FOXFORD, a market-town and post-town, in the parish
of TOOMORE, barony of GALLEN, county of MAYO, and
province of CONNAUGHT, 8 milcs (S.) from Ballina, and
132 (N. W. by W.) from Dublin, on the river Moy, and
on the road from Ballimi to Swinford; containing 1068
inhabitants, and consisting of 209 houses indifferently built.
The Irish, or Celtic, term for Foxford is Belass,
signifying the "mouth of a cutaract." During the disturbances
of 1798, when the French, under Gen, Humbert,
had taken possesion of the town of Ballina, the
garrison, under Col. Sir T. Chapman and Major Keir, retreated
to this place; and Gen. Humbert, on abandoning
Castlebar, passcd with his army through the town,
on his route to Sligo. It is a place of verv great, antiquity,
and was formerly the key of Tyrawley; from it
the district, which extends a considerable distance,
even into the adjoining county of Galway, takes its
name it is mostly surrounded by a chain of high
mountains. The beautiful river Moy, which in its
course receives the principal waters of the county of
Mnyo, until it discharges itself into the sea at Ballina,
runs through the town, where it is crossed by a very
ancient bridge of sevcral arches., now in a state of decay.
By the dissolution of the Linen Board, 140 looms in
this town anil ncighbourhood were thrown out of employment:
the only trade carried on is in corn. The
market is on Thursday, and fairs are held, chiefly for
cattle, on May 16th. June 25th, Oct. 3rd, and Dec, 10th.
‘Ihere is a market and court- house, where petty sessions
are held on alternate Friday a constabulary police
station, and an infantry barrack. This place is remarkable
for the longrevity of the inhabitants, being considercd
one the healthiest spot in this or any of the
adjoining counties. In the town stand the parish church
and a R. C. chapel, and there are two public schools.
About there miles distant, on the castlebar road, are
the ruins of an extensive monastery, still inhabited by a
solitary individual of the order, and accrording as one
dies this place is supplied by another. At a ford a little
below the town is a huge rock, called Cromwell's rock,
where it is stated the Protector's army crossed the
May, during the civil war. A few years since, which
the streets were undergoing some repairs, a deep pit
was sunk at the corner of the main street, to raise
travel, on which occasion a great number of human
skulls and skeletons was dug up, evidently indicating
the scene of some battle.