The name Béal Átha Mó is derived from a fort which was built by Meabh of Connacht, under the order of Mogh.[citation needed] The fort and village would later become known as Átha Mogh Mór and Béal Átha Mogh. The town is now the centre of a small rural area involved in scale mixed farming. Raised bogs, forts and a mass rock from penal times are features of Ballymoe today.[2]
People
Éamonn Ceannt, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising and signatory to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic was born in the police barracks in Ballymoe where his father James Kent, an officer in the Royal Irish Constabulary was stationed. The Garda Síochána barracks in the town today is named in his honour.[3]