In the early 19th Century, like all of Ireland and Britian, Ulster was recovering from the Napoleonic Wars and a European economic depression. An ever- increasing population, growing rural poverty, food shortage and falling grain prices meant that governments and landlords in particular had to think of new ways to use land and re-organise settlements . All of this occurred before the famine struck in the mid to late 1840s.
Like most of Ulster in the 1830s, settlement patterns and farming methods in the Learmount-Claudy -Park area reflected what everyone had to do if they lived on the higher ground or close to a mountain range. The Clachan or cluster of single story thatched cottages was the main type main settlement type in these regions. The Rundale ("roinn" division of something and "dáil" apportionment) system of land management was used. In the 1831 Ordnance Survey Ballyrory (Lower) is shown as a Clachan ( or clochán) with 12 Houses. The better land ( infield) was close to the Clachan with the ‘outfield’ higher up Slieve Bui Hill. The 1831 Census confirms that Owen and James Deeny lived in the Lower Ballyrory Clachan and their neighbours included the Cartins, Deehans, Heenys, Lagans, Mullins, McClanahans, and McGlinchey’s.
Seventeen years later in 1848 the whole landscape had changed from the 1831 Rundale System to a Tenant Farmer system of individual farms and cottages. Tenant Farms were created the whole way up Sliabh Buí Hill. Rent on these holdings was initially free for 7 years but thereafter an annual payment to the landlord was required. Part of the deal may have included the ‘breaking in’ of new fields to create more arable land on the slopes of Sliabh Buí. The same process was occurring in all the neighbouring townlands in the Faughan Valley. It is noteworthy however that this time also coincided with the introduction of the ‘Scottish Swing Plough’ and possibly the use of two horses. Neighbours may have shared horses and ploughs to accommodate this new technology. The addition of the new plough and more horse power may have made it possible to plough the higher ground. It certainly would have been easier than the previous methods of digging it with spades. The change from Rundale to Tenant Farms also prompted new families to move out of the Clachan and up the hill. This was the time that Micheal and Mary Deeny built the Stonemason’s Cottage circa 1843. The 1848 maps of Ballyrory show a very different picture of the landscape from 1831. There are now lots of new tenant farms, new roads and new houses up on the hill. Could the introduction of the new Swing Plough have made this more possible ?
The 1843 Map. Click on the black arrow to see the 1831 map