Cullyhanna Big

Cullyhanna Big is a townland of 656 statute acres and 30 perches about four miles north of Crossmaglen. It contains the village of Cullyhanna. It is bounded on the north and northeast by Tullyvallen, on the southeast by Tullynavall, on the south by Cullyhanna Little and on the west by Skeriff. Cullyhanna Big and Cullyhanna Little were not recorded as separate townlands before the Griffiths Valuation. Therefore I have included the earlier census/survey information in each of the townlands. In the Tithe Applotment Books of 1828, which records the single Cullyhanna, the total area is given as 543 acres 1 rood and 16 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland

Tullach Eanaigh, "The marshy hill", or Coilleach Eanaigh, "The marshy forest" ⁽¹⁾.

In the 1664 Hearth Money Rolls the name is Cullhennagh. In the 1766 Census of Creggan it is Cullyhannagh

There is no other townland of that name in Ireland.

Ordnanace Survey Name Books: Creggan Parish ⁽²⁾

CULLYHANNA BIG (OSNB ii 22): There is a village of the same name in the East of this td., part of which is also in the adjoining tds. of Freeduff and Tullynavawl. There is a Fair held here, and markets on Sundays attended by the country folk for amusement. There is a R.C. Chapel in the centre of the village. Altogether it has a poor appearance buried in the midst of bogs and bare hills. About 4 miles from N.T.Hamilton.
It contains 656..2..14 of which 81..3..32 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	£485.25	£376.76	£403.50	£550.50	£524.50	£527.75	£536.25	£531.10	£527.10	£517.10	£582.85	£681.75	£986.35	£1,071.60

The 1837 Townland Valuation recorded only houses worth £5 or more a year. There were six such houses in the townland -

• John Donnelly
  
• William Hueston
  
• Felix O'Hanlon
  
• Peter O'Hanlon
  
• John Quinn
  
• James Spear

Griffiths Valuation records Thomas P. Ball as the owner of the townland. It also records a National School House, a Police Barracks, a RC Chapel and a forge (Neal McGeeny). In 1935 there is no mention of the forge but there is a quarry (James O'Hare) and a Motor House (Patrick McMahon).

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 191 persons in 44 households; a ratio of 4.3 people per household. The households occupied a total of 131 rooms; a ratio of 3 rooms per family, and 1.5 people per room. Twelve of the households had 4 or more rooms, seven had 3 rooms, 21 had 2 rooms and four had a single room. One of these single room household enumerated eight persons and one enumerated six.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 44 households enumerated in the Census three contained one native Irish speaker each. 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 -

• Francis Lennon, farmer, 83
• Patrick Hughes, farmer, 62
• Francis McGinn, farmer and grocer, 42

* Two of the group could read and write, one could neither read nor write.

Note: Francis Lennon was the father of Paddy Lennon who fought with the Boers in South Africa.⁽³⁾

Population

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. In 1841 and 1851 the "Town of Cullyhanna" was separately enumerated, combining with the townland thereafter. For the purposes of this table town and townland have been combined in the two early censuses.

	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926	1937	1951
Houses	71	60	52	48	54	49	45	42	43	43	46
People	429	354	293	259	246	217	196	166	194	140	168
People per house	6.0	5.9	5.6	5.4	4.6	4.4	4.4	4.0	4.5	3.3	3.7

In the period of 110 years, the number of households reduced by 35% and the population by 61%. The decline was continuous from 1851 to 1911 after which it rallied so that by 1951 it was increasing slightly.

Names of House and Land Holders ⁽⁴⁾

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.