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MIDFIELD
CO. MAYO · IE

Midfield
An Machaire Meánach

STOP 05 / 05
An Machaire Meánach · Co. Mayo

A hamlet where the Mayo plain opens between the drumlins.

Midfield is a small hamlet in east Mayo, on flatter ground between the drumlin hills that dominate the rest of the townland. The name — An Machaire Meánach, the middle plain — is accurate. There is no village. There is no centre. There are a few houses scattered across the land, fields, and quiet roads.

This is the agricultural hinterland of Swinford, three kilometres to the south. The people here are farmers, or were farmers, or are married to farmers. The townland is rural in the way that most of Ireland was rural — not a destination, but a place where people live. The land is enclosed. The fields are small. The roads are lanes. In every direction, the work of centuries is visible in the shape of the fields and the pattern of the walls.

Midfield earns its place in the landscape by being exactly what it appears to be — a place where people have lived and farmed the same ground for centuries, and continue to. That is all it claims to be, and it is true.

Population
Hamlet — fewer than fifty people
Founded
Rural settlement, east Mayo
Coords
53.9667° N, 8.8250° W
01 / 05

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The plain

Flatter ground in drumlin country.

Midfield — An Machaire Meánach — means "the middle plain." It sits in flatter ground between the rolling drumlins that surround it. Fields open here. The land is less crowded by hills. The horizon is wider.

Getting here → 02 Swinford hinterland

Farming land in Swinford's orbit.

Midfield is farming countryside near a small market town. The townland exists in the economic and social gravity of Swinford — a few kilometres away, where the shops are, where the pubs are, where the town life happens.

Getting here → 03 Quiet roads

Country lanes that lead mostly to fields.

The roads through Midfield are narrow and quiet. They connect farmhouses and the houses of retired farmers. Traffic is tractors and the occasional car looking for a house it cannot find.

Getting here →
02 / 05

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Fields and walls

The Mayo countryside

The landscape of east Mayo — including Midfield — is a product of centuries of enclosure and rationalisation. In the medieval period the townlands were rough. Through the nineteenth century, walls were built, fields were marked, the land was systematised. The pattern you see now — small fields bounded by stone walls, houses at the centre of holdings, roads following ancient tracks — was largely fixed in the 1800s. Walking the roads around Midfield is walking through a landscape made by that process.

The market town and the countryside

Swinford's hinterland

Midfield has no market. The nearest market is Swinford, a few kilometres south, where farmers bring animals on fair days and where the business of the countryside is transacted. Swinford is the centre of gravity. Midfield is the gravity's reach. The townland depends on Swinford for everything from a pint to a veterinary service. The town depends on townlands like Midfield for people and animals to sustain the business that happens on the streets.

03 / 05

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring
Mar–May

The fields are at their greenest. Lambing happens. The country roads are passable and the work of the year has begun.

◉ Go
Summer
Jun–Aug

Long light. The roads are dry and the fields are in their middle growth. A good time to cycle or walk the countryside.

◉ Go
Autumn
Sep–Oct

The harvest and the gathering. The land is at its most active. The light is particular — low gold in the evening.

◉ Go
Winter
Nov–Feb

The roads can be difficult. Come on a dry day. The quietness is absolute.

◐ Mind yourself
04 / 05

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

×
Looking for a place to eat or stay

Midfield has neither. It is a hamlet. Swinford, a few kilometres away, has pubs and a few places to sleep.

×
Visiting on a rainy day without the proper equipment

This is open countryside on Irish roads. Weather changes fast. Come with boots and layers.

+

Getting there.

By car

On quiet roads between Swinford (3 km south) and the drumlin country to the north. Ballyhaunis is 18 km east on the N60.

By bus

No direct bus service to Midfield. The nearest service runs from Swinford. A car is essential.

By train

Nearest station is Ballyhaunis, eighteen kilometres east, on the Westport–Dublin line.

By air

Ireland West Airport Knock is forty-five minutes by car. Shannon is two hours.

Next on the tour

Co. Mayo
Swinford
Three kilometres south. A small market town where the business of the countryside happens. Pubs, shops, the weekly fair.
Co. Mayo
Foxford
Fifteen kilometres north. A river crossing with a woollen mill and a working town around it.
Co. Mayo
Charlestown
Twelve kilometres north. Another small market town, on the Sligo road, with pubs and a history of its own.