Drumnacanvy (from

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: , meaning 'yellow topped ridge' or 'ridge of the goldcrest') is a small

dormitory settlement A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

and

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It lies 1.8 mi

east-southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

. The settlement lies atop a hill within the Green Belt. It also covers small parts of Drumlisnagrilly and Ballynaghy townlands.

2011 Census

Drumnacanvy is classified as a small village or hamlet by NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 1,147 people living in Drumnacanvy.

Poem

The following

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

is set in Drumnacanvy, based on the

Night of the Big Wind The Night of the Big Wind ( ga, Oíche na Gaoithe Móire) was a powerful European windstorm that swept across what was then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, beginning on the afternoon of 6 January 1839, causing severe damage to pr ...

: It came and it came and it came,
Like all the devil's bellows loosed out of hell,
Howlin' and screamin' and cuttin' an callin.'
It came and came, and came upon Drumnacanvy. The day a-fore was flat calm and quiet
Not a rush or bush or wisp of smoke
Either swayed or wafted, and words spoke in whispers.
A grave foreboding' ta them that lived in Drumnacanvy Just after the children were pit ta' bed
The breeze first and then the wind started blowin'
Tossing and gusting and comin' on steady.
Soon all was a blur and a whirl around Drumnacanvy. The fire was clamped doon and the lights pit out
As that winter night's gale gathered in.
A storm they were sure off, but sure it might pass
Pass bye and over the homes of Drumnacanvy. But nay sleep was had for ony that night,
As the devil's wind kept churnin'
Screechin' in over bog and field
Reaching and tearing at the very heart of Drumnacanvy Fear gripped all like the devil's own grip
As now this screeching terror bate them.
Takin' the very thatch frae o'er their heeds
Twain thrashed wi' the haggard com of Drumnacanvy Who might say in this life he has ever met his maker,
Or indeed has ever crossed the path of Satan's works of evil.
That night as terror took its stand
Both were met on common ground, by the people of Drumnacanvy At dawn of day when shaken men surveyed the scenes around
Only desolation, inhabitation, and sure starvation
Was seen across the measured ground
Where once stood the homes and barns and farms of Drumnacanvy. Aye! Surely the devil fought that night wi' The God of heaven
And God stayed not his mighty hand in torrent, rain, and thunder.
Never again does common man want to see their titanic struggles,
As he thinks upon the all forlorn, that plundered land of Drumnacanvy.

References

{{authority control Villages in County Armagh Townlands of County Armagh