Londonderry county, Ireland, From Ireland URL http://www.from-ireland.net,©Jane Lyons

Londonderry County

Description Thom's Directory of Ireland, 1931

BOUNDARIES AND DIMENSIONS
Londonderry, a maritime county in the province of Ulster, is bounded on the north by Lough Foyle and the Atlantic, on the east by Antrim and Lough Neagh, on the south by Co. Tyrone and on the west by Co. Donegal. Its greatest length from Magilligan Point to Ballinderry River is 40 ½ miles, and its greatest breadth, from the south-west to the boundary near Coleraine is 35 miles.

NAME AND FORMER DIVISIONS
Londonderry city was in olden times Called Derry Calgach (“The oak wood of Calgach”). Later, it was called Derry Columbkille, in honour of St. Columbkille, who founded here a monastery in 546. It received its present name from a charter granted by James I to a company of London merchants. It was originally part of the territory of Tir Owen, that is the land of Owen, son of Nial of the Nine Hostages. The barony of Keenaght was the ancient Cianachta, the territory of the O’Conors, who were dispossessed before the English invasion by the O’Cahans or O’Kanes.

NATIONAL AND ANCIENT MONUMENTS
The monuments in the county Londonderry in the following list have been placed in charge of the Ministry of Finance for Northern Ireland under the ancient Monuments Act (N.I.), 1926.

Ruined Priory Church, Dungiven (early Irish and mediaeval)
Ruined church and Stone Tomb, Bonevagh, near Dungiven (early Irish and mediaeval)
Ruined Church and Stone Tomb, Banagher, near Dungiven (early Irish and mediaeval)
Ruined Church and Stone Carving, Maghera, (early Irish and mediaeval)

PHYSICAL FEATURES
The centre of the county is fairly level, but the southern part verging on Tyrone, contains a number of high mountains. The Sperrin Mountains are partly in this county and partly in Tyrone, their highest points being Sawel (2,240), Dart (2,040), Meenard (2,061) and Oughtmore (1,878), on the Tyrone boundary; in this county are Barnes Top (1,506), Mullaghash (1,581), Craigagh (1,489), Mullaghmore (1,825), White Mountain (1,774), Brown Hill (1,278), Streeve (1,282), Glenshane (1,507) and Craigmore (1,306). Farther south are Knockbrack (1,735), Slieveavaddy (1,605) and Mullaghturk (1,353). In the south-eastern portion of the county is Slieve Gallion (1,623); south of Derry City is Slievekirk (1,219). In the interior of the county stand Benbradagh (1,536), Craiggore (1,277), Benevenagh (1,260) and Loughermore (1,298).

The Rivers include the Bann, which issues from Lough Neagh, and forms the county boundary for many miles and for the last ten miles of its course flows through the county. The Foyle belongs entirely to this county for the last 11 miles of its course. The Faughan flows north-west from Sawel Mountain into Lough Foyle. The Roe flows in a northerly direction from the Sperrin Mountains, past Dungiven and Limavady, into the Foyle. The Moyola, rising in the south-west border, flows in a tortuous course into Lough Neagh. The Ballinderry forms the boundary with Tyrone for about 10 miles before it enters Lough Neagh.

Lakes. Lough Neagh forms the county boundary for 8 miles, and Lough Beg for 3 ½ miles. In the south west is the well known Lough Fea, near the Tyrone boundary.

ANALYSIS OF THE CENSUS FOR THE COUNTY
Comparative Statistics (1821-1926)

Year	Males	Females	Total Pop.
1821	92,979	100,890	193,869
1831	106,657	115,355	222,012
1841	106,825	115,349	222,174
1851	93,095	98,927	192,022
1861	88.560	95,649	184,209
1871	83,317	90,589	173,906
1881	79,294	85,697	164,991
1891	73,260	78,749	152,009
1901	69,089	75,315	144,404
1911	67,663	72,962	140,625
1926	67,910	71,765	139,693

Families and Houses in 1926
The number of families in the county was 30,264, the average number in each family being 4.57. The number of inhabited houses was 28,301, showing an average of 4.8 persons to each house. The special inhabitants of public institutions are omitted from these calculations.

There were in the county 5,868 Occupiers or Heads of Families, who were in occupation of less than five rooms, being 67.7% of the total for the county. Of these 985 or 11.4% of the families in the county occupied one room; 1,198 or 13.3%, two rooms; 1,109 or 12.8%, three rooms; and 2,576 or 29.7%, occupied four rooms.

There were in the county 238 tenements in which the room had only one occupant; 599 cases where the room had 2-4 occupants, 142 cases in which there were 5-7 occupants and 26 cases where the occupants of one room exceeded 7 in number, including one case where ten persons and one where twelve persons occupied the same room.

Birthplace of Inhabitants
Of the population in 1926, 80.6% were born in the county, 7.4% in other counties in N. Ireland; 7.8% in the Irish Free State, 3.6% in Great Britain, and 0.6%, were born abroad.

Education:
In 1911 there were in the county 82,394 persons aged 9 years and upwards; of these 69,730 or 84.6% could read and write; 5,080 or 6.2% could read only and 7,584 or 9.2% were illiterate. As this census is the starting point where the age was raised from 5 years to 9 years; no comparison can be made with previous figures from other censuses. The report states that the percentage of those of 5 years and upwards who were unable to read and write was 14.3% in 1891, 11.8% in 1901 and in 1911 had fallen to 11.6%.

IRISH SPEAKING (1861-1911)

No. of people	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911
Irish only	22	65	5	5	4	0
Irish & English	3,910	1,319	3,657	2,718	3,472	4,039
Irish Total	3,932	1,384	3,662	2,723	3,476	4,039
% of population	2.1	0.8	2.2	1.8	2.4	4.0

RELIGIONS, 1871-1926 (% of population)

Religion	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926
Presbyterian	33.80	33.20	39.80	35.10	34.29	33.52
Church of Ireland	18.50	19.10	19.60	19.64	20.06	20.04
Roman Catholic	44.40	44.40	44.60	41.41	41.54	41.63
Methodist	0.60	0.60	0.60	0.71	0.76	0.80
Others	2.70	2.70	3.00	3.14	3.35	4.01

EMIGRATION (1861-1911)

1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911
27,738	16,841	26,939	23,199	8,152	9,257