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
Béal Easa· Irish · main form · validated name
Foxford· English · main form
Place & story
People & connections
Mother Arsenius and the Providence Mill
Agnes Morrogh Bernard, known in religious life as Mother Mary Arsenius, established a convent in Foxford in 1891 and opened the Providence Mill on 25 April 1892. Michael Davitt recommended the help of John Charles Smith of Caledon Mills, who advised on machinery and factory organisation. Her work extended beyond manufacturing to a cooperative creamery, horticulture and household nutrition. The Dictionary of Irish Biography also records her resistance to pressure to dismiss workers who supported Parnell. The mill was part of a wider attempt to create employment and improve living conditions in the district.[2]
People & connections
William Brown’s return from Argentina
William Brown was born in Foxford in 1777 and became a merchant captain before commanding Argentina's early naval forces. His later life centred on Buenos Aires, where he had settled in 1811. In 1847 he returned to Ireland seeking relatives in Mayo and encountered the devastation of the Famine. The visit connects his international career with the circumstances of the place he had left. Although some details of his early seafaring years remain uncertain, his Foxford birth and leading role in Argentina's naval history are recorded in the Dictionary of Irish Biography.[3]
Folklore & tradition
Hounds, a wild pig and a lake name
An older place-name tale about nearby Lough Conn appears in Whitley Stokes's 1892 translation of the Bodleian Dinnshenchas. In this account, hounds belonging to Manannán mac Lir and Mod pursue a destructive pig. The animal escapes into the lake; the hounds follow and drown, while the pig reaches an island. The story connects the lake and island names with that pursuit. It is a literary explanation within medieval place-name lore, not a documented account of the lake's formation or an explanation of Foxford's own name.[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.
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Foxford — 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.
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Foxford, 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.
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Foxford, 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.
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Foxford, Mayo — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Foxford, Mayo
Published census settlement populations
1,315people · 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.
placenames