Moygawnagh Civil Parish and the Incidence of the Corcoran Surname in Griffith's Valuation, County Mayo, Ireland
There were no individuals with the Corcoran Surname documented in Moygawnagh Civil Parish when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted in 1856.
Moygawnagh Civil Parish was part of Tirawley Barony and had 31 Townlands when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted in 1856. Moygawnagh Civil Parish is sometimes spelled Magaunagh or Moygawna and is part of Moygawnagh Roman Catholic Parish. Most of the Townlands in this Civil Parish are quite small with the Townland of Knockananny being the largest. This wasn't a significant market town, but it was only 7 miles away from Killala that was.
There was only one Roman Catholic Chapel in this Civil Parish and it was located in the Townland of Ardvarney. There were no Graveyards documented in Griffith's Valuation for Moygawnagh Civil Parish.
As far as education goes, there were Schoolhouses in the Townlands of Ballynagor, Correens and both a Schoolhouse and a National Schoolhouse in the Townland of Garranard.
I didn't see any patent applications for markets or fairs for any of the Townlands in this Civil Parish. It wasn't mentioned in the Statistical Survey of County Mayo that was done in 1802 and it wasn't listed in Pigot's Commercial Directory of Ireland that was compiled in 1824 nor in Slater's National Commercial Directory of Ireland in 1846.
From an economic perspective, Moygawnagh didn't have a "Fair Green" or "Tolls and Customs of Fairs." The Townland of Ardvarney had a Plantation, Ballyglass and Garranard each had a Forge and Killeennashask had a Corn Mill and that was about the extent of the commercial activity. (Griffith, 1847-1864, Moygawnagh). According to Samuel Lewis in his "A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland," Moygawna was located on the River Awenmore. (Lewis, 1837; 2005, Magaunagh). I didn't see this River mentioned in the Griffith's Valuation like I have seen rivers mentioned in other Civil Parishes I have looked at. There was only one "Bog" parcel documented and it was in the Townland of Garrynagran. Samuel Lewis mentions large amounts of bog area in his book mentioned above.
A variety of different Landlords were represented in the Moygawnagh Civil Parish Griffith's Valuation, but William Orme was the primary landlord in 11 different Townlands, followed by Sir W Roger Palmer Bart, Godfrey Fetherston H and Andrew Browne among others.
Moygawnagh Civil Parish saw a significant drop in its population during and after the famine years like many other Civil Parishes in County Mayo. There were 2,107 People present in Moygawnagh in 1841. This number dropped to 1,181 in 1851 and was down to 679 by the year 1911. (O'Hara, 1982, p. 8).