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Top 10 Places in County Cork

Most popular landmarks and natural wonders in Cork

Explore the highest-ranked historic sites, natural landmarks, and attractions across County Cork (Corcaigh).
Stone of Eloquence — photo by Alan Heardman #1
General County Cork

Stone of Eloquence

The Blarney Stone (Irish: Cloch na Blarnan) is a block of Carboniferous limestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the centre of Cork City, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. The castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the stone and tour the castle and its gardens. The word blarney has come to mean "clever, flattering, or coaxing talk". Irish politician John O'Connor Power defined it this way: "Blarney is something more than mere flattery. It is flattery sweetened by humour and flavoured by wit. Those who mix with Irish folk have many examples of it in their everyday experience." Letitia Elizabeth Landon described its contemporary meaning in an article entitled "Blarney Castle" in 1832.

Popularity
100
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Garnish Island — photo by Peter Clarke #2
General County Cork

Garnish Island

Garinish, or Garnish Island, (Irish: Garinis; also known as Ilnacullin) is an island in Glengarriff Bay, an inlet of Bantry Bay, near the shore of the Beara Peninsula in County Cork, Ireland. It is a tourist attraction with walled gardens and a Martello tower.

Popularity
59
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Thomas Mac Curtain Statue — photo by Wikimedia Commons contributor #3
Monument County Cork

Thomas Mac Curtain Statue

Tomás Mac Curtain (20 March 1884 – 20 March 1920) was an Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. He was active with the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Irish Volunteers, and led the Volunteers during the Easter Rising in Cork. He was also elected and served as the Lord Mayor of Cork until his assassination by the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1920.

Popularity
54
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Mount Gabriel — photo by Kondephy #4
Peak County Cork

Mount Gabriel

Mount Gabriel (Irish: Cnoc Osta) is a large hill on the Mizen Peninsula, north of the town of Schull in County Cork, Ireland. The name Cnoc Osta means 'hill of the encampment', and was historically anglicized as 'Knock Hast'. Mount Gabriel is 407 m (1,335 ft) high and is the highest eminence in the coastal zone south and east of Bantry Bay. A roadway serving the radar installations on the summit is open to the public. From the peak of Mount Gabriel, there are views south over Schull Harbour and Long Island Bay. To the east and southeast, the views take in Roaringwater Bay and its many islands, known as Carbery's Hundred Isles. North and west are the mountains of the Beara Peninsula and south Kerry. Fastnet Rock is approximately 18 km (11 mi) to the south, and is visible in fine weather.

Popularity
48
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The Gearagh Nature Reserve — photo by me #7
Nature Reserve County Cork

The Gearagh Nature Reserve

The Gearagh (Irish: An Gaorthadh) is a submerged glacial woodland and nature reserve two kilometres southwest of Macroom, County Cork, in Kilmichael parish, Ireland. It is located at the point where the River Lee descends from the mountains and widens at an alluvial plain, and stretches for roughly five kilometres, bounded by the townlands of Toonsbridge, Illaunmore and Anahala. It was until recently densely populated with ancient oak trees and the last surviving full oak forest in western Europe. Its Irish name is An Gaorthadh (meaning "the wooded river-valley" or "the river-bed"). Author Seamus O'Donoghue provides another Irish name, An Gaoire, derived from the Irish word Gaorthadh. The area was flooded in 1954 to facilitate the building of two hydro-electric dams in Carrigadrohid and Inniscarra, which provide electricity for the nearby city of Cork. The area is now part of the plants' upper reservoir. The development required the flooding of the region; consequently, hundreds of trees were felled and many people were relocated. Many of the trees were centuries old and had grown since the medieval period. Today only their stumps survive, in flood land, giving the area a ghostly and almost lunar appearance. Today it comprises wide but shallow water enclosing a series of small islands separated by anastomosing, mostly flat, river streams. It remains an area of outstanding natural beauty, with a diverse ecological system and wide variety of plants, birds and fish, including freshwater pearl mussel, Atlantic salmon, whooper swans, kingfishers and otters. It is designated a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, and also enjoys international protection as an EU Special Area of Conservation of 558 ha. Part of the SAC is designated a nature reserve under the Irish Wildlife Act and the reservoir is a wildfowl sanctuary.

Popularity
43
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Dún na Station castle — photo by Andrew Wood #8
Castle County Cork

Dún na Station castle

Dunasead Castle (Irish: Dún na Séad, meaning 'fort of the jewels'), sometimes known as Baltimore Castle, is a 17th-century fortified house situated in the town of Baltimore in County Cork, Ireland. The tower house is built on the site of an earlier Norman-era structure, which itself replaced an earlier Bronze Age ringfort. Traditionally associated with the chiefs of clan O'Driscoll, the castle was purchased and restored by members of the McCarthy family in the late 1990s, and partially opened to the public from 2005.

Popularity
42
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Collegiate Church of Saint Mary — photo by The Speckled Bird #10
General County Cork

Collegiate Church of Saint Mary

The Collegiate Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, also known as St Mary's Collegiate Church, is a large Anglican church in Youghal, east County Cork, Ireland. Dating to roughly 1220 and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it is part of Youghal Union of Parishes, in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. St Mary's RMP (Record of Monuments and Places) number is CO067-029003.

Popularity
38
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