoy (Cooper)        
  Owen O'Hare        

Note:
1. Hugh Macauley, "Creggan", Journal of Creggan Local History Society, No.6 1992 p.36
2. G. Jarvis (up to 1835) as compiled by A.J. Hughes in Seanchas Ard Mhacha Vol 15 No 1 1992 pp 97 - 112.
3. See Appendix 2

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Last Updated on 6 February 2006
Email: pdevlinz@btinternet.com

© Patrick Devlin 2006