The Granaghan homeland

The Granaghans

The next step brings us closer to the Stevens Story. Anthony Granaghan was our great-grandfather was the first of our Irish ancestors to come to Australia. He was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1850/52, the son of Anthony Granaghan, senior, and Ann Clerk. His family leased land in the Townland of Ballykinlettragh,
the Parish of Kilfian,
the Barony of Tirawley,
in the county of Mayo.

 

The County of Mayo in the west of Ireland

 

Thanks to Griffith’s Valuation, I have been able to locate their farm in the north of County Mayo.
Ballycastle, on the wild north coast, was the nearest village, less than 10 miles away and Killala, another village to the east.  Ballina was a small town to the south-east. From Wikipedia we learn that “the west (of Ireland) consists largely of poor subsoils and is covered with large areas of extensive Atlantic blanket bog, whereas the east is largely a limestone landscape. Agricultural land is therefore more productive in the east than in the west.“

Griffith’s valuation is an Irish treasure trove for genealogists. Between the 1820s and the 1840s, the British government (which ruled Ireland) commissioned a geologist, Richard Griffith, to survey every single landholding in Ireland and assess its value, so that taxes could be levied consistently throughout the country. Every property was described, giving the name of the tenant, the land owner, a description of the property and, of course, its rateable value, an estimate of productivity. The Valuation for county Mayo was completed and published in 1856.

This map shows, at Number 40, the position of the parish of Kilfian, where the Granahans lived, within County Mayo.