Ballycroy, County Mayo
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ballycroy ( meaning "town of the stacks", either hay or turf) is a village in the
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Kilcommon Kilcommon () is a civil parish in Erris, north County Mayo, consisting of two large peninsulas; Dún Chaocháin and Dún Chiortáin. It consists of 37 townlands, some of which are so remote that they have no inhabitants. Habitation is conc ...
in
County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
, Ireland. It was the location for the 1982 television film '' The Ballroom of Romance''. The ballroom used in the film still exists, albeit in a derelict condition, and is located at Doona Cross, west of the village. Ballycroy is home to one of Ireland's National Parks, Wild Nephin (Ballycroy) National Park. Ballycroy is also the name of two electoral divisions (ED) that form part of the
local electoral area A local electoral area (LEA; ) is an electoral area for elections to Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authorities in Ireland. All elections in the Republic of Ireland, elections use the single transferable vote. Republic of Ir ...
of
Belmullet Belmullet (, IPA: bʲeːlənˠˈwʊɾˠhəd̪ˠ is a coastal Gaeltacht town with a population of 1,019 on the Mullet Peninsula in the barony (Ireland), barony of Erris, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the commercial and cul ...
. As of 2011, Ballycroy North ED (containing 16
townlands A townland (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Outer Hebrides, Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Middle Ages, medieval Gael ...
) and Ballycroy South ED (containing 25 townlands) had a combined population of 663 people, scattered throughout numerous settlements.


History


Early history

According to tradition, the first settlers in Ballycroy were from the Belgic Damnonii tribe, the
Fir Domnann The Fir Domnann were a people named in Irish legendary history. The name ''Fir Domnann'' is based on the root ''dumno''-, which means both 'deep' and 'the world'. The suffix -''on''- often occurs in Gaulish and British divine names. The tribal n ...
. Prehistoric settlement is recorded with structures including a
portal tomb A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (40003000 BCE) and ...
near Claggan Hill and a
court cairn The court cairn or court tomb is a megalithic type of chambered cairn or gallery grave. During the period, 3900–3500 BC, more than 390 court cairns were built in Ireland and over 100 in southwest Scotland. The Neolithic (New Stone Age) mon ...
in the townland of Drumgallagh. Similarly, a medieval church dedicated to Enda of Aran once stood here, since demolished. A similar historic fort is mentioned in Lettra as extant during the era of Táin Bó Fliadhas. Meanwhile, Fahy, a nearby townland, is home to a castle. The coast of Fahy experienced wrecks of Spanish ships as part of the
Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval ...
. A bridle path that ran from
Bangor Erris Bangor Erris () is a town in Kiltane parish in Erris, County Mayo, Ireland with a population of over 300. It is on the banks of the Owenmore River and is a "gateway" to the Erris Peninsula linking Belmullet with Ballina and Westport. It i ...
to Newport once passed through the area, it was used by Sir Richard Bingham to drive cattle from Erris. In the 17th century the Cormack family owned Ballycroy. After supporting
Jacobitism Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, ...
Cormack's descendants lost their land, which was then given to the Shaens.


17th century settlement

In 1654 Catholics were expelled from
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
to Mayo and several resettled in Ballycroy and the neighbouring
Barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...
of
Burrishoole Burrishoole () is one of the nine historical baronies of County Mayo in Ireland. It is named after the former Gaelic territory of Umhaill, which also included Murrisk barony, and roughly means "the borough or territory of Umhall" or "the owle ...
. Believed to have landed at Fahy, they were guided to Ballycroy by the O'Donnell family, several of these later converted to
Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
.


Later history

The people were described in the 19th century by Patrick Knight as continuing to maintain their Ulster dialect, intermarrying within their community. Several hunting lodges were constructed, including one used as a station for the
Black and Tans The Black and Tans () were constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as reinforcements during the Irish War of Independence. Recruitment began in Great Britain in January 1920, and about 10,000 men enlisted during the conflic ...
. In the early 20th century, the Congested Districts Board and the
Irish Land Commission The Irish Land Commission was created by the British crown in 1843 to "inquire into the occupation of the land in Ireland. The office of the commission was in Dublin Castle, and the records were, on its conclusion, deposited in the records tower ...
purchased the land around Ballycroy and gradually distributed it to tenants, settling herders to lower lands. The
Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...
leader Jack McNeela was born in Ballycroy. After 55 days on
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...
, he died in Dublin on 19 April 1940 at age 26.


Geography

The village is located on the
N59 road N59 may refer to: * N59 road (Ireland) * N59 highway (Philippines) * , a submarine of the Royal Navy * Nebraska Highway 59, in the United States * Rosaschi Air Park, in Lyon County, Nevada, United States {{Road disambiguation ...
. The two Ballcroy EDs cover approximately 51,943 acres, with a large portion consisting of mountain pasture.
William Hamilton Maxwell William Hamilton Maxwell (30 June 1792 in Newry, County Down, Ireland – 29 December 1850 in Musselburgh, Scotland) was an Irish novelist, historian and clergyman. Biography Early life and Career Maxwell William Hamilton, son of merchant James ...
in ''Wild Sports of the West'' (1832) described the terrain as characterised by bogs, morasses, expansive waters, and grazing lands. The local bedrock mainly consists of formations of
quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
and mica-rich slate. The Owenduff River and the Bellyveeny Rivers run through the townland.


Religion

A
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
church dedicated to the
Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...
was constructed in the townland of Castlehill. Built in 1850 and consecrated in 1854, the church, designed by the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorised to determine the distribution of revenues of the Ch ...
, is now in ruins. The church was closed in 1963 and fell into disrepair by 1991. The local
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
church was completed in 1853 and is dedicated to the
Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...
. The foundation stone for the church was laid in 1845 and was built in the shape of a cross. The old Catholic Church, a thatched building in the townland of Gortbrack, was destroyed during the
Night of the Big Wind The Night of the Big Wind () was a powerful European windstorm that swept across what was then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, beginning on the afternoon of 6 January 1839, causing severe damage to property and several hundred d ...
in 1839.


Amenities

In the village of Ballycroy there is a school, Garda station, two pubs, a cemetery and the visitor centre for the Wild Nephin National Park. A community centre opened in 1984.


See also

* List of towns and villages in Ireland


References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Mayo