Touaghty Civil Parish and the Incidence of the Corcoran Surname in Griffith's Valuation, County Mayo, Ireland

Touaghty Civil Parish is within Carra Barony and is part of Burriscarra and Ballintubber Roman Catholic Parish. Burriscarra Civil Parish and Ballintober Civil Parish are also part of this Catholic Parish. The Catholic Church records for this parish cover the years 1839-1903, an early start for records compared to many County Mayo Civil Parishes. A spelling variation commonly seen for this Civil Parish is Towaghty.

I couldn't find any patent applications for fairs or markets for any Townlands in Touaghty Civil Parish. This Civil Parish is on small side with only 18 documented Townlands when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted in 1857. There were no "Fair Greens" or "Tolls and Customs of Fairs" in any of the Townlands. From an economic standpoint, there was very little of real significance. The Townland of Ballyglass had a Petit Sessions House and a Constabulary Barrack, Carrowlisdooaun had a Forge and Clooneencarra had a Corn Mill and Kiln. Herd's Houses were present in the Townlands of Carrowlisdooaun, Clooneencarra, Clooneenkillew and Parks. This would seem to indicate that there was a fair amount of pasture/grazing land in this area. (Griffith, 1847-1864; 2003, Touaghty).

There were no designated "Bog" parcels in the Griffith's Valuation for Touaghty Civil Parish, no rivers and the only lakes mentioned were Lough Frank (drained) in the Townland of Mountpleasant and Carrownamore Lough (drained) in the Townland of Parks.

Valentine O.C Blake was the predominant landlord in Touaghty Civil Parish representing 14 of the 18 Townlands. Lord Clanmorris and Charles G Mahon were noted in the other Townlands. (Griffith, 1847-1864; Touaghty).

Valentine O' Connor Blake had land in both County Galway (7690 acres) and 4198 acres in County Mayo when Hussey De Burgh did his compilation of "The Landowners of Ireland" in 1878. He was documented as being the High Sheriff of County Mayo in 1839 and one of his residences was listed as being at Towerhill, Ballyglass, County Mayo. (De Burgh, 1878; 2007, p. 38).

The Civil Parish of Touaghty had of population of 1,297 in 1841, that number dropped to 884 in 1851 and by the year 1911 there were only 448 people living in Touaghty Civil Parish. The vast majority of Civil Parishes in County Mayo saw significant population declines during and after the peak years of the famine. (O'Hara, 1982, p. 8).

There was only one Corcoran documented in Touaghty Civil Parish when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted in 1857, Thomas Corcoran in the Townland of Ballynaglea. Ballynaglea is a Townland in the southeastern part of Touaghty Civil Parish.

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)
Ballynaglea 23a Corcoran, Thomas Blake, Valentine O.C. Land and House 3-0-26 2-8-0 none

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