Aughanduff - History - 20th Century

20th Century

The 20th Century brought a number of wide ranging changes to the townland and its people, the first of which followed soon after the death of Robert J. McGeough in 1903. His interests in the land were inherited by his daughter Alice Blacker-Douglass (née McGeough), then of Killiney, County Dublin, from whom it was purchased by its tenants individually under the Irish Land Acts during the course of the early years of the 1900s - significantly later than neighbouring Carricknagavina which was amongst the first townlands in the country bought out by its tenants. The Censuses of 1901 and 1911 both offer a valuable insight into the population of the area at that time and it is noteworthy that a large proportion of the population are recorded as speaking both Irish and English as late as 1911.

Following soon after transfer to its tenants came the tumultuous events of the Irish War of Independence, which, in addition to its long-term consequences, made its mark felt on the area. First came the death of a resident on June 6, 1920 when a young man, Mr. Peter McCreesh was shot in the back while attempting to flee from an exchange of gunfire between police and rebels while attending an Aeridheacht gathering with his brother in nearby Cullyhanna. On June 8, an inquest was opened into the death at his father’s house in Aughanduff and the Newry Reporter stated that “all approaches to the residence were guarded by armed soldiers posted at various vantage points, while a large number of police, armed and otherwise, were on duty in connection with the inquest.” The Coroner’s Jury delivered its verdict at Meighfoner Schoolhouse, Mullaghbawn, in August 1920 which the newspaper reports was as follows:

On December 30 of the same year, violence came directly to the district when Mr. Peter Mackin, then a minor, was shot and severely wounded by Special Constabulary at his home in the area. Although it was claimed he attempted to escape, Mackin later successfully sued the authorities for malicious wounding and was awarded £250 in damages (with £10 and 10 shillings in witness expenses) at Ballybot Quarter Sessions on September 30, 1921.

The area saw a return to quiet normalcy in the period following the Partition of Ireland and although initially incorporated within the new Northern Ireland state, the area was a mere 5 miles (8.0 km) from the recently demarcated border with the Irish Free State. As part of its work on determining the boundaries between the two new States, the Boundary Commission considered the position of the inhabitants of the district and the surrounding area in light of political, economic, transport and other factors. Having done so, the Commission recommended that the townland be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Irish Free State and that part of the boundary of the townland form part of the border between the two states, e.g. it stated that the relevant part of the border should follow a line along:

The Boundary Commission’s report was not implemented, and despite nationalism remaining an active force in the area (an Aughanduff Anti-Partition Club is being reported as active in the area as late as 1939) the political position of the area remained unchanged. The mid-20th century saw the arrival of electricity, mains water and telephones in the area as well as the closing of the local school in June 1972 as all schools in the parish were amalgamated into two, with one at Mullaghbawn and another at Forkhill. The later years of the 20th century also seem to indicate the end of the long process of population decline with population figures stabilising and finally beginning to grow from the end of the 1980s.