Glanworth () is a village on the R512 regional road in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Ireland. It lies approximately northwest of the town of

Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the Munster Blackwater, River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,700 people. It is located in the barony (Ir ...

and northeast 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 ...

. As of 2022, Glanworth's population was 628. Glanworth has a

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 ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, a school, one shop and two pubs. The village is locally known as 'The Harbour'. This is believed to stem from the Latin word, arbor, meaning tree, a reference to three oak trees that grew in Market Square and were a popular meeting place for locals. The village is in a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of the same name. Glanworth is within the Cork East Dáil constituency.

Built heritage

Labbacallee megalithic tomb

Dated to the early Bronze Age,

Labbacallee wedge tomb Labbacallee Wedge Tomb () is a large pre-historic burial monument, located north-west of Fermoy and south-east of Glanworth, County Cork, Ireland. It is the largest Irish wedge tomb and dates from roughly 2300 BC. The tomb is a National Monu ...

is located from Glanworth and is the largest

wedge tomb A gallery grave is a form of megalithic tomb built primarily during the Neolithic Age in Europe in which the main gallery of the tomb is entered without first passing through an antechamber or hallway. There are at least four major types of gal ...

in Ireland.

Glanworth Castle

The 13th-century Glanworth Castle was built beside the

River Funshion The River Funshion (; ) is a river in Munster, Ireland, a tributary of the Munster Blackwater. Course The River Funshion rises in the Galtee Mountains at Kilbeheny, near the County Limerick–County Tipperary border. It flows southwards past ...

by the Condon family,

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

settlers who arrived in the Cork area in the twelfth century. The keep and the castle wall remain. The castle is now used mainly as a public walk.

Glanworth Abbey

Glanworth Abbey was also built in the 13th century, next to the castle, by the

Dominican order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

. The

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

was desecrated in the 16th century. The priory's

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

window, now restored, was once part of the Protestant church, which is located in the Catholic graveyard.

Glanworth Bridge

Built in the mid-17th century, Glanworth Bridge is a narrow 13-arch bridge, and one of the oldest remaining examples in the region. According to ''

The Corkman ''The Corkman'' is a weekly Irish regional newspaper based in County Cork. It is part of the Corkman Group and owned by Independent News and Media. The paper, based in Mallow, was primarily a North Cork newspaper. As of 2009, ''The Corkman'' ...

'', it is said to be the "narrowest and oldest public bridge in everyday use" in Europe.

Glanworth Mill

Glanworth mill, built in the mid-19th century, is located along the banks of the River Funshion and sits below the Norman castle. Built during the 1840s as part of a famine relief scheme, it is home to one of the last remaining reverse undershot water wheels in Ireland.

Transport

Glanworth railway station opened on 23 March 1891, closed for passenger and goods traffic on 27 January 1947 and finally closed altogether on 1 December 1953. Because of its historical status as a town, it is at the convergence point of a number of minor roads.

Sport

The village has men's and women's

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

teams with a tradition in

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

. In November 2009,

Glanworth GAA Glanworth GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the parish of Glanworth, County Cork in Ireland. The club draws players from Glanworth and Ballindangan and fields teams in competitions organised by the Cork GAA county board and th ...

's intermediate football team won the

Cork Junior A Football Championship The Cork Junior A Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bon Secours Cork Junior A Football Championship and abbreviated to the Cork JAFC) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Cork GAA, Cork County Board ...

for the third time in their history, beating

Ballygarvan Ballygarvan () is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It lies 9 km south of Cork City. The village had a population of 556 inhabitants as of the 2022 census. Occupying the eastern half of Ballinhassig parish, the village lies in the valley ...

. Glanworth is also home to the 105th Scout Group (

Scouting Ireland Scouting Ireland () is one of the largest youth movements on the island of Ireland, a voluntary educational movement for young people with over 45,000 members, including over 11,000 adult volunteers . Of the 750,000 people between the ages of 6 ...

), and two former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(soccer) teams: Glanworth United and Glanworth Celtic. Glanworth United played in division 2A of the Cork AUL, but subsequently disbanded.

Film

Several scenes from the 1999

Bob Hoskins Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor and film director. Known for his intense but sensitive portrayals of "tough guy" characters, he began his career on stage before making his screen breakthrough pl ...

film ''Felicia's Journey'' were shot on location in Glanworth.

References

{{County Cork, state=collapsed Towns and villages in County Cork Civil parishes of County Cork Townlands of County Cork