Ballina, County Mayo

Ballina ( Irish: Béal Átha to Béal Átha or older to Fheadha ) is the capital of the Moy Valley in north-east County Mayo in the province of Connacht in Ireland and has 10,354 inhabitants ( 2011). It is the second largest city in Mayo. Ballina is part of the Barony of Tyrawley, is coaching, and its harbor is at the end of the funnel-shaped Killala Bay, deep in the country.

The original name was Belleek ( Béal Leice, " mouth of the flat crush A "). The present town was founded in 1723 by O'Hara, Lord of Tyrawley as the site of a cotton factory and received permission to hold a weekly market and an exhibition.

Ballina was long before ford over the River Moy, which today spans two bridges. The still imposing ruins of Friarys of Rosserk ( Franciscans) and Rathfran ( Dominicans ) and the company founded by MacWilliam Burke Augustinian monastery Moyne Abbey provided the building material for the first houses of the village.

• The dominant structure in the city is St Muredach 's Cathedral from the 19th century, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church Diocese of Killala.
• The 300 year old forest in the northwest of Belleek on the banks of the Moy is one of the oldest and the largest planted forest in Europe.

History

During the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the city was conquered by a French landing force under General Humbert. The road to Killala, where a well restored Round Tower is to say, still Old French Road.

The Dolmen of the Four Maols ( " Dolmen of the four Maols " ) is on the outskirts over Ballina. The small wedge tomb of Carrowcrom lies 7.2 km east of Ballina.