placenamesLurga
An Lorgain
Accounts of tenant negotiations and schoolteachers preserve Lurga's links with neighbouring Charlestown and with a later archbishop of Manila.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Lorgain · Irish · main form · validated name
- Lurga · English · main form
Place & story
A tenant representative
A biographical account published by Our Irish Heritage places Seamus Ban O'Doherty, grandfather of the future Archbishop Michael O'Doherty, on a farm in Lurga. It credits him with representing local tenants in negotiations with Charles Strickland, Viscount Dillon's agent, when the estate was surveyed and holdings reorganised after the Great Famine. The account also remembers his hedge-school education, command of Irish and English, and ability to lead prayers in Latin at funerals. [2]
A family of teachers
Seamus Ban's son Michael became a national-school teacher and married another teacher, Julia Kelly, in Charlestown in July 1868. Their careers took them to Kiltimagh in 1884, where they headed the boys' and girls' schools respectively. Their son Michael, born in 1874, later became Archbishop of Manila. Lurga's association is through this family background; the account places his baptism in Charlestown rather than identifying Lurga as his birthplace. [2]
Memories of neighbouring schools
Retired teacher Delia Henry's account of Tavneena records Bridget Gallagher's birth in Lurga in 1835 and her attendance at a hedge school near the crossroads called the Star in upper Tavneena. Henry identified Gallagher's grandchildren and another local informant as sources for this early school history. She also remembered a Mrs Moran, born Kenny of Lurga, becoming principal of Tavneena's girls' school: another connection between the locality and education in its surrounding district. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Mayo
- Barony
- Costello
- Civil parish
- Kilbeagh
- Within
- Lurga Lower
- Coordinates
- 53.91981, -8.77632 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1166424 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Lurga. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Michael O'Doherty: family background · Our Irish Heritage, 101 Mayo People
- Tavneena: 100 Years Ago, 15 April 2002 · Delia Henry, Mayo Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.