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The River Moyola or Moyola River stretches for approximately 27 miles from the 
According to Deirdre and Laurence Flanagan in their book, ''Irish Place Names'', the River Moyola derives its name from ''Magh nÉola'', meaning ''Éolas Plain''.Deirdre & Laurence Flanagan, ''Irish Place Names'';
The catchment has a varied geology including limestone, schist, shale and basalt with outcrops of chalk. Overlying this solid geology are superficial deposits of glacial
The river is mentioned frequently in the poetry of
Sperrin Mountains
The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains () are a range of mountains in Northern Ireland and one of the largest upland areas in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane eastwards to Slieve Gallion in Desertmartin and north towards Limavad ...
to Lough Neagh. The Moyola starts a small river (3-5 metres; 10' to 16') for the first few miles of its length and proceeds to expand to a medium-sized river (5-20 metres; 16' to 65') and then to a large river (20 metres +; 65' plus) for its last couple of miles before Lough Neagh. In ancient times, the River Moyola was known as the 'Bior', and served as the border between the Airgiallan kingdoms of Fir Li and Ui Tuirtri.
According to Deirdre and Laurence Flanagan in their book, ''Irish Place Names'', the River Moyola derives its name from ''Magh nÉola'', meaning ''Éolas Plain''.Deirdre & Laurence Flanagan, ''Irish Place Names'';
Hydrology
The flow or discharge of the river is measured near to its mouth in Lough Neagh. The catchment area to thegauging station
A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation (" stage") and/or vol ...
is , which yields an average flow of .
The maximum recorded flow between 1971 and 2012 was on 19 January 1988.
The catchment has a varied geology including limestone, schist, shale and basalt with outcrops of chalk. Overlying this solid geology are superficial deposits of glacial till
image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
, plus sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...
and aggregates. Land use is primarily grassland, with areas of bog and heathland, but includes the towns of Magherafelt
Magherafelt (, mˠaxəɾʲəˈfʲiːlt̪ˠə is a small town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,805 at the 2011 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, econo ...
and Maghera
Maghera (pronounced , ) is a small town at the foot of the Glenshane Pass in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Its population was 4,220 in the 2011 Census, increasing from 3,711 in the 2001 Census. It is situated within Mid-Ulster Distri ...
. The average annual rainfall in the catchment is , which is somewhat higher than the average for United Kingdom at .
Mentions in literature
The river is mentioned frequently in the poetry of Seamus Heaney
Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.
, such as '' Gifts of Rain'' and ''A New Song'', ''Whitby-sur-Moyola'' and ''Moyulla''. Critic Daniel Tobin suggests that for Heaney his "childhood river, Moyola, is not unlike Wordsworth's Derwent."
References