Creenkill

Creenkill is a townland of 319 statute acres 3 roods and 26 perches in County Armagh just north of Crossmaglen and on the left of the road to Cullyhanna. It is bounded on the north by Annaghmare and Sheetrim, on the east by Carran, on the south by Rathkeelan and on the west by Loughross and Corliss. In the Tithe Applotment Books of 1828 the total area is shown as 191 acres and 22 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland

Críon choill, "the dry or rotten wood" ⁽¹⁾.

There are no other townlands in Ireland called 'Creenkill'. However, in County Kilkenny there is a 'Creenkill Beg' and a 'Creenkill Mor'.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

CREENKILL (OSNB I1 18): This td. is principally under tillage. Held in small tenaments, the land tho' light in quality grows fair crops of Oats, Potatoes and Flax. It is well supplied with roads, distant about 1/2 a mile from Crossmaglen which is its Market town. The houses or dwellings have a wretched appearance.
It contains 319..3..26 of which 3..1..16 is uncultivated and Bog, and 1..2..19 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	£130.67	£134.92	£159.00	£180.50	£180.00	£178.00	£180.75	£177.75	£176.75	£175.75	£183.25	£207.25	£248.65	£271.65

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There were no such houses in the townland.

Griffiths Valuation records the owners of the townland as Archibald and James Erskine.

Census of Ireland 1901

In Census 57 persons were enumerated in 15 households; a ratio of 3.8 people per household. The households occupied a total of 40 rooms; a ratio of 2.7 rooms per household and 1.4 people per room. One of the households had 5 rooms, two had 4 rooms, 3 had 3 rooms and nine had 2 rooms. Ten of the households (66.7%) were thatched.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 15 households enumerated in the Census three contained one native Irish speakers. 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 three were born in Co. Armagh -

• Bridget Harvey, farmer, 60
• Edward Nugent, farmer, 50
• Catherine McShane, farmer, widow, 60

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	32	27	29	26	20	18	15	11	11	11	12
People	166	120	136	124	86	63	57	49	48	52	48
People per house	5.2	4.4	4.7	4.8	4.3	3.5	3.8	4.5	4.4	4.7	4.0

In the period of 110 years, the number of households reduced by 63% and the population dropped by 71%. Following a drop of 28% between 1841 and 1851 - the Famine years, there was a brief increase in the following two decades before the onset of a continuing decline to 1911 before the population stabilised.

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.