Kilmainemore Civil Parish and the Incidence of the Gahagan (Goaghan, Goghan, Geoghegan, Gaughan) Surname in Griffith's Valuation, County Mayo, Ireland

Kilmainemore Civil Parish is located within Kilmaine Barony and is part of Kilmaine Roman Catholic Parish. The Civil Parishes of Kilmainebeg and Moorgagagh are also part of this Catholic Parish. Church Records for Kilmaine Roman Catholic Parish are found on LDS microfilm number 1279214 and 926225 and cover the years 1854-1909.

There was only one Catholic Chapel documented in Kilmainemore Civil Parish when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted in 1857, in the Townland of Frenchbrook North. There was a church, graveyard and an old abbey graveyard in the Townland of Kilmaine as well, but the denomination of the church was not identified.

A patent was obtained by the Archbishop of Tuam for a market and fair for the Townland of Kilmaine as early as 1617. (Gillespie; Crawford, 1987, p. 88). When the Statistical Survey of County Mayo was conducted in 1802, fairs were being held in the Townland of Kilmaine on July 12 and October 28.

Economically speaking, the Townland of Gortnastang had a fair green (part of) and a Customs of Fairs. A note next to this entry states that "lot 4 in Kilmaine also has a custom of fairs. The Village of Kilmaine that is part of the Townland of Kilmaine has a Constabulary Barrack, Grand Jury of County Mayo Petty Sessions House, an old pound and Corn Stores. The Townlands of Ballymartin and Bunacrower each had a forge; there was a Gate Lodge in Rathgranagher (Lindsay); a farm in Milford Demesne and Herd's Houses in the Townlands of Ballycusheen, Ballyjennings, Bunacrower, Caherwiclaun, Cloonconneelaun, Cooleen, Corraun, Creevaroddaun, Cregmore (Browne), Frenchbrook South, Killernan, Kilquire Lower, Kilquire Upper, Milford Demesne, Rathgranagher (Miller), Rausakeera North and Tullyduff.

As far as education goes, I didn't see any national schoolhouses or schools of any kind identified in Kilmainmore Civil Parish in the Griffith's Valuation. Samuel Lewis described a Parochial School and two Private Schools in his "A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland." (Lewis, 1837; 1984, p. 170-171).

I didn't see any designated bog parcels, lakes or rivers documented in the Griffith's Valuation for this Civil Parish, but Samuel Lewis described, "a considerable quantity of reclaimable bog, but fuel is scarce." in Kilmainmore Civil Parish. (Lewis, 1837; 1984, p. 170-171).

Many different landlords were represented in Kilmainemore Civil Parish, but John E Cannon, Lady De Clifford, Robert Fair, Thomas S Lindsay, Robert Tigue and Sir Thomas Staples Bart seemed to be the most prevalent. Of all the above-listed landlords, none were listed in the 1876 compilation "Landowners in Ireland- Return of Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards." I am currently researching these and the other landlords of County Mayo for my Landlord section and will be adding them, and updating the content as I uncover more details.

The population in Kilmainemore declined during the peak famine years falling from 4,877 in 1841 to 3,293 in 1851. By the year 1911, there were only 1655 people remaining in Kilmainemore Civil Parish. (O'hara, 1982, p. 8).

There was only one variation of the Gahagan Surname documented in Kilmainemore when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted in 1857, Bridget Geoghegan in Cloonkeeghan Commons. There was also a Thomas Goggins in both Knockatotaun and in the Townland of Kilmaine in the Village of Kilmaine. Although the Surname Goggins is not considered a variation of the Surnames I am tracking, I am including Goggins because many priests in the Catholic Church records appear to spell the surnames and the Townland names phonetically and these surnames are very similar. There are two sections of Kilmainemore Civil Parish, a larger southern portion and a very small northern portion that is distinctly separate on a map; Bridget Geoghegan was documented in Cloonkeeghan Commons, located in that small northernmost section. Her Townland bordered the Civil Parish of Ballinrobe. The two Thomas Goggins are centrally located in the southernmost section of Kilmainemore Civil Parish. The Village of Kilmaine (Kilmaine Townland) and Knockototaun are right next to each other.

There is one caveat to keep in mind when looking at these findings from the Griffith's Valuation: The Griffith's Valuation only includes the individuals (occupiers) who own, lease or rent a parcel. For instance it will list a householder but not the individuals who live with him. It was common in County Mayo for individuals to share parcels, particularly of land (The Rundale system of communal land sharing). Sometimes the whole town shared one parcel of land. Shared parcels may or may not be with related individuals. Just because an individual is a lone occupier of a parcel does not mean that he is living in (house) or tilling (garden) this parcel alone. He may have numerous family members living with him, but they will not be listed unless they actually lease or own the parcel. Occupiers who sublet their acreage of land or houses to others will be listed as landlords.

For helpful details on how to interpret the following records, please take a look at the page I created on "Deciphering Griffith's Valuation."

Townland	Map Ref Number	Occupier	Landlord or his Rep	Property Type	Area in Acres, Roods and Perches - a-r-p	Total Valuation in Pounds, Shillings and Pence	Shared with (other occupiers)
Cloonkeeghan Commons	2a	Geoghegan, Bridget	Mayo, the Earl of and Martin, Geoffrey	Land and House	2-1-15	0-15-0	none
Kilmaine (Village of Kilmaine)	5-14	Goggin, Thomas	Cannon, John E.	House, Office and Garden	0-0-24	2-0-0	none
Knockatotaun	6	Goggin, Thomas	Cannon, John E.	Land	2-2-4	2-5-0	none

(Griffith, 1847-1864; 2003, Kilmainemore).