Newragh is one of the smallest townlands in Louth, comprising only 21 American acres or 13 Irish acres.

The name Newragh is from the Irish ‘An Iúrach’ which means ‘The Yewlands’ from the Yew trees that were in the area. It is one mile from the village of Knockbridge to its northeast and Louth Village to its southwest.

The parish records of Darver Parish comprise the records of four older parishes: Darver, Dromiskin, Mansfieldstown and Killencoole. These cover an area of about four miles by four miles in the center of Louth. Newragh is located in the far northwest corner of this area in the old Killencoole parish.

James Hoy who died in Easton, PA in 1862 was the son of James Hoy and Catherine McCullin of Darver Parish. We have the family of James and Catherine in the Darver Parish records. One of their children Mary, is recorded as having been born in Newragh in 1792. Very few of these records name the townland of the child.

Birthplaces for children born in the Darver Parish were only recorded from mid 1791 until mid 1793 and only for 41 or 10% of births. Of these 41 births, an unusually high 15% had a Hoy birth or a Hoy sponsor.

Only one other family has the birthplace of a child listed as Newragh. This was the Lynch family whose son Patrick had Mary Hoy as his god-mother. Of the six Hoy children of Newragh, three had a god-parent named Maginness. The Lynch family of Newragh had a Maginness as a god-father when Mary Hoy was the god-mother. Irish god-parents in those days were either relatives or near neighbors.

We can see that there were three families living at Newragh about 1800: the Hoys, the Lynches and the Maginnesses.

Below we have a copy of the Ordnance Survey map of Newragh which was drawn about 1835. Ordnance maps were exact in their dimensions. Since there were only two buildings in Newragh when the map was drawn, we are safe in concluding that the same situation applied in 1800 when the Hoys lived there. One of the buildings enclosed by the wall, is larger than a cottage and we judge that it was an important dwelling of some kind.

Newragh is located on the road which runs from Dundalk southwest to Louth Village. It is located half-way between Louth Village and the village of Knockbridge.

This image is from the Ordnance Survey done in the 1830's. We can see that there are only two buildings in Newragh enclosed by a fence about 100 yards long. The thin lines are field boundaries.



The A13 R2 P12 means 13 acres, 2 rods and 12 perches.

This is a satellite image taken recently. The outlines are still as they were in 1830. They were made of clay walls topped by Blackthorn bushes. One of the houses there now has the same position and shape as the original house. It might be a replacement house or it might be the original. See a close-up below.