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Extent of the surnames, Burke & Bourke, in the county of Mayo, 1856/57

Home > Family history > Ireland > Burke of Kilcolman > Extent of the surname in county Mayo, 1856/57

Edward McLysaght (1887-1986), former Chief Herald and Genealogical Officer at the Irish Office of Arms, compiled a map of the historic clans of Mayo:—the Mayo County Library hosts this map online mayo.ie/library/. 1 When compared to a map which shows the place names of county Mayo, 2 the Burke surname appears to have predominated in an area ranging from Castlebar, a town 26 km. northwest of Claremorris, over to the village of Knock.

In 1856/57, Richard Griffith’s Ordnance Survey team enumerated 656 Burke and Bourke households in the county of Mayo. The map, below, 3 illustrates the distribution of the Burke and Bourke surnames from Griffith’s survey. The highest numbers of landholders occurred in the parishes of Ballinrobe (48), Oughaval (38), and Kilcolman (Clanmorris) (30). Taking the barony as a larger territorial measure, the highest numbers of landholders were found in the Baronies of Ballinrobe (132), Tirawley (129), Carra (119), and Clanmorris (81). The barony of Clanmorris contains the parish of Kilcolman, including the town of Claremorris, and parts of the parishes of Tagheen, Balla, Crossboyne, Mayo, Rattoo, and Kilvine.

Kilpatrick, Alison. County Mayo: Extent of the surnames, Burke or Bourke, in Griffith’s Valuation, 1856/57. Adapted from the map of county Mayo created by Richard Pettit richpettit.com map of county Mayo (accessed 6th May 2015). — The lightest shades of grey indicate proportionably fewer Burke/Bourke households within a particular parish. Darker shades of grey indicate greater numbers. Medium and bright shades of green signify the highest frequencies of these surnames. Blue arrow points to the barony of Clanmorris, while the dot shows the location of the town of Claremorris.
    
Click here to view a larger map.

As a cautionary note, this map is not representative of the distribution of Burke / Bourke as at 1800. Rather, the map should be viewed with the understanding that, after 1800, the population shifted, almost continuously. For example, people began to emigrate in ever greater numbers. During the late 1840s, the Great Famine decimated much of the population of the county Mayo, including the parish of Kilcolman (Clanmorris). Many of those who remained in Ireland drifted away from rural holdings into the towns and cities. Although this 1857 map cannot be said to represent the same distribution of the Burke and Bourke surnames across the county Mayo c.1800, it does show that, by mid century, households under these surnames were more concentrated in the southern part of the county, near the border with the county Galway.

See also :

Footnotes :

  1. McLysaght, Edward. Irish Families: Their Names, Arms and Origins. Dublin: E. McLysaght, 1957. Cited by the Mayo County Library, under the title, “Clans of Mayo” (accessed 6th May 2015). ↩︎
  2. Joyce, P.W., and A.M. Sullivan. Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland. New York: Murphy & McCarthy, 1900. ↩︎
  3. Kilpatrick, Alison. County Mayo: Distribution of Burke and Bourke Surnames in Griffith’s Valuation, 1856/57. Adapted from Richard Pettit‘s map of county Mayo (accessed 6th May 2015). ↩︎

End notes :

Source citation for this page: Kilpatrick, Alison. “Extent of the surnames, Burke or Bourke, in county Mayo.” Published to Arborealis, online at arborealis.ca/family-history/irish/burke/extent-surname/, accessed [insert date].

All rights reserved. Alison Kilpatrick ©2021.

Updated 1st Nov. 2023; edited 27th Dec. 2023.