Joe's Hill, Cloughreagh - what's in a name?
Though it bears the name "McKnights Hill" today, Joe's Hill is the only name I've ever known for the B road linking Derrymore Road (beside the modern St Peter's Primary School) with Millvale Road in Cloughreagh townland outside Bessbrook in County Armagh (Northern Ireland). I've never, however, seen it named Joe's Hill on any map, including the excellent historical maps available through the PRONI website - it's just how I knew it growing up. Is this how others knew it? What can the maps tell us about its name, local or official? The earliest of these maps online is the OSNI historical first edition dated 1832-1846 and the road I know as 'Joe's Hill' is there, opposite the site of Derrymore House (now managed by the National Trust). On this map, and the 1846-62, version it appears to run awkwardly to an entrance by a gate lodge on the Derrymore House estate. I don't think a trace of this exists today. Beside its junction with Derr