Ros Dumhach Rosdoagh / Rossport |
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Village | |
Location in Ireland | |
Coordinates: 54°16′54″N 9°47′59″W / 54.2817°N 9.7997°WCoordinates: 54°16′54″N 9°47′59″W / 54.2817°N 9.7997°W | |
Country | Ireland |
Province | Connacht |
County | County Mayo |
Elevation | 60 m (200 ft) |
Irish Grid Reference | F828384 |
Ros Dumhach is the only official name. The anglicised spelling Rosdoagh and English name Rossport have no official status. |
Rossport (Irish: Ros Dumhach; also known as Rosdoagh) is a Gaeltacht village and townland in northwest County Mayo, Ireland. It is within the barony of Erris and parish of Kilcommon. It lies close to the mouth of Broadhaven Bay on the headland where the confluence of three rivers meet (the Muingnabo, the Glenamoy and the Gweedaney) flowing into Sruth Fada Conn Bay. Its area is 1,446 acres (5.85 km2).
In 1636 the Barrett clan owned Rossport.
About the year 1707, Thomas Bournes, a Cromwellian from Co. Sligo was granted Rossport and neighbouring Muingnabo from Arthur Shaen. In 1727 he transferred his interest in Rossport to his brother George, who settled in the townland in 1756. Two other branches of the Bournes family had settled in Stonefield and Portacloy, two townlands on the Dún Chaocháin peninsula. The old Protestant graveyard well-hidden on the hillside above the village bears testament to the Protestant past of the townland. Like other landlords, the Bournes had tenants. While some landlords treated their tenants despicably, it would appear from reports that the Bournes treated their tenants with some compassion. Another George Bournes, probably a great grandson of the original man referred to previously, is reported to have written to the Protestant Bishop of Killala requesting relief for the starving tenants. The bishop got several tons of meal and potatoes and George received some of it for his tenants.
Samuel Bournes inherited Rossport from his father George and in 1832 he cleared tenant farmers off the southern end of the townland to build a substantial and commodious two-storey house with suitable offices and walled garden. He availed of the Land Loan Scheme to improve his estate – in 1849 he received £600 and in 1859, a further £300.
The Bournes estate provided some of its tenants with other employment in the form of an industrial school which taught knitting and sewing. During the famine of 1845 – 47 the Society of Friends (Quakers) sent food relief to tenants of the Bournes in Rossport.