Mag Lena

53°17′N 7°31′W / 53.29°N 7.52°W / 53.29; -7.52[1]

Mag Lena, Mag Léna, or Mag Léne (anglicised Moylena[2] or Moylen[3]) was the name of a plain or heath in the Gaelic Irish territory of Firceall, between modern Tullamore and Durrow in County Offaly.[2] Mag Lena straddled the Esker Riada,[4] was near the border between Mide and Laigin (Leinster),[5] and is mentioned in Irish manuscripts as the site of several legendary, pseudohistorical, and historical events. The civil parish of Kilbride in Ballycowan was "Kilbride al[ias] Moylena" in the time of Charles I.[2][1] According to John O'Donovan, the name Moleany was still being used in 1837 for the corresponding Catholic parish[2] (formally Kilbride or Tullamore, and united to Durrow, in the Diocese of Meath[6]). By then the area was agricultural rather than heathland.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Kilbride/Cill Bhríde". logainm.ie. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d O'Donovan 2008 p. ix
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Charles-Edwards2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ O'Donovan 2008 pp. 30–31
  5. ^ O'Donovan 2008 p. 92
  6. ^
  7. ^ O'Donovan 2008 p. 32