CORK

Irish Corcaigh (Marsh) county borough, seaport, and county town (seat) of County Cork, Ireland, at the head of Cork Harbour on the River Lee. The centre of the old city is an island in the Lee, and the original site was probably near the Cathedral of St. Fin Barr, whose 7th-century monastery attracted many students and votaries. Cork was raided and burned in 821, 846, and 1012 by Norsemen who eventually settled there and founded a trading centre on the banks of the Lee. The town was walled, and it was granted its first charter in 1172. It was subsequently held by the English for a long period. Cork supported Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne, when he visited Ireland in 149192. The city revolted in favour of Oliver Cromwell in 1649, and in 1690 it was taken by John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough, for William of Orange. In 191920 Cork became a centre of Irish nationalist resistance to British military repression, and parts of the city were burned down by the British in retaliation for the ambush of a military convoy. Further devastation followed the conclusion of the Anglo-Irish treaty in 1921, when Irish Republican forces unwilling to accept the treaty held the city for a time. The Protestant Cathedral of St. Fin Barr, completed in 1880, replaced a structure that had been built in 1735 on the site of the 7th-century monastery. The Roman Catholic St. Mary's Cathedral was built in 1808. Queen's College, opened in the city in 1849, became a college of the National University of Ireland in 1908. Cork is the second largest city in the Irish republic after Dublin. Cork Harbour is one of the best natural harbours in Europe, which may have led to the founding of one of the world's first yachting clubs at Cork in 1720. The port of Cobh is on Great Island at the head of the outer harbour. The Cork butter market has been famous since the early 17th century. Cork's wide variety of food-processing and manufacturing industries includes an automobile- and tractor-assembly plant on a new industrial estate, which also has grain silos, oil-storage depots, and a power station. There are other industries on the west and south of the city. Pop. (1986) 133,271. Irish Corcaigh county in the province of Munster, Ireland. The largest county in Ireland, with an area of 2,880 sq mi (7,460 sq km), it is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean (south), by Counties Waterford and Tipperary (east), by County Limerick (north), and by County Kerry (west). Cork has long eastwest ridges forming uplands and hills. Less than three-tenths of its area is rough pasture, and farmlands climb as high as 800 ft (245 m) and fill the valleys of such east-flowing rivers as the Blackwater, the Bride, the Lee, and the Bandon. In east and central Cork are broad valleys and lowlands, which give way in the west to narrower valleys with coastal lowlands backed by high mountains. Around Bantry and Dunmanus bays are long, scenic promontories such as Beare Peninsula. At the head of Bantry Bay is Glengariff, where subtropical vegetation survives because of the mild winters. The city of Cork, founded by the Norse, remained an independent entity for centuries; and outside the city and its immediate environs the Irish followed their traditional way of life. The kingdom of Desmond, a division of the kingdom of Munster, was controlled by the MacCarthys until the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 12th century, when most of it fell to the Fitzgeralds, who became earls of Desmond. Large estates in Cork were allocated to English undertakers, including Sir Walter Raleigh, under the attempted plantation of Munster in 1586; but the scheme was halted by warfare in 1598. Spanish forces attempting to assist the cause of Hugh O'Neill of Ulster were defeated at the Battle of Kinsale in 160102. Some of the ruined estates of the old Munster plantation were bought up by Richard Boyle, who became earl of Cork. Cork was the scene of much disturbance during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. More than one-third of the people live in the city of Cork and its suburbs. Other large towns are Cobh, Youghal (qq.v.), Mallow, and Fermoy. Administration is by a county manager and county council, though Cork city has its own manager. Both the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church have three diocesan units: Cork, Cloyne, and Ross. Many farms in the east and centre of the county are 70 ac (28 ha) or larger, growing cereals and root crops. The main cash resource, however, is livestock, either for meat or milk. In the extreme southwest the farms are far smaller, but around Skibbereen and along the south coast are good agricultural lands. There is salmon fishing in the rivers, and Kinsale has become an important sea-angling centre. Tweed is made in rural factories near Cork. There is a large oil refinery at Whitegate, on Cork harbour. Tourism is important, with notable attractions including the coast and the famous castle in Blarney (q.v.). The county has railway lines from Cork through Mallow to Dublin and Limerick; at Mallow lines run east to Waterford and west to Killarney and Tralee. There is a regional technical college. Pop. (1981) excluding county borough, 266,121.