Moorgagagh Civil Parlish and the Incidence of the Brennan Surname in Griffith's Valuation, County Mayo, Ireland
There were no individuals with the Brennan Surname in Moorgagagh Civil Parish when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted in 1857.
Moorgagagh Civil Parish is part of Kilmaine Barony and belongs to Kilmaine Roman Catholic Parish. Kilmainebeg Civil Parish and Kilmainemore Civil Parish are also part of Kilmaine Catholic Parish. The microfilm available for this Civil Parish covers the years 1854 to 1909. This Civil Parish is quite small with only 10 Townlands and is often spelled Moorgaga.
There were no Churches or Graveyards documented in Moorgagagh Civil Parish when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted in 1857. I also didn't see schoolhouses of any kind; however, Samuel Lewis in his "A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" that was published in 1837 mentioned a "private school with about 150 children." (Lewis, 1837;2005, p. 392).
From an economic perspective there was very little to speak of in Moorgagagh Civil Parish. There were herd's houses in the Townlands of Cahermaculick, Garaun, Gorteens and Kill that would seem to indicate pastureland of some measure. There was a Forge in the Townland of Tobernadarry and that was about it. There were no documented lakes, rivers or bog parcels in this Civil Parish.
Moorgagagh Civil Parish had the smallest population of all the County Mayo Civil Parishes in 1841 according to a table showing population change from before, over the famine years and beyond in the book "Mayo Aspects of its Heritage," Moorgagagh only had a population of 627 in 1841 preceding the peak famine years. This number dropped to 294 in 1851 and by 1911 it was down to 155. (O'Hara, 1982, p. 8).
A variety of Landlords are represented in the 10 different Townlands of this Civil Parish with Lady De Clifford, Hon. Gonville Ffrench (this was how his name was written in Griffith's Valuation) and Nathaniel Briggs being the most prevalent.
(Griffith, 1847-1864, 2003, Moorgagagh).