Swinford

Swinford in County Mayo is situated on the N5, approximately halfway between Mayo's two largest towns, Castlebar and Ballina. Horan International Airport at Knock is located only 8 kilometres from the town, which makes it easily accessible to visitors and homeowners alike. The range of services and activities in the area makes it a popular location for tourists either staying in the area, or just passing through. These services include a 9-hole golf course set in the former Brabazon estate, the landed gentry family who were largely responsible for the foundation of the town in the 18th century. There are two tennis courts situated nearby, which is open all year round. There is no booking required and it is free to use all the facilities on offer.

There are a number of organised 'walking trails' in the area including the 12 mile Logcurragh/Killasser walk, just north of the town. There are also guided walks around Swinford, and a guided tour of the Famine sites in the town, which includes the facade of Swinford Workhouse, a mass famine grave and a paupers' graveyard, from the same era.

Swinford is also fortunate to be situated close to the River Moy, which has an international reputation for its salmon fishind, and its' tributaries. Swinford is also close to the fishing lakes of Callow, Lough Cullin and Lough Conn. This area is an ideal fishing haven for the angler, with stocks of salmon, brown trout, grilse and eel.

Swinford is also a convenient base for anyone who would like to explore many of Mayo's major attractions including Knock Shrine and Folk Museum, Foxford Woolen Mills, Ceide Fields, Croagh Patrick, Achill Island, Westport and The Museum of Country Life at Turlough, near the county town of Castlebar.

Origin of the name 'Swinford'

Beal Atha na Muice - Swinford

There are many varying theories as to how the town got its name. Many people say that it derives from a fordable stream which passes through the town and near which was formerly held a considerable market for swine.

Like most Irish towns, its placename has no significance or meaning unless written in the Irish language: "Beal Atha na Muice - Mouth of the Ford of the Swine". Many disagree with the above theory, regarding the derivation of the name.

The Stafford Inquisition of Mayo, which covers the ownership of land in the county during 1625-1635, names MacSweeneys, as proprietors in Carrowilliam, Lecarrow Ivy and Carrow Ivy. There are deeds in the Registering of Deeds Office which record, under the years 1790 and 1796, the leasing of parcels of land in the town of Swinford by Anthony Brabazon to Patrick MacSweeney. In most records, the name Sweeney is written "MacSwine", and what now invariable appears as Swinford is given as Swineford, so that there is much evidence, at least, to connect the two names - MacSwine and Swinford.

From Mayo Places, Their Names and Origins by O'Muraile, Nollaig (1985)

     The name was introduced by the local landlord family, the Brabazons, who established the town in the 18th century. The family originally came to Ireland from north Leicestershire in the later 16th century. One of their number, Sir Anthony, Governor of Connaught, settled near Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, in 1597, part of his estate there was called Eastwell (still a townland name), from the name of the family's principal seat in England.

     The family had another seat at Mowsley, south of Leicester, and a few miles south-west of this is a village named Swinford. Because Sir Anthony's grandson became a Catholic and fought as a captain in the Confederate Army in the wars of the 1640s, the family, deprived of its estate at Ballinasloe and, under Cromwellian transplantation, only one-third of the original estate in Co. Roscommon and in the parish of Kilconduff, the name they gave their new foundation was Swinford.

From the Ordnance Survey 1838 (John O'Donovan & Thomas O'Connor on a visit to Mayo)

     Thomas O'Connor reported that Swinford's Irish name, Beal Atha na Muice, was derived from 'a stone lying in the Swinford river immediately to the north of the bridge and resembling in form, it is imagined, the back of a pig'.

Useful Links

For more information visit the links below:

• Swinford.ie
• Swinford Golf Club