Drimoleague (historically ''Drumdalege'', ) is a village on the

R586 The R586 road is a long regional road in Ireland, located in west County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It i ...

road at its junction with the R593 in County Cork, Ireland. It lies roughly halfway between the towns of Dunmanway and

Bantry Bantry () is a town in the civil parish of Kilmocomoge in the barony of Bantry on the southwest coast of County Cork, Ireland. It lies in West Cork at the head of Bantry Bay, a deep-water gulf extending for to the west. The Beara Peninsula is ...

, within the civil parish of Dromdaleague. As of the

2016 census of Ireland ''Census 2016'' in the Republic of Ireland was held on Sunday, 24 April 2016, to administer a national census. It was organised by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and reported a total population of 4,761,865, or a 3.8% increase since the pri ...

, Drimoleague had 451 residents.

History

Drimoleague is located in

West Cork West Cork ( ga, Iarthar Chorcaí) is a tourist region and municipal district in County Cork, Ireland. As a municipal district, West Cork falls within the administrative area of Cork County Council, and includes the towns of Bantry, Castletownbe ...

in the townlands of Baurnahulla and Dromdaleague. Evidence of ancient settlement within these townlands includes a number of ecclesiastical,

souterrain ''Souterrain'' (from French ''sous terrain'', meaning "under ground") is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northw ...

, holy well and fulacht fia sites. Other archaeological sites include the

Clodagh Standing Stones Clodagh Standing Stones is a pair of standing stones forming a stone row and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland. Location Clodagh Standing Stones stand northeast of Drimoleague. History The stones probably date to the Br ...

, a Stone Age site, which lies to the northeast.

Castle Donovan Castle Donovan ( ga, Caisleán Uí Dhonnabháin) or Castledonovan or O'Donovan's Castle refer to the remains of an Irish tower house or ''túrtheach'', in a valley near Drimoleague, of medium size which was the so-called "seat" of the Clann Cath ...

, a ruined Irish tower house, is situated approximately to the north. Drimoleague is the start for one of the five

Pilgrim Paths of Ireland Pilgrim Paths Ireland (PPI) is a non-denominational representative body for Ireland's medieval pilgrim paths. PPI was founded in 2013 to oversee the development and promotion of Ireland's medieval pilgrimage paths, and consists of 12 community gr ...

, St. Finbar's Pilgrim Path, which ends 35-kilometers away in Gougane Barra. The village's Anglican (Church of Ireland) church was built in 1790, and is now in ruin. The local Methodist church was built . In 1956, a new Catholic church was completed on the site of an older church. Designed by architect Frank Murphy, it is credited as being West Cork's first building in the modernist style.

Drimoleague railway station Drimoleague railway station was on the Ilen Valley Railway in County Cork, Ireland. It was in the village of Drimoleague Drimoleague (historically ''Drumdalege'', ) is a village on the R586 road at its junction with the R593 in County Co ...

opened in 1877 on the Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway line. It closed in the early 1960s. The TV series '' Holding'', based on the similarly titled book by Graham Norton, was filmed in the village and surrounding area in 2021.

Amenities

Local amenities include four public houses, a pitch & putt course, tennis courts, and a children's playground. The local national (primary) school, Drimoleague National School, had an enrollment of 59 pupils as of 2021. Clann na nGael GAA club has facilities at Páirc Tadhg Na Samhna in Drimoleague.

Gallery

Drimoleague_Station.jpg, Former railway station that led to the foundation of Drimoleague Drimoleague Junction Station geograph-2230230-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg,

in 1955

References

{{Reflist Towns and villages in County Cork