What is/was Ballymony ?

[Peter Cornwell]

Deciphering the will of Richard CORNELL of Balsham, Cambs, made in 1544 I have come across reference to an acre of 'Ballymony' along with various other crops. Has anyone met with this term before ? Is it an archaic term for something else ?

[Girl Guide]

Never heard of it!

How about giving Cambridge University a challenge and contact the below department and ask them?

Agronomy Centre
Cambridge University Farm, 219B Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL

Tel: +44 1223 651 599
Fax: +44 1223 335447

Unfortunately there is no website for this department so it's either phone or snail mail.

Meaning of agronomy - The science of farming, including the study of soil, plants, and animals, and ways to improve the production of food on farms: Agronomy encompasses work in many areas including plant genetics, crop rotation, irrigation, and food production.

I shall be interested to see if they rise to the challenge. 
 

[KGarrad]

What sprang to my mind was the town in Northern Ireland, Ballymoney?
Certainly the Bally/Balley/Balla prefix is Celtic - being found in many Irish and Manx place names. There are 600 Balla's in the Isle of Man alone
It means "homestead".

So, could it be the name of a farm?

[Peter Cornwell]

Girl Guide,

Thanks for the suggestion. Well worth a try particularly as they are stones throw from my home.

KGarrad

Yes, that place came up in my Google search. Renowned for its peat apparently.   

[KGarrad]

Even more renowned as being the home of the Dunlop family of TT racers
Joey Dunlop, 26 TT wins
Robert Dunlop, Joey's brother
Robert's 2 sons, William and Michael are also motorcycle racers.

Douglas, Isle of Man, where I live is twinned with Ballymoney

[Bookbox]

Just wondering if it could be anything to do with barley?
Is it clearly written, or is there any chance of mistranscription?
Would you be able to post an image, just a snippet with some surrounding text?

[Skoosh]

What Book Box said, a crop variety, corn, flax or spuds?

Skoosh.

[ainslie]

Could the word in the will, before Ballymoney, be 'at' rather than 'of'?
A

[arthurk]

'Baldmoney' is a north-country word for either a gentian or the plant Meum athamanticum (see OED and Wright's Dialect Dictionary).

I've no idea if either would be grown as a crop, and as the dictionaries suggest a rather localised usage, I doubt the word would be found in a Cambridgeshire will unless the testator came from the north.

EDIT:
See next post for another possibility, which I think is more likely.