placenames.ie
Townland

Buskhill

Museum research connects Buskhill with the Marshall family’s pre-Famine emigration.

Watercolour and fine ink view of a two-storey pale roughcast hall with five upper windows, central arched porch and slate roof near Buskhill.
Illustration, W. J. Ranton Memorial Orange Hall near Buskhill, County Down
Recorded locationBuskhill54.26115° N · 6.31149° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ie

The name

A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.

Recorded forms

  • Buskhill · English · main form

Place & story

People & connections

From Donaghmore to New York

Joanne Cummins’s museum account places the Marshall family’s farming in Buskhill, Tullymurry and Annaghbane, with involvement in Donaghmore’s Farming Society and parish vestry. In 1839 Andrew Marshall, aged twenty-four, emigrated to America. He travelled through Newry, Dundalk and Liverpool before crossing aboard the George Washington. His letters record arrival in New York on 2 September after thirty-eight days at sea. The family association spans several townlands; the account does not identify Buskhill as Andrew’s precise birthplace. [2]

Isabella’s planned journey

The last surviving letter discussed by Cummins came from Andrew’s sister Isabella in July 1845. Andrew had moved to Ontario, married Margaret Lowry and started a family. Isabella hoped to join him and seek opportunities in Toronto, but the museum account leaves it unknown whether she travelled. By 1851 Andrew, Margaret and their children were established in Durham County, Ontario. The letters preserve both an emigrant’s settlement and a relative’s unresolved plans. [2]

Geographic information

Place type
Townland
County
Down
Civil parish
Donaghmore
Coordinates
54.26115, -6.31149
Mapped area
0.67 km²
Logainm ID
66650 ↗

People & family history

Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.

1901 census

No verified place match is available for this year. This does not indicate a population of zero.

1911 census

47People recorded
11Households recorded

Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records

  • Burns 7
  • Little 7
  • McMaster 6
  • McAlorum 5
  • Dillon 4
Explore the 1911 records ↗

1926 census

This year is outside the available dataset’s coverage. This does not indicate a population of zero.

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Buskhill. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Letters from America: A Newry Man Abroad,11March2026 · Joanne Cummins, Newry and Mourne Museum
  3. Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
  4. WJ Ranton Memorial Orange Hall near Buskhill, County Down illustration: based on a W.J. Ranton Memorial Orange Hall, Buskhill by Dean Molyneaux. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-06-27. How this page was prepared.