Curraun More

 

Curraun More is in the civil parish of Kilcummin. The civil Parish corresponds with the following Church of Ireland parish of Kilcummin, Galway West. In general the civil parish and the Church of Ireland parish are the same as is the case in the Kilcummin Oughterard area.

The Irish form of the name is Corran Mór – Big Hook

Other forms of name.

Curraunmore
Corran Mór
Curraunmore Boundary Surveyor
Gurranemore Barony Cess Book
Curraunmore Local
Curranemore Rector of Killcummin
Grraun Barony Map
Curranemore Inquis. Temp. Jac. I
Garrane Inquis. Temp. Jac. I

Curraun More is in the Electoral Division of Letterfore, in Civil Parish of Kilcummin, in the Barony of Moycullen, in the County of Galway

Description:

Arthur Ffrench, Esq. Tyrone, Proprietor. Land very bad, contains 93¾ acres about the ½ of which is under tillage and pasture, a road extends from N.E. to S.W. through the townland nearly parallel to the Lough edge.

Situation:

In the northern extremity of the parish. Bounded W. by Lough Corrib, E. by Curraun Hill, N. by Curraunbeg and S. by Cappanalaura.

Landlord:

Arthur French St. George of Tyrone House

St. George (Tyrone House) – The St.George estate was centered on the house at Tyrone, parish of Drumacoo, barony of Dunkellin, built about 1779. This had originally been a French estate but the family assumed the title of St. George in 1774 due to inheritance from the St. George family of Hatley Manor, county Leitrim. In the 1830s A.F. St. George owned Tyrone House and Kilcolgan Castle, his agent was J. O’Hara. Wm. Griffith of Dublin also acted as an agent for the St. George estate. Arthur French St. George is described as a resident proprietor in 1824. In the early 19th century the St. Georges also owned large amounts of land in the baronies of Moycullen, Ballynahinch and Clare, which they advertised for sale in the early 1850s. Land in the barony of Clare had been acquired through Arthur French’s marriage with a Kirwan in the late 17th century. A portion of the St. George estate, situated in the barony of Longford, was offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates court in November 1853. In 1870s the family owned 15,777 acres in county Galway. By the early 1900s, however, some of the estate had been sold and the house at Tyrone had been left empty for long periods. In 1914 over 3000 acres of an estate described as St. George and Concannon was vested in the Congested Districts Board. Many members of the family are buried in a church-style mausoleum in the cemetery at Drumacoo.

Down’s Survey

The Down Survey website will tell you who owned this townland in 1641 (pre Cromwell) and in 1671 (post Cromwell).

Townland of CURRAUN MORE

Down Survey Name: Criggane
1641 Owner(s): McKugh, Errivan O’Flahartye (Catholic)
1670 Owner(s): Meredith, Sir Thomas (Protestant)
County: Galway
Barony: Muckullin
Parish: Killcumyn
Unprofitable land: 1123 plantation acres
Profitable land: 47 plantation acres
Forfeited: 47 plantation acres

Down Survey website

Tithe Applotment 1829

About the Records

Tithes were a tax on agricultural produce which was payable by the occupiers of agricultural land. They were the main source of income for the parish clergy of the Church of Ireland (the largest Protestant church and the church established by law). However, in many parishes a large part of the tithes was ‘appropriate’, which meant that they were payable to a bishop, cathedral chapter or other ecclesiastical recipient, or were ‘impropriate’, which generally meant that they were payable to a local landowner. The parishes used in the Tithe Applotment Books are civil or Church of Ireland parishes, which often differ in name and territory from Catholic parishes, Acts of Parliament of 1823 and 1832 provided for the conversion of tithes into a fixed charge on land, and specified the average price of wheat or oats in the parish in the seven years before 1821 as the basis on which the tithes would be calculated. They also extended the application of tithes to pasture, where previously they had been levied only on tillage.

This change in the law resulted in the valuation of individual holdings in almost all parishes containing agricultural land, in order to assess the portion of the tithes for which each occupier of land would be liable. The apportionment was recorded for each Church of Ireland parish in a Tithe Composition Applotment Book. The information was collected and the amounts were calculated by two Parochial Commissioners, one of whom was appointed by the cess-payers of the parish and the other by the relevant Diocese of the Church of Ireland. This procedure was carried out in over 2,500 parishes between the years 1823 and 1837.

The Tithe Applotment Books are in a variety of formats, from a few pages sewn together to elaborately bound volumes. In most cases they are written in manuscript throughout, although some consist of manuscript entries on printed questionnaires. The information in the books is broadly uniform and generally includes at least the name of occupier; the size of holding, the valuation and the tithe payable. In some cases, more detailed information is provided. Some volumes have maps and most have certificates and correspondence attached.

The sub-divisions of the parish were recorded. Some of these subdivisions, such as plough lands, ceased to be in official use after the six-inch survey of the Ordnance Survey was completed in the 1840s. Only productive land was subject to tithe, and the books usually distinguish between this tithable land and untithable land such as roads or mountains. Tithable land was in some cases classified by quality, and a money value was given to each class. In some cases, the proportion of tithe payable to the rector, vicar or lay proprietor of the tithes was set out. The column for observations was sometimes completed, with information about commonage, for example.

There are a number of other points that should be noted. The acreages given in the Tithe Applotment Books are in Irish or Plantation measure, which is 1.62 times larger than statute measure. Only occupiers of land at the time of the tithe composition are recorded, so not all heads of households living in a parish at the time are included. Only rural areas are systematically covered, although inhabitants of towns who held plots of cultivable land are included. The equivalent tax in urban areas, Minister’s Money, has left few records.

The Tithe Applotment Books are an important source of information for a wide variety of researchers of pre-Famine Ireland. They provide the first surviving national list of the occupiers of land, and are used by genealogists as a partial substitute for returns of the 1821 and 1831 censuses of population, which were destroyed in 1922. They also record information on the quality of land, and provide information on pre-Ordnance Survey territorial divisions, some of which were not recognised after the 1840s.

The National Archives hold the original Tithe Applotment Books only for the twenty-six counties of the Republic of Ireland. The books for the six counties of Northern Ireland are held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast. (http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/aboutmore.jsp)

There was no entry for Curranmore in The Tithes Applotment Book.

Griffiths Valuation 1850’s

In Griffith’s Valuation the area is 93acres 8roods 20 perches with a land value of £13 15s. Value of Building is 5s 0d, and the total value is £13 10s 0d.

Occupiers of the Land: Francis Ray

Landlord –  Immediate lessor – Kennedy

Ownership of Land and Property

Francis Ray owned a house and land

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&PlaceID=558982

Census 1841-1891 

1841 – 5 houses with 33 people

1851- 1 house with 6 people

1861 – 1 house with 5 people

1871 – 1 house with 2 people

1881 – 1 house with 2 people, 1 male & 1 female Valuation of Houses & Lands £13 10s 0d

1891 – 1 house with 2 people, 1 male & 1 female Valuation of Houses & Lands £13 10s 0d

Out Offices and Land

The out office was a farm building, a cow house, piggery or barn. The land was very poor and sterile and people were always poverty-stricken. At this time most tenants were trying to eke out a living on 5acres or less and a farmers needed at least 15.3 acres to survive.

Poor Law Union Ireland

In Ireland the Poor Relief Act of 1838 divided into districts or “unions” in which the local taxable inhabitants were to be financially responsible for all paupers in the area. In 1898 the Poor Law Union was adopted as the basic administrative division in place of the civil parish and barony. Further subdivision into 828 registration districts and 3,751 district electoral divisions followed. Townlands were not arranged according to these divisions with parish and barony retained as a means to make comparisons with records gathered before 1898.

The 1838 Act

The main provisions of the 1838 Act were:

• The extension of the existing Poor Law Commissioners’ powers to Ireland, with the appointment of Assistant Commissioners who were to implement the Act in Ireland.
• The division of the country into Poor Law Unions based on Irish electoral divisions which were themselves made up from townlands.
• The creation of a Board of Guardians for each Union, two-thirds of whom were to be elected, the other third to be appointed ex officio.
• The setting up of a workhouse in each Union.
• The collection of a local poor-rate to finance the system.
• Assistance for emigration.

Initially, 130 Unions were created, based upon 2,049 electoral divisions. The divisions were composed of townlands, a peculiarly Irish unit, traditionally of 120 Irish acres in area. (Between 1848 and 1850, an additional 33 Unions were created by subdividing and reorganizing the boundaries of some existing Unions, particularly in the west of the country.

Boards of Guardians were elected annually on 25th March. Only rate-payers were eligible for election, which effectively disenfranchised most of the native Irish who were usually tenants at this time. Rate-payers were allowed between one and six votes depending on the size of a valuation of their property.

Census 1881/ 1891

The Table shows that there were 4 Registrar’s Districts and Electoral Divisions in the Oughterard Poor Law Union. The total area of the whole Union was 172,289 acres.  The table gives the number of houses and the population for each district from 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, to 1891.The divisions of the Oughterard Union were Kilcummin, Letterfore, Oughterard and Wormhole. The total number of houses listed in 1841 was 4,465 and by 1881 there were 3,641 houses. The population in 1871 was 19,572 and by 1891 it was 18,975.

Townlands

A town land is one of the smallest land divisions in Ireland. They range in size from a few acres to thousands of acres. Many are Gaelic in origin, but some came into existence after the Norman invasion 1169. Curraun More is a townland.

1901 Census Curraun More

This is a return of the members of the family, visitors, boarders or servants who slept or abode in their house on the night of Sunday March 31st 1901 in Curraun More

There were 1 houses listed in the Townland of Curraun More. The people were all Roman Catholics and they were born in County Galway. There were 2 in total of farm buildings and out offices which included 2 cow houses.

Class of House: The class of house depended on the materials used in the roof, walls, number of rooms and number of front windows. A 1st class house was considered the highest standard.

Walls of the houses: The walls were of stone, brick, concrete or of mud, wood or other perishable material. The house in Curraun More was built of stone, brick or concrete. It wasn’t a mud cabin.

Landholder of the property unless otherwise stated was the lawful owner.

Roofs were of slate, iron, tiles, thatch, wood or other perishable material. The roofs of houses were of thatch, wood or perishable material. Most likely they were thatched as there was ample reeds for thatching in the lakes. This house was thatched.

House Occupancy: The house was occupied by one family.

The people listed as Head of the Family were also listed as the lawful Landholder of the property.

Enumerators Extract

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840331/

House & Building Return

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840332/

Out Offices & Farm Steadings

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840333/

House 1: John Philibin a herdsman aged 55 was head of the family. Living with him was his wife Mary 54 and daughter Mary 23 a herdsman’s daughter who was single. They spoke Irish and English but they didn’t read or write. They lived in a class 3 house with 2 front windows. The landholder was James Butler.3 people occupied 1 room. They had 2 cow houses.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Letterfore/Curraun_More/1394464/

Curraun More Census 1911

This is a return of the Members of families in Curraun Mor, their visitors, boarders and servants who slept or abode in the house on the night of Sunday the 2nd of April 1911.Description of the Houses

The two houses in Curraun More were listed as private dwellings and were built of concrete or stone.  The roofs of the houses were of wood, thatch or other perishable material. Most likely they were thatched. The head of the family was listed as the landholders. One family lived in each property. The Class of the house depended on the material used in the roof, walls, number of rooms and number of front windows. Most of the houses came under “2’ in the census form meaning that there could be 2, 3, or 4, rooms in the house.

Enumerators Extract

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002434852/

House & Building Return

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002434854/

Out Offices & Farm Steadings

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002434856/

House 1: Margaret Butler 41 was head of the family on the night of the census as the rest of the family was in Cornamona. Staying with her was James Tracey aged 13 – a cousin. They could read and write and they spoke Irish and English. They lived in a class 2 house with 2 front windows. 3 persons occupied 2 rooms. They had no out houses.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Letterfore/Curraun_More/912160

House 2: John Philibin a herdsman aged 68 and his wife Mary 68 and daughter Mary aged 30. They spoke Irish and English but they didn’t read or write. They were married 18 years.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Letterfore/Curraun_More/912161/

Church records of births, deaths and marriages:

Church records of births, deaths and marriages are available online at http://www.rootsireland.ie. To search these records, you will need to know the ‘church parish’ rather than the ‘civil parish’. (The civil parish is the pre-reformation parish and was frequently used as a unit of administration in the past.)

Curraun Mor is in the civil parish of Kilcummin.

Catholic parish:

This civil parish corresponds with the following Roman Catholic parish or parishes.

• Clonbern & Kilkerrin in Galway East.
• Carraroe in Galway West.
• Kilannin in Galway West.
• Kilcummin/Oughterard in Galway West.
• Rosmuc in Galway West.

Church of Ireland parish:

This civil parish corresponds with the following Church of Ireland parish.

• Kilcummin in Galway West.

In general, the civil parish and the Church of Ireland parish are the same, but, this is not always the case.

Link to Galway Library Website

http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/asp/fullresult.asp?id=52221

Maps

It is located at 53° 28′ 43″ N, 9° 27′ 36″ W.

Curraun More is in the Electoral Division of Letterfore ED, in Civil Parish of Kilcummin, in the Barony of Moycullen, in the County of Galway

The Irish name for Curraun More is Corrán Mór

Curraun More is also known as Curraunmore

Original OS map of this area

Ireland was first mapped in the 1840s. These original maps are available online.

Curraunmore

Original OS maps at the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website

Below is a link to the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website. It displays the original OS map that was created in the 1840s.

Curraunmore

Information from Google Maps:

Google Maps

Information from the National Monuments Service:

You can use this link to view a map of archaeological features. This link brings you to a website wherein you will have to search for your townland.

Archaeological map from the National Monuments Service

Additional information from ‘A Valley Remembers Glann”

CURRAUNMORE

Area 94 acres.

This townland is one of the most westerly along the Glann road and is where the public road finishes. Its green sloping meadows run along the shoreline. There are granite cliffs but also some limestone outcrops along its southern boundary with Curraune Hill (see lime kiln on map). There are some splendid views over Lough Corrib from here including the Maam Valley and the Maum Turk Mountains which can be seen to the west. It was part of Morogh McRory estate in 1641. At the time of Griffiths Valuation in the 1850s the proprietor was Arthur French St. George. A Mr. Kennedy was the immediate lessor, while the area was lived in and farmed by Francis Ray. Rent was £13.10.0.

At the time of the 1911 Census there were two families living in Curraun more, Butlers and Philibins. In the Philibin household were John, his wife Mary and their daughter Mary. They later moved to Curraun Beg to the place later to become Wallace’s (Marycot) and now Jordans.

The Butler Household: The social census form shows that in the Butler household there was Margaret and her cousin James Tracey (Walter) who was staying there having come over from Cornamona. The rest of the Butler family, Mary-Ellen, Catherine, Walter, Elizabeth, Teresa, Christina, Sarah, John, James Elsie and Frank were in Cornamona when the census was taken, where their father and mother Jamsie and Bridgit ran a pub and shop. When James Tracey or Walter’s family immigrated to America he stayed on in the Butler household in Cornamona. He later joined the Irish army and was based in Renmore Barracks until he retired shortly before he died in 1970. He had come back to live in Curraune with the Butlers just before his death. He is buried in Glann cemetery. James joined the priesthood, studied at Mount Melleray Seminary, Waterford and All Hallows College in Dublin before being ordained in June 1932. He then went to Cape town, S Africa. He was appointed chaplain to the army during World War 2 and served through the campaigns in North Africa and Italy. When the war was over he returned to Cape town. He came home for a holiday in September 1964. While at home he went on a hunting expedition to Maam by boat with his brother Frank. During the day he suffered a heart attack. He died the next day in Calvary Hospital, Galway. He is buried in the grounds of Glann Church.

Margaret went to the United States in 1920. She joined the French Marist Missionary sisters. She went on a cargo ship from Boston to France in July 1923 to complete her training. Profession was made on March 19th 1925 when she became Sr. Zita Butler. At the end of May 1925 she went on a cargo ship bound for Australia. She spent three weeks in Australia and eventually sailed to Fiji on a sugarcane ship. Her first assignment was to the Leprosy Hospital at Makogia. There were 300 patients there when she arrived but this rose to over 700 and the total staff was 16 Marist sisters. The patients comprised of 13 different racial groups having being rounded up around the South Seas. There she developed a skin problem and it was deemed unsafe for her to work with sick people. She left regretfully and after six months off she was assigned to the mission of Naililili on the Rewa River where she survived poor conditions including a flood where she had to spend the night on a rooftop.

In July 1940 she went as sister in charge and took over a leprosy hospital in Jamaica, West Indies which is half way round the world from the Fiji Islands. Over a ten-year period here she encountered many very difficult situations including threats to her life. Early in 1950 she returned to America having experienced poor health due to the pressure involved and was advised not to go on overseas mission again. However, in 1964 she went to Hawaii and spent a five-year term there. She also returned to Jamaica before returning to Boston U. S.  Sr Zita lived to 107 years. Sarah also became a nun (Sr. Agnes) with the Irish Sisters of Charity in Foxford, Co Mayo, Cork. Kilkenny and Dublin and lived into her late 90s.

Walter Butler built a two story house in Curraune and moved across around 1911. Some time afterwards his parents also moved to Curraune as did some other members of the family. Sometime later Walter built the second two story house beside the first one and moved into it. Walter married Margaret King from Cur, Maam and had four in family. Christy was the only boy and he had three sisters Phylis, Mary and Christina. Phyllis joined the civil service having trained in Templemore and Claremorris. She married Sean Coakley and settled in Claremorris and has a family of five boys and two girls. Christina and Mary both joined the nuns in England although Christina left the order in the 70’s and later got married to Peter Phillips. They live in Knock, Co Mayo. Mary is retired in England.

Christy went to work quarrying in Wicklow in the late 40’s and he met and married Margaret Conroy from Bohernabreena in south Dublin in 1952.

He came back to Curraune and took over the home-place and had seven in family. They are Margaret, Zita, Walter, Martin, Jim, Ann and Tina. Living in Curraune now is Martin and his wife Margaret. They have five in family – Alan, Phelim, Jamsie, Ina and Liam. Frank Butler, Walter’s youngest brother, who spent a number of years in England came back in the early 40s and took over the house from his parents who went to live with Frank’s sister in Prospect Hill, Galway city. He married Mary Hynes from Gortmore, Moycullen and had a family of six boys and one girl. They are Seamus, John, Francis, Walter, Bernadette, Bernard and Gerard. They sold their house and farm which included Curraune Hill and Cappanalaura in 1961and moved to Rosscahill. Frank’s old house as it is known has passed through several owners since then and is presently owned by Tony Duffy from Dublin. The other house in Curranne More which Walter and Teresa Butler built and lived in for a number of years in the early eighty’s before moving to Oughterard is now owned by the Donnelly family from Enfield, Co Kildare.