Groups audience:
A key townland in the parish Noughaval can be pronounced ‘No-val’ or ‘No-hill’. The name means new-settlement and represents some medieval political shifts in the landscape. The historic focus of the townland is at Noughaval historic graveayrd which probably served as the parish centre where rents due on church lands were paid and where ancestral ties to the parish were solidified by being buried within the churchyard bounds.
The 1901 and 1911 national censuses give us a clear picture of the families living in this townland with # surnames present in 1901 and # in 1911. The political developments of the early 20th century are represented by the use of the Gaelic version of the surname in the 1911 census.
In both censuses there were no Protestant families living in the townland. All of the families who did live here made their living from the land/agriculture.
