River Moy

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River in Counties Sligo and Mayo, Ireland

title: "River Moy" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-county-sligo", "rivers-of-county-mayo"] description: "River in Counties Sligo and Mayo, Ireland" topic_path: "general/rivers-of-county-sligo" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Moy" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in Counties Sligo and Mayo, Ireland ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox river"]

Field	Value
name	River Moy
image	The River Moy at Foxford - geograph.org.uk - 486800.jpg
image_caption	River Moy at Foxford, County Mayo
native_name	ga
etymology	Old Irish muad, "noble"
source1_location	Ox Mountains, County Sligo
mouth_location	Atlantic Ocean via Killala Bay
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	Ireland
length_km	110
discharge1_avg	63 m3/s
basin_size_km2	2086
tributaries_left	Owengarve River, Gweestion River
tributaries_right	River Inagh
::

Name

Ptolemy's Geography (2nd century AD) described a river called Λιβνιου (Libniu, perhaps from *lei- "flow"), which probably referred to the River Moy.

The Moy is first named in Adomnán's Life of Columba (c. 700) as Modam fluvium. Later spellings include Muaide, Muadam, Múed, Múaid; the name An Mhuaidh is used in modern Irish. The name is possibly derived from the Old Irish word muad, meaning "noble."

Geography

The Moy rises at the foot of the Ox Mountains in County Sligo. It flows for 110 km. For the greater part of its length, it flows southwestward, entering County Mayo and passing near Swinford before passing through Foxford then turning north near the village of Kilmore and heading for the town of Ballina, where it enters the Atlantic Ocean at Killala Bay. The Moy Estuary is 5 mi long beginning at Ballina and running into Killala Bay. The catchment area of the River Moy is 2,086 km2. The long term average flow rate of the River Moy into Killala Bay is 61.5 cubic metres per second (m3/s)

The Moy valley, with its ancient churches and abbeys, is a prominent tourist destination.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/River_Moy_entrance_from_Admiralty_Chart_No_2767.jpg"] ::

The entrance to the River Moy from an 1860 chart, showing turbulent water over the bar.

Economics

The river was once among the best salmon fisheries in Europe; however, in recent times, drift net fishing off the coast caused a huge decline in salmon numbers. According to central fisheries board statistics, 101,231 returning salmon were taken by drift nets off the west coast of Ireland in 2005. In the same year, 29% (6,675) of all rod-caught salmon in Ireland were taken in the Ballina district as a result of a weir which keeps salmon trapped in the ridge pool near the mouth of the river during the summer. Drift netting for salmon was banned in November 2006 and the ban came into force on 1 January 2007.

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222354/http://www.serbd.com/MultiDownloads/Creport/Chapters/Physical%20Description%20Ch3.pdf R.O.I. Rivers Table 3.10 P.38

References

[http://www.logainm.ie/1166493.aspx River Moy] Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved: 2012-04-09.
"Proto-Indo-European Roots".
"eDIL - Irish Language Dictionary".
(24 September 1898). "The Irish Ecclesiastical Record". Browne and Nolan.
Swift, Paul. (17 July 2018). "Tributaries of the River Moy".
"Archived copy".
"DISCOVER SLIGO".
(1 November 2006). "Government to introduce salmon drift-netting ban". Irish Times.

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