Population

The present population of the parish is probably less than a third of what it was at its peak in the middle of the 19th century. Many of the places of settlement have changed beyond recognition. If one compares the Ordnance Survey Maps over the last century and a half the scale of change becomes obvious.

On the 1860/86 Ordnance Survey Map there is a road running from Gorticloughan to Lisnisk and the Portrush road. Along this road is a farmstead. This has now gone and the road is simply a track. The road is not very well developed on the map for 1830 and is almost gone in 1907. Some time between 1830 and 1860 the farm must have developed sufficiently to build a road, but then declined again by the turn of the century. The remains of the farm were rented out to a tenant in the early decades of this century and the house existed up until the 1950's. One the opposite side of the Ballyversal road at Lisnagalt, there is another farmstead which shows the same pattern. Developed by 1830, and more substantial by 1860 followed by a decline to a couple of buildings by 1907. This is the area where Mr Caldwell has his tied cottages for the farm labourer.

   In 1830 according to the Ordnance Survey Map, the main road from Kirkistown through to Lisnagalt on the left hand side of the road is not very well developed. There are only two buildings on te left hand side of the road. By 1860 there are three sets of buildings which would appear to be farmsteads. Today this area is fairly well populated.

Another site which was heavily populated in 1830 was in Articrunnagh South where the present Orange Hall stands. By 1907 there were only two to four buildings left and today there are four houses and the hall, but of these one is a brand new bungalow and the other bungalow has been built within the last 50 years, and another house is uninhabited and unfit for habitation.
 Gorticlouhgan too, had a group settlement of at least 6 houses in the early part of the 19th century and even up into the twentieth when it began to decline. It is difficult to ascertain whether these were kinship goupings or not since the names which appear on the Griffiths Valuation are almost all different. In Articrunnagh the names of Peacock and Ross appear three times. This may indicate that there was a loose kinship grouping there, at least.  

Within these two townlands there was not a large disparity between the wealth of the better off, and the poorest people. In Gorticloughan there were only three houses over £2 value, 3 over £1 and the rest (16) between 5 shillings and 17 shillings. Articrunnagh has a similar pattern concerning the value of houses, the highest being 3 pounds. In the 'clachans' there would seem to be one reasonable house with four or more smaller 5 or 10 shilling houses. At the time of this valuation Ballindreen would appear to be the most wealthy townland with the poorest house being worth 7 shillings and 9 worth more than 1 pound. This may explain why its population actually rose in the 1870s. There may have been more profit being made for those working this land. However, none of these houses could have been very grand, when you consider that Brookhall at this time was worth 24 pounds.

The population has declined to such an extent that few of the names mentioned on the Griffiths Valuation remain today. Those that do have often taken over from the others in the townland whose names formerly appeared but who have left the country. Acheson's remain in Ballynag, Curry and McAuley remain in Gorticloughan, Curry and Hamill of Ballyversal, and a grandson of James Ross now farms in Articrunnagh.

The number of buildings has declined substantially as will be seen from the following figures. The type of buildings now seen in the parish have also changed. There are significantly fewer, offices, but in their place have appeared a large number of garages and a substantial increase in the number of farm buildings such as silos and grain stores.

If one tours round the existing farms it soon becomes obvious where the people lived a century ago. Most of the old farm buildings remain in various states of disrepair. In one case, a single farmhouse stands occupied beside at least 5 former occupied houses.

Existing buildings in 1857 (Griffiths Valuation)

215 houses (9 unoccupied)

95 offices

These figures are those of the numbers of houses in each townland, taken from the census figures.

  1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1926
Articrunnagh  53 36 29 30   22 21 24 24
 Ballindreen 37 23 31 33   25 26 24 21
Ballynag 20 13 15 10   8 10 7 12
Ballyvelton 17 14 14 12   10 12 9 8
Ballyversal 23 21 20 19 (18) 16 15 13 13
Cloyfin 11 10 9 8   8 8 6 4
Glebe 3 2 3 2   3 4 3 3
Gorticloughan 30 27 27 18   15 13 13 12
Islandeffrick 25 15 14 14   12 15 14 14
Kirkistown 20 10 10 12   17 16 12 14
Knocknekeeragh 24 22 19 19   14 13 10 9
Lisnagalt 11 9 8 5   6 8 9 10
Liswatty 24 18 22 18   18 14 14 15
TOTAL 299 220 221 202   174 175 158 159

   

In addition we have the numbers of houses given in the Griffiths Valuation, as follows;

KIRKISTOWN (area now around creamery, includes Brookhall and school); No. of households = 8

KNOCKNEKEERAGH (between Ballyrashane church crossroads and Liswatty Road); No. of households = 17

LISNAGALT (between Ballybogey crossroads and Liswatty Road); No. of households = 7

LISWATTY UPPER & LOWER (area between main Ballycastle road and Co. Antrim border at Ballybogey); No. of households = 22

BALLYNAG NORTH & SOUTH (area between Ballindreen and 2nd row of cottages at Ballyvelton); No. of households = 14

 

BALLINDREEN SCOTCH & IRISH ( a large area between Coleraine and Ballymoney):-No. of households 27

GLEBE (Church of Ireland & Rectory):- No. of households 2

GORTICLOUGHAN (Rectory Road):- No. of households 24

BALLYVERSAL (touches County Antrim border on two sides):-No. of households 20

CLOYFIN SOUTH AND NORTH (area between Drumadraw and Creamery Farm):- No. of households 10

ARTICRUNNAGHT NORTH & SOUTH:- (between creamery and Creamery Farm):- No. of households 33

ISLANDEFFRICK (between Ballyclabber and Presbyterian church):- No. of households 16

BALLYVELTON (first area past the Presbyterian church. Includes two rows of council houses) No. of households 15

If we compare the two sets of figures alongside each other, there would seem to be strange occurences. The 1851 figures show 220 houses. Griffiths staes 215, and the 1861 census states 221. This would indicate a rise in the population during this time. This in fact, did not happen. The explanation may be that while there was an increase in households, it was possibly caused by younger couples moving out of the family home and into one of their own. It may be also that houses which had been inhabited in earlier days were once again brought into use.

If we take a look at the number of houses in question at these dates and compare it with the townland population trends we can match it fairly well and this will indicate how reliable the figures are for houses. In the case of Ballyvelton which seems to have one more house in 1859 than in 1831, but loses it again by 1861 the population figures would indicate this is correct. The population did rise slightly and then fall again at this time.

The other unusual cases - Gorticloughan, Islandeffrick and Kirkistown which show decreases and then increases inthe number of houses do not match the population trends. The explanation, therefore, is as above that large families are splitting up, or that there is some mistake in the figures.

Population figures

 TOWNLAND 1841 1851 1861 1871 1891 1901 1011 1926 1990
 Articrunnagh 263 175 139 160 108 79 116 107 46
Ballindreen 193 124 148 188 131 98 89 75 20
Ballynag 112 67 77 53 31 35 28 41 22
Ballyvelton 90 63 71 53 37 33 42 42 23
Ballyversal 140 116 102 77 53 72 53 65 12
Cloyfin S 64 55 41 51 36 189 22 11 6
Glebe 9 11 13 9 4 8 11 9 8
Gorticloughan 149 147 116 89 48 50 61 49 22
Islandeffrick 120 78 67 73 54 49 60 69 30
Kirkistown 79 67 35 54 56 64 68 63 43
Knocknekeeraghh 134 112 92 80 47 37 31 29 27
Lisnagalt 57 50 45 38 33 33 34 53 19
Liswatty 136 114 110 91 82 71 74 50 38
TOTALS 1546 1179 1056 1016 720 647 689 663 316

 

Note: Dr Mullan states that the 1831 census shows a total number of 1637 people in the parish of Ballyrashane. If this is so, then the decline has been continuing since before the famine.

Note 2; The 1990 figures have been taken from the electoral register together with personal knowledge of the residents and the number of children which each family has. This may mean that there are small errors but the overall number is fairly accurate.

The population would appear to have been at its maximum around the beginning of the nineteenth century when the linen industry was at its peak. From this period on numbers declined. From a possible maximum of 300 families in 1837 the numbers declines as follows:

The graph of the population for the wh ole parish shows the rapid and continual decline since 1831. It must be not be supposed, however, that all of the townlands declined in the same way. Some areas have suffered more from depopulation than others. Areas such as Gorticloughan and Ballyversal have declined very sharply right up to the present day when there are only 22 people in Gorticloughan and 19 in Ballyversal. Knocknekeeragh also has seen a sharp decline in its population numbers. Lisnagalt and Kirkistown have remained fairly steady in population numbers although it has varied at time throughout the last 150 years. The other townlands have strange patterns which rise and fall regularly. This may be due to land changing hands at a later stage than in the other townlands. In some cases an increase in population has been caused by the growing ability of farmers to reclaim bog land which was not of use in earlier times. This could be applied to Ballindreen, Articrunnaght, Liswatty and Islandeffrick.

In several of the townlands there is a noticeable rise in the population figures in the period 1861 to 1871. This may be due to a return of faith in the land after the famine. At this time farmers were getting higher prices for their produce so many people may have moved back into the country. Ballindreen is the townland which sees the biggest rise.

Another factor which can account for unusual changes in the population of a townland was the building of the labourers' cottages. The most unusual rise in the figures was in the case of Articrunnaght between 1901 and 1911 when there was a rise in population of 37. In the same period there were also substantial rises in the population of ballyvelton, Gorticloghan and Islandeffrick. All of these areas had cottages built in them. This, however, is probably not as straight forward as it appears since there were also cottages built in Knocknekeeragh but is population declined slightly. There is the added complication that some of these cottages were inhabited by people who moved out of other townlands to them. The changes in population are caused by a mixture of new cottages and amalgamation of small farms. There is a large decrease in the population of Ballyversal (19) in this period and it can be put down almost certainly to amalgamation of farms.

Overall, the townland of Articrunnaght has seen the biggest decline in population over the last 160 years. Its population has been reduced by almost 4/5. A study of the Ordnance Survey maps can give clues as to the reasons. There were originally several small groups of houses. In most cases these have been reduced to one and indeed in some cases they have disappeared altogether. Any houses which have been built have been put up to replace others which are now demolished. The people now living in the cottages have become old and their numbers are few.

   

   

   
Today the population of the whole parish is reduced to 1/5 of what it was in the middle of the last century. There have been recent promising signs that the decline will not continue. A few young families have moved into the area in recent years but the lack of housing is worrying. There is a problem with provision of housing since land is so valuable for agricultural purposes and it is difficult to see how this can be resolved.

Chapter 3; Industry