Malbay Clare and Canada

[AndrewFenner]

Dear all,

I discovered not long ago that there is a Mal Bay (or Malbay or Malbaie) at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsular, Quebec Province in Canada. (The names appear to vary, depending on the date of the map.) There is also a Malbay River which runs into Mal Bay, and a town called Malbay on the coast. If you come into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and head for Grosse Ile, (which I gather was the first port of all for most Irish coming into the US and Canada), but sail past it and straight on, Mal Bay is about where you'd end up.

I also discovered just the other day that there is a road called 'Route de l'Irlande' which runs inland from Mal Bay to a place called l'Irlande. If the French called it 'Ireland', does that mean perhaps that the irish were there first?

Also, I gather the main crossroads in Miltown Malbay is called 'Canada Cross'. For every emigration, there would seem to be what I call a 'backflow', as people come back (visits, trading etc.)

Does anyone have any more information on this at all, please?

Best wishes

Andrew Fenner

[Clare Admin]

See both 'Mal Bays' online in Rainer Kosbi's MapBrowser software:

Mal Bay in Canada:
http://www.ourlibrary.ca/pictou/mapbrow ... 85+205+167

MalBay in Clare:
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... S0.7281466

Please note that the Canadian maps are still under development by Pictou Antigonish Regional Library, Nova Scotia.