Cork, Richard Boyle, 1st earl of: see Boyle, Richard, 1st earl of Cork.

Cork, county (1991 pop. 410,369), 2,881 sq mi (7,462 sq km), SW Republic of Ireland. Cork is the county seat. Largest of the Irish counties, it has a rocky and much-indented coastline (Bantry, Dunmanus, Roaringwater, Courtmarsherry, Clonakilty, and Youghal bays, and Kinsale and Cork harbors). The interior has wild rugged mountains rising as high as 2,239 ft (682 m) and fertile valleys (notably of the Bride, the Blackwater, the Lee, and the Bandon). The main occupations are farming (dairying, raising livestock, and growing grains and sugar beets) and fishing. There is a growing manufacturing sector, centered around the city of Cork, which includes products as diverse as tweed cloth and electronic components. There is a large oil refinery at Whitegate. Cóbh is an important transatlantic harbor. Tourism is important, and notable attractions include prehistoric remains (dolmens and stone circles), the ruins of medieval abbeys and churches, and Blarney Castle.

Cork, city (1991 pop. 174,000), county town of Co. Cork, S Republic of Ireland, on the Lee River near its mouth on Cork Harbour. The oldest part of the town rests on an island between the north and south branches of the Lee, which is crossed by numerous bridges. Exports are largely farm produce (dairy products, grain, livestock), cloth, and fish. Imports include coal, raw materials, fertilizers, grain, machinery, and automobile parts. Machinery, chemicals, processed foods, whiskey, and rubber, leather, cotton, and woolen products are manufactured. There are also oil storage depots, a power station, and an international airport. In the 9th cent. the Danes occupied Cork and walled it. Dermot MacCarthy ousted the Danes and in 1172 swore allegiance to Henry II of England. Oliver Cromwell occupied Cork in 1649, and the duke of Marlborough in 1690. Many public buildings were destroyed in the nationalist disturbances of 1920, and the Sinn Féin lord mayor was murdered by the British constabulary. Terence MacSwiney succeeded him and died in jail in London after a hunger strike. Educational institutions include University College (constituent college of the National Univ. of Ireland) and a school of art. The Protestant St. Finbarr's Cathedral, the Roman Catholic cathedral, the Church of St. Ann, and the Carnegie Library are noteworthy.

cork, protective, waterproof outer covering of the stems and roots of woody plants. Cork is a specialized secondary tissue produced by the cork cambium of the plant (see meristem, bark). The regularly arranged walls of cork cells are impregnated with a waxy material, called suberin, that is almost impermeable to water or gases. Commercial cork, obtained from the cork oak, is buoyant in water because of the presence of trapped air in the cavities of the waterproof dead cells. It is also resilient, light, chemically inert, and, because of the suction cup action of the cut cells, adhesive. These qualities make cork valuable for bottle stoppers, insulating materials, linoleum, and many household and industrial items.

Outer bark of the evergreen cork oak (Quercus suber), native to the Mediterranean. In its broad sense, cork consists of the irregularly shaped, thin-walled, wax-coated cells that make up the peeling bark of many trees, but commercially only cork-oak bark is called cork. Cork is obtained from the new outer sheath of bark that forms after the original rough outer bark has been removed. This outer sheath can be stripped repeatedly without hurting the tree. Cork is unique because it is made of air-filled, watertight cells that are a remarkably effective insulating medium. The air pockets make cork very light in weight. Though specialized plastics and other artificial substances have replaced cork in some of its former uses, it has retained its traditional importance as a stopper for bottles of wine and other alcoholic beverages.

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Seaport city (pop., 2002 prelim.: 123,338), southwestern Ireland. The seat of County Cork, it is situated on Cork Harbour at the mouth of the River Lee. Founded as a monastery in the 7th century, it was often raided and was eventually settled by the Danes. It passed to Henry II of England in 1172. The city was taken by Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell (1649) and by the duke of Marlborough (1690). It was heavily damaged in 1920 during the Irish uprising against England. Its industries include leatherworking, brewing, and distilling.

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The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway (CB&SCR) was a major Irish railway. It operated from Cork and served towns along the southern coastal strip to the west. It had a route length of 93.75 miles (150km), all single line. The railway mainly carried tourist traffic, with many road car routes connecting with the line, including The Prince of Wales Route from Bantry to Killarney.

History

The CB&SCR was incorporated under the Cork and Bandon Railway Act, 1845 and opened for traffic between Bandon and Ballinhassig in December 1851. The company suffered financial problems for the first 25 years as access to Cork required two major civil works, the Ballinhassig tunnel and the Chetwynd Viaduct. The last train travelled on 31 March 1961.

The Ballinhassig tunnel

This was a half-mile (0.8km) tunnel for access to Cork, the construction of which delayed overall completion. A coach service was provided until the tunnel opened.

Though closed for almost half a century, it can still be seen and accessed

The Chetwynd Viaduct

The Chetwynd Viaduct carried the line over a valley and the main Bandon road for over 100 years between 1851-1961, It still exists and is located south west of the city on the Bandon road (N71). It was designed by Charles Nixon (a former pupil of Brunel) and constructed between 1849 and 1851 by Fox, Henderson and Co, the same company who built the Crystal Palace in London. The viaduct stands high, consisted of four spans, each span composed of four cast iron arched ribs, carried on masonry piers thick and wide. The overall span between end abutments is .

The cast iron ribs were cast on site. When in-situ, they had transverse diagonal bracing and lattice spandrels that supported a deck of iron plates. These in turn supported the double track permanent way.

The structure was seriously damaged during the Civil War in 1922, but was subsequently repaired. The decking was removed after closure in 1961.

Extensions to the Railway

• The Cork and Kinsale Junction Railway (C&KJR), 10.75 miles (17km). This was a branch line to the coast, serving the fishing town of Kinsale and was purchased by the CBSCR in 1879.
• The West Cork Railway (WCR) (Bandon to Dunmanway, 17.5 miles (28km), opened June 1866 and operated as a separate concern.
• Ilen Valley Railway (IVR) (Dunmanway to Skibbereen (1877), 16 miles (26km). Skibbereen later became a junction with the narrow gauge Schull and Skibbereen Railway.

On 1 January 1880 the CB&SCR took over the C&KJR, the WCR and the lease of the IVR including its proposed Bantry extension. This completed the main line of the CBSCR.

• The Bantry Extension opened for traffic 1 July 1881, 11.25 miles (18km). In order to give the railway access to deep water, a further extension was opened which operated between 1909 and 1946.
  Eugene Hourihan (c1875-1963) an elderly man from Ardra,Scart, Bantry recalled seeing the line laid as a child and removed as an old man.
• The Clonakilty Extension Railway (CER) (1886), 9 miles (14km)
• The Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Light Railway (1891), a branch from the (CER)
• The Baltimore Railway (1893) extension from Skibbereen, 8 miles (13km), opened May 1893.
• The Shannonvale Horse Railway. The Bennett family operated a flour milling industry at Shannonvale, north of Clonakilty. In the early 1890s the railway company agreed to provide a siding half a mile in length to link the railway with the mill. Horse traction was used when going uphill, but was unnecessary on the return journey due to the slope.

The GSR and CIÉ years

The railway was incorporated into the Great Southern Railways (Ireland) in 1924. The GSR was in turn incorporated into Coras Iompair Éireann in 1945. CIÉ introduced diesel multiple units to the railway in the 1950s, which reduced operating costs.

Timetable

On the right is the Cork to Bandon passenger timetable that was operational from 1948 until the closure in 1961. There are a few points to be noted from it.

-Travel time was c.2 hours.
The current car journey (without the nine intermittant stops) 47 years after the closure is less than 10 minutes faster, according to the AA website.
-It was not possible to make a same day return journey from Bandon to Dublin as the Cork express train left at 9:00am (arriving at 12:00pm) and departed at 2:25pm from Heuston (which would have allowed the 6:00pm connection to Bandon to be made though)

Closure

Due to economic problems, competition from road traffic and falling passenger numbers the line closed on 1st April 1961. The tracks were later sold to Nigeria and the land of the permanent way sold to local farmers.

References

• The Southern Star Centenary Supplement,Tom Lyons, 1989.
• See The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway Vol 1/2/3 by Colm Creedon deceased, privately published 1986 on this and other Cork Railways.
• On removal of Bantry line source Daniel O'Donovan, Durrus, Bantry, oral history.
• Steam and Steel, Sean Kelly, Bantry Historical and Archaeolgical Society vol 2 ISSN 0791-6612

Statistics

• Rolling stock: 20 locomotives, 68 coaching vehicles, 455 goods vehicles

See also

• History of rail transport in Ireland
• Durrus and District History