Sights in County Cork
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Cobh Museum
A small but lively museum is housed in the 19th-century Scottish Presbyterian church overlooking the train station. It holds model ships, paintings, photographs and curious artefacts tracing Cobh's history.
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Charles Fort
One of the best-preserved 17th-century star-shaped forts in Europe, this wonderful fortress would be worth a visit for its spectacular views alone. But there's much more here: ruins inside the vast site date from the 18th and 19th centuries and make for some fascinating wandering. Displays explain the typically tough lives led by the soldiers who served here and the comparatively comfortable lives of the officers. Built in the 1670s to guard Kinsale Harbour, the fort was in use until 1921, when much of it was destroyed as the British withdrew. The best way to get here is to walk – follow the signs on the lovely walk around the bay from Scilly to Summercove, 3km east of…
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Bantry House
With its melancholic air of faded gentility, 18th-century Bantry House makes for an intriguing visit. The house has belonged to the White family since 1729 and every room brims with treasures brought back from each generation’s travels since then. The entrance is paved with mosaics from Pompeii, French and Flemish tapestries adorn the walls, and Japanese chests sit next to Russian shrines. Upstairs, worn bedrooms look out wanly over an astounding view of the bay – the 18th-century Whites had ringside seats to the French armada. Experienced pianists are invited to tinkle the ivories of the ancient piano in the library. It’s possible to stay the night in the wings.
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Belvelly
Two kilometres out of Midleton on the N25 towards Fota, the effervescent Frank Hederman runs Belvelly, the oldest natural smoke house in Ireland – and indeed the only one. Seafood and cheese are smoked here, but the speciality is fish – in particular, salmon. In a traditional process that takes 24 hours from start to finish, the fish is filleted and cured before being hung in the tiny smoke house to smoke over beech woodchips. No trip to Cork is complete without a visit to an artisan food producer, and Frank is more than happy to show you around; phone or email to arrange. Or stop by his booth at the Midleton farmers market.
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Lewis Glucksman Gallery
This award-winning gallery in the grounds of University College Cork (UCC) is a startling limestone, steel and timber construction that was the most visible symbol of Corkonian optimism when it opened in 2004. Not even severe flood damage to its basement storage rooms in November 2009 has dampened its sense of purpose, which is to display the best in both national and international contemporary art and installation. If you're in town, don't miss the free fortnightly curatorial tours; the website has details. The gallery's situation in the university grounds means it's always buzzing with people coming to attend lectures, view the artwork or procrastinate in the cafe.
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Church of Ireland Church
St Multose is the patron saint of Kinsale, and the Church of Ireland church is one of Ireland’s oldest, built around 1190 by the Normans on the site of a 6th-century church. Not much of the interior is original but the exterior is preserved beautifully. The graveyard has some interesting large family tombs, and several victims of the Lusitania sinking are also buried there. Inside, a flat stone carved with a round-handed figure was traditionally rubbed by fishermen’s wives to bring their husbands home safe from the sea.
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Desmond Castle
Kinsale's roots with the old wine trade are on display at this early 16th-century fortified house that was occupied by the Spanish in 1601. Since then it has served as a customs house, as a prison for French and American captives and as a workhouse during the Famine. There are lively exhibits detailing its history and a small wine museumthat tells the story of the Irish wine-trading families, including names like Hennessy (of brandy fame), who fled to France because of British rule.
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Cork City Gaol
Faint-hearted souls may find this imposing former prison a little grim, but it's certainly worth a visit, if only to get a sense of how crap life was for prisoners a century ago. An audio tour guides you around the restored cells, which feature models of suffering prisoners and sadistic-looking guards. It's very moving, bringing home the harshness of the 19th-century penal system. The most common crime was that of poverty; many of the inmates were sentenced to hard labour for stealing loaves of bread.
The prison closed in 1923, reopening in 1927 as a radio station, so the Governor's House has been converted into the Radio Museum Experience. Alongside collections of…
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Barryscourt Castle
Immigrants from Wales in the 12th century, the Barry family quickly began intermarrying with important Irish families of the time. Soon they had huge tracts of land and real wealth. In order to protect their fortune, the clan began building a vast fortification in the 15th century.
Barryscourt Castle survives in remarkably good condition (albeit with a lot of restoration). An authentic 16th-century kitchen and decorative gardens have been recreated.
The castle is just off the N25, 2km east of the turn-off to Cobh and near Carrigtwohill.
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St Colman's Cathedral
Standing dramatically above Cobh on a hillside terrace, this massive French Gothic Cathedral is out of all proportion to the unassuming town. Its most exceptional feature is the 47-bell carillon, the largest in Ireland, with a range of four octaves. The biggest bell weighs a stonking 3440kg – about as much as a full-grown elephant! You can hear carillon recitals at 4.30pm on Sundays between May and September.
The cathedral, designed by EW Pugin, was begun in 1868 but not completed until 1915. Much of the funding was raised by nostalgic Irish communities in Australia and the USA.
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Michael Collins Centre
A visit to the Michael Collins Centre is an excellent way to make sense of his life and that period of Ireland’s history. A tour reveals photos, letters and a reconstruction of the 1920s country lane where Collins was killed, complete with armoured vehicle. The centre runs tours of the crucial locations in Collins’ life on occasion. The centre is signposted off the R600 between Timoleague and Clonakilty.
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Skibbereen Heritage
Constructed on the site of the town’s old gasworks, the Skibbereen Heritage Centre houses a haunting exhibition about the Famine, with actors reading heartbreaking contemporary accounts. A visit here puts Irish history into harrowing perspective. There’s also a smaller exhibition about nearby Lough Hyne, the first marine nature reserve in Ireland, and a genealogical centre.
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Donkey Sanctuary
The Donkey Sanctuary is a wonderful nonprofit institution dedicated to Ireland's iconic beasts of burden. Naturally bedraggled looking, the small, sturdy steeds of the Irish countryside are also often abused by thoughtless owners either out of meanness or simply because economic conditions have made it too hard to care for them properly.
At this large farm, abandoned and abused donkeys are given a home for life. There are pastures, food, medical care and virtually no demands on them. It's a splendid operation and one most visitors end up supporting – especially after they've seen one of the winsome critters up close through the self-guided tour of the pastures and…
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St Anne's Church
Shandon is dominated by the 1722 St Anne’s Church, aka the ‘Four-Faced Liar’, so called as each of the tower’s four clocks used to tell a different time. Wannabe campanologists can ring the bells on the 1st floor of the 1750 Italianate tower and continue the 132 steps up to the top for 360-degree views of the city.
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Holy Trinity Church
The Holy Trinity Church was designed by the Pain brothers in 1834 in the honour of Father Theobald Mathew. He was one of Cork’s most famous figures, the ‘Apostle of Temperance’, who went on a short-lived crusade against alcohol in the 1830s and 1840s – a quarter of a million people took the ‘pledge’, and whiskey production halved.
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Old Butter Market
Cork had the largest butter market in the world during the 1860s, exporting butter as far as India, South America and Australia. The Butter Exchange was in Shandon and you can still spot dairy motifs throughout the area: look out for the cow above the old butter market, which was being used as a souvenir centre but is now closed.
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Beamish & Crawford Brewery
This famous brewery is the most ancient porter brewery in Ireland. Beer drinkers will love the well presented tours that end with a few rounds of the famous Beamish brews. The brewery is hard to miss as it is across the road from the Counting House, a building that takes first prize for eye-blinding, mock Tudor, architectural awfulness.
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Regional Museum
This nifty museum is based in the 17th-century courthouse that was used for the inquest into the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. The museum contains information on the disaster, as well as curiosities as diverse as Michael Collins' hurley and shoes belonging to the eight-foot-tall Kinsale Giant.
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Schull Planetarium
The Republic’s only planetarium, the Schull Planetarium, on the grounds of Schull Community College, has an 8m dome and a video and slide show. It was founded by a German visitor who was charmed by the town. A 45-minute star show starts at 4pm or 8pm during the rather complex opening hours; call to confirm times.
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1796 French Armada Exhibition Centre
In the former stables of 18th-century Bantry House you'll find the 1796 French Armada Exhibition Centre, with its powerful account of the doomed French invasion of Ireland, led by Wolfe Tone. The fleet was torn apart by storms; one frigate, La Surveillante, was scuttled by its own crew and today lies 30m down in the bay.
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Crawford Municipal Art Gallery
Cork's public gallery houses a small but excellent permanent collection covering the 17th century to the modern day. Highlights include works by Sir John Lavery, Jack B Yeats, Nathaniel Hone and a room devoted to Irish women artists from 1886 to 1978 – don't miss the works by Mainie Jellet and Evie Hone.
The Sculpture Galleries contain snow-white plaster casts of Roman and Greek statues, given to King George IV by the pope in 1822. George didn't like the gift and stuck the sculptures in the cellar until someone suggested that Cork might appreciate them.
The downstairs exhibition hall hosts superior temporary displays.
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National Radio Museum
The Natioanl Radio Museum is upstairs in the Cork City Gaol. The prison closed in 1923, reopening in 1927 as a radio station. The change of use is reflected in the museum where, alongside collections of beautiful old radios, you can hear the story of Guglielmo Marconi’s conquest of the airwaves.
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St Fin Barre's Cathedral
Spiky spires, gurning gargoyles and rich sculpture make up the exterior of Cork's Protestant cathedral, an attention-grabbing mixture of French Gothic and medieval whimsy. Local legend says that the golden angel on the eastern side will blow its horn when the Apocalypse is due to start… Yikes!
The grandeur continues inside, with marble floor mosaics, a colourful chancel ceiling and a huge pulpit and bishop's throne. Quirky items on display include a cannonball blasted into an earlier medieval spire during the Siege of Cork (1690).
Most of the ostentation is the result of a competition, held in 1863, to choose an architect for the building. William Burges was the…
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Derreen Gardens
Lauragh is home to the Derreen Gardens, planted by the fifth Lord Lansdowne around the turn of the 20th century. Mossy paths weave through an abundance of interesting plants, including spectacular New Zealand tree ferns and red cedars, and you may see seals on the shore.
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Tynte's Castle
A 15th-century tower houses Tynte’s Castle, which originally had a defensive riverfront position. When the River Blackwater silted up and changed course in the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle was left high and dry. It’s currently under renovation.
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