Fermoy () is a town on the
River Blackwater in east
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 is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,500 people.
[ It is located in the ]barony Barony may refer to:
* Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron
* Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron
* Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...
of Condons and Clangibbon
Condons and Clangibbon () is a barony in County Cork, Republic of Ireland.
Etymology
Condons and Clangibbon takes its name two ruling Norman-Irish families: Condons or Cauntons (''Condún''), and the FitzGibbons or White Knight.
Geography
...
, and is in the Dáil constituency of Cork East.
The town's name comes from the Irish and refers to a Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
abbey founded in the 13th century.
History
Ancient
The ringfort at Carntierna
Carntierna is a ringfort and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland.
Location
Carntierna is located atop Corrin Hill in the Nagle Mountains, 2.4 km (1.5 mi) south of Fermoy.
History and description
Carntierna was bui ...
up on Corrin hill, 2.4 km (1.5 mi) south of Fermoy, was an important Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
site.
Medieval times
A Cistercian abbey was founded in Fermoy in the 13th century. At the dissolution of the monasteries during the Tudor period, the abbey and its lands passed through the following dynasties: Sir Richard Grenville, Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
and William Forward. However, the site could hardly have been regarded as a town and, by the late 18th century, was little more than a few cabins and an inn.
18th and 19th centuries
In 1791, the lands around Fermoy were bought by a Scotsman, John Anderson John Anderson may refer to:
Business
*John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland
* John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...
. He was an entrepreneur who developed the roads and started the mail coach system in Ireland. He designed the town and the streets remain much the same as they were originally built. In 1984, some of his descendants, living in Australia, named a winery, Fermoy Estate
__NOTOC__
Fermoy Estate is an Australian winery at Wilyabrup, in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia. Established by John and Beryl Anderson in 1985, it was named in honour of one of John Anderson's ancestors, a Scottish-born ...
, after the town he established. A plaque and bust in his honour were unveiled at the entrance to the town park in 2001.
Garrison town
Fermoy was the site of Fermoy Barracks
Fermoy Barracks ( ga, Dún Mainistir Fhear Maí) was a military installation in Fermoy, County Cork.
History
The East Barracks were designed and built by Abraham Hargrave on a site provided by John Anderson between 1801 and 1806. In June 1808 ...
, a large British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
barracks, when Ireland was under British rule. In 1797, when the army was looking to establish a new and permanent base, Anderson gave them the land as an inducement to locate in Fermoy. Anderson and the town received economic benefit from the arrangement. In 1806 the first permanent barracks, the East Barracks, were built. They were located on 16 acres of land, and provided accommodation for 112 officers and 1478 men of infantry, and 24 officers, 120 men, and 112 horses of cavalry. A general 130-bed military hospital was also built. In 1809, the West Barracks was built. This also had a 42-bed hospital. When both barracks were complete, there was accommodation for 14 field officers, 169 officers, 2,816 men, and 152 horses. By the 1830s, this was the largest military establishment on the island of Ireland. The town of Fermoy expanded around these facilities and retained its British military facilities until 1922, when the Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...
was first established.
20th century
During the Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
, Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...
(IRA) commander Liam Lynch launched an attack using motor vehicles against a group of off-duty King's Shropshire Light Infantry
The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in the Childers Reforms of 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. It served in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. In 19 ...
(KSLI) soldiers on September 1919 as they were attending a Wesleyan Church
The Wesleyan Church, also known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Wesleyan Holiness Church depending on the region, is a Methodist Christian denomination in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia, Sierra Leone, L ...
parade in Fermoy. The IRA killed one soldier (a private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
named Jones), wounded four and disarmed the rest of their weapons. After jurors from Fermoy serving on Jones' coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
inquest refused to return a verdict describing his death as a murder, 200 soldiers from the KSLI launched an unofficial reprisal against businesses owned by the jury, looting several drapery
Drapery is a general word referring to cloths or textiles (Old French , from Late Latin ). It may refer to cloth used for decorative purposes – such as around windows – or to the trade of retailing cloth, originally mostly for clothin ...
and shoe stores.
Demographics
As of the 2016 census, Fermoy had a population of 6,585. Of these, 72% were white Irish, 1% white Irish travellers, 19% other white ethnicities, 1% were black, 1% Asian, 2% other ethnicities, and 2% did not state their ethnicity. In terms of religion the area is 83% Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, 6% other stated religions, 8% have no religion, and 2% not stated.
Geography
Fermoy is situated on the river Blackwater and has steep hills corresponding to the river valley. The downtown area of Fermoy is located in a flood plain and has flooded relatively often in the late 20th and early 21st century. The most expensive flood prevention works ever carried out in Cork were completed in Fermoy in 2015.
The civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of Fermoy incorporates the Fermoy Urban electoral division
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
(ED), much of the Fermoy Rural ED, and includes twelve sub-townlands. These include smaller townlands (such as Grange East and Grange West), and larger townlands (like Duntahane).
Economy
Industries in and around the town include chemical production (by Micro Bio), ice-cream manufacturing (by Silver Pail), and power product manufacturing (by Anderson Power). The town's industries also include electronics manufacturing and assembly by Sanmina-SCI Corporation
Sanmina Corporation is an American electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in San Jose, California that serves original equipment manufacturers in communications and computer hardware fields. The firm has nearly 80 manufa ...
, formerly Space Craft Incorporated.
Moorepark Research Institute, near Fermoy, is one of the Irish state's agricultural and food research institutes.
Education
Local secondary schools include St. Colman's College, Loreto Convent and Coláiste an Chraoibhín. Primary schools include Gaelscoil de hÍde, Presentation Primary School, Bishop Murphy Memorial School, St. Josephs National School and Adair National School.
Tourism
The Blackwater river is one of the town's major attractions and is popular for its salmon and coarse fishing. There is also a river-side walk amenity at Barnane.
Two annual regattas are usually in early May and early September and hosted by Fermoy Rowing Club. Fermoy Rowing Club celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2009, and Fermoy Regatta celebrated its 70th anniversary in the same year.
Fermoy hosted a poetry festival for the first time in 2012.
Transport
For many years the main N8 Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
–Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
ran through Fermoy, and the town square was a bottleneck on the route. However, the M8 motorway bypass, which included a new bridge over the Blackwater to the east of the town was opened in late 2006. The former N8 through the town is now a regional road, the R639
The R639 road is one of Ireland's regional roads. Once designated the N8 national primary road (and before that some fractions were designated as the T6 and others as the T9), it was reclassified in stages as the R639 following the progress ...
, and Fermoy's traffic problems have been eased.
The town used to be connected to the Irish railway system, on a line from Mallow to Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
, with a junction to nearby Mitchelstown
Mitchelstown () is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of approximately 3,740. Mitchelstown is situated in the valley to the south of the Galtee Mountains, 12 km south-west of the Mitchelstown Caves, 28 km from Cahir, 50& ...
through Ballindangan (see Irish railway history). Fermoy railway station opened on 17 May 1860, and finally closed on 27 March 1967.
The nearest airport is Cork Airport
Cork Airport ( ga, Aerfort Chorcaí, ) is the second-largest of the three principal international airports in Ireland, after Dublin and ahead of Shannon. It is located in Cork City, south of the city centre in an area known as Farmers Cross ...
, approximately to the south.
A number of bus services serve the area, including the Bus Éireann
Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...
Cork-Dublin and Cork-Clonmel
Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...
routes, which stop at Fermoy.
Religion
The Christian Brothers, the Presentation
A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...
and Loreto Sisters and Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ev ...
maintain a presence in the town. There is also a Church of Ireland (Anglican) church, Christ Church, and a Presbyterian church.
People
* Patrick Collins (1844–1905), a US Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from and mayor of Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, was born near Fermoy.
* Mary Hegarty, Irish operatic soprano
* John Stanislaus Joyce
John Stanislaus Joyce (4 July 1849 – 29 December 1931) was the father of writer James Joyce, and a well known Dublin man about town. The son of James and Ellen (''née'' O'Connell) Joyce, John Joyce grew up in Cork (city), Cork, where his mo ...
(1849–1931), father of James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
, was born in Fermoy.
* John Magnier
John Magnier (born 10 February 1948; also known as "The Boss") is an Irish business magnate. He is Ireland's leading thoroughbred stud owner and has extensive business interests outside the horse-breeding industry.
Magnier has also been a Sena ...
, owner of Coolmore Stud
Coolmore Stud, in Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland, is headquarters of the world's largest breeding operation of thoroughbred racehorses. Through its racing arm, Ballydoyle, Coolmore also has raced many classic winners and champions. The operat ...
.
* Noel Mahony
Noel Cameron Mahony (15 January 1913 – 28 December 2006) was an Irish first-class cricketer, cricket coach and administrator. He also played rugby union and table tennis competitively.
Life Early life
Mahony was born at Fermoy in Count ...
(1913-2006), first-class cricketer and president of the Irish Cricket Union
Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national Sport governing body, governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national Ireland cricket team, m ...
.
* James McConnell
James Edward McConnell (1815–1883) was one of the first locomotive engineers of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). He was Locomotive Superintendent of the LNWR's Southern Division at Wolverton railway works from 1847 to 1862 and o ...
(1815–1883) was born in Fermoy, and was a founder member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...
.
* Arthur O'Callaghan
Arthur Pyne O'Callaghan (1 March 1837 – 17 December 1930) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Canterbury, New Zealand.
He was born in Fermoy, Ireland, on 1 March 1837.
He represented the Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to: ...
(1837–1930), Member of Parliament in New Zealand
* Michelle O'Neill
Michelle O'Neill (née Doris; born 10 January 1977) is an Irish politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland between 2020 and 2022. She has been serving as Vice President of Sinn Féin since 2018 and is the Member of the ...
, deputy leader of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...
and deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ter ...
, was born in Fermoy.
* Patrick Rice
Patrick Michael Rice (also Patricio Rice) (September 1945 – 8 July 2010) was an Irish human rights activist and former Catholic priest and religious who became a resident of Argentina. He was a campaigner on behalf of the families of the "d ...
(1945–2010), a human rights activist, was born in Fermoy.
* Mike Ross, professional rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
player for Leinster
Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...
and Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, went to school in Fermoy.
* George Throssell
George Lionel Throssell (23 May 1840 – 30 August 1910) was the second Premier of Western Australia. He served for just three months, from 15 February to 27 May 1901, during a period of great instability in Western Australian politics.
Geor ...
(1840–1910), the second premier of Western Australia, was born in Fermoy.
* Una Troy (1910–1993), a novelist and playwright, was born in Fermoy.
* Ted Walsh
Ted Walsh (born 14 April 1950) is an Irish amateur jockey turned racehorse trainer who was born and raised in Co. Cork but based in Kill, County Kildare, Ireland. Ted is also father to amateur Irish National Hunt jockey, Katie Walsh and profes ...
, jockey and horse trainer, was born in Fermoy.
Film
Some aerial scenes from 1966 war film The Blue Max
''The Blue Max'' is a 1966 British war film directed by John Guillermin and starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Karl Michael Vogler, and Jeremy Kemp. The film was made in DeLuxe Color and filmed in CinemaScope. The plot i ...
were filmed near Fermoy, with the nearby Blackwater viaduct featuring on screen.
In the 1980s, a coming-of-age film
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...
called 'Clash of the Ash' was shot in Fermoy.
Twin towns
As of 2020, Fermoy is twinned with Ploemeur
Ploemeur (; br, Plañvour), sometimes written instead as Plœmeur, is a commune in the Morbihan department in the region of Brittany in north-western France. It is a western suburb of Lorient.
Population
The inhabitants are called the ''Ploeme ...
, in the Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
region of France. The two towns have had connections since 1982.
From 2006 until 2020, Fermoy was twinned with Nowa Dęba in Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. When, in early 2020, it was brought to the attention of Fermoy's town council that Nowa Dęba had adopted resolutions against "LGBT ideology
Anti-LGBT rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used against homosexuality or other non-heterosexual sexual orientations in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. They range from t ...
" and "propaganda", the council said that they would end the agreement if Nowa Dęba did not reverse its decision to declare itself an "LGBT-free zone
LGBT-free zones ( pl, Strefy wolne od LGBT) or LGBT ideology-free zones ( pl, Strefy wolne od ideologii LGBT) are municipalities and regions of Poland that have declared themselves unwelcoming of what they described as "LGBT ideology", in order ...
". This did not happen, and Fermoy's town council terminated the twinning agreement in October 2020. In January 2021, Nowa Dęba's council voted to revoke the controversial declaration; a decision welcomed by the LGBT community and activists.
Sport
Fermoy GAA
Fermoy GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association based in the town of Fermoy, Cork, Ireland. The club fields teams in competitions organized by the Cork GAA county board and the Avondhu GAA divisional board. The club plays both Gaelic football a ...
, the local Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...
club, won the Cork Premier Intermediate Football Championship
The Cork Premier Intermediate Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Bon Secours Cork County Premier Intermediate Football Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PIFC) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the ...
in 2018. The club's grounds, at ''Páirc Mhic Gearailt'', have hosted league and championship games.
Further reading
* ''Fermoy on the Blackwater'', by Bill Power, 2009 (Brigown Press, 410 pages)
* ''Fermoy: A local history'', by Niall Brunicard (first published 1975)
* ''John Anderson of Fermoy, the forgotten benefactor'', by Niall Brunicardi, (first published 1983)
* ''To die by inches: An account of the Fermoy Poor Law Union during the Great Famine, 1845–1850'', by Edward Garner (first published 1986)
* ''Críchad an Chaoilli
Críchad an Chaoilli ("boundary of the Caoille") is a medieval Irish text.
Overview
Written in Middle Irish sometime between 1100 and 1300, Críchad an Chaoilli is a topographical text that takes its title from its opening verse:
: ''Crichad a ...
: Being the Topography of Ancient Fermoy'', by Patrick Power (first published 1932) (University College Cork
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...
)
* ''A sketch of the Blackwater, from Youghal to Fermoy'', by Samuel Hayman (first published 1860)
* ''Fermoy, 1841 to 1890: A local history'', by Niall Brunicardi (first published 1978)
* ''The diary of Wilfrid Saxby Barham, captain "The Buffs," during the great war 1914–1915: Fermoy-Dover-Armentieres-Ypres'', by Wilfrid Saxby Barham (first published 1918)
* ''A sense of Fermoy'', by J.J. Bunyan (first published 1983)
See also
* List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Cork)
* List of towns and villages in Ireland
References
External links
Avondhu Heritage Archive, an audiovisual presentation of the heritage sites around Fermoy
Fermoy Website
{{Authority control
Towns and villages in County Cork
Civil parishes of County Cork