Turners Cross () is a ward on the south side of

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

in Ireland, and home to the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish of the same name. Largely residential, one of the key features of the area is the iconic church created by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Barry Byrne Francis Barry Byrne (December 19, 1883 – December 18, 1967) was a member of the group of architects known as the Prairie School. After the demise of the Prairie School, about 1914 to 1916, Byrne continued as a successful architect by dev ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

John Storrs, the ''Church of Christ the King''. It was commissioned in 1927 by Rev Daniel Cohalan D.D., Bishop of Cork. The church was the first Irish church to be built from concrete instead of brick, and is one of the largest suspended-ceiling churches in Europe. Opened in 1931, the church is based on the principles of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

, which makes strong use of symmetric and geometric forms. Turners Cross is part of the

Cork South-Central "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

Dáil constituency.

History

Rocque's map of Cork of 1759 is the first to show significant housing in the Turners Cross area in the areas that are now Evergreen Street (then Maypole Lane) and Quaker Road (then Graveyard Lane). Previous maps of Cork in 1690 and 1726 show only occasional houses associated with what were then farms on the southern edge of the city. The oldest housing still existing in Turners Cross now dates from the mid-19th century. In 1879, the

Cork and Macroom Direct Railway The Cork and Macroom Direct Railway (CMDR) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland which ran the from Cork (city), Cork to Macroom. History It was incorporated in 1861 and was chaired by Sir John Arnott and Joseph Ronayne. The engineer for ...

, which had shared the

Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway (CB&SCR) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland. It opened in 1849 as the Cork and Bandon Railway (C&BR), changed its name to Cork Bandon and South Coast Railway in 1888 and became part of the Great S ...

station at Albert Road in the city centre, moved its city terminus to a new station they created - Cork Capwell railway station in the Turners Cross area. This was used until 1925, when both the Cork and Macroom and Cork, Bandon and South Coast railways were merged into

Great Southern Railways The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Ireland, Irish company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State (the present-day Republic of Irelan ...

and the terminus reverted to Albert Road. New housing was continually developed in the Turners Cross area until the 1950s, when there was little remaining spare land in the area.

Sport

Turners Cross is home to Cork City FC which is based in the Turners Cross Stadium. Nearby there is also a rugby stadium, Musgrave Park, which is home to both

Dolphin RFC Dolphin Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Cork (city), Cork. The senior team play in 2024–25 All-Ireland League (rugby union)#Division 2C, Division 2C of the All-Ireland League (rugby union), All-Ireland League. In the 2023-24 sea ...

and

Sundays Well RFC Sundays Well Rugby Football Club is an amateur rugby union team based in Cork City, Ireland. Originally founded in 1906 in the Sunday's Well area on the northside of Cork city, it has been based at Musgrave Park on the city's southside since th ...

. In addition, Musgrave Park is used for many home matches in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

tournament by

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby () is one of the professional provincial rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union, ...

. The local

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

club is

Nemo Rangers Nemo Rangers Hurling and Football Club is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Ballinlough, Cork, Ireland. The club is affiliated to the Seandún Board and fields teams in Gaelic football, hurling and camogie. History Nemo Rangers Hurling & ...

, although they sold their grounds in Turners Cross for housing and relocated to a new location in nearby

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

in 2007.

Education

The main

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the area is ''Bunscoil Chríost Rí'', which is a Catholic mixed (co-educational) school. The

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s in the area are ''Christ King'', an all-girls school, which was originally served by the

Presentation Sisters The Presentation Sisters, officially the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are a religious institute of Roman Catholic women founded in Cork, Ireland, by Honora "Nano" Nagle in 1775. The sisters of the congregation use th ...

and ''

Coláiste Chríost Rí Coláiste Chríost Rí () is a Catholic secondary school for boys based on Capwell Road in Turners Cross, Cork, Ireland. The school, which is under the trusteeship of the Presentation Brothers Schools Trust, had an enrollment of 513 students as ...

'', an all-boys school, which was served by the

Presentation Brothers The Congregation of Presentation Brothers (; English: "Brothers of the Presentation of Mary"; abbreviated F.P.M.) is an international Catholic congregation of laymen founded in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland, by a local Irish businessman, Edmund Ig ...

Transport

Road

Turners Cross takes its name from an important junction, where the road from Cork to

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork (city), Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a populatio ...

separated from the road to

Carrigaline Carrigaline (; ) is a town and civil parish in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, situated on the River Owenabue. Located about south of Cork (city), Cork city, and with a population of 18,239 people, it is one of the largest commuter ...

. The road to Carrigaline (passing through Douglas) is now the R851. The N27 dual-carriageway, which links Cork city centre to

Cork Airport Cork Airport () is the second-largest international airport in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin Airport, Dublin and ahead of Shannon Airport, Shannon. It is south of Cork (city), Cork City centre, in an area known as Farmers Cross. In ...

passes through Turners Cross. This handles the bulk of the traffic that used the road to Kinsale.

Bus

Several bus routes serve Turners Cross, including route 203 (from

Farranree Farranree () is a mainly residential townland and suburb in Cork, Ireland. It is bordered by the larger suburbs of Blackpool, Churchfield and Fairhill. History As of the early 20th century, Farranree was a rural area to the north of Cork Ci ...

to Ballyphehane via Turners Cross), 206 (

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * The Grange (Toronto), Toronto, Ontario, built in 1817 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to ...

to Cork city centre), 219 ( Mahon to

Bishopstown Bishopstown () is a suburb of Cork, located in the south west of the city. It is made-up of the townlands of Ballineaspigbeg and Ballineaspigmore (sometimes spelled Ballinaspigmore), and is located in the civil parish of St. Finbar's in the hi ...

and MTU), and regional bus route 226 ( Kent Station to Kinsale).

Rail

Although both the Cork-Macroom and Cork, Bandon and South Coast railways previously went through Turners Cross, it is not currently served by rail. The nearest active railway station is

Cork Kent railway station Kent Station () is an Iarnród Éireann railway station in Cork, Ireland. Originally opened in 1893, the station operates as a hub for Intercity services to Dublin and Tralee and commuter services to Mallow, Cobh and Midleton. In 2016, Kent St ...

References

{{Cork City Geography of Cork (city)