Kilturra Civil Parish Characteristics, County Mayo, Ireland
The largest portion of Kilturra Civil Parish lies in County Sligo in the Barony of Corran. The smaller portion that lies within County Mayo is within Costello Barony. The County Mayo section of Kilturra Civil Parish is composed of only 4 Townlands, although Ballindoo (Doocastle), one of the four, is quite large in comparison to the average Townland size in County Mayo.
Bunninadden Roman Catholic Parish is the ecclesiastical Parish of which Kilturra is a part. It is also referred to as Kilshalvey or Kilshalvey, Kilturra and Cloonoghill. The Roman Catholic Parish of Kilshalvey was formed in 1840. (Mitchell, 1988, p. 89). The Civil Parishes of Kilshalvy and Cloonoghill are part of this parish as well. There were no Roman Catholic Chapels noted in the Griffith's Valuation for Kilturra Civil Parish. The County Sligo section of this Civil Parish had Catholic Chapels in the Townlands of Killavil and Bunnanadden. There was one graveyard present in the Townland of Ballindoo (Doocastle).
Church Records for this Civil Parish are covered on LDS microfilm number 1279233 items 10 and 11 (Baptisms 1840-1908; 1860-1876) and Microfilm number 926018 (Baptisms 1842-1877, 1833-1840; marriages for Chapel at Toomore, 1833-1840; marriages for Kilshalvey, Kilturra and Cloonaghill 1840-1876). Keep in mind that only a small portion of Kilturra is in County Mayo, the majority is in County Sligo. Kilshalvey and Cloonaghill are in County Sligo.
From an economic standpoint, there was next to nothing documented in the Griffith's Valuation for Kilturra Civil Parish, only a corn mill in the Townland of Flughany. I couldn't find any patent applications for fairs or markets and there were no "fair greens" or "Tolls and Customs of Fairs" noted on the Griffith's Valuation for Kilturra Civil Parish either. (Griffith, 1847-1864; 2003, Kilturra).
As far as education goes, there was one Board of Education National Schoolhouse in the Townland of Ballindoo (Doocastle) that lies in the northern-most part of this Civil Parish. (Griffith, 1847-1864; 2003, Kilturra). Samuel Lewis mentions 2 private schools in Kilturra Civil Parish in his "A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland." (Lewis, 1837; 1984, p. 216).
Three landlords were represented on all but two parcels: Joseph M McDonnell, Denis O'Connor and Mathew O'Connor. I couldn't find any of these three landlords in the Local Government Board of Ireland Publication "Return of Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards" that was compiled in 1876. Samuel Lewis does mention Doocastle as being the "seat of J.M McDonnel, Esq". (Lewis, 1837; 1984, p. 215). There is a Denis O'Connor who resides on Corrig Avenue in Kingstown and holds land in Counties Meath and Roscommon, that is listed in "The Landowners of Ireland," a publication by Hussey De Burgh in 1878, that is part of the Archive CD books Ireland collection, but I am uncertain if this is the same Denis O'Connor. The "Landowners of Ireland" publication lists owners of estates of 500 acres or 500 pounds and upwards in Ireland.
The population of this Civil Parish changed very little during the famine in contrast to most of the others in County Mayo. According to figures in Bernard O'Hara's book "Mayo Aspects of Its Heritage," the portion of Kilturra Civil Parish in County Mayo had 1350 people in 1841, 1023 in 1851, and 1269 in 1881. The most significant drop was noted over the next 100 years where the population dropped to only 275. (O'Hara, 1982, p. 8).