Place name in Laois. Help please.

[kabeja]

I  recently came across an English 1911 census return in which it was stated by a relative, Margaret Kenna, that she came from Mordeu Bay, Queens County. There is a possibility it is Morden Bay. Margaret was born in 1870.
I have searched for this place but can't find anything that even remotely resembles it. Any help in identifying where this place is would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

[Elwyn Soutter]

There’s nowhere of that name listed on the seanruad townland site in Laois. (And being landlocked, something ending in Bay probably isn’t very likely in that county, somehow). You can see all the townlands listed on this site. Can’t see anything that jumps out at me as fitting what is written in the census. Perhaps if you could cut and paste the section with the place name for others to look at, we might solve the problem that way.

http://www.thecore.com/seanruad/

I looked in Griffiths Valuation but the surname is widespread across the county, so no way of narrowing the search that way.

[conahy calling]

There is a place called Morden in Surrey 

[irishrose]

There is a small townsland near Crettyard on the Laois Kilkenny border just off the N78 road.  I have seen it  spelled  a number of ways but it is pronounced locally as Mod-u-bay.  The spelling on the Collins map is Modibeadh, which is an anglicised version of the name.   It seems most likely to be your place as I have heard it pronounced with an r also. 
Hope this helps
Ros

[kabeja]

There’s nowhere of that name listed on the seanruad townland site in Laois. (And being landlocked, something ending in Bay probably isn’t very likely in that county, somehow). You can see all the townlands listed on this site. Can’t see anything that jumps out at me as fitting what is written in the census. Perhaps if you could cut and paste the section with the place name for others to look at, we might solve the problem that way.

http://www.thecore.com/seanruad/

I looked in Griffiths Valuation but the surname is widespread across the county, so no way of narrowing the search that way.

Thanks for your efforts Elwyn. The Bay part of the name did strike me as being highly unlikely for Laois and i did think it is very probably a phonetic spelling which was filled in by the Northern English husband of Margaret. 

[kabeja]

There is a place called Morden in Surrey

[kabeja]

There is a small townsland near Crettyard on the Laois Kilkenny border just off the N78 road.  I have seen it  spelled  a number of ways but it is pronounced locally as Mod-u-bay.  The spelling on the Collins map is Modibeadh, which is an anglicised version of the name.   It seems most likely to be your place as I have heard it pronounced with an r also. 
Hope this helps
Ros

That is fantastic Ros, thank you so much. It seems to be the correct place given the few scraps of information i have about this family, their friends, neighbours and others in the villages of Quebec, Esh and Malton Colliery in the area of Lanchester, County Durham. In these scraps of info are a possible burial in Abbeyleix and a birth in Castle Comer so that general area was already of interest and the townland of Modibeadh fits in with that. After reading your reply i did a quick google search and came up with a thread from another site which confirmed a strong link between those villages in the Lanchester, Durham area and Modibeadh.
Over the years of looking at the Kennah's, Bannans and O'neils we have never been able to come up with any specific townland as all the census returns simply said Queens County or Ireland ! So when i saw Margaret Kenna's 1911 census entry giving a precise place i was very excited about the prospect of an actual place. I did understand that the census was highly likely a phonetic interpretation which was filled in by Margaret's husband John Cooper who was a northern Englishman but i would never have guessed Modibeadh in a million years without your help. Hopefully this gives us new openings in our long search for the above families.
Once again, many thanks for your efforts and information.   

[conahy calling]

There is a place called Morden in Surrey

at least it made you laugh   But it sometimes surprises me what you can find in census forms eg "Som" short for Somerset got mistranscribed as Somalia!   Put in "mistranscriptions" in Rc search box and you will see what I mean.  Glad irishrose had local knowledge and was able to sort it.

[irishrose]

Glad to be able to help.  Interesting that the locals from this area around the Castlecomer Plateau ended up working in the collieries in Durham.  The area surrounding Modibeadh would have been known as the colliery district, (although all the mines are closed now)     The majority of people emigrating from this area would have a strong family tradition of working in the mines, as they were the main employer in the district for well over 150 years.