Over the past century the population of Mullinaskeagh has swollen from modest numbers and declined again. In 1911 seventeen people lived in the clachan. Numbers reached a peak in the 1950s and 60s when there were perhaps 60 people in the clachan while today there are about 20 people residing in Mullinaskeagh.
In the 1950s and 1960s Mullinaskeagh was a thriving hub for children in the local area where games in summer continued until dark. The incessant activity of children led one neighbour from a bordering townland to dub Mullinaskeagh ‘Rouserstown’. In particular cricket enjoyed a spell of great popularity in the townland for perhaps 10-15 years due to the efforts of Charlie Delargy. Charlie was a fanatical sportsman and when he first took up cricket fashioned all the equipment, including the ball, from wood. One former cricketer of Mullinaskeagh recounts that when the ball was lost in the garden of a neighbour who had sacrificed many of her windows to the sport the children knew they needn’t ask for their ball back. They were assured it would ‘be on the fire’.
Dancing was common in the clachan with dances rotating around the different kitchens of Mullinaskeagh which drew in people from neighbouring townlands as well as from the clachan itself. Alec. Delargy (grandson of Charles Delargy from 1860 valuation) was known for playing the melodian and Dick McMullan (Anne and John McMullan’s son) for his dancing. Through the 60s dances among the young were held more often in a Turf shed and Henry McCurry, an accordionist from the neighbouring townland of Tavnaharry, was often asked to provide music. Mick Quinn Mullinaskeagh was also an accordionist around that time and many in the Quinn family were also proficient singers. Mick’s brother Alec was a well known local fiddle player. In the 1950s the BBC producer Sam Hanna Bell made a short film of dancing in Tavnaharry which featured many of the dancers of Mullinaskeagh.
Locals of Mullinaskeagh recall few other sources of income in the clachan other than farming. Snared rabbits would earn ½ a crown and rabbit was a staple meat, its fur being used for little mats and worn around ankles. Myxomatosis largely ended this. Trout could be caught in the Ballyeamon River. However the fish from this river were fairly small and fishing was largely a summer time persuit of children. A meal bag was often used to catch the fish. When the river flooded the men of the clachan would fish in the river with a rod and worms and catch perhaps a few dozen fish in a day.
In season the children of the area would collect ‘buckie berries’ which was sold to make rosehip syrup for children. The low price commanded by these berries meant this was only really performed by children.
One resident of Mullinaskeagh started a taste for ‘Ale plants’. This was a kind of fungus which was bred in a jar and when fed with sugar and treacle secreted a juice. In an age before soft-drinks these Ale plants were very popular around the area.