Mayfield, Cork
Suburb of Cork city, Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mayfield, historically Ballinamought (from Irish Baile na mBocht, meaning 'town of the poor'),[1][2] is a suburb on the north-side of Cork city, Ireland. Mayfield is part of the Dáil constituency of Cork North-Central.
Name
The area was originally called Baile na mBocht in Irish and Anglicised as "Ballinamought".[2] A number of works, including those of etymologist and historian Patrick Weston Joyce, translate Baile na mBocht as "town of the poor [people]".[2][3] Other sources translate it as "town of the sick",[citation needed] as the area was reputedly the site of a medieval leper colony.[3] A path leading from the area towards the river, known in Irish as Siúl na Lobhar (literally 'Lepers Walk') is known in English as "Lover's Walk".[4]
Geography
Mayfield is 3 km north-east of the city centre. It is bounded to the north by the Glen River Valley, an aquiferous geological formation produced by a receding glacier during the last ice age. Habitats, flora and fauna within the area include the small cudweed and the sand martin, a migratory bird species that returns from North Africa each spring to breed in the porous sand cliffs along sections of the river valley north.[citation needed]
Notable people
- Michael Davitt, poet[5]
- Dara Murphy, former Lord Mayor of Cork[6]
- Roy Keane, Irish footballer, was born and grew up in Mayfield[7]
- James Coughlan, Irish rugby union player for Munster[citation needed]
- Kieran Murphy, former Cork senior hurling captain[citation needed]