placenamesMoys
An imported fragment of Scottish granite made this locality near Limavady significant in the study of Ireland’s glacial past.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Moys · English · main form
Place & story
Sydney Mary Thompson’s discovery
Geologist Sydney Mary Thompson found a fragment of Ailsa Craig microgranite at Moys, inland from Limavady. Patrick Wyse Jackson’s history of Irish geoscientists identifies this as an important discovery in tracing the western reach of the Irish Sea Glacier. Her association with Moys rests on fieldwork, rather than a claim that she was born or lived here. [2]
Following transported stones
Thompson and colleagues in the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club mapped and sampled glacial erratics to investigate the direction of ice movement. The distinctive Scottish granite found at Moys supplied evidence of the distance ice had carried rock across the landscape. [2]
Changing parish boundaries
Moys formerly belonged to Tamlaght Finlagan parish. When Carrick parish was created in 1846, Moys was among five townlands transferred from Tamlaght Finlagan, alongside Ballydarrog, Ballymore, Largy and Terrydrum. Earlier local records therefore occur under the older parish name. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Derry
- Barony
- Keenaght
- Civil parish
- Tamlaght Finlagan
- Coordinates
- 55.02791, -7.01474 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 58049 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Moys. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Great Irish Geoscientists: Sydney Mary Thompson, pages 14–16 · Patrick N. Wyse Jackson / Geological Survey of Ireland, 2009
- Carrick Civil Parish: historical formation and record sources · Irish Family History Foundation / Derry genealogy centre
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2015-01-19. How this page was prepared.