Crossmolina’s connections with family history include John O’Hart’s nineteenth-century scholarship and the later research centre established beside nearby Lough Conn.
Illustration, Saint Tiernan's Church, Crossmolina
⊕Recorded locationCrossmolina54.10114° N · 9.31738° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
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
Crois Mhaoilíona· Irish · main form · validated name
Crossmolina· English · main form
Place & story
People & connections
John O’Hart and the search for ancestry
John O'Hart was born into an Irish-speaking family in Crossmolina in 1824 and attended John Corley's classical school in the town. After a short period in the constabulary, he became a teacher and devoted much of his spare time to genealogy. His Irish Pedigrees, first published in 1876, made his work widely known. The Dictionary of Irish Biography cautions that his enthusiasm for ancient lineages drew on invasion myths as well as historical material. His books are part of genealogy's own history; an asserted descent from legendary ancestors should not be treated as a verified family tree.[2]
The older house inside Enniscoe
Near Crossmolina, Enniscoe House overlooks Lough Conn beneath Nephin. Its late Georgian exterior encloses an earlier house, whose surviving structure can still be identified within the later building. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage draws attention to an elliptical staircase rising to a top-lit oval landing and to the reception rooms facing the lake. The surrounding estate includes an ornamental walled garden restored in the late 1990s and a farmyard adapted as the North Mayo Heritage Centre. These layers record rebuilding and reuse across the house, gardens and working buildings.[3]
Research rooted in parish records
The North Mayo family-history centre near Crossmolina is one of the two principal centres identified by Mayo County Library for genealogical research in the county. Its records include church registers and civil registration material, whose starting dates and survival vary. The library particularly notes losses affecting some Church of Ireland registers in the 1922 Public Record Office fire. This practical record-based work provides a useful counterpart to O'Hart's ambitious pedigrees. For families tracing a local connection, a named parish, congregation and date range are firmer starting points than a shared surname alone.[4]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Crossmolina — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Crossmolina, Mayo — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Crossmolina, Mayo — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Crossmolina, Mayo — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Crossmolina, Mayo
Published census settlement populations
1,044people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
Saint Tiernan's Church, Crossmolina illustration: based on a Saint Tiernans Church, Crossmolina, County Mayo, Ireland by Mike Kinsella. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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