placenamesMoyvoughly
Maigh Bhachla
Estate records and archaeological research preserve traces of two different chapters in Moyvoughly’s history.
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
- Maigh Bhachla · Irish · main form · validated name
- Moyvoughly · English · main form
Place & story
An older castle site
An archaeological assessment identifies a possible castle site at Moyvoughly, recorded as WM030-024. It describes a roughly rectangular earthwork visible in aerial photographs, whose identification remains tentative. A castle appears on the 1657 Down Survey maps of Rathconrath barony and Ballymore parish, but does not appear on the later Ordnance Survey six-inch maps. The record concerns a site rather than a standing castle. [2]
Moyvoughly Lodge
The University of Galway’s Landed Estates database records Moyvoughly Lodge on the first Ordnance Survey map and Moyvoughly House on the later twenty-five-inch map. C. Arabin was living there by 1837. By Griffith’s Valuation, published in 1854, John Ennis held the property outright. The changing map names and ownership records document a nineteenth-century country house distinct from the earlier castle site. [3]
Railway connections and surviving buildings
Drawing on O’Brien’s estate history, the database associates Moyvoughly with railway entrepreneur William Dargan, who rented the house from Ennis and used its lands for railway horses. Thomas Maher leased the property in the mid-1850s and subsequently purchased it. The Fallon family acquired it in the twentieth century. The principal house has been demolished, although the database records surviving stables and other outbuildings. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Westmeath
- Barony
- Rathconrath
- Civil parish
- Ballymore
- Coordinates
- 53.44571, -7.69896 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 137366 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Moyvoughly. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Umma More Renewable Energy Development EIAR, chapter13, page13-86 · MKO, cultural heritage assessment
- Moyvoughly, property5769 · University of Galway, Landed Estates
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.