Mayfield Baile na mBocht | |
|---|---|
Suburb | |
 Old Youghal Road, Mayfield | |
  Mayfield Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates:51°54′48″N08°26′03″W / 51.91333°N 8.43417°W /51.91333; -8.43417 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| Administrative area | Cork (city) |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-1 (IST (WEST)) |
Mayfield, historicallyBallinamought (fromIrishBaile na mBocht, meaning 'town of the poor'),[1][2] is a suburb on the north-side ofCork city, Ireland. Mayfield is part of theDáil constituency ofCork North-Central.
The area was originally calledBaile na mBocht inIrish and Anglicised as "Ballinamought".[2] A number of works, including those of etymologist and historianPatrick Weston Joyce, translateBaile 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 medievalleper colony.[3] A path leading from the area towards the river, known in Irish asSiúl na Lobhar (literally 'Lepers Walk') is known in English as "Lover's Walk".[4]
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 thelast ice age. Habitats, flora and fauna within the area include thesmall cudweed and thesand 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]
Ballinamought near Cork; Baile-na-mbocht, the town of the poor people
The townland name, Ballinamought West, derives from Baile na mBought, meaning the town of the poor. It is believed that Baile na mBocht was a leper colony during early medieval times
Lovers' Walk [..] is a mistranslation of Siúl na Lobhar, or Lepers' Walk, as there was once a leper colony in the area
51°54′48″N8°26′03″W / 51.91333°N 8.43417°W /51.91333; -8.43417
