1851 Census Returns: Newry Barony

It is accepted as the duty of the historical statistician to elucidate and explain – and then to point out areas worthy of further study.   This we now attempt.

The table is an abstract from part of the 1851 Census Returns of the Barony of the Lordship of Newry. Column 1 names townlands and their parishes: 2 is its extent in Irish Acres: 3 the total population from the 1841 Census: 4 that for 1851: 5 the population difference over that decade: 6 the number of occupied homes as returned in 1841 for that parish: 7 the same for 1851: finally, 8 is the difference in numbers of homes in that parish at the end of that decade.

The bottom three rows are the various totals: then the equivalent figures for that part of Newry in County Down (i.e. excluding Ballybot and the West end of the river):  then finally those latter two totalled.

The reader should appreciate that there is a precision herein implied that is somewhat unlikely: and that I and others may have erred in reproducing even these figures. It is best therefore to draw general conclusions and encourage areas of further study.

CONCLUSIONS:

Had not this decade represented the worst period of Hunger and suffering in all of Irish history, one might imagine one was witnessing the fastest and most dramatic period of urbanisation. Whereas the rural parishes experienced a dramatic ~20% population fall, urban Newry (East) had a corresponding increase (last three rows)!  The reality is more complex;  for example, a landlord-driven ‘land clearance coupled with a loss of faith in the land, unparalled disease and starvation deaths and emigration to England, USA and Canada and beyond.  The latter will be illustrated in an article shortly.

The total size of these population changes too is not clear from the context. One must remember that it followed a sustained period of rapid increase over the previous half century and more.   The fall is thus much more significant than it might have been.

Any rational interpretation however, gives the lie to those blinkered historians who allege that our area was little affected by the Great Hunger. Nothing could be further from the truth: and we must keep in mind that South Armagh and Newry (West – or Ballybot) suffered even more.

Hidden within these figures is some terrible suffering: and information requiring further study. How did Newry (Down) sustain an extra 1465 persons with 18 fewer homes in 1851 compared with 1841?  Why were the parishes of Ryan, Carnacally, Sheeptown, Benagh, Shinn and Savalmore worst affected in population decrease?  If it was proximity to Newry, why then did Carneyhaugh and Ballinacraig do best, with an increase both in population and numbers of occupied homes?

Why were there less occupied homes in 1851? Clearly a great number had died or emigrated, leaving deserted homes behind. But in addition, politicians of the time were almost exclusively of the landed classes who then wanted to ‘clear’ their ‘encumbered estates’. Whether they saw them as encumbered with debts or with impoverished tenants made little difference when policies of clearance and evictions became the norm. The final column shows a considerable reduction in the housing stock and a comparison of that with column 5 will give some indication of the density of occupation of those former homes.

One can only guess at the numbers of extra deaths in these parishes compared with the numbers of emigrants.

Other conclusions drawn by readers and posted on Discussions would be most welcome.

Famine times are greatly neglected by local historians!