delays, transportation and land hiring costs are incurred. On the other
hand, it is more difficult to procure direct contacts, and considerable
capital is necessary, as the seller may not receive payment for some time
after the animals are delivered. While most British dealers purchase
cattle on farms, in fairs and at auction marts, some buy from Irish dealers
within the country, Dublin being the usual assembly point for these
stock. A new development in the cattle trade was the formation in 1957
of a co-operative society to purchase cattle in co-operative marts and
export them directly to Great Britain.
Predictions regarding the future of the live cattle trade between Ireland
and Great Britain are hazardous because of the variety of factors to which
it is subject, and especially its susceptibility to government interference.
Present indications suggest that it may decline somewhat, relatively if
not absolutely, as beef production expands in Great Britain and an
increasing proportion of stores are fattened and slaughtered within
Ireland.
REFERENCES
1
J . H . Andrews, 'Livestock exports from the Republic of Ireland', Geography,
392 (1954), p. 294.
L.V. McEwan, The marketing of store livestock in Scotland, University of Glasgow,
Department
of Social and Economic Research, undated, p. 14.
3
J.T. Coppock, An agricultural atlas of England and Wales, London 1964, pp.
172-175.
Statistical sources : ' F.A.O. Trade Yearbook ', vol. 19, Rome 1966, and unpublished
statistics kindly supplied by the Central Statistics Office, Dublin, the Department of
Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food.
J. T. COPPOCK
DESMOND A. GILLMOR
University of Edinburgh
Trinity College, Dublin
CHANGES IN POPULATION AND FARM HOLDINGS IN
NORTHERN IRELAND
Since the beginning of this century the population of the six counties
of Northern Ireland has increased by almost 20%. From many points of
view the change in the character and distribution of the population has
been even more significant. Whereas in 1901,1 42.9% of the population
was classed as urban, the corresponding figure in 1966 was 53. 2%, and
this, as will be shown below, is a considerable underestimate. The increasing urbanisation of the population is a continuation of a trend already
326
established by the middle of the nineteenth century. Throughout that
century there was a steady increase in the urban population, particularly
in and near Belfast, where growth, always considerable, has been especially
marked during the last thirty years. As the rural population has declined
there has been, as expected, a decline in the number of farm holdings.
Alterations in the definition and delimitation of administrative areas,
as well as the irregular intercensal periods of this century, make it difficult
to document these changes in detail, although the general patterns of
change can be clearly demonstrated (Fig. i). The total population declined
from 1,646,325 in 1841 to 1,236,056 in 1891, after which it increased
slowly until 1937. Since then the increase has been more rapid to reach
a total of 1,484,770 in 1966.
It is difficult to distinguish between the rural and urban populations.
The rural population has been defined in the census as that population
living in administrative Rural Districts. Many Rural Districts contain
substantial numbers of people whose occupations and dwellings are nonrural. This is especially true in areas adjacent to Urban Districts and
CHANGES IN POPULATION S FARM HOLDINGS
IN NORTHERN IRELAND 1841-1966
POPULATION
1,750,000 -
1,500,000-
1,250,000-
1,000,000-
-100,000
750,000 -
75,000
-50J000
500,000 o
o TOTAL POPULATION
+
+ POPN. OF RURAL AREAS
•
»HOLDINGS > I ACRE
POPN. OF URBAN AREAS -25,000
250,000 -
i
.
i
i
i
i
1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911
Fig. 1.
327
I
1
L.
1926 1937 1951 1961
1966
Boroughs but, even in Rural Districts which are dominantly agricultural,
there is a scatter of industry which provides a significant alternative to
agriculture as a source of employment. Indeed, during the nineteenth
century there was a thin scatter of textile mills through much of the
Northern Ireland countryside, and the location of individual mills explains
many details of local changes in population at the time of the Famine and
since.
In general, the rural population has declined continuously from the
1840's, although the census shows a marked increase in the population
of the Rural Districts since 1937. The steepest decline was in the decade
1841-1851 and the decelerating decline which continued until 1937
probably is a fair representation of the trend in numbers of the genuinely
agricultural population. The increase since 1937 is accounted for primarily
by the increase in the suburban population of the Belfast conurbation, as
examination of the figures for the five Rural Districts surrounding Belfast
clearly indicates. The Antrim and Newtownards or North Down Rural
Districts were largely rural at that date, whereas Lisburn and Castlereagh
were essentially suburban in character. Antrim R.D. showed an increase
of only 100 between 1901 and 1961, while North Down increased by nearly
3,300, or 12%, compared with an increase for Northern Ireland of 15%
during the same period. Hillsborough Rural District increased steadily
after 1926 until its population in 1961 was nearly 6,000 greater than in
1901. Change on a quite different scale was represented by Castlereagh
and Lisburn Rural Districts which each added over 20,000 to their populations between 1926 and 1961—increases of 438% and 171% respectively.
The increase in these five Rural Districts between 1901 and 1961 was from
100,408 to 175,841, and since 1961 there has been a further increase of
some 35,000. Growth has been very considerable in Lisburn and Castlereagh Rural Districts ; the former has increased from 51,127 to 66,871
and the latter from 37,461 to 47,301. Antrim and Hillsborough Rural
Districts have each increased by some 4,000, while North Down has
increased by only 500 after losing nearly the same number to Bangor
Municipal Borough as a result of a boundary change in 1962.
Taking into account the virtually unchanged figures for Antrim Rural
District between 1901 and 1961 and the small increase for North Down,
it is reasonable to assume that at least 90 % of the total population increase
in the Rural Districts near Belfast during that period can be assigned to
growth of the truly urban population. Since 1961 the increase of some
35,000 in these Rural Districts is again largely urban in character. In
order to eliminate the urban population of the Belfast fringe from the
Northern Ireland rural total, the latter should therefore be reduced by
some 70,000 for 1961 and by a further 35,000 for 1966. It can be seen
328
that the downward curve for the declining rural population continues
smoothly with perhaps a tendency towards flattening out. However, all
the Rural Districts within Northern Ireland contain centres of population
without defined legal status, many of which possess urban forms and
functions. The Preliminary Report of the 1966 Census lists 200 " Towns
and Villages containing 50 or more houses but having no legally defined
boundaries " which have a total population of 138,281. The rural total
should therefore be further reduced, so that the census total of 694,765
for the population of the Rural Districts in 1966 probably contains no
more than 450,000 truly rural inhabitants. In other words it is probably
realistic to regard at least 70% of the total population as urban, rather
than the 53.2% classified as such by the census.
As the rural population has declined in numbers, so also has the number
of farm holdings. The decline between 1841 and 1851 was parallel with
the decline in rural population, but in the next decade the number of
holdings remained almost stationary. After another period of relatively
rapid decline there was little change until 1911. Between 1911 and the
late 1940's there seems to have been a rapid decline in holdings from
115,000 to 87,500. During the 1950's and 1960's the decline in numbers
was initially more rapid but the figures for the last few years suggest that
the decline is now slackening. The total number of holdings i? substantially greater than the number of farm businesses, the figures for 1966 being
64,306 holdings and 43,000 farm businesses. The difference between these
figures represents some 18,000 holdings let entirely in conacre and others
worked in conjunction with each other.2 In the study of a single townland,
Buchanan3 was able to show the way in which farm holdings have increased in size during the last sixty years through the decline in population.
He drew attention to the way in which the mortgaging of small faims
has often meant their eventual alienation and inclusion in larger, though
still relatively small, units. During the first decade of this century the
introduction of the old age pension seems to have been a potent force in
promoting mortgages which could not be repaid. Whether such a mechanism was widely operative is unknown but the considerable decline in
holdings for several decades after 1911 is a marked feature of the sixcounty data as a whole. In recent years it has been estimated that about
2|% of agricultural holdings have changed hands annually through inheritance and about 2% of all holdings over 5 acres have been sold annually.4 Changes in farm structure and especially attempts to increase the
size of farms must inevitably progress slowly when so few farms come on
to the market. If the downward curves for the decline in the truly rural
population and the numbers of holdings are indeed tending to flatten
out, then changes in the future may be no more rapid than they are to-day.
329
Moreover there are here serious implications for government policy, which
is explicitly directed towards a reduction in the number of farm holdings
and a concomitant increase in average farm size.
REFERENCES
1
Statistical data used in this article have been derived from the published volumes
of the Census of Ireland, the Census of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland
Yearbook. Data on farm holdings in 1966 were supplied by the Northern Ireland
Ministry
of Agriculture.
2
D.J. Alexander, " Farm land mobility and adjustments in farming in Northern
Ireland
", J. Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, 21 (1964-5), 1-14.
3
R.H. Buchanan, " Rural change in an Irish townland, 1890-1955 ", Advancement
of 4Science, 56 (1958), 291-300.
D.J. Alexander, " Changes in farm structure " Agriculture in Northern Ireland,
40 (1965), 42-45.
V. B. PROUDFOOT,
University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Canada.
THE REVIVAL OF GREENORE, A MINOR SEAPORT
Greenore was opened as a seaport in 1873 to provide a fast service for
passengers and freight between England and the north and north-west
of Ireland. Prior to 1870 there had been no settlement, with the exception
of a lighthouse, at Greenore Point, which is located on the County Louth
shore at the entrance to Carlingford Lough. This site was chosen because
ships could arrive and depart at all phases of the tide ; a depth of 18 feet
is available at low water without the need for dredging. The London and
North Western Railway Company built port facilities and established a
compact, self-contained settlement at Greenore by the construction of
dwelling houses, co-operative store, school, reading-room and hotel, with
water supply, sewerage and power systems. A packet service to Holyhead
was inaugurated. The Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway was formed to provide connections with other rail routes at Dundalk and Newry.
A golf course and holiday bungalows were provided as measures to
develop tourism at Greenore.
Neither the rail nor steamer service fulfilled early expectations, both
coming nearest to success in the period 1895-1914. Operations were
impeded during the First World War and again during the hostilities preceding and following Independence in 1921. The introduction of the
Border hindered trade with a large part of Greenore's hinterland in
330