TOWNLANDS OF NEWTOWNHAMILTON

Skerriff Trueman is a townland of 341 statute acres, 2 roods and 17 perches about two miles west of Cullyhanna. It is bounded on the north by Tullyvallen, on the east by Cullyhanna Big on the south by Cullyhanna Little, and on the west by Kiltybane and Skerriff Tichburn. In the Tithe Applotment Books of 1825 the total area of the townland is shown as 182 acres, 2 roods and 20 perches (Plantation Irish measure).

Name of townland Sciarbh, "A shallow ford" ⁽¹⁾, followed by the name of a onetime landlord called Trueman.

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	1837	1851	1864	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926	1935	1952	1957	1974
Valuation	£168.15	£213.50	£242.50	£242.50	£244.00	£242.90	£245.40	£244.15	£240.90	£260.25	£276.50	£297.75	£344.75

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

• James Carragher

Griffiths Valuation records the owner of the land as Walter McGeough Bond.

Census of Ireland 1901

The Census enumerated 78 people in 24 households; a ratio of 3.3 people per household. The households occupied a total of 55 rooms; a ratio of 2.3 rooms per household and 1.4 people per room. Two of the households had 4 rooms, six had 3 rooms, thirteen two had 2 rooms and three had one room. Eleven of the houses were thatched.

Native Irish Speakers

Three of the households contained one native Irish speaker. Two were born in Co. Armagh. Betty Burns was born in Co. Monaghan. They were -

• Betty Burns, farmer, 91
• Michael McVarry, farmer, 90
• Michael Caraher, farmer, 70

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.

In the period of 110 years, the number of households dropped by 48.3% and the population by 73.1%.

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.