TOWNLANDS OF NEWTOWNHAMILTON

The original townland of Dorsey has a number of divisions eg Dorsey Cavan O'Hanlon, Dorsey Hearty, Dorsey Mullaghglass, Dorsey McDonald and Dorsey McIvor, some now known by other names. The total area of these parts is about 2,500 statute acres. Dorsey McIvor, now called simply Dorsey is in the Parish of Creggan. The other divisions are in the parish of Newtownhamilton. Dorsey Hearty is a townland of 249 statute acres and 26 perches about four miles north of Silverbridge. It is bounded on the north by Tullyogallaghan, on the east by Ummerinvore, on the south by Roxborough and on the west by Dorsey Mullaghglass and Carrickrovaddy

Name of townland

Na Doirse, "The doors or gateways - to Eamhain Macha - Navan Fort". Many of the Dorsey townlands are, as here, completed by the addition of a surname eg. Dorsey McDonald, Dorsey Hearty etc⁽¹⁾.

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	1851	1864	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926	1935	1952	1957	1974
Valuation	£77.50	£118.75	£105.75	£106.50	£106.50	£106.00	£106.00	£89.50	£94.00	£92.50	£95.25	£91.75

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

Griffiths Valuation records the owner of the townland as Peter Murphy.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 49 people in 10 households; a ratio of 4.9 people per household. The households occupied a total of 29 rooms; a ratio of 2.9 rooms per household and 1.7 people per room. One of the households had 5 rooms, seven had 3 rooms, one had two rooms and one had one room. Six one of the houses were thatched.

Native Irish Speakers

Of the 10 households enumerated in the Census, two contained two native Irish speakers. Since theirs was the last generation to have been born into a predominantly Irish speaking environment, their names, occupations and ages are recorded here. All were born in Co. Armagh -

• Anne Murphy, farmer, widow,55
• Bernard Quigley, farmer, 67 and his brother
• James Quigley, farmer, 72

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	15	14	13	11	12	12	10	9	9	9	7
People	99	79	70	68	68	68	49	31	28	24	17
People per household	6.6	5.6	5.4	6.2	5.7	5.7	4.9	3.4	3.1	2.7	2.4

In the period of 110 years, the number of households dropped by 53.3% and the population by 82.8%.

Names of House and land Holders⁽²⁾

The following table sets out the names of those who owned or rented houses and land in the townland at the time the official valuation record or population census was compiled.