Editing County Mayo (section)

===17th and 18th centuries===
[[File:Guillermo Brown 1865.jpg|thumb|right|[[William Brown (admiral)|William Brown]] is considered to be a founding father and national hero in [[Argentina]] thanks to his efforts during the [[Argentine War of Independence]] and subsequent wars to defend the newfound nation]]
Pirate Queen [[Grace O'Malley]] is probably the best-known person from County Mayo between the mid-16th century and the turn of the 17th century.<ref>{{cite web | last = Chambers | first = Anne | title = Grace O'Malley - Time Line | url = http://www.graceomalley.com/timeline.php | access-date = 18 August 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131026061513/http://www.graceomalley.com/timeline.php | archive-date = 26 October 2013}}</ref> In the 1640s, when Oliver Cromwell overthrew the English monarchy and set up a parliamentarian government, Ireland suffered severely. With a stern regime in absolute control needing to pay its armies and allies, the need to pay them with grants of land in Ireland led to the '[[to hell or to Connaught]]' policies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.libraryireland.com/IrishIndependence/22.php|title="Hell or Connacht," 1653-1654|website=www.libraryireland.com|access-date=20 June 2019|archive-date=20 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620075816/https://www.libraryireland.com/IrishIndependence/22.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Displaced native Irish families from other (eastern and southern mostly) parts of the country were either forced to leave the country or were awarded grants of land 'west of the Shannon' and put off their own lands in the east. The land in the west was divided and sub-divided between more and more people as huge estates were granted on the best land in the east to those who best pleased the English.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irish-society.org/Hedgemaster%20Archives/Cromwell_2.htm |title=The Irish Cultural Society of the Garden City Area |access-date=2007-11-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011165306/http://www.irish-society.org/Hedgemaster%20Archives/Cromwell_2.htm |archive-date=11 October 2007}}</ref> Mayo does not seem to have been affected much during the [[Williamite War in Ireland]], though many natives were outlawed and exiled.

For the vast majority of people in County Mayo the 18th century was a period of unrelieved misery. Because of the [[Penal Laws against Irish Catholics|penal laws]], Catholics had no hope of social advancement while they remained in their native land. Some, like [[William Brown (admiral)|William Brown]] (1777–1857), left Foxford with his family at the age of nine and thirty years later was an admiral in the fledgeling Argentine Navy. Today he is a national hero in that country.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.con-telegraph.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=326:illustrious-and-amazing-career-of-admiral-william-brown&catid=52:mayo-history&Itemid=89 |title=Illustrious and amazing career of Admiral William Brown |access-date=5 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718052150/http://www.con-telegraph.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=326:illustrious-and-amazing-career-of-admiral-william-brown&catid=52:mayo-history&Itemid=89 |archive-date=18 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The general unrest in Ireland was felt just as keenly across Mayo, and as the 19th century approached and news reached Ireland about the [[American War of Independence]] and the [[French Revolution]], the downtrodden Irish, constantly suppressed by Government policies and decisions from Dublin and London, began to rally themselves for their own stand against British rule in their country. 1798 saw Mayo become a central part of the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|United Irishmen Rebellion]] when [[Jean Joseph Amable Humbert|General Humbert]] from France landed in [[Killala]] with over 1,000 soldiers playing to support the main uprising.  They marched across the county towards the administrative centre of Castlebar, leading to the [[Battle of Castlebar]]. Taking the garrison by surprise Humbert's army was victorious. He established a [[Irish Republic (1798)|' Republic of Connacht']] with [[John Moore (Irish politician)|John Moore]] of the Moore family from [[Moore Hall, County Mayo|Moore Hall]] near Partry as its head. Humbert's army marched on towards Sligo, Leitrim and Longford where they were suddenly faced with a massive British army and were forced to surrender in less than half an hour. The French soldiers were treated honourably, but for the Irish the surrender meant slaughter. Many died on the scaffold in towns like Castlebar and Claremorris, where the high sheriff for County Mayo, the Honourable [[Denis Browne (politician)|Denis Browne]], M.P., brother of Lord Altamont, wreaked a terrible vengeance – thus earning for himself the nickname which has survived in folk memory to the present day, 'Donnchadh an Rópa' (Denis of the Rope).

In the 18th century and early 19th century, sectarian tensions arose as evangelical Protestant missionaries sought to 'redeem the Irish poor from the errors of Popery'. One of the best known was the [[Edward Nangle|Rev. Edward Nangle]]'s mission at Dugort in [[Achill Island|Achill]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mayococo.ie/en/Services/Environment/LeisureAmenities/Beaches/Doogort/|title=Mayo County Council - County Mayo, Ireland -- Doogort|website=www.mayococo.ie|access-date=6 July 2010|archive-date=17 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017111506/http://www.mayococo.ie/en/Services/Environment/LeisureAmenities/Beaches/Doogort/|url-status=live}}</ref> These too were the years of the campaign for [[Catholic Emancipation]] and, later, for the abolition of the tithes, which a predominately Catholic population was forced to pay for the upkeep of the clergy of the Established (Protestant) Church.