Lackan Civil Parish Characteristics, County Mayo, Ireland
Lackan Civil Parish is located within Tirawley Barony and is part of Lackan Roman Catholic Parish. When the Griffith's Valuation was conducted for this Civil Parish in 1856, 28 Townlands plus a Salmon Fishery were documented.
There was a Catholic Chapel in the Townland of Castlelackan Demesne and another Church in the Townland of Killogeary. I am unsure of the affiliation of this church, but Reverend Benningham is listed as the occupier of this parcel. There were Graveyards in the Townlands of Glebe and Killogeary. (Griffith, 1847-1864; 2003, Lackan). Church records for this Parish are covered on LDS Microfilm number 1279205, item 4. This microfilm covers Baptisms 1852-1874 and Marriages 1854-1869. This record range, unfortunately, leaves a big gap in the early years.
As far as education goes, there was a Church Education Society Schoolhouse in the Townland of Gortatoor and a National Schoolhouse in the Townland of Carrowmacshane.
From an economic perspective, I couldn't find any patent applications for fairs or markets for any Townlands in Lackan Civil Parish, and there weren't any fair greens or tolls for markets and fairs recorded in the Griffith's Valuation. Killala, a major market town was only 4 or 5 miles away from Lackan Civil Parish. An Ocean Fishery for salmon was documented in the Griffith's Valuation as adjoining the Townland of Castletown. I didn't see any documented corn or tuck mills, forges or other signs of commercial activity, only an assortment of herd's houses in Aghaleague, Ballynaleck, Barnhill Upper, Carn, Carrowcuilleen, Cloonalaghan, and Lissadrone West. (Griffith, 1846-1864; 2003, Lackan). That number is more than I have encountered in most Civil Parishes. There were no designated "Bog" parcels in the Griffith's Valuation for Lackan Civil Parish but Samuel Lewis in his "A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" identified significant bog areas in this parish. (Lewis, 1837;1984, p.241-242).
The primary landlords represented in Lackan Civil Parish are Sir W Roger Palmer Bt, Col. Charles Knox, St. George H Stock and Rev. William Bourke.
According to the "Landowners of Ireland - 1878" by U.H. Hussey De Burgh, Sir W Roger Palmer Bt, the landlord represented in the most Townlands in Lackan Civil Parish had the majority of his property in County Mayo (80,990 acres) He also had property in Dublin and County Sligo. Colonel Charles Knox, another prominent landlord in this parish had 24,374 acres in County Mayo and a small portion in County Donegal. St. George H Stock, who was represented in four Townlands in Lackan Civil Parish had 1299 acres in County Mayo. Finally Reverend William Bourke, who was the dominant Landlord in three Townlands in this Civil Parish and resided at Heathfield, had 1663 acres in 1878 (Deburgh, 1878; 2007, p. 478, 428, 254, 407). Samuel Lewis in his "A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland," noted that Col. Charles Knox occupied Castle Lackan and W. R. Palmer Bt was in Curramore (I would think he is referring to Carrowmore?). (Lewis, 1837;1984, p. 242).
The population of Lackan Civil Parish was 2943 in 1841 and dropped by more than half to 1176 in 1851. By the year 1911 that number stood at 698. (O'Hara, 1982, p. p.8).