Moyvoon West

Antoinette Lydon

Moyvoon West 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 are the same as is the case in the Kilcummin Oughterard area.

Moyvoon West is in the Electoral Division of Oughterard, in Civil Parish of Kilcummin, in the Barony of Moycullen, in the County of Galway

Irish Form of Name:

Muighe Un  this version was found on http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/asp/fullresult.asp?id=52979

Maigh Mhaon Thiar this version was found on http://www.logainm.ie/en/20882

Other Forms of the Name:

Moyvoon
Muighe Un
Moyoon
Moyvoon East Boundary Surveyor
Moevun Barony Cess Book
Moyvoon County Map
Moyvoon Local
Moyven Inquis. Temp. Jac. I
Moyvy Inquis Temp. Car. I

Area:

Moyvoon West has very good land; stony in parts contains 60¼ acres all arable except 2 acres of bog and marsh, the centre of the Galway and Oughterard road which forms the N. Eastern boundary of this townland.

Boundries:

Moyvoon West borders the following other townlands:

Landlord:

James O’Hara of Leanaboy House, Galway.

James O’Hara is a member of the O’Hara (Lenaboy) family.

O’Hara (Lenaboy) – The O’Haras of Lenaboy had been established in the town of Galway since the early 18th century and members of the family held the positions of Mayor and Recorder of the town. The O’Haras of Raheen were a junior branch of this family. An entry in Burke’s ”Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland” (1886) for the Martins of Ross, county Galway, suggests that the O’Haras of Lenaboy were related to the O’Haras, Lords Tyrawley and Melvin notes a reference to this in the National Library’s Report on Private Collections relating to the O’Hara family of Annaghmore. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation the O’Haras held land in the parishes of Kilcummin and Killannin, barony of Moycullen, St Nicholas, barony of Galway, Annaghdown and Kilmoylan, barony of Clare and Tuam, barony of Dunmore. In the 1870s James O’Hara owned 2,887 acres in county Galway, 239 acres in the town of Galway and 426 acres at Lawaus, parish of Crossboyne, barony of Clanmorris, in county Mayo. Over a thousand acres of the O’Hara’s county Galway property was vested in the Congested Districts’ Board on 25 Mar 1915 and an offer accepted for another 465 acres by March 1916.

Information from Joyce’s Place Names:

Translation according to P. W. Joyce

Moyvoon in Galway; better Moyoon ; Magh-Un, plain of Un, an old Firbolg chief. Gh is here changed to v as in Movenis.

Downs Survey

Townland of Moyvoon West

Down Survey Name: Keiledragoule
1641 Owner(s): Clanrickard, Earl of (Protestant)
1670 Owner(s): Clanrickard, Earl of (Protestant)
County: Galway
Barony: Muckullin
Parish: Killcumyn
Unprofitable land: 24 plantation acres
Profitable land: 72 plantation acres
Forfeited: 72 plantation acres

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

Down Survey website

The Tithe Applotment Books:

 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 were ‘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 ploughlands, 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)

Tithe Applotment Books 1829

The Reverend  John Wilson, Philip Walsh & John Walsh had 30 acres; 10 acres of 1st quality land with a payment of 1s6d; 5 acres 2nd quality with a payment of 1s, 5 acres 3rd quality with a payment of 3d, 10 acres of 4th quality land with a payment of ½d.

The Tithes payments went to Richard Martin Esq. James Daly & The Reverend John Wilson.

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587459/004587459_00441.pdf

Griffiths Valuation

In Griffith’s valuation the area was 60 acres, 1 rood & 3 perch with a land value £30 0s 0d. Value of Buildings was £2 0s & 0d. Total valuation of £32 0s 0d.

Occupier of Land

Edmond O’Flaherty

Immediate Lessor

James O’Hara

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&PlaceID=560138

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.

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. Moyvoon West is a townland.

Information on Population & Census

People who lived here:

You can retrieve a list of people who lived in this townland from 1827 to 1911. This list is compiled from the following resources.

  • The Tithe Applotment Books
  • Griffith’s Valuation
  • 1901 Census
  • 1911 Census

List of nineteenth century and early twentieth century inhabitants.

Census 1841-1891 

1841 – 1 house with 8 people

1851 – 2 house with 9 people

1861 – 3 house with 9 people

1871 – 3 house with 14 people

1881 – 4 house with 21 people (11 males / 10 females). There were 4 outbuildings. Total Valuation of Houses & Lands £32 0s 0d.

1891 – 4 houses with 21 people (11 males / 10 females). There were 7 Outbuildings. Total Valuation of Houses & Lands £33 5s 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 5 acres or less and a farmer needed at least 15.3 acres to survive.

1841/1851 Old Age Pension Census Search Forms

Walsh

An application was made by Walsh from Moyvoon in the Parish of Kilcummin in the Barony of Moycullen.  Reference # Cen/S/2042. No Record was found for 1851.

Census 1901 Moyvoon West

This is a return of the member of the family, their Visitors, Boarders, and Servants who slept or abode in their house on the night of 31st of March 1901 in Moyvoon West. There were 4 houses listed in the townland of Moyvoon West. 12 (6 females/ 6 males) were all Roman Catholics. The people that lived in Moyvoon West were born in Co. Galway & America.

There were a total of 8 farm buildings and out offices which included stable, cow house, piggery, fowl house, barn & forge.

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, and concrete or of mud, wood or other perishable material. The house in Moyvoon West was built of stone, brick or concrete. There were no mud cabins.

Enumerators Extract

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840865/

House & Building Return

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840867/

Out Offices & Farm Steadings

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840868/

House 1

Bridget Gill aged 29 was head of the family; she lived with her nephew Mattie aged 13, both single.

Bridget was a dressmaker; Mattie was a scholar. Both could read & write and Bridget spoke Irish & English & Mattie spoke English. Mattie was born in America.

They lived in a 3rd class house with 1 room and 1 front window. They had a cow house, stable & barn. This premise was a Private Dwelling.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Oughterard/Moyvoon_West/1394732/

House 2

Ellen Mannion aged 50 was head of the family; a widow, she lived with her children Kate aged 19, Martin aged 14 & William aged 11.

Ellen was a housekeeper; Kate was an assistant housekeeper; Martin was an agricultural labourer & William was a scholar.  Ellen could not read; Kate, Martin & William could read & write. The entire family spoke Irish & English.

They lived in a 3rd class house with 2 rooms and 1 front window. They had a fowl house. This premise was a Private Dwelling.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Oughterard/Moyvoon_West/1394733/

House 3

Patrick McDonagh aged 60 was head of the family; a widower, he lived with his daughter Ellen aged 32, single.

Patrick was an agricultural labourer; Ellen was a housekeeper. Patrick could read, Ellen could read & write, they both spoke Irish & English.

They lived in a 3rd class house with 2 rooms and 2 front windows. They had a cow house & a piggery. This premise was a Private Dwelling.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Oughterard/Moyvoon_West/1394734/

House 4

Thomas Molloy aged 53 was head of the family; married to Bridget aged 53, they lived with their children James aged 18 & Jane aged 14.

Thomas was a blacksmith. James was a blacksmiths son. Jane was a scholar. Thomas, James & Jane could read & write. Bridget could not read. The entire family spoke Irish & English.

They lived in a 2nd class house with 2 rooms and 3 front windows. They had a cow house & a forge. This premise was a Private Dwelling.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Oughterard/Moyvoon_West/1394735/

Census 1911 – Moyvoon West

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

There were 3 houses listed in the Townland of Moyvoon West. Of the people living in Moyvoon West all 8(3 males/5 females) were Roman Catholics.

People that lived in Moyvoon West were born included Co. Galway. There were a total of 4 farm buildings and out offices which included a stable & sheds.

Enumerators Extract

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002435789/

House & Building Return

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002435791/

Out Offices & Farm Steadings

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002435793/

House 1

Ellen Mangan aged 69 was head of the family; a widow, she lived with her children Kate aged 30 & William aged22, both single.

William was a labourer. Ellen could not read. William & Kate could read & write. The entire family spoke Irish & English.

Ellen was married for 19 years; she had 7 children with 6 still living at the time of the census.

They lived in a 3rd class house with 2 rooms and 1 front window. They had a shed. This premise was a Private Dwelling. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Oughterard/Moyvoon__West/471315/

House 2

Ellen McDonagh aged 48 was head of the family; single, she lived with her nephew Stephen aged 11.

Stephen was a scholar. Ellen & Stephen could read & write and spoke Irish & English.

They lived in a 3rd class house with 2 rooms and 2 front windows. They had a shed. This premise was a Private Dwelling. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Oughterard/Moyvoon__West/471316/

House 3

Bridget Molloy aged 67 was head of the family; a widow, she lived with her son James aged 28 & daughter-in-law Ellen aged 28.

James was a blacksmith. Bridget could not read; she spoke Irish & English. James could read & write and spoke Irish & English. Ellen could read & write.

Bridget was married for 30 years; she had 7 children with 5 still living at the time of the census.

James & Ellen were married for 4 years.

They lived in a 3rd class house with 2 rooms and 2 front windows. They had a shed & a stable. This premise was a Private Dwelling.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Oughterard/Moyvoon__West/471317/

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.)

Moyvoon West 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.

Maps:

It is located at 53° 24′ 44″ N, 9° 17′ 21″ W.

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

Moyvoon West

Original OS maps at the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website (Click on place name to view original map in new window.):

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

Moyvoon West

Information from Google Maps:

You can use this link to find this townland on 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

Information from townlands.ie website

http://www.townlands.ie/galway/moycullen/kilcummin/oughterard-ed/moyvoon-west/

 

This page was added on 12/02/2016.

Comments about this page

  • Regarding census of 1901 for Moyvoon West, House No. 4 records Thomas and Bridget Clancy and family members. This Thomas and Bridget Molloy would appear to be “Thomas Mulvoy and Bridget Clancy who were married in Killannin on June 29th 1877.

    No State record of this marriage. Thomas Molloy died in April 1901.
    Possible connection with “Mulvoy’s of Gortnagroagh”.

    By Jim Fahy (12/02/2016)

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.