The area was originally called Baile na mBocht in Irish and Anglicised as "Ballinamought".[2] A number of works, including those of etymologist and historian Patrick Weston Joyce, translate Baile 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 medieval leper colony.[3] A path leading from the area towards the river, known in Irish as Siúl na Lobhar (literally 'Lepers Walk') is known in English as "Lover's Walk".[4]
Geography
Mayfield is bounded to the north by the Glen River Valley, an aquiferous geological formation produced by a receding glacier during the last ice age. Habitats, flora and fauna within the area include the small cudweed and the sand 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]
^ abcJoyce, Patrick Weston (1902). Irish Local Names Explained. M.H. Gill. p. 13. Ballinamought near Cork; Baile-na-mbocht , the town of the poor people
^ abKelleher, Hilary; McCarthy, Fintan (2011). Brett, Ciara (ed.). A Study Of The Cemeteries, Graveyards And Burial Places Within Cork City(PDF) (Report). Cork City Council. p. 19. 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
^"Peek inside the €2.4m 'Tribute House' on Lover's Walk". Irish Independent. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2023. Lovers' Walk [..] is a mistranslation of Siúl na Lobhar, or Lepers' Walk, as there was once a leper colony in the area
