placenamesBellanamullia
Béal Átha na Muille
Bellanamullia, locally Bealnamulla, grew beside the Crannagh Cross River west of Athlone. Its mills, former police barracks and voluntarily built handball alley preserve different aspects of work, conflict and recreation in the village.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Béal Átha na Muille · Irish · main form · validated name
- Bellanamullia · English · main form
- Bealnamulla · English · main form · local name
Place & story
Doyle’s Mill and a later restoration
James Doyle, an Athlone corn merchant, took over the mill at Bealnamulla in 1865. He entrusted its operation to Owen Hughes from Kiltoom. An accidental fire destroyed the mill in 1925, when James’s son Battie owned it. The building remained vacant until Neil O’Shea, a great-grandson of James Doyle, restored it. Local historian Gearoid O’Brien’s 2022 account describes its subsequent use as the Mill Bar, with accommodation and a restaurant, giving the former industrial building a new role in village life. [2]
The handball alley
Bealnamulla’s handball alley was built in 1928 on a site donated by local farmer Thomas Bannon. Voluntary labour and the encouragement of a curate in Saint Peter’s parish helped bring it into being. O’Brien’s history connects the alley with the village’s strong twentieth-century handball tradition. The project provides a concrete example of residents creating a sporting facility through donated land and their own work. [2]
The evacuated barracks in 1920
A Bureau of Military History witness statement records that the RIC withdrew from Bealnamulla’s barracks before Easter 1920. The witness recalled that local Volunteers burned the evacuated building on Easter Saturday night as part of the wider campaign against abandoned police stations. The same account contrasts this withdrawal with the continued occupation and strengthening of Clonark barracks. This is a participant’s retrospective account of the changing police presence in the district during the War of Independence. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Roscommon
- Barony
- Athlone South
- Civil parish
- Saint Peter's
- Within
- Athlone West Rural
- Coordinates
- 53.42811, -8.01505 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414617 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Bellanamullia. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Street Wise – Bealnamulla, 28 August 2022 · Gearoid O’Brien / Westmeath Independent and Athlone Community Radio
- Bureau of Military History witness statement WS 1336, page 5 · Military Archives, Bureau of Military History
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.