Union Hall (), also Unionhall, is a small

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

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, located on the west side of Glandore Harbour. Its nearest neighbour to the west is

Castletownshend Castletownshend () is a village about south-east of Skibbereen, in County Cork, Ireland. The village developed around a small 17th-century castle built by Richard Townsend. History Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number ...

; to the east, Glandore village. It is approximately 10 kilometres south-east of

Skibbereen Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The River Ilen runs through the town; it reaches the sea about 12 kilometres away, at the seaside village of Baltimore. Located ...

. As of the 2022 census, 359 people were living in Union Hall. A key source of employment in the area is fishing, and the pier has its own ice plant and fish processing factory run by Glenmar Shellfish Ltd. Tourism is also an economic driver, and among the area's attractions are boat trips to view

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

s and

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

Location and access

The coastal village lies on a hill, and has a small harbour for small fishing boats and other small craft. By road it is accessible over the narrow Poulgorm Bridge on the R597 regional road to Glandore, Rosscarbery and Leap. The bridge is only one lane wide, so traffic must wait for the bridge to be clear before crossing. The bridge was built c.1890, and featured in

David Puttnam David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA (; born 25 February 1941), is a British-Irish film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords. His productions include '' Chariots of Fire' ...

's 1994 film " War of the Buttons".

History

Archaeological sites in the immediate area include evidence of a number of

ringfort Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortification, fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are ...

s, a

souterrain ''Souterrain'' (from French ', meaning "subterrain", 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 northwards from Gaul d ...

and a

lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime called ''quicklime'' (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this reaction is: CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2 This reaction can tak ...

in Ballincolla

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 ...

. Also nearby are the remains of 13th century and 16th century

O'Donovan The O'Donovan family is an ancient Irish nobility, Irish noble family. Their patronymic surname derives from Irish ''Ó Donnabháin'', meaning the grandsons or descendants of Donnubán, referring to the 10th century ruler of the Uí Fidgenti, ...

castles at Castle Eyre (Listarkin townland) and Raheen Castle (Raheen townland). The Irish name means "rotten strand". An alternative is "strand of sorrow". One tradition says the name originates from the blood split at a battle fought there in the early 16th century between O'Donovan

sept A sept () is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used both in Scotland and in Ireland, where it may be translated as Irish , meaning "progeny" or "seed", and may indicate the descendants of a person ...

s of Clancahill and Sliocht Íomhair. The adjoining

name Clontaff is likewise explained as "battle meadow", although the official name is . The English name "Union Hall" was originally that of a big house built and named after the

Act of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in personal union) to create the United Kingdom of G ...

by William Somerville Limrick (or Limerick), a lieutenant colonel in the

Madras Army The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations manda ...

of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. The house, later named Unionhall House, was burnt out by the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

in the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

. In July–August 1922, as part of the

Irish Free State offensive The Irish Free State offensive of July–September 1922 was the decisive military stroke of the Irish Civil War. It was carried out by the National Army (Ireland), National Army of the newly created Irish Free State against Irish Republican Arm ...

of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, national army troops landed at the quay in Union Hall in order to outflank the local Republican forces. In January 2012, the ''Tit Bonhomme'' fishing vessel sank near

Glandore Harbour Glandore (, meaning ''harbour of the oak trees'') is the name of a village and harbour in County Cork, Ireland. It is off the N71 road (Ireland), N71 road, about 10 km east of Skibbereen. The village has several Irish pub, pubs, with trad ...

, and the people of Union Hall spent several weeks searching for the Irish and Egyptian sailors who died. They were presented with a People of the Year Award in September 2012. The village served as the setting for the titular fictional location of Bodkin in the 2024 Netflix TV series of the same name.

Amenities and tourism

There is a supermarket and a fish shop in the village. There is also a post office and a number of

bed and breakfast A bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. In addition, a B&B sometimes has the hosts living in the house. ''Bed and breakfast'' is also used to ...

s. Union Hall has a Roman Catholic church (built c.1832 and dedicated to St. Bridget) to the south of the village, and a Church of Ireland church close to the village centre (built c.1840). The area around Union Hall is known for its hills, woodlands, rivers and islands. There are a number of small inlets, bays and beaches.

References

{{County Cork Towns and villages in County Cork Fishing in Ireland Lime kilns in Ireland

Location and access

History

Amenities and tourism

See also

References