Cork Churches and Castles
The number of religious houses, of the existence of which in ancient times evidences are still found in records or in ruins, was very great. Archdall enumerates no less than sixty-nine, and states that the sites of nine of these were unknown. Most of those mentioned by him were built subsequently to the first English invasion, and owed their foundation to the descendants of the English adventurers. Those of which some vestiges still exist are at Rosscarbery, Buttevant, Ballybeg, Monanimy, Timoleague, Innisharkan, Bantry, Abbey-Mahon, Abbeystrowry, Ballyvourney, Mourne, Bridgetown, Glanworth, Ballymacadam, Red Abbey in Cork, Tracton, Coole, and Youghal. Of the ancient fortresses erected by the early English invaders and their descendants the remains are very numerous, owing to their massy strength and durability: some are of a superior description, and deficient neither in magnificence nor accommodation; but by far the greater number are composed merely of a square tower or keep usually very high, to compensate for the small size of the area by the number of stories, and containing only cold and gloomy apartments: they generally occupy bold and commanding situations, and many had an enclosed area attached, flanked by smaller towers; in size there is a great disparity, some being very small and rudely built.
The castle of Kanturk is of the greatest extent and magnificence: the other principal fortresses of which there are extensive remains are those of Blarney, Macroom, and Lohort, of which the first is one of the finest edifices of the kind in the kingdom. Donneen castle, though a very small structure, deserves notice for its remarkable situation in Ross bay, on a point of land forming part of the mainland at the time of its erection, but now isolated by the force of the waves. Of fortified residences of a later age, bearing some resemblance to the English mansion-houses in the Elizabethan style, there are yet remaining three, built about the year 1638, one at Monkstown, near Cork harbour; one called Castle-Long, on Oyster haven, and the third at Ballyvireen, a little to the west of Ross.
The modern residences of the nobility and gentry, among which Mitchelstown Castle, the splendid mansion of the Earl of Kingston, is pre-eminently distinguished for its extent and grandeur, are noticed in the description of the parishes in which they are respectively situated. The appearance of the farm-houses seldom affords matter for commendation; though varying in size, according to the circumstances of the occupier, they are all built on the same plan, with an open chimney at one end, and at the other a small room separated by a partition and serving both as a bed-chamber and a store-room. Few farmyards are attached to the houses, and these are very small and confined: the corn being frequently stacked on circular stages supported by upright cap-stones: barns are never used for any other purpose than thrashing, and are consequently built very small: the common farmer, indeed, is often unprovided with either stage or barn, and thrashes his grain in the open air.
The cabins of the poor have no glass windows and only one door, which is almost always left open to admit the light, and by which the smoke mostly escapes; an arrangement which, in bad weather, makes them very cold and uncomfortable. The general condition of the labouring poor is very wretched; a cabin and an acre of ground to plant potatoes in, generally held at forty or fifty shillings per annum, and under an obligation of working for the farmer at an extremely low rate, forms their chief means of subsistence. Almost their sole food throughout the year is potatoes, except that on the sea-coast they obtain fish, and boil different kinds of seaweed.
The peasantry are nevertheless hardy, active, and lively, and generally, except in the mountain districts, speak the English language. A striking similarity in some of their customs in husbandry, and some of their agricultural terms, is observed between them and the inhabitants of the south-western English counties. The most remarkable ancient customs still preserved are, the wailing over deceased persons, the waking, and the lighting of fires on Midsummer's Eve. Among the entire population there is a considerable intermixture of English blood and English surnames; but the names of the old Irish families also remain. There are several chalybeate springs, but none of medicinal celebrity except those of Mallow, which resemble the Bristol waters in taste and temperature, and are reputed to possess the same properties.