Carnally

Location

Carnally is a large townland of 811 statute acres and 2 roods which stretches south along its long axis from its northern boundary with Dorsey to its southern boundary with Glassdrumman just short of the Bog Road. Forde's Cross (3 miles from Crossmaglen) is in its northern quarter. Its eastern boundary is with Legmoylin and its western with Lurgancullenboy. The Tithe Applotment Books of 1828 records the area as 452 Irish acres 1 rood and 35 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland

Carn Eallagh, "The cairn of the cattle" ⁽¹⁾.

There is no other townland of that name in Ireland.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

CARNALLY (OSNB ii 15): A large portion of this td. is bog & uncultivated, the remainder is all inferior quality under tillage growing light crops of Oats & Potatoes. The dwellings are numerous but being very uncomfortable & filthy. The road from Dundalk to N.T.Harnilton thro' it N. & S., & a good bye road parallel to it with connecting bye roads for convenience of carriages.

It contains 811..0..0 of which 118..3..23 is uncultivated and Bog.

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	£325.86	£372.14	£320.85	£347.15	£347.00	£333.75	£330.25	£327.75	£326.50	£330.25	£386.00	£391.00	£447.00	£564.50

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There was only one such house in the townland, that of Francis Forde Esq.

Griffiths Valuation records that, with the exception of three houses and a 4 acre plot, all of the townland was owned by James Eastwood and James Jeffers.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 205 persons in 53 households; a ratio of 3.9 people per household.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 53 households, 35 contained at least one native Irish speaker - a total of 53 in all. Since theirs was the last generation to have been born into a predominently Irish speaking environment, their names are recorded here. All were born in Co. Armagh, with the exception of Lizzie Taffey and Elizabeth Quinn, both born in Co. Louth.

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	80	78	63	65	65	57	53	41	38	30	30
People	478	355	280	267	229	223	205	158	146	123	129
People per house	6.0	4.6	4.4	4.1	3.5	3.9	3.9	3.9	3.8	4.1	4.3

In the period of 110 years, the number of households reduced by almost two thirds (63%) and the population dropped by 73% - nearly threequarters. Following an initial fall between 1841 and 1861, clearly as a result of the Great Famine, the population continued a steady decline for the next 90 years.

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.