MAYO, a maritime county in Ireland, having the Atlantic Ocean on the north and west, and the counties of Galway, Roscommon, and Sligo, on the south and east. Castlebar, the principal town, is in north latitude 53° 50', west longitude 9° 8'. It contains 2339 square miles, or 1,496,960 English acres; and is divided into nine baronies, and 62 parishes. Mayo is situated in the province of Connaught; and the see of Killala, whose bishop resides at the town of that name in this county, is within the archbishopric of Tuam.
A large proportion of the surface of Mayo consists of mountains, bogs, and lakes. More than half the county, particularly on the west and north-west, may be described as mountainous; and much of this tract is covered with heath, though the sides of many of the hills are green, and the valleys in some places remarkably fertile. Croagh Patrick is 2661 feet high, and Mount Nephin 2630 feet. On the west coast, which is exceedingly irregular, are Broad Haven, Blacksod Bay, and Newport, or Clew Bay, arms of the sea; and a number of small islands, of which Clare, at the entrance to Newport Bay, is the most considerable; and on the north is the bay of Killala. From Castlebar to the inland boundary on the east and south, the country is in general less rugged, and contains a great number of small towns and villages. There is very little full grown wood in Mayo, and the greater part is without plantations. With the exception of Lord Sligo's grounds, on the south-west, and the demesnes of a few other proprietors, the country is naked, and exposed to every storm.
The principal lakes are Lough Carra, Lough Waters, Mask, the Lake of Rahins, and Lough Conn; the latter is about nine Irish miles long, and four broad. The rivers are, the Robe and Black river, the Erriff, the Deel, and the Moy, with several smaller streams. The Moy is navigable for boats of 50 tons a few miles from its mouth.
Iron-ore, slate, ochre, manganese, sandstone, and pipe and brick clays, are plentiful. Iron works were formerly carried on to some extent, but, as in many other parts of Ireland, have been discontinued, from the want of fuel. Near Westport there is a quarry of slates of a quality equal to any brought from England. Here also are great rocks of the Petrosilex semilucidus, similar to that which is used in the English potteries.
Mayo is divided into estates worth from £7000 to £20,000 a year; but their extent, owing to their containing a great proportion of waste land, is still greater than in the ratio of their value. If a qualification of £1000 per annum were required, two grand juries might be formed in this county.
Agriculture is in a very backward state. The plough, commonly drawn by four horses abreast, is of the worst description, and the harrows are often furnished with tines of wood, instead of iron. It is
Mayo. still the practice, in the mountain district, to yoke the horses by the tail. But, in some of the baronies, the plough is seldom or never employed at all, the tillage being performed by the spade, and in others they use the spade in cultivating potatoes, and the plough only for corn. Yet potatoes, oats, and on the sea coast, barley, are sown to a considerable extent, and also flax. Wheat is cultivated only in particular spots, and chiefly by proprietors, a few of whom have also introduced turnips, peas, beans, rape, and cabbage. There is some excellent grazing land for cattle in the barony of Tyrawley, and good sheep pastures in Kilmain. Some graziers hold 3000 Irish acres. The English long-horned cattle, which were imported by the principal proprietors, have greatly improved the native breed.
Farms. The size of farms varies with the nature of the soil and surface, but, though several hundred acres are sometimes let out in one farm, yet, as the farms are commonly held in partnership, the space allotted to each tenant is generally only a few acres. As each of them keeps a horse, it is computed that there is one for every ten or twelve Irish acres. The leases are for different periods, 15 years, 21 years, and one, two, and sometimes three lives, or 31 years.
Towns. Dr Macparlan, the author of the Statistical Survey of Mayo, enumerates forty-six towns at which fairs are held, but most of them are only small villages. The principal towns are Castlebar, Westport, Ballina, Killala, Clare, Ballinrobe, and Newport. None of them are of such importance as to be represented in Parliament. The assizes are held alternately at Castlebar and Ballinrobe.
Wages and Prices. The habitations of the labourers, or cottiers, are in general very wretched, and shared by them with their cow and pig. The cost of a cabin is from L.3 to L.5. The fuel is almost universally bog-turf. Potatoes, oatmeal, milk, and herrings, are, with few exceptions, their only articles of food, the lower classes seldom tasting meat. They are clothed in their domestic manufactures, frizes, druggets, flannels, and linen; a man's complete suit, including hat, shirt, stockings, and shoes, with a great coat, costs about L.2, 17s. 3d. Irish currency. The subsistence of a family of six is said to be worth from L.15 to L.20. The common price of labour, in 1802, was 8d. a-day; potatoes, 1s. 1d. per cwt.; beef, 3d. and mutton 3½d. per pound. In 1811, according to Mr Wakefield's information, the wages of common labour were L.12 for the half-year; and, in hay and corn harvest, 1s. 8d. per day: the price of potatoes 3d. per stone; beef and mutton, 7d. per pound; oatmeal, 12s. 6d. per cwt.; milk, 2d. and butter-milk, 1d. per quart. The English language, according to Dr Macparlan, is general, though, in the mountain barony of Erris, many are entirely ignorant of it; but Mr Wakefield found the Irish universally spoken.
Fisheries. Killala, in some seasons, employs fifty boats in the herring-fishery. At Killery Bay, on the south-west, and Ballina, on the north-east, there are considerable salmon-fisheries, and smaller ones at Newport, and other places.
Manufactures. The linen manufacture is the only one that affords a surplus beyond the wants of the population;
but, though it is general throughout the county, it is not conducted on a great scale by individuals. At Castlebar there is a linen-hall. The other articles are coarse woollens for home consumption. At Newport a number of girls are employed in making straw bonnets.
The county of Mayo sends two members to Parliament; the Marquis of Sligo and Lord Viscount Dillon have the greatest influence. On the estate of the latter alone there are 2100 registered freeholders. The number of inhabitants, in 1790, is stated by Dr Beaufort at 140,000. The great majority are Catholics; throughout some districts, of fifty miles in extent, there is not one Protestant church.
See Dr Macparlan's Statistical Survey of Mayo, and the works quoted under the former Irish counties. (A.)